Musings of a Vintage Junkie: Precious

Showing posts with label Precious. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Vintage Finds Under the Tree

and oh, what a tree I found!

I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into the three floor antique emporium and there it was. Red and fabulous! It only took two minutes to find someone to help me take all the ornaments off so that I could buy this tree.

Last year I decided that since I am such a vintage junkie, shouldn't my Christmas decorating be too? I started replacing my hum-drum newer Christmas decorations with vintage ones, wrestling with myself with each purchase whether to keep it or to sell it. This is the busiest time of year, right? Let's just say last year I kept more than I listed to sell!

That is when I found this fabulous vintage silver tree (the sparkle is magic!). I already had all the old silver balls, angel ornaments and garland, bought at a garage sale that summer, just because.

And I found this one too....

But this post is not supposed to be about trees, it's supposed to be about the vintage finds under the tree!

My little town in Upstate NY is known for the four corner churches in the middle of town. There is one huge, historic church on each of the four corners at the intersection of Main and Maple. Three of the four have rummage sales in the Fall. You can find me up near the front of the line to get in at each one of them.

For those that may not know, a rummage sale is where the church gathers donations from it's members and then sells them at ridiculously low prices. One church does not price anything and at checkout you are offered one low price to pay for all of your found treasures. With two sales down and the last one to go, I was there the first day, 5th in line. The ladies in front of me were a group of friends in their late 70's, chatting away. I plan on thrifting till then too!

The church had posted pictures online and one of them was of a Red Riding Hood cookie jar. I figured it would be reasonably priced, even though they go for $200+ online. I made a beeline for it and it was marked $50. A great price, but one I was not willing to pay that day. I made my way around and found some really great stuff.

I loved the candlewick tree skirt and the old wallpaper brushes in their original box. I thought the double boiler and the baby vase were too good to pass up and the black tin box turned out to be a great find. It dates to the late 1800's, early 1900's and was probably a document or deed box. I saw one at an antique shop with separate tins inside to hold spices.

Another flocked baby deer was a real keeper to go with my woodland scene on the top of my old cupboard.

I love the color of the two garden forks I got!

And the 1940's mint green baby seat was too chippy and unique to pass by.

I also could not leave Timothy Tortoise there, a McCoy cookie jar......

or this great Lincoln Beautyware chrome canister set.

I was very happy with my great finds and at how thrifty I was for the amount I spent. But I couldn't stop thinking about that Red Riding Hood cookie jar.

So the next morning was the last day of the sale and I was hoping for a discount on it. My husband tagged along because he likes to find thrifty things to give away at our community theatre. We walked in and were handed a large paper bag to fill for $2! I filled it with Jesus, Precious (the name of the print of the little girl), two nice books, a couple of small ceramic trees, two 1940's children's hangers, an Avon bubble bath ornament, and a hand crocheted shawl. My husband filled it the rest of the way with some vintage books and knick knacks. We split the $2. What a deal!

I almost forgot about the cookie jar because it wasn't even there. I had to ask and when I did I found out that the owner of it knew of it's value and did not want to sell it at half price on the last day so she took it back. Good for her because I might have gone for it at $25!

It was after this great two day rummage sale that I found my red vintage tree while out shopping with my friend Bonnie at some Holiday Open House events at local gift shops. We went to four open house's that day. I actually bought some stocking stuffers for my grandchildren but could not resist getting another baby doe, this one porcelain, made in Japan. I am keeping her and she has a place of honor on my parlor mantel...

I am 99.9% sure that I am keeping my red tree. But what to do with it? Decorate it with just white lights? Red lights? Or maybe it will be my new Victorian ornaments tree to replace my too small white one.