Thrift Share Monday - Spring - Apron Thrift Girl

March 20, 2011

Thrift Share Monday - Spring

Russian Matryoshka Doll - Saturday Estate Sale

My thrifting week began on Thursday (which feels like weeks ago) when I rushed down to an estate sale in San Rafael. I was worried that I wouldn't get there in time or that I'd be stuck outside while everyone shopped but as it turned out I got there with 20 minutes to spare and I got in with the first group of buyers. It was good that I did because many of the Little Shop items came from that sale.

The house was absolutely packed with everything vintage. There were lots of items from Scandinavia as well as crafts supplies. I was so happy that I had made the effort to drive there despite not feeling like spending an hour in the car first thing in the morning. The gas probably cost me $15 to get there and back but I've already listed two pieces of flatware from the sale and have received an opening bid of $24.99. It was such a good start to the Thrift weekend.

Friday morning I headed east to a sale in Sonoma and later to one in Napa.

This little machine caused a bit of drama at the Sonoma sale.

I was looking at a box filled with these lead letters trying to figure out what they go to.

The box that I was looking at had about 8 of these wooden boxes all filled with letters. I was asking one of the gentleman running the sale about the price when another buyer found the machine. We finally figured out that they go together. Then the Seller mentioned that they should stay together and that he had made a mistake by not pricing them as one unit. Can you imagine what happened next? The guy at the machine wanted the machine. I said that I would like to buy both of them if they had to be sold together. The Seller sided with me because I had asked first about them and had agreed to buy them all. The other buyer was very upset with me. He said it wasn't fair and was very annoyed.

I'm one of the most polite people you'd ever meet. I always say my thank you and pleases. I open doors for people etc. My dad taught me well. If I had thought the other buyer had shown interest first I would have walked away from the set. I knew though that I was there first so I stood my ground. He said some remark about me just going to sell them why can't I give him the machine. But I'm a crafter and this is the closest thing to a letter press that I might ever see. I not only want to hold onto it for a little while, but I'd like to figure the machine out. It's called a Kingsley Hot Foil Stamping Machine. Have you ever heard of these?

After I "won" the small Thrift battle, I stayed in the garage and hid there until the other seller left. I'm so not the confrontational type and don't look forward to running into him next week. I left Sonoma and headed to Napa through the pouring rain.

Napa brought me to the home of a hoarder (now in a home). She had hundreds of bottles of perfume and avon supplies. It was there that I found my largest collection of mercury glass beads ever. Besides this collection I found 8 vintage Montgomery Wards boxes of Mercury Glass Beads with 2 strands of garland in each box.

She also was an avid sequin and plastic bead ornament crafter. The garage was filled with her handmade ornaments. Her ornaments were just lovely and she definitely had a talent for making them. I hope that she can continue to keep her hands busy in her new home.

Vintage collection of Staplers and Staples.

Saturday I attended another Estate Sale in Santa Rosa. The previous owner had traveled the world. It was there I found the Russian Nesting Doll at the top of this post. I was planning to list it in Little Shop when I realized that I just loved the colors. I've never seen one with teal before. So I took my previous favorite doll and added that to Little Shop.

This morning Keiran and I went back to the Estate sale where I bought this map of the Santa Rosa area for $5. It's not terribly vintage, from the early 80's but I thought the colors were lovely. Now to find a large enough frame for it.

It was at this same sale on Saturday that I found this sweet 100% beeswax candle in the shape of an egg. This will be the centerpiece for our Easter dinner.

This was my best "Unknown" find of the weekend. This little 10k gold 1922 basketball was in a bag of buttons. It's a charm attached to a pin that says "Play day".

Any marble experts out there? I found these in a vintage plastic food container. The man running the sale said that they went to aggravation but none of the vintage games that I saw on-line had these colors of marbles. They are almost art glass in style. They are really beautiful.

Here are some items available for you in my Little Shop.

10% of all sales this week will be donated to helping Japan. Thank you for your orders last week when all proceeds went to Japan.

Little Shop Prices are based on price I paid, the shipping cost and work involved to take photos, list the item and ship. I do try to keep Little Shop prices low overall unless it's a large item or somewhat rare. If prices are higher than others, it's usually because of the price I paid for an item was higher than usual.

I'm now deleting items once they have sold to make easier shopping when you scroll down the page. If you do try to link to an item and the page is blank, this means it has sold. I've also added a little bit of information about Personal Shopping Services on the top post at Little Shop.

I hope that you enjoy this week's selection.

Russian Matryovski Doll Set is available here.

Betty Crocker Vintage Cookbook can be found here.

Vintage Napkins are here.

Christmas Nesting Doll set is waiting for you here.

My favorite item of the week, a Swedish grow chart can be found here.

Did you go thrifting this weekend?

Thrift Share Monday celebrates the Art of Thrifting. As a community of readers and bloggers we are able to connect through the process of buying second hand, selling and sharing.

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Don't forget to visit Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.

Selena Cate on March 20, 2011 in Thrift Share Monday | Permalink

Comments

I love Russian nesting dolls too! I have two of them (one all set out, and one nested up) above my kitchen sink just now. And maps and mercury beads. Sigh... And I have a whole set of old basketballs like that, although most of mine aren't gold. Good for you for not letting a bully back you away from the letterpress! My sister lives in Santa Rosa, so I always think of her when I read your posts. Happy thrifting!

Posted by: Beka | March 21, 2011 at 06:44 PM

Love the foil press! I love all types of typeset so that was indeed a great find. I am wondering if your "unknown" basketball charm is from a letterman's jacket? It is pretty cool.

Posted by: Robin ;-) | March 22, 2011 at 05:51 AM

Great finds and good for you to "win" that letter press. Some people think a big mouth gets them anywhere. You've written about mercury glass before, but perhaps you can explain what's so special about it? Sometimes I see similar beads but I just never know if it's the real kind or why it's special so I never buy it.
That Betty Crocker cookbook looks so cool! I especially love the pink cake on the cover, yummmm.

Christine

Posted by: Christine | March 22, 2011 at 06:08 AM