Twin Star

Sometimes at auctions they will sell one thing I really want and in order to get it, I have to buy everything on the table/tray/box. They call it "lot" auctions....meaning you get whatever is in the box, table, or tray as a lot and for one price. Anyway, I bought a table lot once and on it was some Oneida Twin Star silverware. Not a lot of pieces but enough to make me want more! So now began my quest for more Twin Star ware. The fun thing I think about collecting vintage items is the hunt. You have to have a lot of patience to be a collector of vintage items because it can take a while till you find the things you're looking for and at a good price. Sometimes it's really all about luck, being at the right place at the right time, and taking the time to look.

Last May, I was driving home from work and saw a sign for an estate auction. I decided to stop and have a look...these are the type of auctions I get most luck with it seems....the ones I never plan on going to in the first place! It was a tiny little run down house out in the middle of the country. Not a lot of people were there. The woman had passed away that winter and her 6 kids were auctioning off her things. I had a great time talking to her daughters about their mother's interesting life as a WAC during WWII. The mother had kept all of her WWII uniforms and some of her other clothing from the 40's WWII era. Everything was in amazing condition! As I was looking around in the kitchen before the auction started, I came across more Twin Star silverware. The one daughter saw me get excited at my find and pointed me in the direction of a cardboard box. She told me to open it up. In it was a wooden box.....



.....and inside of it was the rest of the set of unused Oneida Twin Star Flatware!!! I couldn't believe my eyes!! I quickly shoved it back in the cardboard box and looked around to make sure no one else had seen it! hahaha Sometimes I get a little paranoid at auctions. I looked around some more and decided to settle myself on the back lawn to wait for the auction to start. There were lots of old people there but in general the crowd was fairly small.

Before I continue, let me first explain how auctions/estate sales work around here. The first thing you do is register for a number with the auction company running the auction. Once I have a number to bid with, I like to go look around and see what kinds of things are there. If you go to an estate sale auction, it's usually held at the house of the person who is selling their things...including the house. I like these auctions the best, as I have always gotten better deals. There are also auctions...usually in winter...held at fire halls or large auction houses. No matter what type of auction you attend in my area, all bidding is done with a number and has nothing to do with first come first picks. It's much more fair this way, I think.

So, I waited for the auction to begin...eventually they began selling. Now, I'm the type of person who gets all the butterflies in the tummy when an item comes up I want to bid on. Yes, I'm a complete auction bidding junkie and totally get some weird sort of bidders high. My cardboard box of silverware comes up for bids...they don't even get it out of the card board box... they just say its a box of flatware! Bid starts at $2...I bid, some old woman bids...I bid...she bids..I hit the bid of $10 and she stops. That's right, I got that whole box set of twin star for $10 bucks....SCORE!!! I totally wet myself! hahahahaha

But wait, that's not all I got....I'm sure you all want to know what else MaryDeluxe got at this incredible estate sale! So, I'm gonna tell you....I got an amazing WWII era suit and a pair of 40's gabardine trousers...$12.00


A whole bunch of girl's dresses from the 50's....which came as a lot set... $20.00


WWII military souvenir pillows.... from Hawaii and Texas...$2.00


And I had to buy this table and two chairs because no one wanted it and they were going to trash it... $3.25! It's now cluttering up my studio space!



I also got to hear some great stories about the woman who owned these wonderful things! I wasn't able to snag any of her WAC uniforms as there were WWII military collectors in the crowd but I'm happy to have gotten her fab 40's suit and gab pants!