Fifty Shades of Fun

A gorgeous Atlanta weekend made for lots of fun hunting for treasure, making costumes for grandchildren and receiving a surprise all the way from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.   On Saturday I hit a few of my favorite haunts and found some great treasure.

 Nice antique Bible dated 1917 and a pair of leather bound books from the late 1890s.

 Nice, American Primitive treenware masher.  Has that marvelous bleached patina.

 One of my favorite finds on Saturday.   Fantastic antique, hand penned sampler of a Calligrapher in antique frame.  I love everything about this from the chippy frame, the ragged parchment and broken glass and the purity of the elegant script. Circa 1880-1900s

Lucky enough to find another marvelous Victorian quilt. This crazy quilt is filled with rich velvets and silks with beautiful embroidery and hand piecing.  

Extremely rare, child’s WW2 play helmet – Commando Junior.   Machine pressed paper mache, painted “OD” (olive drab) green, it still has the original neck string, although a shoe lace has been added from lots of play time.  May be a Little Orphan Annie WW2 piece as part of her Junior Commando’s war effort for children. toys like this didn’t often last from hard play and usually made their way to the trash heap or burn barrel.  Circa 1943

 Nice Towle silverplated compote server in Chippendale pattern.

 Adore vintage mercury glass Christmas pieces and I found this huge beauty at a yard sale on Sunday for $2.00. 

Fifty shades of just too cool.  Nifty portable 45rmp player still runs.

Believe it or not, this is a goodwill find.  Nifty Victorian brush/comb box is walnut and has a pretty pattern on the front.

 

Gold brocade and lame thread Anglican vestments.  Perfect for a Halloween costume or use as part of a St. Nicholas robe over the Christmas holidays.

A corner in my Victorian booth is all decked out for Halloween.

 Halloween mantle charm.

 Fifty shades of fun this Halloween with these thigh high boots and sequined dresses with a silver mask make this the hot costume look for this year thanks to the best seller, Fifty Shades of Grey.

 I have the wicker mannequin loaded with big, metal spiders, a sword and helmet.

I printed silhouettes on dictionary sheets and framed for quick and unique Halloween decorative elements.

 Halloween is everywhere in my main booth on Queen Street at the Buford Queen of Hearts Antiques.  My Halloween has really flown out of the booth this year.

And finally, a facebook friend was visiting friends and family in Lancaster County, PA and following a trip to Roots Farmer's Market, they carried back produce to include the famous neck pumpkins that make the best pumpkin piece. To gild this lily, a bag of freshly picked peppers from their garden came with it.

 So in between sewing costumes I will be preparing pumpkin this week.  Wishing everyone fifty shades of joy. Sea Witch

She junks...she SCORES.

 I love junkin...antiquing...treasure hunting...call it anything you want. There is nothing like the hunt as you comb through aisles and booths, clean and filthy,  pick through items that are cracked, damaged or in pristine condition. You hunt, your search, and you wild goose chase because you know if you do this, you will discover marvelous things.  This weeks hunt found interesting items that I don't normally come across from the Civil War era to the present.

 How adorable is this sweet little tin litho kitchenette from the 1940s.  No bigger than 8 inches by 4 inches by 5 inches, this salmon pink toy has a secret.

 

The dishwasher you see in the middle actually flips to a refrigerator and a cooking stove and then a sink.

A magnificent quadruple silver plated tri cup candelabra.  This bad boy is big and in the finest condition I have ever come across for quad plate.  Circa 1890s.

 

 Love these gold leaf frames and this oval bad boy is huge and is a lovely decorative element.  1950s.

 Found this magnificent Victorian frame at Vintage Village and then this antique, hand painted sacred heart on silk that was sitting in a goldtone photo frame at Goodwill.  I removed the silk painting from the tacky photo frame and put it in the Victorian frame and this is the result...a terrific marriage of two, late 1890s pieces.

 

Here is the jewel in my treasure hunt this weekend.  A gorgeous, in as close to perfect condition as a collector could hope, Civil War era folding parasol.  Beautiful black lace with fine ruffled lace edging, this pretty little piece folds down to about 9 inches for tucking into your carriage bag.

 Lovely, just lovely.  Victorian women would never let the sun touch their face so ladies of means always had a parasol at their hands. 

 Closeup of the lace. 1860s

 Here is a photo of what these types of parasols look like when folded.  I had forgotten to take a photo of mine folded and I wanted you to see how they collapse. 

Came across this sweet pair of Tiffany influence stained glass study lamps by Elements.  This lighting company is know for its quality lighting.  I have come across Elements lamps in the past and never keep them in the booths very long.  These have a lovely, golden glow.

 

 A pair of petit point flowers on silk gauze in beautiful gold leaf dimensional frames.  Rich in color, these have 60 stitches to the inch.  Circa 1940s.

Darling pair of late Victorian vases.  Fine milk glass in a matt finish with transferware cupids.  Believe it or not I paid $1.50 a piece for these.

 

 I sold the large oak mirror last week so I filled the mantle and wall with lots of antique pictures, large and small.

A pair of beautiful, vintage treenware bowls.  One is huge, one of the biggest I have come across.  The smaller has a small footed base.  Both are in fantastic condition and from the 1930s.  Yup, that's a sassy red fish in the display.  I couldn't resist the big plastic fish when I saw it and it is a fun decorative element. And last, but not least, a gourd dipper.  These were the water sippers found near every public drinking pump or bucket.

As I said, it was a wondrous weekend for treasure.  This vintage dress form was found at my local Goodwill for $10.81.  I practically ran to it when I saw it standing in the group of items at the front of the store.   Dress forms are such fun to use as display and since I got this one cheap, I priced it at a good price for the buyer.  Circa 1930s

Fell in love with this pretty little violin bottle that once held brandy.  It is tall and the prettiest shade of the palest blue.  A nifty musical piece that makes a great candlestick or drop a tiny glow stick into it and put it on your patio table for light.

Cut a yellow rose from my garden and placed it in an antique bottle which is the prettiest shade of blue.  The lovely scent of this yellow rose filled the living area.

I took one of the images and used the water colors filter in Adobe Photoshop.  I really like the way the re image came out. If you like the image, please feel free to right click and save it and use it as you see fit. 

Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate it when you visit.  Blessings to you and those you love. Sea Witch