Thrift Finds Today

I am exhausted!  I got home around noon and had to look everything over again plus record everything on my inventory sheet.  My inventory sheet is basically an Excel spreadsheet with Date Purchased, Item Description & Purchase Price.  I keep it on a clipboard so I can just go to my pile and record everything quick.  I do type it into the computer and use it when imputing into my listing software which does a whole lot more than list.  Anyway,  this is a completely different subject and I will post about that during the week.  I have no plans on doing any heavy duty thrifting for the next two weeks.  First because Easter is next Sunday and (as always) I have to cook the stuffed cabbage.  I'm full blooded Hungarian and it is a must at Easter and Christmas.  The following weekend is the Royal Wedding and I'm so excited to watch it!  My mom thinks I'm nuts but how often does a Royal Wedding happen?  Especially since we are both Catherine's and I love English China!  I wish I could see what they were using for the occasion!  I may DVR it but who knows what the weather may be like and how I will feel!  OK, enough rambling.  On to the good stuff!

Even with all my effort, I couldn't get to sleep until 2am.  Probably because I was so darn excited.  So when my alarm went off this morning at 7:15am I kept snoozing until 7:30am.  I got up, checked EBay and had three sales overnight!  I sent out the payment acknowledgements (communication is key) and got ready for the morning.  My mom arrived and we unloaded her car.  She is one of my packaging supplies finders and gets me boxes and shipping supplies all the time (thank you Mommy!).  And then we were off.  We got there a little early and were only 7th in line.  They opened the doors 10 minutes early and the next hour and a half went by rather quickly.  I rushed upstairs as that is where the church sells their donations.  The downstairs is used for vendors.  At the top of the stairs I took a turn into the half price room.  Yup, you guessed it, everything in the room is half price.  The first table was my first buy.  Royal Doulton coffee cups and saucers.

There were boxes on the floor, things on tables, things under the tables, things everywhere!  I started looking through one of the boxes on the floor and found this quad plate salt shaker. 

It has the makers mark and pattern name.  Then I came across this OOAK.

It is two old glass decanters with 8 wood and cork coasters in the bottom.  The glass is yellow and has tiny bubbles in it.  It has a little handle at the top and is so interesting!  It has some scuff marks but I bet Liquid Gold will help tone that down a bit!  Near where I found this, I found 9 Arcoroc Clear Dinner Plates.  I love Arcoroc because it sells so well!  I'm almost ready to check out and I'm lining my stuff up when I see a box of glass and porcelain items.  So I start looking through it and voila!

Haviland!  And this time the French Limoges!  It also GDA which stands for Gerard, Defraisseix & Abbott.  The way this works is that GDA created the blank (undecorated item from the mold) and Haviland designed the pattern for it.  I got the sugar bowl as well.  Can you imagine!  Haviland in a box on the floor!

I wasn't done in this box though.

I got this large bowl and matching salt & pepper shakers.  It sure looks a lot like Georges Briard but it isn't signed and I've never seen any of his items unsigned.  I'm going to have to research it a bit more.  I love Georges Briard!  Gold on glass...it doesn't get much better than that!

So now I was done in the half price room.  I spent $23.50 in here and was quite happy with my purchases.  I hauled the two boxes down to my moms car and headed back into to the big room.  This room is fun!

I started by checking out the jewelry.  There are usually some pretty nice vintage items and I felt that I should start there.  I'm not a big necklace person so I tend to shy away from them but I love earrings especially clip-ons.  A year and a half ago I found these earrings at this same sale.  I get a lot of compliments on them.

They dangle just a bit and have a tight hold because they are the screw type of clip-ons not the clasp type.   But today I couldn't believe what I found...

a matching pendant...

and a matching bracelet!  These two are for me.  There is no way I'm selling this!  But then I started finding so many good pairs of clip ons.

The ones with the tear drop pearl and the ones with the round peal I may keep but I'm not a big fashionista so I might as well just sell them. Besides, I do have my new set and I have my everyday set which consists of a pair of gold hoops I got in the city (NY) when I was 18, an amethyst ring I got when I vacationed in the Bahamas when I was 21 and my grandmothers grandma ring.  You know the ones with the family birthstones.  My mom gave it to me and it fits perfect.  Anyways, back to thifting!

While perusing the jewelry I also found this enamel owl pin...

and this DuBarry Fifth Avenue pin.

So now I'm finished with the jewelry and I start searching the other tables.  I found two cookbooks for my Alibris store and I also found these...

two big binders filled with individual cookbooks about everything you could imagine.  There's French dishes, German dishes, Scandinavian dishes and even Hungarian dishes!  (not that I need recipes, they are pretty much drilled into my head by this age!)  There is a dessert book, a meat book, a cheese book (Ohhh, I love cheese!), a breakfast book, a Sunday supper book and so many more!  I love the fonts and the pictures.  It is from the 50's and in immaculate condition.  My mom was trying to get me to keep it but I was going to sell it.  After perusing through it I have decided to take my mothers advice!  This is too good to pass up!

Moving on I found a bunch of Tupperware and grabbed that.  Tupperware is a good sale if bought at the right price.  Being vintage and in very good condition doesn't hurt either.  I got 8 pieces of oval modular mates all with tops (or else I wouldn't have bought them!).  I also grabbed a Spode Blue Room tea kettle, a Royal China Apple Pie Recipe Pie Plate, a Hungarian doll dressed in folk, and these...

how cute are they?!? Yes, they are marshmallow peeps formed into candles!  I couldn't leave them there especially when they were smiling at me like that!

I looked at the clothes and shoes and inquired as to the prices but it wasn't worth it.  They had those things a bit to high for me.  So I was done with the big room and it was time to go in the back room where the fabric is.  Do you see why I love this sale so much?  It is jam packed with stuff and separated pretty nicely as well.  Three rooms in total!

I spent $35 in the big room and headed for the back.

This is the fabric/stitching/notions/Christmas/linens room.  This is where I buy my fabric for my photography backdrops.  Lucky me I found the same exact fabric that I had bought the last time.  If you've ever visited my store on Etsy or EBay, you would see my gray backdrop that I love so much.  Not to bright, not to dark and it's polyester so it doesn't wrinkle!  So I got that and I also got a huge piece of brown suede like material that is going to be just perfect for when I photograph this wedding dress that I have hanging in my closet.  It is brand new and donated to me and I haven't had the chance to take any pictures of it yet.  I started looking around and found these lead crystal Christmas glasses.

Brand new in the box.  I also got 9 somewhat similar, somewhat different Hungarian Matyo dresser/table covers.

All are in excellent condition.  I've decided that I'm transforming my Etsy store into a Hungarian only store as I'd like to focus on one thing there.  I have many ideas of what I am going to do there and will probably make that a post in its own.

The only other thing I bought in this room was a yellow and black handmade apron.  I spent $22.00 in this room.  So my grand total for this shopping trip was $80.50.  I am quite happy with that considering what I got and the actual value of the items that I got.

Mom and me went and put everything in the car and headed back inside to eat.  Since it is a Hungarian church we got kolbasz sandwiches with homemade sauerkraut and I got a cup of bab leves (my favorite!).  Bab leves is a green bean soup with a sour cream and milk base.   Mmmmmm, it's so yummy especially on a chilly gray day like today.  Don't knock it until you try it!  I finished a little bit before my mom and got up to look around the downstairs vendors.  Everything is a bit overpriced here and I didn't find anything good but I did get me and mom dessert.

Pretzel rods hand-dipped in caramel and covered in colored sprinkles.  3/$1.00.  We each had one and I got one to take home.  By this time we were stuffed, tired and ready to leave.  We came back to my house, unloaded the car and said our goodbyes.

So now I am chock full of inventory and will use all of tomorrow to list as much as possible!  I have to organize all my purchases from the past couple of weeks and straighten up around here!  I think I'll do that tonight!

So that is the longest post that I have ever written.  I have to upgrade my blog so that you can share your thrift finds too.  I love to see what others are buying and what makes them happy.  I hope you enjoy read and looking.  Feel free to ask questions!  Cheers!