Posted by On Friday I took four bags of clothes to one of my favorite boutique thrift stores one town over. The bags included a few designer things and a lot of cool vintage jackets I was no longer wearing and didn’t want to try to sell. It felt good to finally let them go. (Maybe you know the feeling!)
And of course while I was at the store I had to look around! The store (all of 500-600 square feet) doesn’t take long to peruse, but I focused mostly on the jewelry settling on buying two very different sterling silver pieces.
One that caught my eye was a Pacific Northwest Haida First Nations piece depicting a salmon. It’s a signed piece, though I haven’t been able to find who the artisan is.
The other piece–unmarked silver and Persian turquoise–is a dress or fur clip circa 1930s/40s. The way the closure fits, it could actually be worn as a pendant too.
Antique pieces with small Persian turquoise cabochons sell well, and bigger, more elaborate pieces sell in the hundreds of dollars. Mine is small with a bow which is not as popular a motif as say a heart, bird or bug…still I think there might be a little money left in this piece…maybe!
Then on Saturday morning, after a delicious breakfast with my girlfriend Lani, I headed up the road to our town’s small flea market. There were fewer vendors this time and it was darn chilly, but I still had fun looking.
I liked this old metal cross depicting Jesus’ baptism. It was sold to me as brass, but I think it’s cast iron with a (worn) gold-tone finish. I may keep this.
This Taxco sterling butterfly studded with gems was a hands-down winner.
I should have left this little silver Arabic pin behind. It’s nice enough, but rather lightweight and I paid too much. I’ll likely add it to a pin lot.
I’m a fan of old cast iron and liked the looks of this horse bit from Idaho. It was marked $20 and the seller said, “$10 and it’s yours.” Alrighty then!
My one concession to the metal theme was this fabulous signed Dine (Navajo) Native American pottery vase. It’s carved with rich jewel tone colors. I need to research the artist but I think it’s a striking piece and at $7 a darn good find!
I paid up for some of these items and time will tell if I chose wisely!!
Happy hunting,
Karen
P.S. If you’ve started your holiday shopping, do consider supporting artisans and shops on Etsy. Mine has quite a few things on sale right now.
