Yay, we’re back together and shopping for badness. Next week we can talk about the monster sale at the local Unitarian Universalist Church and the latest crazy estate sale we’ve been to. But today is all about finishing up with all the fun (??) stuff we saw this summer, but haven’t used yet. We’re also going to do another giveaway; check out the details at the end of the post.
Well, this must have been one person’s beloved doll collection:
It was all there one day, and then it was gone. I could see buying the Asian dolls in the leftmost picture. I have a friend who grew up Thailand and likes the dancing Thai dolls (bottom right corner). She has a collection that is finished, as she nicely informed me. That’s the problem with us knowing what you collect; we might just buy it for you until you’re up to your neck in said collectible! On the other hand, those dolls in the rightmost picture need to jump in a time machine and head on back to the 1970s where they belong!
What is it about vacation tchotchkes? We seem to notice them everywhere:
These love birds were carved out of one coconut. I’m not sure what you would do with it. It’s probably supposed to be an ashtray, but it would be nasty to clean. What else could you do with it besides prop a tropical vacay pic inside it and set it on a shelf?
These are better than average Dutch girl and boy plaques:
They are ceramic, not chalkware, which explains the crisp paint. We thought they were super cute, but not our thing, so there they sat. This was a common theme at this garage sale; these prices missed our sweet spot. We admit it; we’re cheap!
This next picture is cool and cringeworthy at the same time:
We felt pretty squeamish about the leopard fur collar in the left-bottom corner of the picture. It was a different time, but the fur makes me sad; really, killing that amazing animal for a collar? There was a bag of mink collars for $5o, which is also going to be a tough sell. Doll people buy the old furs and make doll-sized coats or wraps out of them. Neither Kathy or I would buy the leopard collar, not matter what it cost. The hat prices were also pretty crazy for a garage sale. They were between $15 and $20 each; the only one I was tempted by was the net hat in the center with the peacock feathers.
We appreciated the elegance of this display:
Those gloves are pretty darn cool, but where would we ever wear them? They wouldn’t be warm enough for winter; and we almost never dress up for events. Hope some stylish soul buys and wears them.
Same with these tiny slippers:
Now that I’m looking at this picture, I wonder why one of us didn’t pick up that glass bowl in the background? It’s quite lovely. I might have been distracted by the Lenox Autumn china plate that was sitting atop the stack of gold chargers (before I picked it up) next to the bowl. Autumn is one of my favorite china patterns of all time. I was so psyched to see it at a garage sale. As I said on Facebook, of course the owner knew what it was worth and was selling a ten-person place setting for $500. That was a good price, but still too much for me!
This poor guy is pretty droopy:
Who could blame him when his mariachi buddies are MIA? We found a mariachi harpist and posted him on Facebook. It surprised us that harps were historically a part of mariachi bands. I’m not sure who loves mariachi enough to want a whole band with each figure being more than a foot tall. We are continually surprised by what we find at thrift stores!
Speaking of surprising:
We saw these big, brass, serpent candle holders in an unattended cart. We took a picture of them, and all of a sudden there was a man standing next to us saying, “This is my cart!” We are much too polite to tell him that he needn’t worry about his treasures–we thought they were hideous! He seemed to sense our lack of enthusiam for his snakes, and kept asking if we thought they were “cool”. Uh, no!
I’m not sure if this picture is all that much better:
Sorry it’s blurry–there wasn’t much light and I took the picture from across the room. I have to say that I would always take owls over snakes in my decorating schemes. This might be a little sappy, but it’s not horrifying.
Kathy found these adorable little vases while packing for her move:
These lovelies are petite, only three inches tall, so they won’t take up a lot of shelf space. If you would like to be entered in the drawing, leave a comment here or on Facebook. We’ll do the drawing on Friday September 5th in the evening; everyone, everywhere is welcome to enter.
Second Hand Roses 
love the gloves but so unpractical … but would buy the green glass
Thanks for reading–hope you win the green glass!
The things I find carved from coconuts have always been dreadful. I’ve yet to see something I like carved from this medium. The heads, the deformed faces are especially disturbing.
Those monkeys carved from coconuts are particularly creepy. I thought the birds were maybe the least objectionable carvings I’ve ever seen–granted it’s a low bar!
I always feel bad when I see someone’s beloved collection of anything–even hideous things–end up at the thrift store. Last night, Michelle and I were at Goodwill, and someone had obviously donated Grandma’s collection of souvenir plates. There must have been a hundred of them. Whoever collected them had obviously put a lot of work and love into them, only to have them end up at Goodwill (where they probably won’t sell).
Not that I wanted to buy them. Most of them were ugly. But it’s still sad to see.
We feel exactly the same way! Too bad that each person at the funeral couldn’t take one as a memento–it would spread the ugly out!
Love the green glass vases
I hope you win them!
The gloves are great. It reminds me of when I was little and mom would buy my sister and myself a pair of gloves to wear for church. (And hats were still fashionable attire at church as well for both men and women). 🙂
I remember wearing my Easter bonnet to church all spring and summer long. By fall it was looking a little ratty, so it got “retired”. We wore little white gloves too, before I started school.