Some of today's flea market finds

I had a pretty good day at the monthly Civitan flea market in Arlington today. This time I didn't find any chairs, but I did find a couple more items for the screened tiki porch, a couple of radios, and one or two other goodies.  I won't bore ya with everything I picked up (I need some fodder for future posts!), but here's some of what came home in the Volvo:

Since I usually get there early, when some vendors are still unloading, I thought I'd give you a little taste of what I enjoy so much about an early start - peeking into the car- and truck-loads and trying to be the first to spot something too good not to wait for.  So, here's a shot of my car - see anything in there besides my drycleaning?

How about this:

Maybe this is a little easier:

Any guesses?  It's pretty easy to see that I fed my wrought iron fix a bit more today.

I've seen these planter stands before and always liked them, but this was the first one that wasn't over priced or in rotten shape ($10).

And this is another record storage stand ($15).  I like the details on this.

One of the legs is bent a little so it wobbles, but I think I can fix that, and then I'll give it some paint to freshen it up.

 Too bad it's just a little too tall and not quite wide enough or sturdy enough for our record player.

So, what else was in the back of the wagon?

Well, there was this very cool spherical, space-age Weltron AM/FM 8-track player, and it works! At least, the AM/FM works, and the seller said the 8-track player works, I just haven't tested it yet.

It's dusty, it has a few scuffs and one missing slider knob, but the radio really cranks the tunes, and it looks awesome.  Not a bad buy for $10.

That's only one of two radios I picked up.  This other one was a must have when I spotted it.

It was right on the edge of being too expensive, but for $25, I figured it was still a good buy, especially in this great color.

So, what was lurking in those bags?

Well, the canvas bag was holding about 20 of these U.S. Camera magazines from the early 1950s.  For $10, I got the whole lot, and no extra charge for the musty old magazine smell!  Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca would call this a spectacular deal.

And here's a first - who ever heard of a photography magazine with fiction stories inside?  This one seems to be about a photographer's adventure.

Now if you're mid century eyesight is good, you probably spotted a lamp fixture in that one plastic bag.  You did, right?

Yep, you sure did.  Pretty cool, huh?  Oh, you'd like to see the front too?  OK.

With this purchase, I know that I am on the verge - or precipice - of becoming a TV lamp collector.  I simply could not pass up this zebra for $20.  She Who Must Be Obeyed was not as thrilled as I was with this, so I will have to keep it somewhere eight feet below the first floor of this house.

But wait, there was something black in that plastic bag.  Indeed there was.

Any guesses?

If you said a vintage plastic kid's Zorro hat for $7, you nailed it!

Just one small crease in this, and that's not bad for something I'm guessing is about 50 years old.  I'm not sure, but I may have had one of these as a youngster.  Before I became a Batman fan and then an aspiring Secret Agent, I was a western adventure fan, and the top dude when I was 4 or 5 was Zorro!  

Swish swish swish!!! If you were a bad guy, you knew you were darn lucky to have a Z carved into your shirt but not your chest.

OK, so I mentioned a couple of pickups for the tiki-themed screen porch...

Last year I picked up a small toucan that looks great inside our cat birdcage, and today I picked up his mama.  So far she's pretty ambivalent about her boy's predicament.

I actually got this birdie on my second trip to the flea later in the morning.  I was at home here working on a brick paver project (nope, still no gas tank for the Comet project - darn you ebay seller!) and I needed a break from the heat.  I thought why not go back and see if I missed anything.  And what do you know, I did miss some stuff, including the toucan. I guess it was fate that led me back.

Another second trip pickup was this native mask.  Got a bit of a snarl, doesn't he?

Overall, it was a pretty good day.  Anyone else pick up anything good?