Antique Stores Part 2: The Shoppening
Here are even more pics of our fabulous antique adventures:
Tiny lead soldier presidents! I known Taft was there, but I forget the others.
I WIN.
Seems a bit pricey to me for a handmade racist doll, but maybe that's just me.
That is a deer's foot as the handle of a knife. There was also a hat rack with deer feet turned upward to be the hat hooks, and it looked like they were giving us the deer-finger, which would be justified.
This is an awesome embroidery that was, unfortunately out of my price range.
This is the outside of on of the shops we were in.
This is from 1979, and of course I bought it! It was so cheap!
This is the best find; two Star Wars Burger King glasses, with Boba Fett and Darth Vader on them.
They were also super cheap, so I got them both for Hubby. Who's got two thumbs and is the best wife ever? This guy.
The best part about shopping with Beans and Mi Madre, is that we just walk around mocking all the horrible things we find. We love to pick out hideous things to traumatize each other with. We’re constantly asking each other “Who would make this? How on Earth did this object actually get mass-produced?” (aside from the Fonz puzzle. Who WOULDN’T want one of those??) When we find bizarre ceramic animals we give them names, like Sarcastic Deer and Skeptical Puppy. The snark is the entertainment, and it is endless. If we could be drinking at the same time, it would be so awesome the time-space continuum would rip apart from too much awesome being in one location. Which is why we stay sober. For the benefit of the Universe. YOU ARE WELCOME.
I just want to leave you with one final image. When I was uploading all these photos, the computer froze on this image for a good 20 seconds, and it was slightly disturbing. It is hypnotic, yet frightening, alluring, yet repellent. I give you:
Psycho Raccoon (or maybe fox. Or bear? Whatever, it’s creepy).
Antique Store Round Up
I went antiquing with my sister, Beans, and our mom a couple weekends ago. In order to restrain myself from buying all the adorable, frightening, weird things I find, I’ve started taking pictures instead. Here are a whole bunch of them:
This is the logo on a sign
A cool old toy robot
Old metal lunch box
I don't know what this is, but I thought the phoenix on top was cool
There are lots of ceramic deer. This one looks a little put-out.
Yeah. I bought this. There are actually 2 identical ones, and we named them "The Judgmental Cats". They are shocked and appalled at your behavior!
See? Diseased/polka dot deer.
This was a decoration on a child's table that I really loved.
Toothpick holder. Because that's what potheads need, lots of toothpicks, easily accessible.
This is a hermit crab in a ball of resin. Who thinks things like this are cool?
Antique butter box
This is one of the coolest things we saw. It's a mug for a little kid, and the rocket handle is a straw! In the bottom of the mug it said "Good Job" or something like that.
So, I apparently took a crap-ton of pictures, so now this is a 2 part blog post! Hooray, me!
Adventures in Antiqueing
My sis Beans just bought a house. Yes, she’s a real grown up now! I had the chance to go visit her, and of course, drink a lot, but while it was still early in the day, and socially unacceptable to drink, we had to pass the time somehow. We decided to go dig through the block of antique shops in Richmond, outside of Houston. That place has always been a gem of weird, and affordable antiques, and we both love going there. Here are some pics of the things that would be filling my house right now, if my car hadn’t broken down. AGAIN.
This is a tiny, dollhouse-sized, Japanese privacy screen. The detail is amazing, and it’s double sided! It was hard to leave this behind. I wonder if I can make my own at some point??
This is a tiny pitcher, similar to a child’s tea set. It’s designed to look like Fiesta Ware, but it was not authentic. It was only $2, and I fell in love with the vivid orange color. Sadly, I have zero orange stuff in the house, so I avoided one more piece of clutter. It’s a really good thing I didn’t buy this, because I kept seeing other things that were this shade of orange and thinking, “That will go with my new tiny pitcher! I should get that too!” I’m sure all the orange would look great under the bridge we’d have to move to.
This is an old, closed down, art-deco movie theater in town. I hope someone restores it at some point.
Who doesn’t need a giant harpy shelf?
This is basically a fancy paper doll. Her dress is fabric, and her hair is thread. She’s just really gorgeous.
This type of glassware is very popular and very common, but the prices can be a bit steep. I love the colors, and they come in a variety of patterns.
This was really hard to pass up; it’s a Hindu goddess the size of a dinner plate!
I love this tiny, google-eyed deer. Sorry the picture isn’t great.
Here is Beans posing with what is probably the best antique shop find of all time. Those are naked lady salt and pepper shakers!! They were just too expensive for something you’d have to hide when grown-ups come over.
I just love the artwork on this. It’s in great shape.
Doubtful puppy is doubtful.
Startled baby is startled.
I didn’t open this book, but I wish I had. It was put out by Imperial Sugar, the company my hometown, Sugar Land, is named for.
Look at the freaky poodle twins next to the creepy boots!
I love the color and design of this old Easy Bake Oven. It would be so cute in a real kitchen!
This was the creepiest thing we saw the whole day.
I’ll just leave you with that image.
How to go Antiqueing
Antiqueing is one of those things I think everyone should try at least once. I think some people have the mistaken idea that there are just a bunch of overprices doilies you have to fight old ladies for. That is definitely not the case. I have found some awesome treasures and deals at antique stores over the years, and I have fun hunting through all the random stuff they have. I took all of these pictures at Out of the Past, on Burnet here in Austin.
Probably not safe
I just randomly found this guy sitting there like that:
Franken-kitty!:
I totally wanted this, but it was a bit out of my price range. Gorgeous though, right?
I love Dia de los Muertos stuff!
You can see why Hubby and I like this place:
At this particular store, you are possibly taking your life in your hands. There is crap piled everywhere, and nothing has a price on it. I hate asking for prices on every little thing I’m interested in. Overall, the place is worth at least one trip. Most antique shops are WAY more organized than this, and most even have everything priced.
The advice I would give is don’t buy something just because you think it might be valuable. If you aren’t an antique dealer, the odds of you selling it for what it’s “worth” is kind of low. I only ever buy stuff I really love and can easily afford.
