A Good Belt

One of today's yard sale catch o' the days. I cant seem to find enough good aged leather belts. I suppose that if the leather's cracked and gone folks just want to toss 'em in the garbage.

Bit loafers

I went to a funeral this morning for long time friend and laugh-meister Gerry Salsberg who first gained  audience praise with Toronto's first Godspell company (along with Victor Garber, Eugene Levy & Gilda Radner) and then with Toronto's first Second City company.

On the way back I nipped in to my local thrift for a quick peek and came away with a pretty decent pair of Gucci bit loafers.

Gerry's still looking out for me.

Pressing Matters

One of today's yard sale finds: 1930s Coleman's gas iron. Not one of the rare ones so will not be expensive but will look great on display in someone's clothing (or custom/bespoke/tailoring/dressmaking/alterations) shop. Or use it a a door stop. Paperweight? Boat anchor?

House Call

We bought some luggage today from a house call. Not an estate sale because the owners were very much alive, in their nineties and moving from a big house into a condo. They still drive to cottage most weekends.

Husband was a business man, wife a pediatrician, very active, lots of luggage, trunks etc and this flight bag was his from WWII, when he was a naval lieutenant.  It's going to take a few trips to get all of what we bought.

I don't think any of the luggage will be for sale, we'll use it for rentals.
www.vintageluggage.com

Cufflinks or Cuff Links

Just added a whack of new cufflinks to our cuff link site www.vintagecuff.com

Shoe stretcher

Being the shoe slut that I am, a handy weapon in the arsenal for dealing with thrift store finds is a shoe stretcher which, when judiciously applied, forces the leather to be a tad more accommodating.
 The marks (USMC) on this one suggest that it might have seen military service.

Stretchers are often confused with shoe & boot trees which are wooden forms inserted to help keep the shape of the boot.

Hudson's Bay Point Blanket

Spotted at the St. Lawrence Sunday Antique Market this past Sunday, an old HBC point blanket. Using Harold Tichenor's  book The Collector's Guide to Point Blankets, as a reference, the label was used "for a brief period around 1930." The blanket was in very good condition but by the end of the day still remained unsold at an asking price of $95.00.

I was selling a 1920s Trapper Point blanket from Eaton's that I had bought at the market that morning. It sold.

Silver Cuff Links

Found this weekend and now available on our website www.vintagecuff.com.

LL Bean Bag

Off The Cuff features the classic L.L. Bean Tote in today's post. We have an old Bean canvas tote in the vintageluggage.com hoard as well. While it's not the same, it is a Bean canvas tote, probably from the 1920s or '30s.