Featured Finds Thread

I almost forgot about this. My 105 Upper street Islington watch movement.

It may work if the balance hair spring is repaired and providing the main spring is ok but if not its a great piece of local history and I only paid 99p for it

 

Here are a few more bits I got today, a couple more American coins to add to my collection and a queen Victoria coin and a book about Queen Victoria.

 

Hit up 3 estate sales this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised and simultaneously annoyed at some of the countermeasures in place to mitigate the risks of contagion. It took so long to get screened, get queued and go in that we burnt about 5 hours. Gone are the “quick stop” visits and no chance for people with children to stop by as my community has band anyone under a certain age from going into an estate sale. Nevertheless, it was nice for the Mr. and I to bond about our particular interests on a rare Friday off. Here is my loot, all together costing me about $65. The desire to have jewel toned bits of cloth to swaddle myself in never seems diminished. Bottom two are large shawls the top velvet burnout is a scarf. None had labels. This suit I am super excited to wear. It comes with a matching skirt in the same fabric. I don’t know if it’s 70’s style? Marked “Mexico Silver”, I think it’s alpaca but I haven’t run a test yet.
This turquoise ring marked “sterling” and a makers mark. Looking forward to Trying to figuring out who’s it is. The top is glass, marked “Sterling” on the underside. I’m becoming a fan of these “pool water” glass rings and have a couple already. I see them listed as all kinds of different eras. At the cost of a cup of iced coffee, it came home. These won the prize. The larger one is over 2 inches in length and will look very nice as a pendant. The smaller in the necklace is 10k. They sold them as a set for $35. And finally this little fish. I love the movement on the body and how all the little fins can wiggle on their own. If I find these under $10 I have a hard time saying no!

 

Lovely finds!.
I am very envious as we are in lockdown so it’s great to see someone else’s treasures.

Well it’s sort of lockdown as most people are still in work and most of the kids are still in school so the only thing that has really changed is that most of the shops,pubs and restaurants are closed. I really feel for the small independent shops as they are pretty low risk and are likely to fold.
So no flea markets or car boots but I am sorting through my stash to clear out some of the accumulation of bits and pieces that I don’t need to keep.

 

Love the suit even more than the cameos. Very Jackie Kennedy.

 

I'm hoping our outdoor car boots kick off again in December. What's the label on that suit?

 

That suit looks very Chanel . I bet you will look very elegant in it ! The reticulated fish might be silver . I dont mind so much the measures in place to go to estate sales,but I have noticed the few Ive gone to have VERY ambitious pricing !

 

It says “Joe Frank of Houston”.

 

Same. Some of the estates command higher pricing and its easy to see why but some unfortunately should have been garage sales IMO. I always ask if they will take less and if I have a small heap with me they usually do. There’s one company here I avoid because it’s so highly priced no matter what and the atmosphere is not welcoming. No bags of any kind allowed in, an escort right on top of you while you look at things in every room, if you buy multiple small items figure out how to carry them out on your own, no safe place to set down a growing pile, etc.

 

They don’t help themselves do they. They need to carry out a customer satisfaction survey.
I went into an antiques mall on my way home from somewhere and they followed me round like they were selling top end jewellery not overpriced repros and tat that really should have been in a skip. Maybe I looked suspicious but it made me feel harassed so I left.
Then there are the auction house assistants that sigh every time you ask to look at something .

 

https://trademarks.justia.com/722/58/joe-frank-of-houston-72258802.html

Looks like the name was first used in 1947, trademark filed in 1966, registered in 1968, and expired in 1992.
If you provide close-ups of all labels, we can try to pin down the age of that gorgeous suit better.

 

Found these sweet baskets yesterday.

I shop with a friend usually but she couldn't make the sale. Her things are baskets, books and breadboards. Hanging with her has been an education for me on all 3 Bs and when I saw the basket on the left (a feather basket, she told me about them) I sent her a text with the photo asking if she wanted them. I got a resounding YES for both and picked them up them for her.

Luckily we deal in completely different items so there is no competition between us, we make a good team

 

Welcome to the 21st century. Its getting harder to find half decent stuff now days.

 

I have known the decoration on the left hand basket to be called porcupine.

 

Yep, that's what my friend called it when I dropped them off

 

I think every dealer has said the same thing since forever.

I know for me I have had a serious problem finding Depression era elegant etched glassware for years, it just isn't out there like it used to be.

And so it goes

 

nice baskets !!!

 

The Joe Frank of Houston trademark was filed in 1966 and expired in 1992. The cut of your jacket is fairly boxy so I'd think 1960s. There would have been a matching skirt.

Debora

 

Customer satisfaction, something for these estate companies to strive for.

Pre-Covid I was at an estate sale where the customer in front of me had a big pile of things they were buying, and one was a pillow in a pillow case from a bed, pillow marked with a sticker at $3. I think she was buying all the sheets that matched it as well.

At check-out the cashier said, "Oh $3 is for the case only, not the pillow".
You cannot imagine the argument that followed. No sticker on the pillow, but I think the estate sale company wanted another $2 for the pillow inside.

The estate sale company would not back down and as the customer left the sale, she was telling everyone within ear shot what kind of review she was going to leave on Google.

 

The estate sale companies and auctioneers in my area have relatively few reviews on Google Maps. It would be nice if that would change so people could be more aware when hiring a company to dispose of lifelong accumulations of possibly valuable goods. I'd love to write a scathing review of an auctioneer in my area but don't quite have the nerve and don't want to burn bridges since he occasionally has nice stuff but I have advised people wronged by him to write reviews on both Yelp and Google Maps.