Hi vintage friends!
I had a wonderful day of treasure hunting at yard sales, garage sales, and estate sales today. Wanted to share a few pics!
Old Texaco travel pack:
Recipe cards, unused, in the original boxes:
Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory -- First Edition in slipcase:
Vintage Thingmaker molds - these are fun!
MANY children's books - both vintage and new. These stacks are just some of what I found.
A boxed set of Ray Charles CDs -- this is my present to myself. :-)
Everything except the Ray Charles will end up at Birdhouse Books in the next few weeks. I am excited!
You never know what there will be at the different sales. My best friend and I go together. We have been doing this for many years, and help each other look for goodies. We have done this for so long that we have it down to a science. We can usually scope out a sale from the car to see whether they have the type of things we are looking for.
Did you go yard saling or thrifting this weekend? When you do yard sale, what do you enjoy looking for? I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below.
I couldn't resist popping in to share a few photos -- first great yard sale (and estate sale) day of the year! I love treasure hunting for my shop (Birdhouse Books) ... there is always the great thrill of fun finds!
Vintage dachshund salt and pepper shakers and the cutest little pewter dachshund. These are mine (not for sale!) and already in a place of honor in my study. I purchased these from the nicest man who also is a dachshund person. My friend and I had our phones out sharing dachshund pictures back and forth with him.
Vintage Christmas magazines - love the ads and recipes in these.
A new Silvestri Christmas tray (star shaped Santa Claus).
Vintage This is Atlanta book with a glimpse of the city in the 1970's ... and an old brochure that included an advertisement for Davison's department store at Lenox Square.
A cute Burma Shave sign book, vintage Christmas decals, vintage holiday drinks cookbook.
A stack of "Patio Daddio" style Mid Century BBQ books.
Vintage Betty Crocker Cookbook with "pie cover."
Vintage Christmas cards! This is a basket full -- many are unused. They are gorgeous.
Boxes of unused vintage Christmas cards.
Not a purchase, but gorgeous -- an old Hudson Hornet car. My yard sale friend is antique car obsessed, and he snapped this pic.
Are yard sales out in your area yet? I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below.
I went out treasure hunting today. There weren't a lot of sales out there in quantity, but there were two wonderful estate sales.
I found this adorable vintage wooden Christmas ornament featuring a Dachshund and another little dog. It's so cute that I included front and back pictures for you. This little cutie will probably stay out in my study year-round. It's rare for me to find "keeper" items at sales ... but this ornament is mine. :-)
I also found this lovely Sound of Music Keepsake book. This is my favorite movie - I couldn't resist! This is my other "keeper" find from the day.
I found a box of vintage Christmas stocking holders that are about to get listed. I am guessing these are 1970's vintage. They are really cute!
And - I found many, many unused vintage Christmas cards, 1940's - 1970's. Most have envelopes. They are pretty fabulous! I filled a 12" high box with all the unused cards. These will be listed individually in my store. I have Marjorie Cooper cards, Holly Hobbie, cards that fold out into Mid-Century paper ornaments, and more. This picture is just from the top of the box - treasures inside!
Did you treasure hunt this weekend? I would love to hear from you in the comments, below.
It's early in the year for yard sales and estate sales here. Occasionally I will luck on one totally by chance. That happened today. These fun finds are all from the same sale. They make me happy, so I wanted to share a little vintage children's book and ephemera sunshine with you as well.
Ah! During yard sale season (which runs from March until early November here) a sign like the one pictured brings joy to my heart. As a vintage seller (children's books, cookbooks, and cards), I shop yard sales for work. The treasure hunting aspect of yard sales is real and fun.
I usually shop with my best friend, who hunts for vintage books, religious art, architectural items, and the quirky, unusual, and fun. We have a rating system for yard sales:
1. This is a great sale, usually either multi-generation, multiple families, or an older person conducting the sale. Vintage items abound! Prices are fair. Items are on shelves or tables and easy to see.
2. This is a good sale with nice things, occasionally something for us, but often things we don't buy - i.e. baby clothes, electronics, CDs, DVDS, etc.
3. This is the sale with boxes of junk pulled out of a basement, broken items, old mattresses. Yikes - how soon can we get out of here?!
Most sales we find are 2's on our scale, with perhaps one or two 1 sales on any given day. Those 1 rating yard sales make it all worthwhile.
The most amazing sale I ever went to was a multi-generation estate sale, family run, that went on for a whole weekend. I kept going back and back and buying car loads of treasures. This was perhaps 10 years ago -- I bought paper dolls, vintage children's books, vintage toys, and more.
I almost purchased a First Edition of Gone With the Wind at that sale. It had a long two page inscription to the original owner from Margaret Mitchell. Just as I was checking out, someone from the family holding the sale decided they couldn't part with the book ... so I lost out.
The nicest find I ever purchased at a yard sale was a baseball book called The Splendid Splinter about Ted Williams. I know very little about baseball, but purchased this on a whim for $1.00. I could not find an online reference for it, so I started bidding at $49.99 on eBay. Someone immediately wrote me and asked if I would close the auction for $100. I knew at that point that this was a great find. It sold for over $600 to a baseball collector, and I was thrilled.
My most embarrassing yard sale story was when my friend and I were going through a neighborhood and stopping at neighborhood sales marked with balloons on the mailbox. One house had balloons of a different color and style, but we assumed this was just coincidental. There were a lot of cars out front. We went into the garage, which was crowded with great stuff. I took two vintage pictures off the wall. We didn't see a place to check out, so we assumed the sale was inside the house as well (as sales sometimes are). We opened the door ... to find a birthday party being held for an elderly man. It was not a yard sale at all! We were mortified and highly apologetic. We left as quickly as possible.
I have many more stories, and more blog posts to come about yard sale adventures!
I will offer three tips for you about yard saling:
1. Take small bills. Don't lose out on a sale because a seller cannot make change.
2. If you are purchasing a stack of items, ask for a bulk deal, i.e. "what would you take for this stack?"
3. Be friendly! Be nice! I always speak to the seller as I enter the garage or house, and usually say something nice as well (i.e. "beautiful day for a sale!" or "you have lots of neat things here"). I am chatty and often find that sellers will show me other books that they hadn't put out. I have found some of my best estate lots just by being friendly.
Sales have been a little sparser this year. Maybe it's the economy, or the extreme heat and humidity we have had in Georgia recently. The little stack you see below is what I found today: 10 or 12 children's books, a sewing pattern, and a community cookbook. But -- we had fun, and I know there is always next week waiting!
