Vintage Finds

You never know what you're getting into when you go to an estate sale you find listed online or in the newspaper.  But there are certain key words that either draw you in, or deter you from going once you're a regular junker like me!

I can't stand when people call a sale an estate sale when it's really just a moving sale.  A moving sale actually means they are leaving behind the stuff they don't like enough to move with them to their next house.  AND it's usually not the old, vintage kind of stuff that I am drawn to.

I also try to stay away from sales advertised as "an interior decorator's dream"-  Ew.  That means it's big, new furniture that looks like it's from Robb and Stucky with big price tags.  Not my deal at all.

The other day, I got email about an "estate sale" but it was in a retail space in North Dallas of all places!  Uh oh. This is another tactic I don't have much faith in.  True estate sales are suppose to be in a houses! But, they also used the word vintage in their ad... and that tends to make me unable to resist.  That, and the fact that there haven't been many estate sales going on during this time of the year. So, I decided to make the drive.

And whoo hooo that I did!

It was actually a consignment store space, and the owner was closing up shop after only 6 months. He was selling everything in the store as quick as possible and then getting the heck out of dodge, a.k.a, North Dallas.  Anything over $10 was half off, and the prices were very fair to begin with.  OH!  And it was older stuff- VINTAGE-y, in fact!  Just like my idea of a good estate sale!

I asked the guy why he was closing after  such a short time.  After sighing a big, sad sigh, he said, "Well, I moved from Oklahoma thinking Dallas would be a good market for selling stuff like this.  But the people around here just don't appreciate older stuff."  He went on to say he barely had any foot traffic since he opened.  And that even that weekend,  listing his "estate sale" barely brought him any customers to the shop.  (Maybe they interpreted his advertisement like I did.)

Anyway, I felt totally bad for the guy, but pretty happy for myself.  His mom had lots of vintage jewelry in really good condition that they were selling.  Here are a few of my favorite pieces:

Vintage cameo earrings

Tiger eye vintage earrings

Mosaic vintage earrings

I also found a couple of cute vintage dishes for holding soon-to-be repurposed trinkets.

I've been a collector of all things "honeybee" for many years! 

And this cute little dish was made in England- Cheerio!

It goes to show, you just never know what you might find!