Hunted:: Gathered: 03/07/11

This week I actually had an early start to my thrifting. Last monday I had an itch for some new clothes and mondays are THE DAY to buy clothes at my local Salv. A lot of clothing items were $2. Jeans were $4 and slacks were 2 for $1!! Needless to say I walked out with 4 pairs of slacks from The Limited, Polo, and Talbots. Despite my great finds I still can't convince the boy to let me buy him thrifted goods.

Later in the week I decided to take a look at a new thrift store that opened. They are a non-profit for one of our local animal shelters. I wound up finding this fabulous typewriter from the 1950's. Behold the Hermes 3000:

  

For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to make it work at the thrift. The keys would not reach the paper no matter what I did. I took it to the counter and the ladies and I fidgeted with it some more and still couldn't figure it out. As a result they sold it to me for $10 + tax (original price $15). They referred me to a local guy with a typewriter shop, I swung by and he figured it out. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, it was just set within the margins so it wouldn't type. Boy did I feel silly. Since I am an animal lover ( I wanted to be a Vet for at least half of my life) I returned to the thrift store and paid the difference since there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

I also found the print pictured behind the typewriter this week. It is a P J Selby print of European BeeEaters. He was a contemporary of Audubon and made the illustrations for a large book titled Illustrations of British Ornithology. It has plate marks but I don't know if it is a reproduction. It was framed by Rudolf Zesch Fine Arts which was also known for their high-end reproductions. It's not my specialty and I don't really want to take it out of the frame. Here is another view. 

Over the weekend I went to a couple of garage sales. I arrived late to a highly advertised vintage sale and found nothing left that was of interest to me. Just down the road however there was a smaller garage sale. It was small and I was ready to head back into my car when I found two framed maps. They caught my attention because they were raised relief maps. Originally being from the flat state of Florida, I find relief maps to be really cool. One was of the entire state of California while the other one was of the LA area. Regrettably and against my own judgement I left the LA one behind only to come home to the boy who also made me feel bad about leaving it behind.

I actually bought this one with the intention of keeping it because the boy and I love maps. He is a meteorologist so he is always surrounded by them. However, he just wants me to sell everything!

On my way home I passed my a local garage sale and found some small bric-a-brac.

These were just .25 each. I was charmed by the duck with its handmade goodness because it was marked on the bottom by an Uncle Charlie. I wish I had an Uncle Charlie who made little things like that for me. 

At that same sale I found the amethyst glass vase. It screamed Mid-Century/ Scandinavian to me so I bought it. On the bottom it was etched with 1436. After some research I have found that it is a Riihimaen Lasi vase by Aimo Okkolin. After some intense searching of the bottom of the vase I also found the marking.

Part of the joy of thrifting/ junking for me is the research that I get to do afterwards. I enjoy learning about these items and their history. Maybe it was all of those art history classes in college, or maybe it's just me. In any case, I thrifted another book to help me decipher future items.

Pairing up with Selena's ATG Thrift Share again.

PS. If you enjoy collecting slides from others' family vacations check out my blog later on this week. I have some images I'd like to share that I think you'll enjoy.