Recent Estate Sale Finds: Some Keepers, and Some Destined for Replenishing the Etsy Store

When I haven't been continuing my tree cutting, brush trimming and yard work, I've been busy taking a metal sculpture class and learning to weld with an oxy-acetylene torch, so don't think Uncle Atom has been slacking.  Well, I have been slacking some on this blog.  But now it's estate sale season, and I've fit in a few sales already. Here are Saturday's pickups:

Premium Saltines Tin from 1969

Bell Telephone System First Aid Kit - nearly all original supplies, and it also came with original scissors and tweezers.

Small lamp with articulating arm

Small 12 volt auto vacuum cleaner

Pan American Airlines carry on bag (this came with a Polaroid camera inside!)

Vintage Thermaster Polaron Cooler in bronze

Three avocado green barstools, super cheap!

A pair of Salterini style iron chairs

A sturdy wire bookshelf/stand

A small glass-topped iron table

All in all, a good weekend.

Scratching My Kitsch Itch: Yesterday's Flea Market Find, A Barkcloth-Backed Fuzzy Framed Tiger!?!

Here in the Washington, DC, area, you run into a lot of odd stuff with an international flavor.  Yesterday morning I hit my favorite local flea market, and among the few small things I picked up, this framed picture stands out.

This beauty was super cheap, but SWMBO for one thinks any price was too much to pay.  I guess this will have to live in the man cave/shop area.  You haven't gotten a tour of that space, and I may never show it, it's such a pile of tools, projects, and detritus.

This is in surprisingly good condition.  I went over the frame with a tiny bit of Feed 'N Wax and wiped it dry.  I'm guessing the picture dates to the 1950s or 60s, based on the era of the fabric.  The tiger is made of some kind of furry/fleecy material.  Has anyone else seen something like this?  Chinese perhaps?

The claws are painted on below the paws.

Here's a closeup of the fabric.

You can see this writing on the back and the back also shows that the fabric is stretched over a piece of wood for a solid backing.

Does anyone recognize the characters or have some idea of what it says?

Another Recent Estate Sale Find: Starburst Hamper

I love all things starburst.  So when I spotted this un-priced hamper at the estate sale where I picked up that great lampshade, I grabbed the hamper too.

As it turned out, the price was reasonable, so I brought it home.

The hamper is a 1970s green with a gold-ish tint, and it's in surprisingly good shape, so we've got it in our bedroom.

Update on the Gossip Bench with Clock and Sconces: Looking Good!

A couple posts ago, I showed off this pair of sconces and speculated that they would match up pretty well with one of my brass starburst clocks and the funky telephone table/gossip bench in our foyer.  I finally got around to shooting some photos, so here's where we are now.

I still need to put something in the sconces - it's probably going to be some fake ivy or another type of fake plant.

I've been looking for an old telephone book for this shelf, and until I find one I picked up this great vintage binder for keeping phone numbers.  It was an etsy.com find, and it's in great shape.

Picked Up a Two-Tiered Shade for a Favorite Lamp

I had Friday off, so besides doing some errands, I managed to hit a local estate sale advertised as full of "Mid Century Modern."  That label pulled in dealers and pickers from everywhere, including a couple women from Baltimore who were right in front of me, and someone else from New Jersey.  I managed to get #27, but it was almost an hour before I got through the door.  Interesting sale in an old apartment turned into a condo. Even with the late number, I still got a few things, including this lampshade.

I have been watching for one that has the three "bumps" on the top structure.  That feature makes it sit correctly on the milk glass difusers  found on some mid century lamps like my brass and black floor lamp, a gift from my nephew Dave (thanks again Dave).

The shade was in excellent shape, and the price was relatively high.  But I never see these locally, and my only other option was to buy online and pay about the same and also have to cover shipping costs.  So, I paid the price.  I think it was worth it.

Here it is on the lamp.  The atomic finial is one I already had, but I think it looks good on there.

Looking good!

By the way, I see that I'm one away from having 200 followers here on the blog, and 75 over on Facebook. I guess it's almost time for a giveaway to celebrate!  Stay tuned...

Mid-Century Brass and Black Sconces

I've always had a thing for the common mid-century combination of brass and black.  Here's the latest acquisition from that auction site: a pair of sconces.  The brass parts are close to 12 inches tall, and the globes are about 3.5 inches in diameter.

I took a chance on the brass being salvageable, but this set had some serious rust issues.  I tried but could not get the brass polish to clean one of these well enough for display.  So sadly, I broke out the spray primer and then the brass paint.  I also primed and repainted the steel globes.

Anyone have an idea what could have been contained in these globes?

I don't see any sign of rust inside, so I doubt if live plants were ever put in these.  And there's no spike or flat part where a candle could have been installed.  It's puzzling.

Right now I'm still thinking about where I'll hang these - for the photos I just used a couple of hooks already on one of our walls.  I often see a pair of sconces like this teamed with a wall clock, and I think I already have just the clock for this...

Now I just need the right space for it.  Maybe in our entry way, perched above this gossip bench/telephone table?

I've been toying with recovering the seat on this with a vintage pattern fabric, so maybe that's what I'll do, and pair all these pieces together.

Stay tuned...

New Donald Deskey Fireplace Tools Make the Upstairs a Little Hotter!

Back in June 2010, I posted about our pair of fireplaces and a set of andirons I scored at a flea market.  We're using those in our downstairs Rumpus Room fireplace.

At the time, I also showed this original pair of danish modern  andirons that came with the house and mentioned that I wanted matching tools.

"We're lucky enough to have two fireplaces in our house.  When we made an offer to buy it, one contingency I put in the contract was to keep these fireplace andirons in the living room fireplace.  I need to shine the brass, but they are very danish mid century, aren't they?  I wish I could find fireplace tools that matched them, I suspect there is such a thing."

Well guess what?  Two and a half years of searching helped me learn that the andirons are associated with designer Donald Deskey, and there is a tool set that matches.  After a lot of further searching, I finally found it on that auction site, and now it's mine!

The set includes a matching black iron stand and brass ball with hooks to hold a broom, shovel, and poker.

Now that's more like it.

Everyone Has Dreams -- Here's Mine

With respect to the accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his memory, I also have a dream.  

I've been dreaming this dream for years.  It's a dream I'm guessing some of you may share.

Ever been to Colonial Williamsburg?  The oldest part of the city looks much like it did in the 1700s; reenactors populate shops, homes, and the streets, and when you engage them in conversation, they speak in the vernacular of that time, talk about current events of that time, and generally make you feel as if you are temporarily living in that time.

It's a great way to learn about history, with all of your senses.

See where I'm going with this?

I'd like to find a town that looks like it's stuck in time - specifically stuck in the late 1950s to early 1960s.  I'd like that town to have everything period-correct.  Cars, bicycles, Five and Dime store, furniture store, diner, movie theaters, drive-in theater, bowling alley, arcade, record store, newspaper, radio station, drugstore, fix-it shop, barber shop, beauty salon, appliance store, hardware store, car dealerships, gas stations, carnival...everything.  Sort of a super Mayberry.  This town would be populated by reenactors, dressed and coiffed appropriately, and well versed in current events. 

If this was my town, I would mix things up to keep people coming back for more.  One day it would be the spring of 1957, and every kid would be tossing around one of those new Frisbee toys.  On another day, it would be October 1962 - the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Christmas 1960.  Fall 1958 and the release of the new car lines for 1959.  Other days it would be a tragic Thanksgiving weekend, 1963; the first week of February 1960, a milestone for Dr. King's dream;  or  February 21, 1962; or February 10, 1964. (You'll have to look up those last two.)

   

What an attraction this would be.  Is there a town that wants to volunteer to get this dream moving?  I'd be happy to map out my dream down to the smallest detail if you'll let me be a part of it.

New Love Seat, Pole Lamp, and a TV Pole

Hi there loyal Uncle Atom reader!  I won't recite all the reasons Uncle Atom has been wallowing in lameness this past month, but I needed to take a break.

Project wise, I haven't finished anything new, and I haven't gotten out to any sales either.

But, I do have a few photos I can share.

I mentioned before I had quite a haul from the estate sale where I got the vintage fridge.

Here's the white vinyl love seat.  It was part of a set that included a turquoise sofa, and orange and turquoise chairs, all of which were bought by others at the sale.

The wood is in pretty nice shape, and the cushions don't have any tears, just a little wear in a couple of places.

The previous owners had this in the basement party room, and I had the joy of cleaning off a pretty heavy layer of old cigarette smoke.  Mr. Clean erasers did a nice job overall.

I also used the erasers on this white Stiffel tension pole lamp, which was also coated in smoke.

Once I went over the pole and lamps with the eraser, the yellowish tint was all but gone.  I like the difusers in this lamp.

This last item came from eBay.

I stumbled across this tension pole designed to hold an old tube-style portable television, and I had to have it. Luckily there was no bidding competition.

A "portable" TV would hang by it's handle from the two brass hooks (I've inverted them here to loop over the top of this TV), and the base sat on a flat piece of metal sticking up from the lower part of the pole.  I managed to use some strong hook and loop webbing and mounting screws on the back of the flat screen TV to get it mounted to the pole.  I have another piece of hook and loop holding the base of the TV to the flat metal piece.

So far no issues, although I'd really like to clean up the look of the back of the TV.  If I really get ambitious, I might try to cover the black TV edges with a light wood grain or some other color besides black. I'll have to ponder that - don't want to ruin the TV with something that would look cheesy.   For now, it's kinda nice to have a working TV in the Rumpus Room again.