thrift store spoils, ch. 22: Ben Seibel's Country-Time, a Ges Line Ashtray, and humble requests for I.D. help

How about we begin with a thrift-store-find mystery that I hope someone out there can help me solve?

I found these three small bowls on a half-day-seven-thrift-store shopping craze. I have an efficient route that takes me east through four traffic-heavy Northern Virginia cities, yet allows me to complete the run in four hours. (Caveat: I no longer have small children.)

I picked up these bowls because I thought they might be Russel Wright. However, there are no markings on the bottoms indicating such—only three stilt marks on each bowl. Also, after getting home and researching, the color of these looks a little darker than the iconic Russel Wright Coral. So maybe I got knockoffs? I do like them, regardless. But does anyone out there know whether the smaller Russel Wright pieces were ever manufactured without markings?

By the way, the melmac tray in the photo with the bowls is one I picked up at a SA last week. It's also unmarked. I got it because it matches the unmarked melmac bowls that both my Florida Mamaw and my Kentucky Mamaw used to serve us ice cream and cereal in.

This is definitely my best find of the past couple of weeks. Despite promises to myself to never ever venture into the Manassas SA on a Wednesday (when, ahem, the entire store is 25% off, and when everybody and his or her brother seems to know it), I did. I walked in three minutes after the store opened, and I picked up the last shopping basket available. There were two carts left, but I don't like carts. 

I have to say that, despite everyone else's carts getting in my way, I made out okay. And among the items I found were these three Ben Seibel designed salad plates by Pfaltzgraff. The pattern is Country-Time, and the minimalist fruit images are so stinkin' mid-century mod, as are the colors—saffron and gray. Am I wrong?

I probably won't keep them, though; I'm collecting, like, three patterns already, so I can't. But I'm not sure whether I'll list them in my Etsy shop, or whether I'll try an Ebay auction. I'm leaning Etsy, because Ebay intimidates me. (Too much down-to-the-wire pressure.) 

Right now I'm just trying to price them. I haven't found any of these exact plates for sale online right now, so I'm clueless about the current market value. (Thus, the nerve-wracking Ebay auction idea—let the free market decide!)

Anyway.

On the shopping spree day, I  found these two bread and butter plates—also designed by Ben Seibel, but manufactured by Iroquois. I believe the pattern's name is Pyramids, but I'm not sure. I'll admit I don't love the pattern. In fact, I bought the plates for the far out logo and fonts on the plates' backs. I know. That's just sad.

I got this unnumbered blue Pyrex mixing bowl to help Mama complete her Primary set. And I happened across a Taylorstone Cathay dinner plate to add to my recently acquired humongous set, discovered and bought on Taylorstone Cathay Day. This one has a little chip, but I just don't care.

Also for Mama, I picked up this Pyrex 023 Opal. (She likes the Opals.) The bread and butter plate is mine. It's Copper Filigree, one of the Pyrex dinnerware patterns.

I don't normally buy ashtrays, because I simply have no justification. (The hubbie lets his cigar ashes fall wherever they may, don't you know.) But this ashtray is uber-cool. The bottom indicates that it's a Ges Line and that it was "Made in the U.S.A." See? Uber-cool. (Note, please, that I don't know whether the Ges Line does or does not need a dash—like Ges-Line? The name on the ashtray doesn't make it clear, so I'm going with the usage I found online as most common. No dash, it is.)

What'll I do with an ashtray? I'll either use it as a ridiculous candy dish, or list it on Etsy. Not sure which.

Okay. More I.D. help needed, please.

This lovely, frolicking-wild-horse bar glass is dated 1993, but I can't identify the maker. 

Anyone out there recognize this logo? I'd like to learn more about the glass, but I can't find that logo on any of my logo-I.D. go-to sites. 

And still more help, please?

This cradle thingie was priced at 96 cents, and, of course, it has such a fun wooden handle. So there was no way I could leave it sitting on the GW shelf amongst all the common stuff. Too bad I have no idea what it was originally intended to hold and/or display. (At first, I was thinking that it might be part of a Pyrex set, but I can't find a photo of it in any of my regular Pyrex info sources.) 

Clue: It is collapsible.

The two tiny serving pieces were made in Japan. They were a little grungy at the store, but after cleaning the stainless steel and treating the wooden handles at home, they look quite good, if I do say so myself.

So those are the only items I'll write about this week. And, please, if you have any idea what the unknowns up there are, I'd love for you to share.

And I'll leave you with a Remington Steele update (because I wrote about the show last week). This week I watched the first episode of the second season. 

It's the episode in which Laura and Mr. Steele travel to exotic Acapulco, in part to save Laura's housekeeper's son from some bad south-of-the-border dudes. But it's also the episode that explains away the sudden absence of two of the first season's secondary characters, while also cleverly introducing replacement Doris Roberts (a.k.a. Mildred Krebs) as the IRS agent/stickler who, turns out, is a closet adventure seeker. (Spoiler alert: Mildred becomes Remington Steele's receptionist/private-eye extraordinaire and adds immensely to the show's charm.) 

Well, also in this episode, Laura Holt sports some rad vintage 1980s parachute pants. Oh, yes. Check it out.

I lived through the parachute pants days, by the way. And I'm here to tell you that it wasn't always pretty. (Laura carries it off well, though. Look at that itsy-bitsy waist!)

Please note the bar stool behind/next to Laura. Doesn't that look Eames-ish? Could that be an authentic wire bar stool designed by the man himself? Or only a reproduction. Fun, nevertheless.

Thanks to Sir Thrift-a-Lot, Thrifter/Maker/Fixer/Farm, We Call It Junkin, and a living space for the opportunity to link up.

thrift store spoils, ch. 16: Dixie Dogwood, Otagiri, and more Pyrex

My mom has caught the Pyrex bug. (I own some of the blame, I'm sure.) Unfortunately, though, she says there's not much of a Pyrex inventory near her home in the North Carolina mountains. So I took pity on her one morning this past week (while she searched Pyrex listings on Ebay) and ran into a few thrift stores I don't get to visit very often—just for her. And I she got lucky.

The following photos are those that I texted her while in the stores, the photos that asked, "Do you want this?"

At my first stop, a SA, I struck yellow. This unnumbered primary bowl was in super condition and priced at only five bucks. A no-brainer.

Primary serendipity! At the next store, a GW just down the road, I grabbed this green 403 for her. It was in pretty good condition, too.

Then I moved a couple of aisles over.

And there sat more primaries. The red 402, God bless it, was way beyond refurbishing, so I recommended (via text) that Mama pass on it. The blue 401, though, I thought had promise.

I wrote to her saying that, despite the scratches, the bowl was a nice enough one for $1.96. But here's the deal: When I got home and washed it, I learned that those weren't scratches after all. Instead, the whitish stuff is some kind of film, which I hope I can remove with some product and a little bit of elbow grease. We'll see.

 

Also at that GW, I got Mama a divided lid for $2.96. (She's even collecting lids now.)

And this is one of two manger scenes I found for her. She has been collecting these for a while. (I take no responsibility for this obsession of hers, by the way.) This cute handmade ceramics project is dated in the late 1970s (about the time Mama and I also had some ceramics fun—when it was quite the thing). It stands only about three inches tall.

At my last stop for her, my favorite GW, I found this Butterfly Gold Cinderella (the vintage 1972-1978 release). It wasn't in great shape, with that dull finish and lots of little scuff marks. But it was priced at $2.96, so I convinced Mama (still via text) to get it. When I got home, I worked on it just a little. I was able to get rid of the marks with Bar Keeper's Friend, but it's still dull. I'm not sure whether I should have gotten it. We'll need to work on it a little more.

And I found her another lid.

And this is what her haul looked like after I washed things up a bit. It was a pretty primary day for her, for sure.

And for myself? I did okay.

This is a bad photo, I know. But I've already washed and packed my new Santa away for next year. (This is the photo I texted to Mama.)  Christmas was 75 percent off that day, by the way, affecting the prices for my Santa and Mama's nativity scenes. And like Mama's nativity scene, my Santa is hand done.

Of course, I had to buy some mugs, all of which are now listed in my Etsy shop. This one is by artist and author Suzy Becker, and it's signed and dated 1991.

I'm so over folk country, but some folks have never abandoned it. And, hey, for some, it's new and retro! So I picked up this mug by Potpourri Press. It's dated 1990. And it oozes that folk-art-country-late-1980s-early-1990s style.

And I say you can't go wrong with an Otagiri mug. Isn't it classic? This one was made in Japan.

I just love these melmac fondue plates, made in Japan. Dijon mustard yellow? Oh, yeah. And they'll coordinate just fine with the plates I found in the summer.

And lastly, I bought this set of 12 bread-and-butter plates, thinking that they might be Blue Ridge Pottery, although there was no making on the bottoms. (I was going to list them in my shop.) Turns out they're actually the Dixie Dogwood pattern by Joni China, which is fine, too. In the end, though, Mama wants them. And that works even better for me. They'll look right at home in her kitchen.

That's all for this week. Hope everyone is having good thrifting luck!

And thanks, as always, to Sir Thrift-a-Lot and a living space for the opportunity to link up.


 

thrift store spoils, ch. 7: mid-century Formica table and Marimekko mugs

I’m off schedule with my posts, because my parents visited last week. (I had time only to keep up with others' fun thrifting reports!) Then for the weekend, we headed up north to see our boy who’s attending college in Connecticut. On top of that, the hubby and I (nuts, we are) have been binge watching The Walking Dead on Netflix. Meaning, I haven't had much time to write. (By the way, I'm thinking I would benefit by some training in the effective use of sharp and blunt objects to off zombie herds.)

Anyhow. I did score some good finds while thrifting with Mama before we left, and I’ll share that experience in my next “spoils” post. For now, I’ll review the fun stuff I bought last week pre-parents. 

Is this not the coolest-ever bedside Formica table? I picked it up at SA for only $15. I was surprised that no one else had already gotten it (the date on the tag indicated that it had already sat there for 24 hours), as it wasn’t even that dirty. It was an obvious gem sitting there, not a gem in the rough.

It’s in great shape, with only a small chip in the Formica on the back edge of the lower shelf. There’s no name on the bottom indicating the maker or a date, but Mama says that as a teenager in the early 1960s she had a bedroom set of the same gray faux woodgrain Formica. My bet is that this table was made in the 1950s?

I went back to SA three times last week after finding it, in hopes of grabbing another piece of the set that had been forgotten in the stock room and, thus, put out on the floor later. But, alas, I saw no more.

This table now sits in the second daughter’s bedroom, which is decorated in pale pink and black—with Audrey Hepburnish accents. Perfect.

Okay, I could be wrong. But I think these are original Unikko (poppy) Marimekko mugs (vintage 1960s), as opposed to the reproductions offered by Crate and Barrel and others. After much searching online, I can find only one other design that comes close to what I have, and it’s the blue poppy version.

“Made in England” is stamped into the bottoms of the mugs. And that’s the only other info I have. If anyone out there in blogger/reader land has any ideas about the mugs’ vintage authenticity, or lack thereof, please educate me!

The sunny yellow mug is by Federal Glass. The mod striped one is stamped on the bottom with a logo I can’t make out and the numbers “11-000.” I’m clueless as to what any of it means. But I do love orange.

I’m still on the lookout for Starbucks mugs, hoping that they’ll be a good baptism into Ebay selling. (Relatively simple to ship and too new for Etsy vintage.) The mermaid mug is stamped with “Catalina,” among other info, on the bottom. There is no date. The holiday mug is from 2006. Each cost me 56 cents.

I cannot pass up a melmac bowl or platter. This is my first white one, and it’s by Watertown.

This book, published in 1958, is huge and full of the coolest mid-century dining and cooking photos. I attempted to take a good picture of one of the spreads, but failed. See:

I’ll try it again after I'm finished with the de-stinking process. If I do better, I’ll post pictures. This book is just too much fun not to share. (And check out the party shoes!)

And last, I bought a good garden pot that matches a very large one I already have (so let’s call it vintage, say, 2010?) and a sweet copper jack-o-lantern, inside which I’ve been burning seasonal scented votives while watching DVRed episodes of Sleepy Hollow with the family. I love Fall.

Thanks to Sir Thrift-A-Lot and a living space for the opportunity to link up!

And much appreciation goes to We Call It Junkin for allowing me to join their link-up party We Call It Olde.

And that is all.