Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

I think you can buy leather luggage-straps online, or if you have enough leather of your own, you could make them yourself.

I bought some today from eBay - military horse/mule straps apparently although I suspect they have a variety of uses including strapping canvas rolls etc. I'll post pictures once they arrive and I've made them fit the bag. I could have made a pair, but believe it or not they were cheaper than the buckles and strapping would have cost and they have the correct patina.

Picked up these cushions last weekend.

Purchased today: Antique food-processor...



Working condition! Extremely tough and very heavy!!

I had a bit of good fortune today at a local thrift store: a limited edition of Scottish poetry, signed by the compiler, John Buchan. Though not a great follower of Scottish verse, I was pretty surprised to find a book signed by Buchan! Author of The Thirty Nine Steps and numerous other works of fiction, Buchan served as Governor-General of Canada from 1935 to his death in 1940. This particular book was published in 1924 when he was President of the Scottish Historical Society.

The other day, I went to the thrift store, and got a china bell, a china plate with Maine on it, a Varsity Polka Band 78, an Al Sack Cole Porter Tops record, and two Guy Lombardo records.

Maine plate. Hand Crafted in Japan.



Bell with birds. Unknown where made.





THE RECORDS


Varsity Polka Band 78 record. This record is about 10" wide.





Al Sack: Cole Porter Hits. This is a tiny LP, it's only about 10" wide.





Guy Lombardo: Enjoy Yourself. Originally released in 1955.




Guy Lombardo: Dancing Room Only. Originally Released in 1959.





Full size images.
http://imgur.com/a/ImorO
http://imgur.com/9qsc9AM

I actually bought this at the start of the week, shortly after the mortar and pestle, but then I had my ass kicked by one hell of a cold. I've only just started recovering properly, so I hadn't been able to post it until now...









The glasses were retailed by Cooke & Kelvey, of Calcutta, India.





Research tells me that Cooke & Kelvey was established as a silversmith, watchmaker, clockmaker and jeweler, operating out of Calcutta, starting in 1858. I expect that they didn't make these, but that they were probably the retailer who sold them (and therefore, had these badged for their store).

The text is hard to read, but it says: "COOKE & KELVEY / CALCUTTA" on each eyepiece.

Speaking of opera glasses with original leather cases, I managed to pick up a junker pair of opera glasses and their original case at the flea-market. The glasses were a TOTAL loss. Broken far too much and missing too many pieces to make repairs possible. But I salvaged the lenses from them, and then I cleaned and fixed the case, and now my French 'Le Jockey Club' racing glasses...



...have an original, period case, to call home!:



It's a perfect fit, you couldn't ask for anything better!:





The lenses on the Jockey Club binoculars were scratched. The lenses on the trashed binoculars were in surprisingly good condition.

As they were exactly the same size, I was able to remove the scratched lenses from the functional binoculars, and put in the comparatively flawless lenses from the trashed binoculars, and simply drop them in and screw them in place. They fit perfectly. They looked brand new. You'd never tell the difference!

So I got new lenses for my racing binoculars, and a new case for them, all for $5.

Not bad, hey?

I kept the slightly scuffed lenses, as spares, just in case I ever buy another one which is the same size...

All in all, a great day's antiquing!

I want thrift stores with 78 rpm's too, nice find!

Giftmacher said:

I want thrift stores with 78 rpm's too, nice find!

Click to expand...

Thanks!

My father had many Guy Lombardo LP's and I remember inheriting them after he passed away in 1997. The Enjoy Yourself album was a favorite.

Brass horse head cane for $2. I couldn't resist.

I picked up this 1930's steamer bag just before Christmas and a friend supplied the luggage straps. I did a bit of research and this type of very large 'Gladstone' style was called a steamer bag and allegedly was based on a 19th Century US post/bank bag. Louis Vuitton began making a steamer bag at the turn of the century and it is still produced. Mine is not by them but I'm not too disappointed.

A lovely Gladstone

I found some more records yesterday at the thrift store!


Ted Maksymowicz: Let's Polka, Oberek, Waltz, Tango

Probably 1950s or 1960s.






Original Music For Accordion Number Three

I'm guessing early 1970s.






Paulo Humeniuk: Ukrainske Wesilia W Ameryci

Probably from the 1920s.






Louie Bashell: Silk Umbrella Polkas

Copyright 1962.






German Beer Drinking Songs

Probably 1950s or 1960s.

Cruising through a local Sally Ann today I noticed they had a pile of old paperback editions of Ripley's Believe it or Not from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Then I spotted this gem...the 1944 Pocket Books edition of the 1929 Ripley's Believe It or Not.



Most of it is in print form of course, but here's a couple of illustrations. (Quite a few don't meet the taste, or correctness, of 2016!)

Another interesting one today at a different thrift store. It has no dust cover but it is interesting: a 1934 first edition of Ellery Queen's The Chinese Orange Mystery.

The entire volume of the magazine "Pestry tyden" (Colorful Week) 1933. Lot of inspiration inside!

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1207_zpsqwdyzie7.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1208_zps7h6gqkrf.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1209_zpstl6famyv.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1212_zpsya6m4om7.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1214_zpsznjt5exq.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1210_zpsbttq24py.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1215_zpschubxay0.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1213_zpsvcgfboeg.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1217_zpsr9tlxdxl.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1218_zpsjav9ddty.jpg
http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn313/Giftmacher/IMG_1216_zpsagbvxgam.jpg

Discounted to $80 for me, at a local antiques shop (there are benefits to visiting all the time. The owners get friendly with you...):



Solid brass, Victorian-era antique field-glasses in EXCELLENT working condition. Replace the worn-out felt linings inside, and they function like brand-new



Fully-extended, they're about 6.5in. long.

What magnification it is?

I actually have no idea. But they're pretty powerful, so I like them. How does one determine power of magnification?