As anyone who likes thrift store shopping knows, there are some days when you find lots of things you like and there are those times when only one or two things appeal. And there are times that you walk in, look around and leave without taking anything with you. In today’s Thrift Store Finds post, you have the treasures found during a couple of trips to Value Village last month.
We’ll start with the item of clothing, considering I so rarely find something in that category at VV. Yes, there are racks and racks of clothing there, however I don’t usually have the patients or time to go through it all and pick out the gems. In this case, the dress popped right out at me, as it was right along the lines of something I’d been looking for during the hot summer months. I didn’t find it until it was too late to wear it this year, but I look forward to having it fresh and ready next summer.
It’s a 100% cotton loose fitting house dress that was made in India. It’s a layer of floaty fabric that I’ll surely love to wear when it’s hot out. Right now, I’m thinking that it will be something that I use around the house or at the beach.
Next up are a couple of crisp 100% cotton vintage bed linens : a pillow case and a flat sheet. I was thrilled to find these true vintage pieces, both in beautiful condition, hidden amoungst the modern-day polyester blends. They were on separate racks but almost look like a match. I prefer the sheet for its more mod 60s look, but love them both.
There was a woman also looking at the linens when I was there, and when she spotted the sheet in my cart, she made it clear that if I changed my mind, she wanted it. Then she proceeded to follow me around (in a friendly non-creepy way and at a distance) to see if I’d give it up. Not a chance for that, though!
Moving over to the kitchen and housewares areas, it seems that I had a thing for glass. I don’t usually go for the clear stuff, preferring coloured glass, but these things spoke to me so I gave them a home.
Here is a heavy pressed glass votive candle holder. I don’t think it’s particularly rare or vintage, but sure looks pretty with a candle in it.
This next piece is certainly vintage and based on my inability to find any information on it, could be a rare find. It has no maker’s mark, however with those glass beads on the edges it looks very much like Candlewick, made by Imperial Glass USA between 1936 and the mid-50s. Apparently there were many copiers of this style of glass though, so I could be wrong. Either way, I thought it was very pretty. I believe it’s a soap dish but I’ll use it in the dining room as a small serving piece.
This next item was a lucky find, in that it was mixed into a grab-bag assortment of spice jars that Nick picked up.
For those unfamiliar with Value Village, they have these grab-bags hung along the walls, which include a variety of related items. You can see through the plastic bags, but you can’t open them to really inspect what’s in there, so it’s kind of a luck-of-the-draw kind of thing. (The spice jars were fairly standard brand new items. We needed some and they were going for a very good price, so we got them, but I didn’t bother photographing those.)
The small vintage chrome and pressed glass cosmetic jar, mixed in with them, was worth a picture though. We didn’t see it until we opened the bag at home, so it was a delightful surprise. I remember one of these adorning my grandmother’s dressing table. It smells faintly and pleasantly of perfume inside. I estimate that it’s from the 40s.
This crystal Mikasa platter is somewhat contemporary, although old enough not to be sold anymore. It’s heavy and lovely and will be perfect for displaying a cake.
Here it is with the cake/pie server I found, also in one of those grab-bags …
The bag contained four stainless steel serving pieces, one of which was more special than the rest, the server. It’s marked Rogers MRS, which was a division of Oneida. They began making stainless pieces (rather than silver or silver plated) in the early sixties, and based on the fine quality workmanship of this one, I’d say it was from that period. Back then such pieces were manufactured in the USA. Although they’ve made quite a few patterns with small flowers like the one on this piece, I could not determine exactly what this pattern is called.
While my reason for buying the grab-bag was the cake server above, I also liked the mod look of this large slotted serving spoon. I don’t know if it’s a vintage piece, but it looks like it could be.
Evidently, Nick likes it too, because this is a utensil he’s reached for pretty well every day, since we got it. In fact, you can see him using it in this post, where he’s making pickles. I’ve mentioned before that I find it fun and interesting to see which of my thrifted finds he chooses to use in his cooking and serving. He has no idea what the significance of the pieces are (ie: collectability, age, brand, materials, etc) but presentation matters to him, so he actually selects what he’ll use from the variety in the cupboards and drawers. If you’ve seen any of my previous Thrifted Finds posts, you’ll know I have a thing for vintage kitchenware, so he has plenty to choose from.
Along with the slotted spoon, there was a large stainless serving fork. We actually have one exactly like this, also thrifted, so now we have a matching pair. We can use them as salad servers.
Lastly, here are four small plates, each with a different coloured band around the edge. These are unmarked so I can’t tell you anything about them, beyond the fact that they appear never to have been used, are nice and heavy like restaurant-ware, and I just couldn’t leave them behind!
So, that’s all folks!
Thanks very much for checking out my post. I hope you’re in for a great weekend.
xo loulou
