I attended my first outdoor antique show of the season this past weekend, and it was a doozy. Thunderstorms, hailstones, sheets of freezing cold rain, and 45 m.p.h. winds that lasted for about three hours....one might think an outdoor show would be cancelled in such conditions, but no...not even when four tents blew over and one of the dealers was (reportedly) knocked unconscious by a pole.
I did wait for the worst of the wind to subside (and for all the poles to be better secured), but once I found I could walk upright in the face of the zephyr, I plodded on. One of my dealer friends greeted me with a shout (so as to be heard over the wind): "Hey Tracy! Guess we're the tough ones, huh?" Her neighboring dealer replied, "Or the stupid ones..." I suppose those of us who braved the conditions were a bit of both. I went home with windburn, shoes full of mud, and a severe chill, but I scored several treasures, and here's the great part: they were all 1/2 off, or 2 for 1, and one thing was even FREE! because all the dealers wanted to get the heck out of there.
I got a vintage 4 machine vending unit that had been priced at $100 for only $40, because the dealer was so anxious for someone to haul it out of the mud. That someone was me, and joy of joys, when I got it home and cleaned it out, I found a whole bunch of 1950s-60s gumball machine prizes in the bottom of one of the units. They were actually gumball prizes I've paid $15 apiece for before, so I think I came out pretty well on this deal, even though the machines need lots of restoration.
Other finds included:
--2 fantastic, early vintage trolls, in original outfits (yep, there's more of them coming)
--a 1930s dollhouse-sized hoosier cabinet, kitchen chair, and accessories
--an assortment of dolly-sized antique dishes, teasets, and baking ware
--2 vintage board games, including the hard-to-find Mr. Ree, with almost all its parts
--a 1930s bisque figurine Cracker Jack prize (found in a box of broken junk for only a quarter!)
--a 1930s Little Orphan Annie lusterware child's teapot, which goes with a set I already have that is, coincidentally, missing its teapot
--a 1930s Buck Rogers Big Little Book and a 1940s Mandrake the Magician one
Pictures to come soon, once I'm over my cold.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Worn Old Bear
In my antique teddy bear collection live several bears who are in minty condition, which is remarkable considering their 100+ year ages.
And while it's always a thrill to find such teddies, there's something touching about rescuing a spectacularly love-worn bear. The character present in the face of a ted who's been hugged almost to pieces, patched and re-patched, and yet carefully preserved, is really a priceless quality.
My latest such find is this 18 inch 1920s British bear who suffered from chronic Nose Kissing, which has resulted in the appearance below. He's very sensitive about it; the other bears and I try not to stare. But I feel it's given him a certain charm, and he looks like he's full of stories about the things he's seen over his long life. I call him "Nosey Parker."
And while it's always a thrill to find such teddies, there's something touching about rescuing a spectacularly love-worn bear. The character present in the face of a ted who's been hugged almost to pieces, patched and re-patched, and yet carefully preserved, is really a priceless quality.
My latest such find is this 18 inch 1920s British bear who suffered from chronic Nose Kissing, which has resulted in the appearance below. He's very sensitive about it; the other bears and I try not to stare. But I feel it's given him a certain charm, and he looks like he's full of stories about the things he's seen over his long life. I call him "Nosey Parker."
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Vintage Twinkie the Kid & Wonder Bread Premium Rings
These two Hostess items are late entries into the premium ring category, dating to my own childhood in the 1970s. I can remember spotting the Wonder bread rings inside the packages, and eagerly squeezing our forearms down into the bags, trying to get them out. Wonder bread squishes very easily, we found. After a few smushed loaves, the adults started putting the bread up out of our reach, and dispensed the rings themselves.
1950s Quaker Crazy Rings Premium Set
One of the greatest toy ring premiums of the 1950s was the Crazy Ring Set sponsored by the Quaker Oats Company. For only 25 cents, the lucky recipient received a total of 10 crazy rings, one for each finger, including a siren ring, pencil sharpener ring, 2 dexterity puzzle rings, squirt ring, ship in-a-bottle ring, whistle ring, hand-shaking friendship ring, jingle bell ring, and, amazingly, a meteor ring that the ad attested "contains an actual meteor piece from outer space" (mine is missing the stone, so I can't evaluate that claim).
Here's the original ad for the Crazy Ring Set:
And here are the rings:
Some closeups:
The hand shaking friendship ring, open and closed.
Here's the original ad for the Crazy Ring Set:
And here are the rings:
Some closeups:
The hand shaking friendship ring, open and closed.
The jingle bell ring.
The pencil sharpener ring.
The ship-in-a-bottle ring.
The dexterity puzzle rings.
The whistle ring.
The squirt ring.
The siren ring.
1951 Cowboy Boot Ring Premium
Children's toy premium rings from the 1930s-1950s fascinate me. It's amazing how much stuff the designers managed to pack into these tiny items, and this one, a 1951 premium from Popsicle and Bazooka Joe, is a great example.
The cowboy boot opens to reveal a not-so "secret compartment", a magnifying glass, a compass, and even a tiny printed sheet of "cowboy code". With this ring, you could imagine yourself to be a cowboy, an explorer, a secret agent, or some combination thereof. Fantastic!
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