I need to know.

Before I get started here let me just say that this much I already know:  I am a vintage dish junkie and therefore have NO BUSINESS whatsoever prowling around the dish aisle of a Goodwill thrift store BUT once I’m in the store I feel it’s my moral obligation to check out every. single. aisle. including the one with the lame used sporting goods (deflated soccer ball or random golf clubs anyone?) and so there I was.  

Doing my civic duty in the dish aisle. In the name of junking. Which sounds an awful lot like junkie.

For the most part I kept my hands to myself but while eavesdropping on two people discussing Pyrex (free continuing ed class over in housewares!)  I spied some pretty little plates and here comes a(nother) confession:  I have become THAT PERSON. The one who whips out her phone in Goodwill to google the item in her hand before making a potentially heinous mistake involving fours of dollars by taking a pass on something that maybe she should have bought but didn’t.  Because of the fours of dollars involved.

And now I’m also that person who refers to herself in the third person.

And it was just four dollars.

I really don’t know how to explain that part of the equation. It’s not like they cost forty dollars because then PROBLEM SOLVED.

The tipping point. 

Back to the dishes. The magical, pretty dishes that had many interesting things happening. A nautical theme. Not one but two marks on the back (mad googling begins here!) and those marks involved the words ENGLAND and FAMOUS ARTISTS. Surely those are good signs. And the crazing. I love crazing. And they were pretty. And I’d never seen them before. And they were pretty.

Oh that crazing...

Hands over four dollars.

Despite my frenzied googling at the store and later again when my dishes and I got home, I still couldn’t determine specifically who the “famous artists” were and somehow not knowing disturbs me.  If I were putting the works of “famous artists” on my merchandise (and adding a second china mark specifically explaining that they were made by “famous artists”), I would say in BIG HUGE LETTERS who the “famous artists” are.

A painting by a "famous artist." 

And now I feel as though the internet is keeping secrets from me. Because everything about everything is on the internet by now, isn’t it?

I will keep looking.

The postcard post

Mt. Hood

Every once in a while when there are multiples of something vintage for sale and I can’t bring myself to take on the possibly excruciating and/or time-consuming task of cherry-picking only certain ones to buy, I hear Sue of Vintage Rescue Squad whisper in my ear, 

“Ask how much for all of them.”

And I always do what the voices in my head ear tell me to do.

The multiples I’m referring to are vintage postcards. Hundreds of vintage postcards. 

Still counting them.

They’re from the 1960s & 1970s and they depict landmarks and landscapes in and around Portland, Oregon. Everything from snow-covered Mt. Hood, pre-eruption Mt. St. Helens, the Columbia River Gorge, the Oregon Coast and many, many views of the vintage Portland skyline. I’m guessing these postcards are unused inventory from an old souvenir shop.

Crater Lake, OR

I’m a state souvenir junkie and proud of it.

This one is my favorite.

I did end up buying every last one of them with the idea that I would resell them but without the idea of how exactly I would resell them. 

I’m envisioning these being used as save-the-date cards for a vintage-inspired wedding (there are enough for a HUGE wedding) or thank you notes or holiday cards (snowy outdoorsy scenes) or something along those lines. Or perhaps you have an idea?

The Oregon Coast. I've stood in this exact spot many times!

Hundreds of them…

In my drawers

There’s a new addition to the vintage Christmas tablecloth drawer and I’m especially happy about it because:

It’s one I don’t have and it’s one I’ve never seen before and (this is always the deciding factor for me) it was a really great price.

I have achieved vintage Christmas tablecloth nirvana.

As long as we’re in the Christmas tablecloth drawer, let’s look around, shall we?

My all-time favorite. 

 Somehow I’ve ended up with four (!?) of these which might mean there’s been a breakdown in my Vintage Tablecloth Inventory System.  Or I’m hoarding. Or both.

 I really don’t know exactly what went wrong here.

My second all-time favorite.

Which I guess explains why I have only one.

Instead of four. (!?)

Do you iron before you store yours?

Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t.

 I’m random like that.

None of these fit my table but I like to layer them over a big, plain white tablecloth.

That way no one gets left out.

Or in. The drawer, I mean.

Christmas comes but once a year.



I swear, it followed me home

Can I keep it?

It gets along great with my Dollar Store plates.

 And it's very quiet.

This was the best (and scariest) part.

(After unpacking, I was very happy to discover only 2 pieces were chipped and from the appearance of the chips, they happened before these pieces were tossed together to become a ‘boxed set.’)

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!



Lots of lots

This summer of yard sale hoarding has produced some interesting results.

Dozens of them.

Setting things aside here and there for months adds up eventually.

My Santa cups runneth over.

In an effort to address this accumulation, I've signed up to sell at one more vintage event this year.

It was that or get a storage unit.

Or move away.

Now I’m already having a little separation anxiety about the milk glass.

And in a fit of purging after attending an especially scary & jam-packed estate sale, I’ve decided to sort through my personal vintage Christmas stash to see what I can live without.

I mean if I can live without.



The Putz village idiot

On a recent trip, I spent some time at an antique mall where I attempted to purge the display case of a vintage Christmas collector who was downsizing.

There was entirely too much to choose from so I kept my looting limited to vintage glass bead garlands and little vintage cardboard (Putz or not) buildings, mainly because I had to ship it all back to Oregon.

Honestly, I don’t know a Putz house from a housecoat but this seller had so many of these little buildings so inexpensively priced that I bought them strictly for their curb appeal despite the missing church spires, sub-standard glitter application or other aesthetic disfigurements.

(Proving ignorance can be bliss.)

In the corner of the display case was a handwritten note taped to the wall suggesting a visit to this seller’s vintage Christmas website.  (If you head over there, I would suggest turning down the volume on your computer and perhaps investigating anti-seizure medication beforehand as there is a lot going on.)

photo courtesy of Papa Ted's Place

One of my favorite pages on this website is the one where this (very schooled) collector has compiled photos and prices paid on eBay for vintage Japanese-made miniature houses along with his colorful commentary regarding whether the buyer made a wise decision or not.

photo courtesy of Papa Ted's Place

I also love the page with glimpses of these vintage Butler Brothers Christmas catalogs and am now pining for a catalog of my very own.

Santa, are you reading this?



A public service announcement

We (and by 'we', I mean 'I') interrupt this vintage Christmas post with an important announcement.

It has been reported there is another severe outbreak of vintage dish-itis.

Please, do not panic.

While there is no known cure for this condition, the prognosis can remain favorable by following these simple instructions:

1.  Locate any vintage dishes you have that resemble the one pictured here.

2.  Carefully pack, insure and ship them to me immediately.

I will place all dishes in quarantine for as long as necessary.

Remember, I am a professional so do not try this in your own home.

The quarantine process may take months, if not years, so please feel confident that these dishes will be well cared for.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled vintage Christmas programming.

Magic goop and wacky cake

If I’ve learned one thing from all of you, it’s that when it comes to collecting, there’s something for everyone. 

Or someone for every thing.

And with that philosophy in mind, occasionally some of those things come home with me from yard sales.

Things not all that long ago I might have passed by.

Exhibit A.  This jumbled box of hundreds of recipes.

At first I thought I would just send them off to my etsy shop but as I started to photograph them for the shop listing, I got caught up in the story they told.

A story involving decades of foods that were once fashionable in the kitchen or at least were in style according to the chef who was in charge of this collection.

What event was this little menu for? I don’t know what Under-the-Sea-Salad is but anyone who serves two kinds of bread AND cake and ice cream is okay with me.

A scribbled recipe for Magic Modeling Goop on the envelope for a sympathy card –  could this be the original Play-Doh formula?

And my favorite of them all, the double secret and highly coveted ingredient list for Wacky Cake.  :-)