Sunday, November 28, 2010

These boots were made for walkin'

And that's just what they'll do.















One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!














Are you ready, boots?















Start walkin!!















It's been a great month for boots finds.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Night of a Zillion Rhinestones

This cuff bracelet is a recent auction find -- from a boxlot fulled to the brim with a bunch of other fantabulous vintage bling.

Also in my Etsy emporium. 

from the Carmen Miranda collection

It's fun, AND it's fruity.

Another Quaker City Flea find!!!

Gentlemen!

For the sartorially aware gent, enjoy this exceptional wooden tie-rack thingie, which also has a box dealie in the back for a brush.

Perfect for getting in touch with your inner boulevardier.

Another fabulous find from our fair city's eminently dumpy, frequently dissed Quaker City Flea Market.

Varangians

Bought this gorgeous Ukrainian vase from an actual Ukranian last week at Quaker City Flea Market.  It is so heavily lacquered, you'd swear it was pottery, but it's actually wood. 

I put it on Facebook, and my brother -- who's interested in all things Russian and Russian-related -- emailed me five minutes later asking if the guys in the boat were Varangians.

My email to him: What's a Varangian?

What followed was a brief lesson in medieval and early Renaissance Ukrainian history, to wit:

"The (Varangians were) Vikings who gained a foothold in the Ukraine. They eventually become the rulers, the Rurik Dynasty af the Kievan Rus, and then Galicia-Volhynia until the 14th and Muscovy until the 16th century. The last Tsar from the Rurikid dynasty was Fedor I, who died in 1598."

This from a guy who spent his formative years on the couch munching on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while watching Hawaii 5-0 reruns and screaming at the TV, "Book 'em!"

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

O...M...G....

So, boys and girls, dig this if you can: I was noodling around in my car eating drive-through when I got the idea to hit the Sal on Rising Sun Ave.

Now, that Sal hasn't been worth my time in years, but look at what I found this time:

A totally fantastic 100% inlaid wood lamp, circa 1935 or so.

Unbelievable condition and yes, it works!

They also had this eye-popping ultra-colorful Italian lamp - cherubs, flowers, devils and probably 20 other things, but there was some unforgiveable wear, plus the price was 2.5 times what this cost.

Which was practically nothing.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

I say yer yella!

A fantastically shabby chic yellowware bowl, but with chips on the rim.

Got it at an auction a few weeks ago, and then almost immediately regretted it, thinking 'Who's going to buy a bowl -- even an antique yellowware bowl -- with this much wear?"

I took the pictures, but then let the bowl sit on the living room floor for three weeks.

I finally broke down on Tuesday and listed it on Etsy.  It sold less than an hour later.

YAY!!

It's completely bearable.

A recent find from the upscale cousin* of MVFTS (aka My Very Favorite Thrift Shop).  Some manly man type would probably love this for Christmas or his birthday or the first day of hunting season.

*Here's the recent story of MVFTF: For a few years they had four stores in town, located in the worst possible neighborhoods.  Each store offered a chance to a) get your car vandalized or stolen, and b) find a find worth hundreds of dollars for less than five bucks.  Over the last five or six years, they've closed three of them.

Then they rented space at an adjoining site to the Big Mall (if you're local to the City of Bothersome Love, you know the one I'm talking about) and instead of keeping the name of the chain, gave it a hoity-toity retailey moniker.  It has decent lighting and somewhat safe parking, and almost all the employees speak basic English, but the mind-boggling, life-changing finds are extremely sparce there.  I was lucky to find the bear.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Isn't she lovely?


An old bisque rendering of a famous bronze by J. Morie.  I haven't seen it, but I can't imagine that the bronze version as anywhere near the personality and appeal of the ceramic version.