Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Vintage Top Five

I was thinking tonight as I'm puffing away on the treadmill, if I had to pick my top 5 most recent favorite vintage finds, what would they be? Notice I said finds and not things. As a lover of the hunt, I am ecstatic when I happen to find vintage things and even happier when they come along with a good deal. If you followed my blog for a while, you will know how much I love going off to auctions and coming back with treasures. So after much racking of my brain, I bring you all....

MaryDeluxe's top 5 most recent favorite vintage finds!!
(in no particular order)

Franciscan Starburst.
This set of Franciscan Starburst from Fall of 2009. $85 score!

Twin star set for 8
A mint 8 serving set of Onieda TwinStar in the original wooden case. $10. May 2008. Yes there's a great story behind this one and you should go see and read about the auction I found this at here. One of my most favorite things about auctions are the wonderful stories I get to hear and treasure along with some of the things I buy. This was a very special auction for me. Because of the family sharing the stories with me about their Mother, I also choose the other items I bought at this auction and they are the woman's 1940s suit and gab pants pictured below.
Vintage 40's

And me wearing her gabardine trousers below....June 2009....Yes, I do think of her when I wear them! That's one of the great things about vintage that I love, everything has a past and some sort of story. When I wear vintage I like to think about where the clothes might have been before me.

outfit

Photobucket
My Heywake Buffet....In the fall of 2008, I had a bidding battle with an old Mennonite man with a cane and came out the winner as he refused to bid higher then $35! Someday I'll find the china hutch for it but right now it works well as a dresser. It will however be moving it to the dining room to join it's place with the rest of the set in a few months!

Mr sparkles
I can't do a top 5 without including at least one lamp can I?? I think not! So I give you from back in 2006....the charmer himself...Mr Sparkles. Mr S is a Continental Art Company lamp and I fought hard for him at auction, dropping a total of $45! I just couldn't stop myself, I was mesmerized by his phallic little light bulb and just had to have him.

So now I ask, what are your top 5 favorite vintage finds? Do you have a good story behind why they are your favorite vintage finds? How did you come about finding your favorites? Post them to your blogs and send me a link so we can all have a look see please!!! I look forward to seeing your treasures!

xoxo,
~MaryDeluxe

19 comments:

  1. I also will write soon my top 5, but I already advance that at least two items that belonged to my paternal grandmother and two other items that belonged to my mom.

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  2. The lamp is by far my favorite. And for $45? Wowey that was still very much a steal of a deal! Finding good vintage in LA that cheap is unheard of usually. I need to go on a road trip out of Cali next time I feel the urge to vintage shop.

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  3. I love all of your things! I have the same Heywood buffet but did not pay $35 for it! So jealous! Heywood stuff out here is way over priced! Have you looked at the prices of 50's lamps on Ebay lately? They have skyrocketed and people want way too much for them (in my opinion anyways).

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  4. ALLI!!!! How have you been?? Busy with your cute kids I'm sure! No I haven't seen the lamp prices lately...I'll have to go look.

    Betsy

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  5. OMG the man who wouldn't bid higher than $35 for the buffet, I almost passed out just reading that. Ha ha!

    I'd have to think about my top 5 myself. I think at the top of the list is a random small MCM dresser/lingerie cabinet that we got at a garage sale for $25 several years ago to put art supplies in. It was refinished poorly in a dark brown but has the best original handles ever so we go it (plus we figured eh, it's okay... refinished crappy and we're putting crappy stuff into it). Recently when moving it around we pulled out the drawers and discovered the mark. Now we know it's a Kent Coffey piece, and subsequently have learned a lot more about the line and are totally excited to try and refinish it this summer to the original blonde! (Then finally it will actually match. LOL)

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  6. What a great idea, I'm going to do this, this weekend, thanks for the idea.

    You have some great finds there, of course predictably the lamp is my favourite!

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  7. Hey girl! I am good. Congrats on your engagement (I had no idea!) I am on FB more than anything these days. I just don't have time to spend on the computer like I used to with the kids keeping me busy!

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  8. What a great post!!!
    That set of Franciscan Starburst is simply fab. It makes me a little sad, actually, because my Grandma had this full set, and when my Aunt moved her to a "home" they sold her set at a garage sale without even asking me if I wanted it. I've been dreaming of rebuilding her set, but here in LA the prices are just insane. Perhaps I'll just start slowly on eBay and see what I can do!
    I totally know what you mean about Vintage things and the spirits and history of the people that owned them...I love that part!
    My all-time favorite find is a little lamp that was hand-made out of a coconut that a man made while he was in the navy during WW2. I bought it from his widow. It has his little hand-written label on the bottom that says "Guadalcanal, Spring 1943" I cherish it!!!!

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  9. Probably one of my best finds was a Heywood corner table at Goodwill for $15. I did a post on it here if you want to check it out.

    http://www.nopatternrequired.com/?p=7820

    I also scored some Starburst at an Estate Sale for $25 - not as big as your set though.

    One other thing I found recently was a rad 50s evening coat for $10.

    I found all of this within the past 2 years - so you definitely can still find cool stuff cheap! :D

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  10. Wow, I'm always shocked at the vintage deals I see coming out of PA... are people just not as into MCM/1950s there? Or is there some odd abundance of it? It's getting harder to find here in Chicago and prices are DEFINITELY not this low. Am envious of everything you featured!

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  11. Leilani -
    I was born and raised in Southern California while my mother was raised in Philadelphia and she had mentioned to me once that the culture back there is 100s of years older and more population condensed than it is out here in CA, which made a lot of sense to me as to why there is probably a lot of MCM stuff out for grabs in PA. Just a thought anyway!

    I took think stuff out here in LA is of course way, way over priced. I collect Franciscan Starburst but out here you're lucky to find A plate for $20. It is a slow (and always fun) hunt!

    Mary your post has inspired me to make my own top 5. Your site inspires me a lot, you always have such great finds. Oh and another thing - I found a lamp similar to Mr. Sparkles at the Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market the other day - they were asking $350 for it, and someone had painted it orange! Pfffft. Yeah right! $350 for ONE lamp!? I don't think so. Yet another example of why the popularity of all this Mad Men stuff has driven our beloved MCM prices up!

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  12. Here are a few of my current favorite things. they change constantly.

    http://www.vintagejoann.com/2011/04/fav-vintage-finds/

    Thanks!
    JoAnn
    Vintage JoAnn

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  13. Not exactly a top five list- I'll have to think about that one- but my recent scores from a weekend of rummage sales: http://practiceintime.blogspot.com/2011/04/flea-market-friday-opening-day.html

    I think there are bargains everywhere (not just here in PA); you just have to know where to shop and be patient.

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  14. I stumbled across this post and have to say I lurve your stuff. I'm in northeast Ohio now but came here from Denver and omg! The abundance of MCM here is amazing and still super cheap. You could find it in Denver but it is much more expensive. I think this area has a much older population and the style is not near as popular out this way. I hope it stays this way. ;)

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  15. I have the same lamp! i have never seen it anywhere else before, nor with the original shade (mine was free but with out the shade) thanks for sharing!

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