Friday Show and Tell – Additions for Several Collections

Show and Tell Friday is hosted by Kelli at There is No Place Like Home

My visit to the Lancaster Marketplace with my three sisters and niece on Sunday September 21 was wonderful. I found things for several of my collections or sets:

Brown Transfer Ware
2 dinner plates in the Royal China Company’s "Wellesley" pattern. $1.00. I now have 8 dinner plates.


Brown Fostoria Goblets
6 Fostoria "Virginia" goblets for $5.00 the set. The four I had before were bought new for $39.99. Now I have 10.

Souvenir Spoons [of places I've visited]
3 silver plated spoons for $1.00 each – London/ England/ Canada

Salt and Pepper Shakers
A tiny individual silver plated set, $1.00 – Made in Occupied Japan

Blue and White Souvenir Plates [of places I've visited]
Six-inch plate "Venice" by Ridgway - Made in England $1.00 . I have a similar plate for Rome.

Here it is along on the wall in the guest bath with two other plates. Another wall displays eight more plates from the collection.

Teapot collection
A small white luster ware teapot with black trim. From the FREE box at one dealer. The knob of the lid is chipped, but I will fix that with some black color.

Nativity Scenes Collection
Three Wise Men and two trees from the Enesco Foundations Nativity by Karen Hahn. These are new pieces from a gift shop in the flea market. I got them at $1.00 a piece =$5.00 total.

Milk Glass Collection
Three lidded and footed vessels (the items have not been cleaned yet.)

One large oval dish, an Avon grape bottle, and a hobnail container with fluted edge.

I plan to do separate posts on the milk glass additions and on the other collections.

To see more interesting personal treasures, visit Kelli for a list of participating posts.

Friday Show and Tell - Brass Coal Scuttle

One of our weekend activities was a visit to the Lancaster Marketplace, a large indoor and outdoor flea market in Lancaster, Massachusetts. As we were each ambling along the aisles on Sunday afternoon, my niece spotted something that interested her. It was a brass coal scuttle.*

My youngest sister immediately saw it as a possible container for the dried hydrangeas she had bought for my mother. The piece was marked $18.00. However, as we discussed the patina and how much cleaning it might need to look presentable, the booth owner dropped the price to $12.00. So my sister bought it and we brought it back to Oak Rise Cottage.

I don’t think this piece is old at all. It seems to be a decorative piece of recent vintage.

It is of brass and really needs a good cleaning. Note the blue and white ceramic handle.



The sides have brass fittings below the handle. The feet are also shaped brass.

The hydrangeas are very brittle, so I have to plan the arrangement before working with the fragile stems.

Here it is temporarily sited in front of the fireplace till when I can work on it.

To see more interesting personal treasures, visit Kelli for a list of participating posts.

* "A coal scuttle, sometimes spelled coalscuttle and also called a hod, is a bucket-like container for holding a small, intermediate supply of coal convenient to an indoor coal-fired stove or heater. It is usually made of metal and shaped like a vertical cylinder or truncated cone, with the open top slanted for pouring coal on a fire. It may have one or two handles. Homes that don't use coal sometimes use a coal scuttle decoratively.
The word scuttle comes, via Middle English and Old English, from the Latin word Scutlla, meaning a shallow pan."
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_scuttle"

Treasure Finding For Your Home

On of my stops while running errands today was a hardware store for some off-white spray paint. Walking back to the car my eye caught the hospital guild thrift shop across the street. With a little free time available, I went right over.

For a total of $3.30 (including 5% tax) I left the thrift store with: a natural wood wall shelf, an ivory ceramic candleholder, a primitive nativity, a glass apothecary jar with lid, a small scarecrow, a white wood plant container with vinyl lining, and three books: Decorating with Fabric Liberty Style, TV Guide Crossword Puzzles, and “The Complete Book of Decoupage Basics.” It really felt great to spend so little and have so much fun!



With a coat paint the shelf will be handy in my bathroom; the candleholder will display nicely with my other cream color ceramics; the nativity will join others in my nativity collection; the apothecary jar will organize some supplies; the scarecrow adds to my fall harvest décor; the plant container will provide handy storage for small items; the 3 books are welcome additions to my décor, craft and hobby bookshelves.

Sources of collectibles and furnishings for enhancing home décor and lifestyle comprise many categories. These categories of sources provide the nest-builder with a wide range of furnishings and accessories. These furnishings might be new, used, antique, vintage, today’s adaptations or interpretations of charming designs from the past, or just outright contemporary wares.

I thought to list all these categories (as I see them) in today’s blog. In future blogs I will share my own experiences in seeking & acquiring furnishings and collectibles for my home, from many of the categories. (I’ve sort of covered thrift stores above, so that’s one down!)

1. Yard sale/ Garage sale
2. Estate sale or Tag sale
3. Flea market
4. Thrift store – such as a hospital thrift shop, Goodwill Industries store
5. Junk shop
6. Antique store
7. Antique mall with multiple vendors
8. Consignment shop
9. Roadside freebie
10. Collectible store
11. Dollar Store
12. Discount stores like TJ Maxx and Marshalls
13. Department store clearance sales
14. Specialty Gift shop/ Boutique clearance sales – 50% to 75% off
15. Museum shop clearance sales, including catalog sales
16. Domestic and Foreign travel shopping
17. Online shopping at auctions like eBay – a great source for some surprising values on everything
18. Dumpster diving
19. Craft fairs and craft shops
20. Finally, foraging the goods in friends and family barns, attics, basements

How many of these categories do you use regularly? From their various posts, it is clear that bloggers are quick to spot a great buy and to snap up treasures for their homes and gardens. My long list of categories above shows that treasure seeking can be an ongoing, pleasure wherever you go.