I Wasn’t Ready for This One…

A few days ago it was my birthday–a milestone one–and I wasn’t looking forward to it for several personal reasons. Needless to say I started the day moody and introspective. And once you start a day that way it’s hard to shake it off.

Well, I decided to go to my neighborhood thrift store for a bit of fun. It is one of my happy places but frankly it got so crowded that it wasn’t…happy that is. And gosh I feel like I’ve said this dozens of times, but some of the prices are so ridiculous lately. Almost every piece of small, worn silverplate is $11 and hobbyist pieces of pottery (some so rudimentary and clunky) are marked from $6 to $11. What are they thinking?!

I was hoping the thrifting gods would bless me on my birthday, but in the end all I bought was this Mexican El Palomar pottery rooster. A bread-and-butter find but I thought he was rather handsome and know he will sell.

The day ended better with a Chinese takeout feast with my husband and daughters, lots of interesting conversations and a game of rummy which I lost in epic fashion! I also opened a box of birthday goodies sent by my dear friend Lauri and the lemon macaroons and chocolate-covered strawberries were the perfect after-dinner treat.

Now it’s the day after. Moodwise I’m feeling better. (Spending time journaling and praying helps!) I also knew I needed to get out of the house so I headed to the Goodwill five miles down the road. I don’t go here often so I was excited to see new stock. The heartbreak was finding several pieces of nice crystal all with huge chips. Beautiful, heavy pieces. Such a shame. And the metal and wood shelves were half empty.

But in the end I found this Indian watercolor of Vishnu or Krishna with dancing ladies. Not my kind of thing, but beautifully done including the matting and frame and it certainly would add a touch of the exotic to a room. (Will price this at $125.)

And I bought my first ever piece of jewelry here! Frankly they never have much of a selection and most are newer pieces. But I REALLY liked this rhinestone brooch with a stylized knot. Not signed but the rhinestones had a lovely, sparkly opalish appearance and were prong set. I knew I couldn’t leave this one behind.

Back home I discovered a similar one is credited to being a vintage DeLizza and Elster “Juliana” pin! Given the quality of this pin, I have no doubts that it could be D & E. Priced at $48.

Juliana – a collector’s nickname given to jewelry made by DeLizza & Elster – pieces were originally marked only with paper hang tags and only on select pieces made for a short time in the late 1960s. Most of those tags were discarded when the original owners wore the pieces leaving the jewelry unmarked today.

Costume Jewelry Collectors, Pamela Siegel

Total paid for the three items: $17.68

So an interesting little weekend haul…if you an call three items a haul!

I’ve also been working on my backlog of vintage/antique snaps. I created several smaller lots and then decided to create a huge mystery lot of random photos. I show a few of what’s in the 162-photo lot, which includes some sweet images. Priced at $38.

I’ll close for now. I’m looking forward to a lovely week of sunshine. For those of you in the path of the eclipse…enjoy! I saw a total eclipse seven years ago and it was weird and wonderful. Here in California we’ll only get a 35-50% eclipse.

Wishing you happy hunting,

Karen