Sweet Things for the Young (or Young at Heart)

On Sunday I did a quick visit to my neighborhood thrift store and ran into (not literally of course!) the elderly woman who only comes on Sundays. (Her husband brings her and waits patiently in the car.) At 5’2″ it’s not often I find adults shorter than me, but she is and is as cute as a button. She seems sprightly though she walks with a cane and has  lovely white hair and a charming smile. I saw her making her way down the china/pottery aisle and we chatted for a few minutes. Then I set down to the task at hand.

The challenge in any sourcing venue is finding good stuff at prices that leaves room for profit. (I know you know that!!) But I’ll be honest, my neighborhood store is maddening at times. Sometimes my eyes bug out at their prices. So you may wonder why I still bother to go…partly because it’s conveniently on my way to and from a variety of places I go weekly–the grocery store, church, library, gym–and partly because I still find gems. Not so many these days, but enough.

And on this Sunday I did find a few things. 🙂 First I picked up this Tiffany & Co. “Alphabet Bears” plate in such perfect condition.

On my second pass down this aisle I spotted three taped-up plates. Hmmm. Villeroy & Boch “Foxwood Tales.” Hello plates! They appeared to be in perfect condition too (and they were) and so darn cute. I had to buy these. Wedgwood also produces “Foxwood Tales” plates but theirs are decorative only and not meant to be used. The Villeroy & Boch plates are both dishwasher- and microwave-safe.

I have to wonder if all the plates I bought were donated by the same person as each item is dated 1994 and appears to be unused. Perhaps these were baby shower gifts that got tucked away…much like a couple of wedding gifts we received. When my husband and I were newly married we lived in a sixth-floor studio apartment in downtown San Francisco. One of our wedding gifts (from a mid-western friend of my husband’s) was a set of long-handled BBQ tools. We had a good laugh over those. (Those got donated ASAP. Life in a small studio leaves no room for extraneous stuff.)

Afterwards my thrift store friend and I shared our finds with each other and she confessed she almost put the Villeroy & Boch plates in her basket! Great minds think alike.

Tomorrow I fly to Seattle to visit my daughter who goes to school in Bellingham. It’s just a 4-day visit, but we’ll cram it full of good times and good food. And you know I’ll be checking out the thrift and antique stores. One store I stumbled upon in my last visit is the size of a shoebox and crammed so full that you have to be nimble to navigate it. I found two things there in January, but really want to give it a closer look this trip and dig deeper. I’m getting excited just thinking about it. 🙂

As always, happy hunting,

Karen