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November 15, 2010

Yard Sale Keepers

I keep thinking that the yard sale season is over.  I was proved wrong once again this weekend.  I went out on Friday and came home with a car load.


I was happily surprised to find some really nice Christmas items.
There were loads of gold Christmas decorations at one sale.  I bought a whole bag of sparkly gold candles shaped like Christmas trees.  Or are they shaped like pine cones? I don't know.  But they are very pretty. I bought two gold swags at the same sale.  They are very well made and probably were fairly pricey.  I got the silver balls for next to nothing - they are great for putting in bowls during the holidays.  I put them out at Rockin' B in our silver and white feature booth.  The grapes are quite nice, too.  They're fairly large - 7 or 8 inches. They were still in the plastic wrap and in pristine condition.  All of this went to my booth.


I am keeping one holiday decoration purchase - a box of pine cones.  I paid for pine cones.  Not much, but still.  I have loads of pine cones around my house, but nothing like these.  These are huge - almost a foot long.
I put them in a wrought iron basket out on the porch.  I'll add some of our pine cones to complete the look - the basket is humongous! I'm not ready for photos of it yet.  It really needs something more and I haven't had a chance to focus on it.


I bought these pillows from a very nice lady at a rather swanky home.  I love, love, love them.  The colors are just right.  
I immediately put one out on the chair I recently slipcovered (and still need to paint). It looks fabulous! What a grand match.  And to think - that pillow was my least favorite.  The others went into storage to be put on a bench (that is also awaiting a paint job).  Oh, the projects on my list... (big sigh)


I found this little pig lamp at another yard sale.  I knew it would sell easily at the booth - so many people collect pigs.  


When it was time to pay for it, the yard sale lady moaned.  She told her friend that she had paid 70 or 80 dollars for that lamp.  She knew it was ridiculous, but she had to have it. And now here she was putting it in a yard sale for $4. And she came down from that when I bought a bunch of other stuff.  Truthfully, the lamp is really nice.  It's quite weighty and well made.  There was a tag on the bottom with 83 on it.  Was that the price?  I don't know.  


I decided to keep it for a while.  I'm not a pig collector, but I just decided to enjoy it for a bit until something else catches my fancy.  Except for the so-so shade, it looks right at home on my newest bakers rack.  I placed it on a toile plate that I had taken to the booth, but then decided to keep.  It's a little busy, but I'm still enjoying it for now.

This purchase probably isn't exciting to anyone but me.  I bought a wrought iron plant rack and a stack of long plastic planters.  Yeah!  More for my salad garden.  I think I need to start a new planter at least once a week to keep us from having to purchase lettuce at the grocery store. Being able to find all the planters at yard sales has certainly kept down the costs of this venture!  I had to buy some bottom pieces for the 30 inch planter I found at a yard sale a few weeks back.  Those suckers were about 4 bucks a piece.  For just the bottoms.  I nearly passed out! That's a slight exaggeration, but I felt like being dramatic. :-) 

I need help on one thing I bought.  Is it anything special?  Is this carnival glass?  Carnival glass is moulded or pressed glass, always with a pattern and always with a shiny, metallic, "iridescent" surface shimmer.  The iridescence of this piece is more subtle than I think of with carnival glass.

More research led me to think it might be depression glass.  Depression Glass is generally considered to be colored glassware that was made primarily during the Depression era (1929 to 1939), although some collectible glassware was made later.  It was very inexpensive glass and was sold mainly in five and ten cent stores and given away as premiums or included with other purchases (like gasoline, cereal, soap, Quaker Oats and even local movie theaters).  The colors of the glassware include pink, red, blue, green, yellow, amber, white and crystal (clear).  The Suzie Max site has a good collection of depression glass patterns, but I didn't see mine.  

I like the dish.  I plan to keep it for awhile.  I plan to use it unless I find that it's some rare gem, which I sort of doubt.  I tell you what - the antiques business is a minefield.  And I know way too little about what's valuable.  I could be one of those people mentioned on Antiques Roadshow who sold a zillion dollar piece to a savvy shopper for 5 dollars!
 
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Be sure to check out the latest RE- Party!

We RE-do, RE-decorate, RE-organize, RE-pair, 
RE-upholster, RE-furbish, RE-finish, RE-purpose, 
and of course, we love to RE-lax! 
This party celebrates the RE-'s in our lives! 

Take a look at these other wonderful link parties for more clever ideas.  
I'm linking this post with them!