As detailed a few entries ago, Monica's Great Uncle Bobby passed away in March. He lived his entire life in Westhampton Beach and he left behind a very large piece of property with more than one house upon it. His primary heirs have some huge decisions to make about how to best divest of the property. They asked us, along with Monica's sister and her family, to spend some time with them out there to share our ideas. We jumped at the opportunity to see the houses again and to walk the property. This would take up a very big portion of our Saturday as we knew we would be out there for hours and the drive, each way, was nearly an hour. We had originally compiled a list of about six potential sales but we knew this wouldn't be possible. We were due out east around midday and, at best, we might make three of the sales. We got up early and prepared for the day as quickly as possible so we could get that early jump on the day...and that we did.
The main floor had this great bar
Alongside the bar was an old Charley Weaver bartender toy and an old smoking McGregor toy. We have the "fake" Charley Weaver toy from the same period (similar but without the name "Charley Weaver" on it). They were in great shape and really cool but, at $40 apiece, they were not taken home.
Although we passed on the old toys, we spent over an hour inside the house and found lots of great things to take home including some records, a vintage croquet set, some Christmas things, two hats for Monica. some vintage clothes for Monica, lots of books and more.
It was a great first sale and, as it turns out, our only sale. We knew we didn't have enough time to go to any other sales and still get some breakfast before getting ready for our trip out east. Our hunger won and we had no regrets. It was a great sale!
After breakfast, we piled into Monica's sister's van (along with Monica's dad, her sister and brother-in-law and her nephew and niece) for the drive out east. Uncle Bobby's property sits alongside a church which was having its annual sale and, of course, we stopped there first.
Monica used to go to this sale every year when she was much younger with her sister and Uncle Bobby. As with all church sales, they were so much better years ago.
Despite the encouragement from this mounted pencil sharpener inside the church, there was nothing except for a few free items they gave us as the sale was ending.
From there, it was onto Uncle Bobby's house. He owned the entire property (three plus acres) but lived in the second largest house, choosing the rent out the "Main House" each summer. He called his house "The Bungalow".
After breakfast, we piled into Monica's sister's van (along with Monica's dad, her sister and brother-in-law and her nephew and niece) for the drive out east. Uncle Bobby's property sits alongside a church which was having its annual sale and, of course, we stopped there first.
This tree seemed very surprised to see us!
Very surprised!
This is the "Main House" which will be occupied to his renters for the last time in just a couple of weeks. In October, they will move out and the property will be sold.
A great kitchen chair in the "Main House". We found three more in other areas of the house.
The attic was a tough climb and this view from below is pretty scary
We made it upstairs and found a few boxes of treasures to search
It is a big, dark attic
The only thing scarier than the climb up the attic steps was the discovery of this creepy doll living up there!
In the basement of the "Main House", we found this very old metal match holder which served a great purpose many years ago.
Another view of "The Bungalow" (Uncle Bobby's house) with a very cool old screen door.
A duck, albeit fake, made us feel at home
Uncle Bobby's kitchen was always so very cool!
The basement of "The Bungalow" had a mounted pencil sharpener. Well done, Uncle Bobby!
An old Calvert Whiskey sconce was in the basement, too.
We climbed into the attic of "The Bungalow" to search. Monica and Monica's sister were posing for the camera.
Two old tin toys from the 1930's were up there...a Marx tank and a Charlie McCarthy car. None of the items we found will come home with us. We were just helping out.
We also found this cool Popeye kazoo!
We didn't spend the entire trip indoors. Walking the property brought a lot of great memories to Monica and her family, too. We were not alone. The deer were watching us
This old abandoned car (which belonged to Uncle Bobby) has been here since before Monica was born.
The old "drunk on a pole" has become a drunk in the woods
He has seen better days.
The lawn jockey was just a shell of his former self.
There were other buildings on the property including this storage garage
This used to be a summer rental house but is no longer inhabitable. It was called "The Shady Rest".
"The Bunkhouse" was another of his summer rental houses but it, too, has fallen apart. We walked inside to find that a squirrel had broken in through the roof and caused a lot of damage inside. In fact, we found him petrified on the floor and, by petrified, we don't be scared (wink, wink)!
This small, old safe was in the entranceway of "The Bunkhouse". Monica's sister loved it!
We were out there for about four hours and it was quite the adventure. It will not be our last trip. We believe we have been enlisted to help with the cleanup and, of course, we will.
After a very long Saturday, we took the opportunity to sleep a little later on Sunday. There were sales out there on Sunday and, although we typically don't go running out both days of the weekend, we still the urge to go saling there were three that held some interest for us. All we had to do was look at each other to know what we were going to do. We showered, got dressed quickly and off we went!
Our plan was, originally to go to all three sales and we chose the one furthest north (and about 45 minutes away) for the first one. It was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies and was described as "Hoarders with decades of accumulation" with "lots of ephemera" and "holiday decorations". Although it was on its second day (it was originally on our first Saturday list), we had hope that there would be something left for us.
This beautiful 1969 Cougar was for sale but we were not in the market for a car.
There were many rooms they were packed! We spent over two hours just in the upstairs rooms!
Boxes and bags and boxes and boxes and piles and boxes and drawers and closets...and more boxes.
The upstairs bathroom was no longer used as a bathroom but it still was pink
It was a great house and a great sale. The owner of the house was named Betty and she was 90 years old and she was there the whole time. We had fun talking to her and enjoyed every minute of the three hours we spent here. By the time we left, we had two boxes of records, vintage greeting cards, vintage dresses for Monica, lots of Christmas things and so much more. Of course, having the long day we did on Saturday, coupled with our long stay here, made our decision to quit for the day, after just one sale, an easy one.
When we took the time to go through our weekend finds, here is what we saw:
A 7-inch record
A 10-inch record
Christmas records
Hawaiian records
Records by Fred Sanford and Bubba
Tijuana Brass on the left. Guadalajara Brass on the right.
Teenage records
"Cool" records
Some more records
Vintage drink guide books
Five annual drink books with calendars from Walters Liquor Store. The calendars inside are for 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966. The store is long gone.
An old Bacardi advertising package
Cookbooks
More cookbooks
Some more cookbooks
Some cookbooks from the New York Daily News
More cookbooks from the New York Daily News
Two naughty paperback books from the 1960's and two old road maps
Old, never used, scrapbooks
An old High School memory book. It is unused.
A page inside the High School memory book
More books and guides
Blue stamp books filled with stamps
Pin-up calendars. The Playmate calendar from 1961 is pretty innocent
Some old postcards
Two old record cleaning kits
An old National Geographic map and record
Two old liquor store calendar giveaways with mirrors
Vintage towels which need a washing
A vintage towel and apron set for Monica
A pair of hats for Monica. The one on the left has rubber alligators on it. The one on the right has little hats
A blue vintage dress for Monica
A black vintage dress for Monica
An orange vintage dress for Monica
A pink vintage dress for Monica
A yellow vintage dress for Monica
A vintage yellow skirt for Monica
A vintage red dress for Monica
Another vintage pink dress for Monica
Bar items
Some old cocktail umbrellas
A Yogi and Huck's cartoon stationery box (empty, unfortunately), a ceramic St. Patrick's Day decoration (marked Japan), a Barbie honeycomb decoration from the 1960's, a ceramic rabbit (marked Japan) and a New York World's Fair Attractions card set
A vintage croquet set which is something Rob has wanted for a long time
Vintage Christmas die-cut decorations and a vintage Christmas advertisement with a calendar (1964)
More vintage cardboard Christmas. Six are Christmas club ads from banks and the other two are ads for Christmas party catering.
Two more vintage Christmas ad die-cuts
Two vintage Valentine's Day honeycomb decorations and one vintage Thanksgiving honeycomb decoration
A vintage Easter honeycomb decoration with its original bag
A vintage bag of Christmas decoration. Only six pieces of the eleven remain but they are great ones!
A box full of vintage Christmas bulbs and a box of Noma fuses inside a vintage Christmas card box
A box of vintage Noel Matches
The matches inside the box of Noel Matches
Christmas stuff...a vintage table cloth in its package, a box of Christmas ornament hooks, some Christmas corsages, some Christmas cake picks, a Holt Howard ceramic Santa tray (marked Japan) and a package of Christmas coasters
More Christmas stuff... a Christmas banner, a package of Timco Christmas lights, an old reindeer, a Santa, a Christmas can (origin unknown) and a box of ceramic candle climbers. The Santa and the climbers are marked Japan
More Christmas stuff...a Santa, an elf, a white reindeer, a light up Santa pin, a winking Merry-Lite Christmas tree, a honeycomb Santa, a snowman squeak toy, a box of Christmas napkins, a knee hugger elf and a honeycomb snowman. The Santa, Christmas tree and the knee hugger are marked Japan
More Christmas stuff...a plastic Santa wall decoration, a pair of ceramic Santa mugs in their box, a blow mold church and a Sonsco Singing Santa, Everything but the church and plastic Santa wall decoration are marked Japan.
It was a very busy weekend and we were very fortunate that the two sales we attended were perfect for us! There is no rest for the weary. A full work week followed by our annual Cinco de Mayo party on Saturday were take up the next week. A daunting task for one person but for the two of us together...well, we got it covered!
Wow, this was an amazing post and I don't know where to start "liking". The stroll around Uncle Bobby's place, the Breakfast At Tiffany's album, Monica's new wardrobe...etc., etc., etc.,
ReplyDeleteThanks, Granny Annie! It was a busy weekend but a real fun one! (Rob)
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