Shopping with the Vintage Traveler, Summer 2021

Over the past few months I’ve spent much more time finding homes for vintage treasures than I have in looking for new ones. Still, I have been able to carve out some time for vintage shopping.

The sign above would have been great for my collection except that it is a reproduction. Still, it was a great example of how the promise of leisure was a big selling point in 1911.

One of the theories of how “flappers” were named comes from the huge floppy hairbows they wore as girls. Here we see a future flapper and that giant bow.

I’m not a “cat person” but this was such a great buy for some feline fan.

Remember Remco? That toy company made lots of novel products, many from molded plastic like this “spinning wheel”.

I don’t know if you can make sense of my photo, but the wheel was actually a giant knitted cord maker. It’s a gadget we used to make with an old wooden spool and a few nails. No wonder this one was like new. There was so little that could actually be made with it.

I loved this hair dryer case.

For once the WAC is out front instead of in the flyer’s shadow.

Simply put, this is one of the nicest thread spool cases I’ve ever seen.

This is a cold weather mask, probably for a pilot. The store was closed, so this was window shopping at its worst. I suspect this was a military piece.

Cypress Gardens was an attraction in Florida that showcased skilled water skiers.

Someone bought one of these toy sewing machines for me when I was about ten. It only made a chain stitch, and I hated it.

Oh, my, but these Dior counter displays were peachy.

The dealer’s tag declared this was a 1970s Betsey Johnson dress, but I had my doubts. There was no label, and it sure looks 1990s.

In one antique mall, Liza and I found three antique parasols. All were pretty, but unfortunately, they were also shredding.

So, how was your summer?

Shopping with The Vintage Traveler, Spring, Summer, and Fall 2020

Let’s not pretend that the past eight months have been anywhere near normal. All my favorite shopping events were cancelled, and day to day antique and vintage shopping has been difficult. Still I persevered and made a few well-protected trips into those wonderous spaces called antique malls. Here’s a look at what I did not buy.

I love vintage packaging, and had there been a little dog on a leash helping with the Christmas shopping, I would have bought this.

This was just sad. I found the perfect slippers but in a child size.

This is a vintage picnic hamper. I’ve been wanting one for quite a while, but I just can’t seem to find just the right piece. Someday…

There might have been treasure in this box, but I just didn’t have the patience to sort it all out.

I guess I could have used that sportswear sign.

This ready-made collection of eyeglasses surely delighted some reseller who knew these were a bargain at around $12 a pair.

Somehow the thought of cleaning my face with a substance that comes out of what looks like a Comet scouring powder container is not very appealing.

The temptation was real, but so was the fact that I do not need another Scottie bookshelf.

Technically, this quilt was not for sale. It’s part of an old stuff display in a roadside tourist trap. But the applique elephants were just too good not to share.

Sorry about the quality of this photo, but I hope you can tell this is a 1920s salesman’s sample box with an ice skating scene.It’s from Detmer Woolens, and I have a similar box featuring a beach scene. Had this one been in color, I would have bought it.

I’ll let these 1960s boots speak for themselves, and what they are saying is, “I am fabulous!”

So many wonderful vintage posters; so little wall space.

Shopping with the Vintage Traveler – Winter 2020

I’m here to break to monotony of home exile with a bit of virtual shopping for the cabin fevered.  I went on my last shopping expedition for a while last week, and I’m hoping the Liberty Antiques Festival will go on as usual at the end of April. Otherwise, I might have a meltdown. Joking aside, be smart people.

All these photos were taken over a period of several months, in Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, and North Georgia.

I love souvenir items from my region. I’m only about thirty miles from the Eastern Band of Cherokee “reservation”, which is not in Tennessee at all, and is not a true reservation.  Still, this pillow accurately shows what tourists were apt to see in the 1940s or 50s when visiting Cherokee, NC.

If this had pictured a woman golfer, I would have bought it.

Scariest Santa ever.  I love old masks, and have collected a few Halloween ones. They are always creepy.

If I return to this antique mall and this is still there, I’ll probably buy it. As it was, the piece was over-priced and over-ruffled. Still, I love that sailor so much.

I love how sometimes you can tell where an antique store is located just by thinking about the products for sale. In North Georgia I saw a lot of chenille bedspreads. That’s where they were made.

Some time ago I wrote about the Iowa button industry. I had no idea they were also made in Chattanooga, from mussel shells from the Tennessee River.

I liked this Squaw Valley souvenir ski thermometer.

As the Boomers start dying off, will anyone care about Howdy Doody? (I met Buffalo Bob at an Asheville Tourists baseball game some years ago. Such a nice man!)

Sex sells anything, even Mosco Corn Remover.

And here’s more chenille, this time in East Tennessee. This one is a more modern synthetic, but what about that peacock!?

I’ve seen a lot of Enid Collins bags recently, including quite a few I’d never seen before. I loved this poodle. I was once lucky enough to talk with Collin’s son, and asked him if they ever produced a Scottie dog bag. He told me he did not know, and there were many that had limited production, so it was possible one might show up one day. I can hope.

This beach jacket is for a small child. I want a big one, please.

There are some sellers on Instagram who could sell this holey sweater for $$$.

I found the semi-local label interesting.

How pretty is that lavender dress? It came with the hat and the dressform and was priced accordingly.

Simply gorgeous!

I’ve always tended to think of Victorian and Edwardian collars as white, so seeing these striped ones was an education.

Slickers, with the original box!

This is the only way to effectively sell hair nets.

At first I was distracted by the stand-up ad for the World’s Lightest Outboard, and then I noticed the Christian Dior gloves display piece. What a treasure!

And may your day be filled with treasures as well!

Shopping with the Vintage Traveler, Spring 2019

The weather here in the mountains has been so perfect that it seems like we’ve spent the last month sitting in our backyard, watching the birds. But a look through my photo files revealed some interesting things found locally and on the road that I loved but did not buy.

Above is a very large decal of a Corticelli cat that has been applied to a painted board. I have no idea what the reasoning was, but I can’t resist vintage thread memorabilia.

I spotted this pretty Jeanne Lanvin pochoir in a local store. If a pochoir has a little girl in it, it’s probably by Lanvin.

I loved this advertising sign for hooks and eyes. The puffed sleeves date this as circa 1895.

This is a shot from an antique mall in Jonesborough, Tennessee. I run across this hole-in-the-floor feature in old stores from time to time. I had the salesperson in an old country store tell me that the whole town knew the owner stood at the rail and watched for shoplifters.

This amazing sign was at Dodson’s Dig in Greenville, South Carolina. It had been on display in a restaurant, but the sign originally was above a  Greenville, Mississippi corset shop.

Dodson’s Dig is a fantastic place. It’s easy to get carried away playing, as Liza did here.

Art Nouveau girls are the best.

If I had a wall that needed covering, I’d be tempted to seek out the best fruit crate labels and have them framed.

This is an advertising poster (see husband’s fingers for size comparison). I got all excited until I saw the $17.95 price tag, because I knew immediately that it had to be a reproduction. And it was,

On a whim, I went to the Hillsville, Virginia Memorial Day flea market. I’ve written here about Hillsville many times, as I go to the Labor Day market every year. It’s a huge chaotic affair, and though it’s crazy and exhausting, I can’t resist it. I heard the spring market was not as large, but I was not prepared for the pitiful showing. To be honest, I found some great things, but we were on the way home after about three hours.

And finally, here’s one thing I did buy – a 1940s sailor boy pin. I love how he moves!

Shopping with The Vintage Traveler at the Liberty Antiques Festival

We just returned from a trip to the eastern part of North Carolina, which is a very different world from the western part of the state where we live. Think beaches and tall pines and lots of water and marshes as opposed to mountains and rolling hills with rushing rivers and scenic vistas. In fact, the slogan for NC tourism used to be Variety Vacationland.

On the way home our last stop was the twice a year outdoor old stuff market at Liberty, NC.  I’ve been going to Liberty faithfully since 2005 and I’ve never been disappointed. The show has changed a bit in nature to reflect changing styles in home decorating. More on that in a bit. The show advertises that no new stuff is allowed, but many dealers ignore the uninforced rule. Still, it’s the best I’ve found in the Southeast.

So, here are the things I found interesting, but did not buy. First, the hooked Scottie rug above was a great temptation. Probably from the 1930s, he was a great example of that popular little dog, but I already have two Scottie rugs and do not need another.

There are several sellers who specialize in sporting collectibles, and I love looking through their things, even though the great majority is from male athletes.

I loved this photo. Are they tennis stars ot movie stars, or just stars in their own world? I promise to try and find their identities, so feel free to help me.

I really liked this skates case, but I was put off by the condition. What I really loved was that the woman appears to be wearing slacks, though it could be tights.

I spotted this pennant and my heart skipped a beat. I thought it could possibly be a suffragist’s item, considering the purple color. But no.

Instead it was from The Hub Clothiers in Ottawa. Right Clothing at the Right Price.

I spotted a 1928 yearbook from Appalachian State Normal School, which would become Appalachian State University. A normal school was actually a teacher education school, back in the days when most states did not require a teacher to have a college degree, but were starting to see the advantage in teachers having advanced training. My second grade teacher attended a normal school, and at some point she had to return to school to get a bachelor’s degree.

Thumbing through the book I saw immediately how the majority of the students were young women. There were enough men to have a basketball team, but they were not nearly as interesting as the girls’ team.

In 1928 the girls were still wearing bloomers, but they were above the knee. And how about those sleeveless knit jerseys? App’s colors today are black and gold, and I really hope the bits of color on these uniforms were gold as well. The socks are interesting. They are really more of a legging with a strap that goes under the foot, much like a modern baseball sock. I bought a pair of these years ago, hoping to find evidence that they were worn by women as well as men. Now I have it.

Public service announcement: Appalachian is pronounced  Appa-LATCH-un if you are referring to the university or to the southern mountains.

I love the tiny hatboxes that were given as Christmas gifts. A tiny hat within could be exchanged for an actual hat.

This creation was under glass, so my photo is not as good as I’d like, but this was the most charming little thing. The face is a real photo, but the rest is made from various textile bits. Even the striped stockings are cotton knit.

It might be obvious that the heart on the right is a pincushion, but what about the apple? Yes, it is also a pincushion, with a silk covering that is positively real looking. Even the stem looks real. Can you see the price? $110.

One seller had a pile of 1950s and 60s shoes, all in the original boxes and all labeled and dated.  I know that sounds like a seller’s dream come true, but the shoes within the boxes had signs of having been surrounded by acidic paper for fifty something years.

I’ve got to thank the people of the past who were considerate enough to save the original packaging. Imagine this as only the contents – a lipstick, brushes, and powder box – with no box and brochure. It’s not nearly as appealing.

Here’s a great little give-away item from United Woolen Mills. The flicker action no longer works, so the girl seems to be caught in a perpetual half-smile.

I’ll admit that at first this was St. Francis getting ready to bless the puppies, but then I saw the streamer and realized halos don’t have ribbon streamers. It’s a farm boy with the farm’s new pups.

I know it’s not called this any longer, but will Shabby Chic ever end? Just when I thought it could not get any nuttier, the passion for old bed springs is kindled in the home decorating obsessed heart. Along with springs, add the miscellaneous paint-pealing architectural element and old rusted out buckets.  And in a few years it will all be passé, I hope.

And I hope that little observation did not offend anyone’s taste, but I’ve come to realize that anytime words come out of a human’s mouth, another human is offended. So one should just go ahead and throw caution to the wind, firm in one’s knowledge of what is and is not tacky.

Finally, this great hat was not seen at the antiques show, but in the excellent Design Archive Vintage in Winston-Salem. Is this hat tacky? Possibly, but it is fantastic never-the-less.

 

Shopping with The Vintage Traveler – Summer 2018

If you’ve been reading The Vintage Traveler for a while you know that these “shopping” posts are actually looking and not buying posts. I’m not sure why some people seem to think that shopping actually means spending money.  I tend to look at shopping trips as research. One doesn’t have to buy in order to learn. And I’m always seeing something that is new to me.

There is one particular show I try to attend every year just because the vendors there often have things that I don’t have the opportunity to see every day. The Antiques Market at the Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon, Virginia,  has sellers who specialize in regional antiques. And I know that for some odd reason the rest of the country seems to believe that every cabin in the Appalachians still had looms in service until the 1980s, that is simply not the case. Hand weaving was pretty much a lost art in this area (as it was in the rest of the USA) until it was re-discovered in the 1930s and was revived as a way to make money off the tourists.

So, I really don’t think that over-shot coverlets like the one on the left are any more common here than in any other area along the east coast. I did find an early one several years ago at the Goodwill Outlet, bit I’m pretty sure that was a one-time deal.

The cover on the right looks like a piecework quilt, but it is actually a woven coverlet.

I also spotted this gem in Abingdon. It’s a sort of fancy patchwork sampler with the patches sewn to a background piece.

This basket was made entirely of stitches.

These are not in my line of collecting, but I love decorated stockings so much. Just the thought that so much work went into something that was not meant to be seen, that the beautiful hand embroidery was simply for the joy of having nice things, makes me happy.

This shawl was spotted in a really great antique mall (Bryant’s) in Otto, NC. It’s one of those places where I always find interesting things, like a spiderweb lace shawl.

Colonel Cotton Blossom looks a bit familiar, but all Southern “colonels” tend to resemble one another. At any rate, I love finding vestiges of the once-great cotton industry of the South.

This is proof that I do not buy all the Scottie things, thank you very much!

I am sorry to say that I have forgotten the name of the maker of this crossword dress. It was one of the big makers of casual dresses in the 60s, and isn’t it amazing?

I almost bought this 1930s tabletop tennis set, which was mint in the box and complete. And cheap. But I’m trying to stay focused.

Go-go boots for the pre-teen set. Vinyl, and certainly not meant to last for fifty plus years.

Coca-Cola advertising often has the best depictions of girls in sporty attire. I hope she has on tights under that skirt and those socks.

I paid a visit to Kate DiNatale Vintage in Greenville, SC. She always has the best stuff, including these Halston sandals.

Yesterday I decided at the last minute to go to a “vintage” market in Asheville. The show was put on by a group that does this type of thing all over the country. There were quite a few vendors, many of whom were selling crafts or new stuff that has an “old” look to it. I think we are to the point in the evolution of the word “vintage” that it no longer means “aged”. Looking old is good enough, as evidenced by the masses of people who were there snapping up the faux-tiques.

I have nothing at all against new stuff that looks old. I realize that some people would rather have a reproduction printed tea towel or tablecloth than to use an old one from a stranger’s linen closet. My problem is in the use of the word “vintage”, which to me implies that the stuff being offered is old.

In the end I felt like Alice who tumbled into a rabbit hole and ended up in a beige and black Pinterest-land. Beige and black pennant banners, beige and black pillows with cutesy sayings, beige and black painted furniture.

I will say that in spite of my irritation at the situation, I managed to find a few things for myself from the few vendors of authentic old stuff, including an adorable Scottie key ring and a 1940s letter cardigan with the athlete’s name embroidered on the inside. So, at least it wasn’t an afternoon wasted.

 

 

Shopping with the Vintage Traveler, Spring 2018

I really think of April as the beginning of Shopping Season, because that’s when all the outdoor markets start up. I have managed to do a bit of antique malling recently. Here are the things I liked but did not, for the most part, buy.

I have a theory that you can tell if the proprietor of a mall booth is male or female just by examining the merchandise. Of course that’s not always true, but I’d bet money on the fact that this booth is stocked by a guy. I love booths like this one with all the sports stuff. I even found a pair of red and white saddle shoes for my collection.

This door stop is not as old as the era that the golfer portrays. It is a great example of how nostalgia-driven the 1960s and 70s were. For some reason I have it in my head that in the 1960s reproduction and fake door stops became a big problem in the antiques markets. People were after an “old” look, in home decor as well as in clothing.

I have a few cheerleading dresses so I probably should have bought this megaphone.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the Google books archive of Life magazines, looking for one particular ad. What is striking about the ads before the mid 1960s is how few persons of color are represented. This early to mid 1960s advertising poster is a sign of change.

I spotted this wonderful 1920s dress in my favorite vintage store, Design Archives in Winston-Salem, NC. So beautiful, and the condition was exceptional.

And here’s a close-up of the embroidery. Wouldn’t this be a peachy wedding dress?

This little suitcase or hatbox is made of heavy cardboard, was was meant for a child. I see these on occasion, and they are almost always battered from play.

I have no idea what is going on in this illustration.

I was all ready to buy these when I realized the envelopes felt a bit thin. A quick look inside revealed multiple missing pieces. It’s a common problem with buying used sewing patterns, so I always take a look at the contents before spending much money on one.