Mid-Century Mania!

I came across these two items at thrift stores recently, and it make me want to go all Mid-Century Mod in my own home! The vintage ice crusher actually cost more than the aluminum desk chair, which was an unbelievable steal at $5 -- who prices this stuff anyway?! Both will go in my flea market booth in hopes that October's War Eagle shoppers like mid-century decor!

Vintage Oster Snoflake Ice Crusher - works fabulously!

Magnificent Maks is guarding the Magnificent Chair

Eat Your Heart Out Frontgate!

I don't know how I got on the mailing list for Frontgate's catalogs -- I certainly can't afford to buy anything from it! But it's fun to look I suppose.

One of the things I admired from their catalog was a solid mahogany rolling table/laptop caddy. Not willing to pay the $250 price, I filed it away in my mental wish list.

Imagine my excitement when I saw one of these tables at the flea market where I maintain a booth. Even better, it was priced at just $25!!! Yeah, it has a few small knicks to the finish, but nothing that can't be touched up.

Happy Days! :-)

from Frontgate catalog - $249



My $25 flea market steal!



Barbie Mink Stole: A Tale of Terror and Triumph!

A few years ago, a friend handed over a box of her childhood Barbie  dolls and accessories for me to sell for her. I had a ball going through it all, researching and selling it on eBay. After all was said and done, the stuff brought in well over $1000 and I was very happy with my 30% commission! And in the process I learned a LOT about vintage Barbie dolls and accessories!

One of the most valuable and elusive vintage Barbie items is a genuine mink stole that was a Sears exclusive in 1964-65. The mink retailed for $9.95, which was quite a lot of money for a Barbie coat in the 60s! If you’re lucky enough to have one that is still in the original packaging, you have a small fortune on your hands - $4,000 or more on a good day. One that no longer has the packaging but is still in great shape usually bring $1,000-$2,000 on eBay. I made it my quest to find one of these minks for a low price and flip it for a profit.

I came across one for sale on rubylane.com, which was a low traffic website at the time (lucky me!). The seller was asking $1,200, but I eventually negotiated the purchase price down to $950. The day it arrived in the post, I stood in the living room and tore open the package. The second I remove the mink from the envelope, my cat Lola jumped up in the air and snatched it from my hands! “OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!,” was all I could say as I chased her down! The minute I snatched it back, I threw it in a dresser drawer and started formulating a plan to get rid of it as quickly as possible. It made my stomach churn to have spent that much money on a piece of vintage Barbie clothing, let alone a cat toy!

The next disaster occurred when I was putting the mink on a doll in order to take photos of it for eBay. “How does her arm go through the armhole?” I grumbled to myself as I heard a rip. “OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!” I had just ripped a seam on the mink! It was then that I realized that the mink wasn’t a coat, it was a stole and therefore did not have armholes! ARGGGHHHHHHH!

At this point I just wanted to get rid of the thing before I completely destroyed it! I listed it on eBay, and it sold for $1,600 within two weeks. I shipped it to the new owner, and held my breath for days waiting to hear that the buyer was happy with his purchase (yes, it was a HE who purchased it). He was, and I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief!

So, if you’re ever digging through vintage doll clothing and see something that looks like a furry cat toy, you may have just hit the jackpot!

I'm sure you can see why my cat thought it was something to play with!

Note the original Barbie label inside the stole - this is what makes it so valuable!

A Good Use for Vintage Suitcases

How many of you have packed for a trip and had your pet curl up in your suitcase? I know my cats are obsessed with my suitcase before and after a trip! Pets, especially cats, LOVE suitcases, so kudos to the clever person who came up with the idea of turning vintage suitcases into pet beds!

I have a number of vintage suitcases around my house, and I'm inspired to try this with one of them! In the meantime, I picked out some of my favorites from talented people on ETSY.

(click on the photo to view the listing on ETSY, or to see other suitcase pet beds the seller may have available.)

Chinese Rice Buckets

I scored three gorgeous antique rice buckets at an antique store this weekend for $35 each! These were traditionally used to gather rice and grain in China. I haven’t fully committed to their use yet, but all three will probably end up in my bathroom as they are great for holding books, magazines, towels, and orchids! I love the character of the wood and the ancient appeal of them.

German Christmas Pyramid

If you had asked me about a German Pyramid four months ago, I wouldn’t have had a clue what you were talking about. But I attended a Christmas dinner at a German colleague’s house in December, and she had the most interesting wooden Christmas decorations from Germany. One in particular was a wooden nativity scene with a windmill powered by heat from candles, otherwise known as a German or Christmas Pyramid (Weihnachtspyramide). A little online snooping, and I found out that these are a long-standing German tradition and are quite expensive! They also come in many sizes from a simple one-tier pyramid to enormous outdoor versions found in the Christmas Markets of Germany.

While treasure hunting this weekend, I came across this box containing a Pyramid at a flea market.  Honestly, this item is something I wouldn’t glance twice at if I hadn’t been armed with my newfound knowledge. It was priced at $10 “as is” which usually means it has some damage or missing parts. The only thing I found wrong with it was a couple of pieces that needed to be re-glued.

The pyramid I found is a 17” hexagon with three tiers. The holy family and wisemen are on the first tier, shepherds and sheep on the second tier, and trumpeting angels on the third tier. When the candles are lit, the windmill at the top spins in turn spinning the figures on the first and second tiers.

The best part is that I looked online to see if I could find this particular pyramid. I found one very similar priced at $330 new!

Christmas Pyramids – Wikipedia – features a little history plus a photo of a pyramid very similar to mine as well as some of the very large pyramids in the German Christmas Markets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pyramid

Buy Pyramids (see item 16730 for the one similar to mine): http://www.christmas-treasures.com/EuropeanImports/GermanPyramids.htm