Weekend Loot and My Auction Adventures

Well I posted last Thursday that Saturday would be dedicated to finding goodies here around town. Saturday morning I woke up early( worm, early bird and all that) with the intention of hitting as many yard sales, estate sales and flea markets as possible. The first one was a moving sale only a block from my house. Evidently they are taking no clothes with them wherever they are moving. The only things of interest were two old sewing machines. So I moved on to a estate sale that was advertised as being "awesome" and in really big house. We were on are way and I was practically giddy over the thought having a huge house full of stuff to roam through. The cars were lined up around the corner and they hadn't even opened the doors yet. The doors opened and we all streamed in with feelings of excitement and a need to see everything. We were greeted by a white and pink living room set, circa 1985 and I big new dining room table and all I thought was this does not bode well for the rest of house and I was right. The woman running the sale said come in look around and don't forget to head down the wonderful spiral staircase to view more. MORE of what I thought! Well I went down and it was a room full of candles, lots and lots of candles. My friend, who I had drug along, did find some kitchen stuff, so she was a least happy. After she made her purchases we headed back to the car and off to a flea market in town.

Flea Markets, Flea Markets, Flea Markets. I don't know what to think of them anymore. They are hit or miss. This one was a miss. Lots of cells phones, socks and new purses. Again disappointment. So at this point I decided to take a page from my Grandfather's book and head out to the country. So I headed north on a back road and was pleasantly surprised at the number of sales that we were seeing. After stopping at several I felt my giddiness return. Although I made no purchases, my faith in finding goodies at yard sales was renewed. After heading to the country, getting lost in country(which I enjoy), I returned home for an afternoon of World Cup Soccer and well we all know how that turned out.

After the disappointing morning and afternoon, I decided to head to an auction being held in a neighboring town. I have been going to auctions since I was little, but it had been a while and I was a little nervous. The auction house was located in a an old theater and we were greeted with smells of hot dogs, popcorn and barbecue being sold from the old theater concession stand. We grabbed our seats as the auction was beginning and were warned it was going to be a long night. There was glassware, furniture, ephemera, kitchenware, you name it, it was there. Six hours later I left with several goodies in tow.


This was my first purchase. It is a calendar made for J.R. Andrews Inc., out of Pennsylvania. It can still be used today because there is no year indicated. It has the month and days, that can be changed by moving the cardboard wheels, located on the back. The flaps with dates are all still intact. Some of the days of the week are scratched, however, I still like it and I am not sure why.








My next purchase was a print with several markings. Up in the right hand corner it says copyright Paris Etching Company of New York City and on the bottom right hand corner it is signed in pencil. I cannot tell what the name is but I believe it is French. On the bottom of the left hand corner it is signed again in pencil and next to it is a small circle with letters SZL. If anyone has any more information I would love the input.


















So I packed my car with my goods around 11:30 and headed home. It turned out to be a good day and I can't wait until next weekend when I hit the road for the Fourth of July Holiday. Plans have been made to explore the Northern Neck and Virginia and I can't wait.