Saturday, June 30, 2012

Hunted:: Gathered: 06/30/12

I can't believe we've already gone through half of 2012! Wow. How quickly time passes you by...

I've been a busy bumble bee in my neck of the woods, or at least it feels that way! The shop did well this month and it has only invigorated me to keep chugging along. The hours put in and the money earned still aren't close to being comparable to my previous day job but I am confident that it can get there. I also believe that it's good to diversify your sources of income anyway, especially for young architects like myself (the field is still highly unstable).

The finds I'm sharing this week are a combination of this week's and last week's estate sales. Last week I decided to venture out to Orange County for an estate sale that had a lot of Abraham Palatnik items in one of their preview pictures. I didn't find anything else of interest in the pictures and so all of my eggs were riding on the Palatnik.

Since I am my mother's daughter, I get serious anxiety over silly things like Estate Sales. I went to bed and woke up at an ungodly hour due to my nerves. I tried to go back to sleep but I knew I was only kidding myself. I decided to drag myself out of bed and figured that waking up really early and heading out early would secure me a top spot in the estate sale list. The sale was set to start at 8am. I arrived sometime between 5 and 5:30 only to find I was #2! The other good reason for leaving early was to avoid the bad commuter traffic. So what was I going to do with that time? I decided to call my mom who conveniently lives on the East Coast. I started chatting with some of the other folks that started trickling in only because I felt obligated to apologize for my car alarm going off at 6am! I struck a conversation with the lady who was #1 on the list and it turned out she was an LA dealer with a shop in Hollywood. Whoa! We chatted about her beginnings as a seller, she gave some advice, we shared some fun stories and then before we knew it we were 15 minutes away from the start of the sale.


Well folks, she almost snagged ALL of the Palatnik pieces. I joked with her that if she had more hands she would've succeeded. She did manage to get the ones that were in the best shape. I managed to get the camel with quite a bit of damage but I was not going to go home empty handed. I also found the Festivo candlestick and the teak snack trays there as well.

Since I had done quite a bit of driving to get to that sale I didn't want to drive that much more out of the way. I had planned a thrift loop that worked well for my trip back home. However, there was an estate sale that was advertised as having been the home of a Landscape Architect and Sculptor. The sale sounded amazing and there weren't any preview pictures so I'm sure everyone's imagination was running wild because mine surely was. I arrived at the sale hours after they had started and there was still a line to get in. They were limiting the number of people who could enter because of the amount of items in the home. Everyone walking out of the sale would comment on how amazing it was yet they were only walking out with one or two things. Curious don't you think?


My number was finally called to enter the home and boy was I amazed at the amount of artwork. Both framed and unframed, all signed. I didn't recognize the names and the prices were definitely out of my price range to pull the trigger. It was looking like I was going to be one of those people walking out with one item but saying that it was an amazing sale. Everything changed when I walked into the kitchen. I saw one canister with the familiar black script and red dot. My perspective broadened and I saw all of the canisters above. Gadzooks! I panicked momentarily because I didn't have a box or bag to carry all of them. I quickly looked around and luckily there was a dish strainer nearby and I positioned them all safely in there. For those of you wondering, these are all Freeman Lederman canisters that were designed by LaGardo Tackett. If all of these were there, I can only imagine that some of the biomorphic pieces must have been there too. I received several funny looks and I know people must have been wondering why the heck I was trying to get all of these canisters. I was giddy and that was all that mattered. At the same estate I found the copper printing block in the back. It has a lovely art deco graphic that I'll have to share with you when I ink it.

Phew. I hope I haven't lost any of you. This is pretty long-winded for my posts.



This picture brings me to a local estate sale this weekend. I saw a blurred picture of this lamp from afar in a room with some retro wood paneling and that was my reason for going to the sale. I slacked off and arrived 30 minutes prior to them opening and was about #30-40 in line. I saw a couple of hipsterish fellas and started kicking myself for not getting there earlier. I had to wait to get in because they were limiting the number of people they were allowing in. Ayayay. When I was finally allowed in I walked to the room with the paneling and the lamp was still there! Without hesitation I walked toward it and turned it over. It was a Design-Line lamp (not Laurel like I originally thought) but still fantastic. I placed it in my bag and turned around only to find the green Design-Line Jack on the coffee table! I don't know the story about the lady whose estate it was but I felt she was a kindred spirit. She had a lot of craft supplies and pieces that were hard for me to say no to. As an example is the little wire critter standing in the back.

You can learn more about it here and if you want to see it in action ( i highly recommend watching it with the sound on)....

Lastly, I found these fantastic 3.5 pt Hudson Bay blankets that I'd been coveting. They are both in pretty good condition and are my first Hudson Bay finds to date. I will be listing one in the shop tomorrow.


Since I started reselling, I find that I am more willing to bring items home. Of course I wouldn't have said no to the items in this post even if I wasn't reselling but I definitely don't feel as guilty. That being said, I am getting overwhelmed by the inventory that needs to be listed. If you've ever been interested in some of my finds, stay tuned to my shop because I will be listing up a storm this month!

You can also like me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter if you would like updates on when I actually list stuff.

I hope you had a great week this week! I'll be hopping around to take a look at your finds. I'll be linking up with Sophie and Selena.

18 comments:

  1. You did well at the estates! I probably should've hit the Whittier one, but since they didnt have pics I hadn't really given it a thought. I feel the same way with getting nervous about good items at estates, and not being able to sleep the night before.

    That's a serious haul w/ the Tackett canisters, great you were able to snag them. I still hold out hope that they're findable at thrifts.

    I've been looking for the Hudson Bay stuff since the thriftbreak crew talks about them so much. No luck yet, but you never know!

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    1. These estate sales were surely welcome. I've been to quite a few duds lately.

      I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets nervous about these things. My boy mocks me but he knows I get nervous about anything. I tried to get you to go to that sale in Whittier since there was more Lederman to be had! ;)

      As for the Hudson Bay, you'll find some in due time. I went to an auction on thursday where I overpaid for some blankets because there was a striped one. If I would've known that I'd find two the following day I'd have more money in my pocket right now!

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    1. Thanks! I couldn't believe it. These sales are hard to come by but are most welcome when they do.

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  3. Loved everything you found and learned a thing or two from your post.

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    1. Great! Part of why I like to blog about these things is to share information. This is all a learning process and so having a community who can share and help identify items is invaluable.

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  4. Wow!! What great finds. The Hudson Bay blankets are very scarce, I live in Canada and have never found a non-modern one.

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    1. Thanks! I must have looked like a zombie when I walked into the room with the Hudson Bay blankets. I saw wool blankets in the corner and saw a single stripe and locked in. I tried not to get too excited because I've never actually found one so I was beyond giddy when I saw the first one was a Hudson Bay blanket. I was reading that the label makes this an earlier version but I'm still not quite sure how old it is. They don't have any holes though which is great!

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  5. I love everything you got from the estate sale. I'd like to find one of those jacks one day.

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    1. I hope you find one too! I'm going to have to keep this one. :) I have to say, there is a perk to living in the 'burbs and that is that most of the 'hipsters' aren't here.

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  6. Thrift and estate sale envy from across the Atlantic Ocean. What great finds. Loved your post, you could feel your buzz from way over here in Ireland. Nice one! :o)

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    1. Haha! I couldn't help it, I was really excited about this one. :) I hope you watched the video too 'cause the music embodied my sentiments as well.

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  7. What great estate sale stories...funny the experiences we have. Love the blankets, although with this heat I can barely look at the photos without feeling itchy! :)

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    1. I didn't know what an estate sale was until a year or two ago. The first one I went to was a huge MCM one that was packed with dealers. I was really overwhelmed. Auctions are interesting as well. :)

      This heat is something! I was actually all itchy after handling the blankets to photograph them. :(

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  8. I am having thrifting envy here, but I am glad you are out and about getting great goodies. I think your Hudson blankets might be contemporary to the ones I found a while ago. I thought this site was helpful http://www.pointblankets.com/index.html
    Good luck listing!

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    1. Thanks Bea! I'm sure there will be goodies a plenty when you get back. I hope you are having a wonderful time.

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  9. Amazing finds all around! I love the Palatnik camel, even if it's damaged. I've never seen the camel in person. The blankets are great, too. What a week you had!

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    1. Thanks! It was the first time I've ever seen Palatnik pieces in person so I had to get it. I was really excited about the blankets too even though it's really hot out and the thought of a warm blanket isn't terribly appealing!

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