Our July Three-Day Weekend

We are still a little behind on our blogging but we are getting real close to being caught up. We will be soon!

The second weekend in July was a three-day weekend for us as we took a vacation day on Friday. We just had our first two 90 degree days of July (we had 90 degree days in June) but the weather got cool on Friday and it would be a comfortable weekend for saling. There were two sales of interest to us and we were ready to go...and so, we did! 

Sale #1 was run by a tag sale company who have some really good sales and we were hoping that this would be another of them. With "60 years of accumulation" in the description, we were hoping for another good one! 

We saw a mounted pencil sharpener not long after we stepped inside the door. Good sign! 

The basement was big and had many boxes filled with potential. It also had a great floor! 

We had lots of people praying for us to do well! 

"Creepy Doll Head" alert! 

"Styrofoam Cups Made To Look Like An Animal" alert! 

Upstairs, the kitchen had its original knotty pine cabinets! 

Another look at this great kitchen

Yes, the pink bathroom was original to this house, too! 

It was a good first stop and we found a few things to start our weekend saling. Some records, some Christmas things, a book, a vintage poodle appliance cover and more were now ours.

Our next stop was a thrift shop nearby whose sign we had seen on the way to that first sale. It was calling our name.

Before we went in, we saw a rabbit hiding behind some recycle pails. It wasn't a mounted pencil sharpener but it was four rabbit's feet! 

It was a nice thrift shop and we were lucky to be here during their "fill a bag with books for $1" sale. Rob found several sports books. We also found two unopened reusable coffee filter baskets and a pair of Christmas records.

After stopping for some breakfast, we made our way to the second sale which was privately run and described as an estate sale with antiques and "everything must go". It was the second week of this sale. We must have missed it the first week. The patio and the main floor had lots of stuff including what may very well have been the biggest cupie doll collection ever. That didn't interest us but a 1950's plastic bread box, a plastic spoon rest, a pair of salt and pepper shakers from 1940 and a few others things did and they became ours.

We made a few more stops at thrift shops on the way home, including this one which we visit when we have the time. Our thrift store hopping brought us a vintage candy dish, a dress shirt for Rob, a record, some Pez dispensers and twenty sealed lip balms for Monica.

It was a good Friday of saling and a great day of fun together for the two of us. We weren't through for the weekend. There was only one sale of interest for us on Saturday so choosing a route was pretty easy. 

Saturday's sale was "Grandma's and Grandpa's treasures" and, of course, that sounded good. It was a privately run sale so there wasn't a crowd when we arrived when it opened.

There was a garage and several main floor rooms to search and we did. We saw this old pink bathroom which was original to the house. By the time we left, it was with some cookbooks and books, some cocktail stirrers and a can opener.

On the way home, we stopped at this goodwill store so old time's sake. We remember when places like this offered treasures waiting to be found. This is no longer the case and it was not the case today. We left with nothing.

We had plenty of time to enjoy the rest of our Saturday together and to enjoy our Sunday, too, and we got all of our errands and chores done with plenty of time to spare. We also had more than enough time to look at the weekend's finds. This is what we saw:

Records

Cookbooks and party books

Baseball books

A horror movie book and a football book

1960's NASA souvenirs

Cocktail stirrers

A vintage candy dish, a vintage spoon rest, a Knickerbocker Beer can opener and some Pez dispensers.

A vintage poodle appliance cover

A red Lustro Ware bread box

An old Halloween die-cut decoration and some Halloween Pez dispensers

Salt and pepper shakers. 

Christmas things! A Santa head (marked Japan), a vintage corsage for Monica, a small plastic nativity set with its box (marked Hong Kong), a plastic snowman decoration and some Pez dispensers

More Christmas things! Two records, a creepy Santa (marked Japan) and a Gurley candle.

It was a great weekend spent together and the extra day off was appreciated greatly. The cooler temperatures were also appreciated though a heat wave is expected to arrive again during the week. No worries!

Remember the vintage 1960's bathing suit we found recently? Sharon, our mannequin, is now ready no matter how hot it gets! 

More Time Out East

We are still a little behind on our blog but have been great progress. We are almost caught up! 

The second weekend in July came after an abbreviated workweek broken up by Independence Day. Although it was only four days long, it sure seemed a lot longer! Nonetheless, the weekend eventually arrived and we had saling on our minds. There were five sales on our list and we hoped to make all of them. None were run by tag sale companies we knew so we were unable to judge whether the sales would be good. Mystery is not a bad thing. Off we went to see what the day would bring.

Our first sale was listed as "entire contents" and records were amongst the items listed. There wasn't anything specific that drew us here but drawn we were and, upon arrival, it was time to search the house.

The garage had a cool, old barbell set still in its box but it did not come home with us.

There was also an old Aqua Marina steel wall pool in its box. It did not come home with us either.

The basement was filled with records and we spent lots of time searching through the bins. There weren't many people at this sale as it was not a tag sale run by a tag sale company and probably suffered from less publicity.

This kitchen was truly great! Look at those wooden cabinets! Look at the built-in stove and the chrome wall behind it! 

Here is a closer look at the cool stove. Did you notice the countertop? 

Yes...the countertop has a very colorful fruit pattern

The bathroom was great, too! Pink! 

We really enjoyed this house a lot and, even if we didn't find anything, we would have enjoyed it but we did not leave empty-handed. We took an old metal barbecue tray, two glasses, two records and some books. It was a good start to the day! 

After getting some breakfast, we made our way to sale #2. It was listed as being run by a tag sale company that we hadn't seen in about two years. It was described as a "one day sellout of 60 years". The ad listed "Christmas" and "ephemera" amongst the things that could be found in this house. Would we find them? 

When we arrived, we found that the sale was narrowed down to four rooms and that it was a different tag sale company that must have grabbed the name when the old one faded away. The four rooms were worth searching but we didn't leave with much. Some books and one cocktail stirrer became ours after this sale.

Sale #3 was run by a tag sale company but one whose sales we have never attended. We think that they are fairly new and we wondered what to expect from "multi-generations of antique collecting".

There were lots of rooms and lots to look through and that made this interesting.

The basement was really big and brought us more opportunities to dig

Towards the back of the basement was the remnants of an old circus-themed linoleum floor which was covered with the dirt of fifty plus years. We had never seen a floor like this and we enjoyed seeing it a lot! 

This tag sale company was well organized and friendly and we wouldn't hesitate to go to more of their sales if the description intrigued us. We left with a pair of New York State souvenir cardboard signs, an old stamp album kit, a pair of 1960's baseball tumblers, records, booklets and a vintage shower cap for Monica and all at a very reasonable price which is another reason why this tag sale company is now on our radar.

Sale #4 was in Monica's hometown and, as always, is a great place to be at the end of the saling day when we are planning to visit Monica's dad. Yes, we decided to scratch the last sale off our list since it was thirty minutes away and showed only minor potential especially since it was the second day of that sale. This last sale turned out to be a quick one. We didn't expect much since its only description was "entire contents" and there were no pictures to support the sale. We didn't expect much and we didn't get much. We brought home one vintage Christmas angel.

Our next stop was Monica's dad's house for our weekly visit with her dad. It turned out to be a short one as just thirty minutes into the visit, Monica's sister called to see if we wanted to spend a couple of hours at Uncle Bobby's house to do some more cleanup. Of course, with all the work still ahead of us, it would not of made sense to say no so we drove home, unloaded the car and drove to Monica's sister's house so we could all make the trip out east together. 

Before moving on to the second part of our day, here's a look at what we unloaded from our car before heading out east:

7-inch Peter Pan records

More 7-inch records

12-inch records

Cookbooks and a drink recipe book

More books

A vintage stamp album kit with its box

Postcards

A vintage shower cap for Monica

Cocktail stirrers

Vintage New York State cardboard signs

A vintage metal barbecue tray

Glasses and tumblers

An old Christmas angel

A half day of saling was behind and a trip to Uncle Bobby's was ahead of us. We planned to spend about four hours out there before stopping for dinner on the way back. 

Our primary goal was to empty the remainder of Uncle Bobby's attic which is what we did, except for one large trunk. Valerie, Monica and Lenny pose to smile from the rafters.

We found machine gun shells up in that attic (Uncle Bobby was a marine) and we decided to leave these alone although we were pretty sure that the shells were empty.

When we were done and ready for dinner, the deer decided it was their dinner time, too, and started to graze.

We accomplished a lot and separated the personal things for the family (letters and pictures), items for the future estate sale and some things for us to bring home and, in that latter category, we found quite a bit. These were the things that came home with us:

Two old home designing magazines

Another old home designing magazine

Old seed catalogs

More old seed catalogs

A few more old seed catalogs

Two more old seed catalogs

Some old car magazines

An old pin-up magazine

Postcards, advertising cards for catsup, two old ashtrays and a deck of TWA playing cards.

An old wooden cigar box that belonged to Uncle Bobby. He wrote his initials, RB, on the box.

A 1939 New York World's Fair pennant that is a little tattered but great nonetheless.

Another worn 1939 New York World's Fair pennant

It was a fun day and we were all starved when we made it to the diner for a Saturday night diner dinner. Starved and maybe a bit silly, too! 

As you can imagine, our very full Saturday left us a little worn out on Sunday but we managed to get everything done that we needed to do...and nothing more. We needed to gear up for the workweek ahead; a workweek that would only have four days in it since we took a vacation day on Friday. We were looking forward to it!