LATEST FINDS

It's always fun to find vintage restaurant china! I especially love the tiny little butter pat!

MORE POTTERY!

So I stopped into one of my favorite places today. Kind of an indoor, on-going yard sale run by a very nice lady who happens to collect everything that i love! She's in the process of downsizing on some of her collections... lucky for me! Every time I visit her I leave with something good! Today was extra special as I walked away with 25 pieces of pottery! :-)

VINTAGE ICE CREAM CONTAINERS

Here are some fun vintage ice cream containers. I love the graphics on vintage packaging.

BARGAINS!!

If you are in the area of Phoenixville, PA, make a point of stopping at 320 Bridge Street where EVERYTHING is 70% OFF!! Antiques and Collectibles galore! So much to see. Glass, pottery, jewelry, art and so much more. If you are looking for cool mid-century glassware, they have it. Depression glass, they have it. Tins, vintage beaded fruit, vintage handbags, need i say more! But go soon because they are only going to be open til December and I have a feeling more and more people will catch on and clean the place out! Anyway, it was pottery for me... 8 nice planters and a cool mid-century lamp which was $7, oh and a little something for my friend Alan! Ask for Gail... she'll help you with prices. This shop which she called the 70% OFF SHOP is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11-4 but will stay open later if you are still in there shopping!

LITTLE DAIRY CREAMERS

These little dairy creamers with advertising is another one of my favorite collections. They were used in diners and restaurants in the 30s, 40s and 50s and came in a few sizes. I especially love the ones that came from Thompson's dairy... since that is my name! This collection started as I was walking down 9th avenue in Manhattan, my old neighborhood... a guy had some junk out on the sidewalk for sale and there were 4 of these little creamers... all from Homestead Dairies. I could not resist them... paid a dollar for all 4!

GUEST COLLECTORS!!

I grew up in a home filled with many collections. Different than what I collect... more fine antiques, primitive items, china, stoneware and more. Shown here is my mom's collection of royal family commemoratives and dad's collection of mini antique irons.

SUNDAY ANTIQUING

Quakertown, PA is a cool little town with a few really good antique shops all located on East Broad Street, which they call their Antique District! A favorite of mine is TROLLEY HOUSE EMPORIUM. 108-114 East Broad Street. Lots of stuff!!! And if you need chairs... they have them! Also, ANTIQUES at 200 EAST and EAST BROAD ANTIQUES at 141 East Broad have tons of stuff too! Then a few miles away is QUAKER ANTIQUE MALL at 70 Tollgate Road, another great place with great stuff!

GUEST COLLECTORS!

My good friends Susan and Simon sent me these great shots... Susan's vintage compacts and Simon's vintage hats. THANKS GUYS... these are fab! :-)

SUNDAY ANTIQUING

Another favorite shop is BROOKS ANTIQUES in Frenchtown, Hunterdon County, NJ. They have a great selection of primitive antiques, furniture, artwork, country collectibles and lots of cool unique items. Located at 24 Bridge Street. 908-996-7161. Open 11:00 to 5:00 Thursday thru Sunday. Definitely stop in! Check out this link as well: http://www.frenchtowner.com/Brooks-Antiques.html

SUNDAY ANTIQUING

Another one of my favorite places: HAWLEY ANTIQUE EXCHANGE, Route 6, Hawley, PA. Loads of great stuff!! http://www.haexchange.com.

VINTAGE WIRE PLANT STANDS

Can't have enough of these stands! Great for displaying pottery or anything although I am running out of places to put them!

MORE COLORFUL POTTERY

I counted 196 pieces of pottery in one room! Yikes! :-)

SUNDAY ANTIQUING

The ANTIQUE BARN at Springtown is loaded with stuff! Antiques and collectibles... Kitchen and household items, glassware, pottery, jewelry, linens, artwork, furniture, vintage accessories and more... something for everyone! Be sure and stop in if you are antiquing in Bucks County. 3171 Route 212, Springtown, PA 18081. Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10 - 5 and Sunday 12 -5. I Love it!!

NEW COLLECTION?

So I am totally loving these vintage souvenir tree bark canoes! 3 so far... need 10 to call it a collection! Stay tuned!

MADONNA PLANTERS

... And yes, I collect vintage Madonna planters too! This collection had been packed away in boxes for a long time because I haven't found the right piece of furniture to display them yet. I was visiting a friend who has a really cool collection of vintage religious stuff and I was inspired to unpack some of my favorites and display them on a small corner shelf for now. This collection was also featured in a cool art exhibit at one time called In The Eyes Of... the show featured religious artwork chosen from various collections and my Madonna's were displayed on high ledges that went all around the gallery. It was very cool!

PINK!

I love pink pottery!

MORE VINTAGE FLORIDA!

Vintage shell boxes and flamingos! Love them too!

VINTAGE FLORIDA!

Vintage Florida souvenirs are the best! Love them! Here are a few... more to come!

GUEST COLLECTOR!

Yay! Another GUEST COLLECTOR! Shown here are some highlights from my friend Jo-Ann's vintage hammered aluminum collection. The round and oval pieces are signed "Rodney Kent". Most hammered aluminum pieces made their way into homes from the 1930s through the 1950s as wedding gifts. Colorful anodized aluminum wares were popular with homemakers through the ‘50s and early ‘60s. Names to look for on collectible hammered aluminum pieces are Arthur Armour, Continental Silver Company, Everlast, Buenilum, Rodney Kent and Pamer-Smith. Anodized aluminum is very popular with collectors today... pieces that may have sold for 25 cents or less years ago at yard sales and flea markets are selling for much more now, especially the colored aluminum pitchers, serving trays and larger bowls when found in excellent condition. Thanks for sharing Jo-Ann!

VINTAGE ART SUPPLIES

I love the look of old packaging from art supplies. From fun pastel and paint tins to cool boxes from pencils and charcoal, this collection is kind of scattered around our art studio. Little groupings are placed on different shelves and ledges for an interesting look!

PAST COLLECTIONS

I find that I go through phases with my collections. As much as I love all of my collections, I will rearrange stuff and then find that a certain collection no longer fits in. That doesn't mean that I don't still love the collection, but I guess I have gotten as much as I can get out of it and it's time focus on another collection or start a new one. After a trip to the flea market this past Sunday with good friends Tom & Alan (See older posts / Guest Collectors), we were talking over brunch and Alan suggested that it might be fun to post past collections, so... here's one that I loved... but no longer have as I have sold them all... snowglobes... over 200!! Shown here is part of the collection when it was displayed in my Manhattan apartment. Along with the snowglobes went vintage postcards from the US States, the beginning of my (world) globe collection and a framed vintage Florida map tablecloth. As much as I loved the snowglobes, I don't miss dusting them!!

YARD SALE FINDS!

I love these vintage glass pitchers. Another great find... and addition to my vintage kitchen!

GUEST COLLECTORS!

It's more from my favorite guest collectors Tom and Alan! Yay! Their latest, dog show trophies! Tom got lucky and found all of these in a box. Instant collection... what more can you ask for!

VINTAGE FLOWER POT COVERS

These belonged to my grandmother. They are probably from the 30's or 40's. They are made of tin and are hand-painted. They are supposed slip on top of plain or clay flower pots to make them look more decorative! I love them as is... just standing alone.

CHALKWARE

I love chalkware! Shown here are some examples of my fruit chalkware that hangs all around my vintage kitchen. It's so colorful and fun! I found the large apple shown in the center at one of my favorite local thrift shops just laying on a shelf mixed in with other junk. I am so glad I spotted it!! And, it was 50 cents!!

BLOGS!

Hey... so my BLOG was featured on another BLOG! Cool!
http://www.laracollins.com/home/2010/6/16/a-real-collector.html.
See picture above where she chose her favorites from my blog!

I came across Lara's Etsy store and saw that she had some very cool vintage items. From there I clicked on her links and found her Texas based shop called ENID and also her BLOG, Designer / Collector. If you are ever in Fredericksburg, Texas you'll have to check out her shop or visit it online at: http://www.enidlifestyle.com. Thanks again Lara!

VINTAGE PORTRAITS

George spotted this fabulous, mid-century vintage portrait at a cool old book/antique shop in Old City, Philadelphia this past Sunday. What a find!! Signed SLATER '56 upper right corner and on the back there is a label from the Newman Gallery on Walnut Street.

YELLOW!

Found this vintage garden sprinkler at a yard sale... yay! Nice addition to my sprinkler collection. (see older posts) And, I love that it's yellow!

TODAY'S FIND

I love yard sale season! Found this vintage plant stand this morning for $5.00. I'm happy! :-)

MORE GROUP PHOTOS!

Check out my older posts to see the rest of my group photo collection. The 2 largest ones shown here were purchased at a Bloomingdale's/Ralph Lauren prop sale for $3.00 each! I carried them home on the subway in the pouring rain. They were the first 2 I bought... the beginning of the collection!

OLD MIRRORS

A few of my old mirrors...

GUEST COLLECTORS!!

Another cool collection from the home of Tom & Alan is this series of British boys books by G.A. Henty which are about adventures all over the world from the turn of the century. They were published worldwide but the original publisher Blackie & Sons, London, had these distinctive figures on the spine. Tom displays these on a high, wall to wall shelf in his studio and I just love the way they look! Shown here just an example.

GUEST COLLECTORS!!

I love to visit the home of my good friends Tom and Alan. They have a very beautiful and unique house filled with all sorts of cool stuff! Shown here: Alan's vintage typewriter ribbon tin collection and 2 vintage typewriters! Very cool! Check back to see more cool collections from T & A! Thanks for being my first GUEST COLLECTORS!

McCOY FLOWER POTS

More favorites!

CERAMIC ROOSTERS

More fun! These colorful, vintage, ceramic roosters are also part of my kitchen collectibles. It was not my intention to start a collection of these! I picked up a cute one for 10 cents at a weekend flea market on 9th avenue when I was still living in NYC... need I say more! Shown here just a few highlights!

RECENT FINDS!

It's rummage sale season! Yay! I found the cocktail shaker in the middle with the Wedgewood pattern for 25 cents, the one to the right which has an etched pattern was 50 cents and I went a bit higher for the one on the left... black and gold stripes... $8.00. Nice additions to my collection! (See older posts.)

PIE BIRDS

More kitchen collectibles. I have sold off most of this collection but saved these favorites.

SUNDAY ANTIQUING

Stopped in at The Old Lumberyard Antique Shops in Milford, PA this past Sunday. It's one of my favorite places! 2 huge buildings FILLED with great stuff! Something for everyone... vintage radios, primitive antiques, furniture, mid-century items, glass, dishes, pottery, artwork, 50s lamps, which BTW they had tons of... great ones... and I was very tempted, books, old garden stuff, and more! The "season" has begun! YAY!

EGG CUPS

Some more of my kitchen collectibles. Egg cups! Small enough to be displayed along ledges, moulding and little shelves! Shown here just a few favorites!

DISPLAY IDEA

This wooden rack comes from an old church pew. It was used to hold the bibles and hymn books. Now it's used to display some of my vintage restaurant china!

A FAVORITE...

I haven't posted my flamingo collection yet. Yep, that's right! Flamingos! Vintage, ceramic flamingos and other stuff like vintage souvenirs from Florida that have flamingos on them, etc... Anyway, this is a favorite piece. A wooden, painted tray that I found on a table of JUNK at an estate sale. 25 cents!

VINTAGE LAUNDRY BAGS

I even have collections in my laundry room! Here are some vintage, embroidered laundry bags and a CAT that had to get in the picture!

LADY HEAD VASES

A few favorites from my collection. These lady head vases were used for flower arrangements in the 50s and 60s. Most are dated on the bottom and made by companies like INARCO and NAPCO. Some had dangling pearl earrings and pearl necklaces. They come in all sizes and have become very expensive. I don't really buy many of these anymore unless I see them at a yard sale or thrift store for little money. At antique shops they can go for $75 or more.

VINTAGE METAL TRAYS

More yard sale finds from my vintage kitchen.

GARDEN HOSE NOZZLES

Again, don't ask!! :-) I had picked up a box of junk at a yard sale and there was a garden hose nozzle in there... I thought it looked cool placed amongst some of my other vintage garden stuff. Then, I found a few more here and there, some came from friends (thanks Mark & Carol!) and before you know it, another collection was started!

WOODEN ROLLING PINS

Another kitchen collection!