Mostly Metal Finds

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!

The seller thought it was around 80 years old.

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!