Friday Finds From the Mitten State Part 3

I’m in Michigan again on an emergency visit.  This time, my brother became extremely ill and required my nursing assistance.  All is well now, and I’ll be winging my way back to colorful Colorado and my partner in crime, Kathy, soon.  In the meantime, of course, I’ve been doing some antique/vintage shopping with my sisters.  There is a really nice store not too far away, that is huge and has many booths with both good and bad.

I’m taking a risk here and declaring this lamp to be both ugly and puzzling:

The ugly isn’t too hard to see.  Why, oh why did they put that tiny little shade on a lamp that is about four feet tall?  I’m not sure that pink is the color I would use either.  A big old vintage shade with some cool graphics would be better, but I’m not sure it would fix all this lamp’s problems.  Take the attached saw blade table–who thinks that’s a good idea?  As if there weren’t enough problems with this piece, it has a base made from another color of wood which is pretty big and awkward too.  I think I would rather have the wonderful wooden toboggan in the background!

I did find another stunning lamp, believe it or not:

This prairie schooner looks to be handmade.  I wouldn’t have known it was a lamp without peeking inside the fabric cover and seeing this:

The whole thing is about three feet long and incredibly elaborate.  My first thought after seeing the light bulb was, “This is a huge fire hazard” and the second was simply, “Why?”  I’m not a yee-haw type of gal, so maybe the charms of a three-foot covered wagon elude me, but I doubt it.

My sister and I found this Made in Japan teapot very unsettling, and that is putting it mildly:

Really, who would enjoy having a tasty beverage like tea poured out of the witch from Hansel and Gretel?  Hurry children, smash this evil thing in the nearest fireplace and run.  But then we saw these in a different booth:

which felt like being dragged back to the scene of the crime.  Again, why?  I hate to  say this, but this teapot is worse than a clown.  The only thing more awry than the painting on the eyes are the dark brown hairlike cheeks.  It’s just a massive fail three times over.

I feel like I owe all of you several good things to make it up for the last couple of finds.  How about some fun hats?

I love them both, but the one on the bottom has my full attention.  Wouldn’t you feel tres chic wearing it?  The decoration puts the cute little pill-box hat right over the top into the land of fabulousity.

This little honey weighed a ton:

It was metal and made to last.  I loved its graphics and happy red paint.  I’m sure it sewed a really nice seam.  This would have been so handy 50 years ago when I wanted to sew Barbie clothes out of fabric scraps.  With a Sew-O-Matic, I could have done it automagically!

Speaking of Barbie:

Here was a whole box of homemade wooden doll furniture.  I wouldn’t call it dollhouse since it looked to be 1:6 scale which is fashion doll size.  It was all so well made and in great condition, that I was tempted to buy it for my great-niece who is into Barbies.  Sadly, priced at $90 made it more of a collector thing and less of a child’s toy.  Hope someone takes it home and poses some dolls on it.

Meow:

This whole booth looked to be full of girly bedroom furnishings, except for the antelope/deer thing trying to poke itself in the butt.  I took this picture for Kathy—do you want me to get if for you?  I loved doing those hooked rug kits when they came out: wall hangings, pillows, rugs, you name, it I made it.

This proves that things haven’t changed much in the last 80 years:

The “voice” of reason in the middle is imploring all the squabbling nations to just get along.  I think this is from the 1940s since all the squabbling nations were participants in WWII.  Just change the captions, and it would be appropriate today.

This has to be a novelty:

There is a crank, and a hole in the hat, so theoretically it could make peanut butter.  It looks like way too much trouble to make it this way, and then clean up the grinder.  You can see that it was nearly two feet tall, which would be strike three in my book.  Mr. Peanut has never been my favorite character.

Of course I had to look through this booth:

A whole booth of buttons–it was lots of fun.  I didn’t buy any, but I love buttons on their original cards, and even better are the ones with graphics.  There are all the colors of the rainbow here and lots of fun shapes and designs.

This was originally a lunch pail very similar to the one my dad carried for nearly 30 years minus its metal handle:

My sister thought it was fun, but while I appreciate the creativity, I’m not sure it worked for me.  Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

This was such a pretty display:

Jadite from Fire King is a favorite kind of glassware, and one of my sisters collects it.  I’m mad that I didn’t take a picture of the top shelf with its pitcher and glass set.  Very cool and desirable.

Next week Kathy and I will be shopping together again, so all should be well in our world.  Don’t forget to enter our swizzle stick giveaway.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment here or on Facebook.  If you would prefer, email us at thesecondhandroses@gmail.com.  We’re that easy.  The drawing will be held on February 29th.