Old Original

Found at a church bazaar, today's Catch o' the Day : (I crack me up) An Old Original Bookbinder's Lobster bib. Linen, I think. Just because you can never have too many lobster bibs just kickin' around.

Vintage Compasses now at Yank Azman on line

Looking for someplace to go?

Just launched: the Vintage Compass section of our cufflinks website.

The Borg

Today's Catch o' the Day: a men's winter coat from Winnipeg. Gabardine, double breasted with mouton collar, borg (faux sheepskin) lining and a buttoned half belt in back. Styled "the Stratoliner" presumably to cash in on the name value of the aircraft which went into production at Boeing in 1940.

Stetson also put out a line of hats called the Stratoliner.

90 years ago this fall this was in someone's mailbox

Picked up a ninety year fall winter catalogue today. Almost 600 pages of time travel goodness. The wish books they used to be called. Perhaps they still are.

Happy Birthday Lilly

So very confused, half the blogosphere is wishing Lilly a big old Happy Birthday yesterday but wiki says her B-day is November 10.  Never mind. We thrifted this one on her maybe birthday so file under possible birthday gift to me.

This Lilly will be coming to the CAFTCAD show October 23, 2010. Just in time for, uh, Florida in winter. That's it. Florida in winter.

I know but I just couldn't resist

File under: I know but I couldn't resist. Today's thrift store purchases.

For your consideration
item#1: 1950 Decca top seller Goodnight Irene with B side Tzena Tzena, by (with top billing) Gordon Jenkins and his Orch

and then the folks that did the actual singing: The Weavers

and item #2 sings for itself.

Professorial digs

We went to the outskirts of the city today to pick through the estate of a well known and well respected philosophy prof. A lovely mission/arts and crafts style cottage on the the edge of a ravine which made for dank pickings. Much larger inside than the exterior would have you believe, it contained a warren of bedrooms and studies. The attic was crammed full of trunks and tea chests which naturally we managed to liberate.

Not much else. The few bits of antique I picked turned out to be poor choices: a beautiful old cast iron dutch oven and a lovely brass bladed fan. The dutch oven, I should have examined it there but the light was poor, was marked: made in Taiwan.

The fan, which I knew wasn't working, also had a massive crack in the base which I didn't see. Oh well, la de dah. La dee dah.

I did have my my pick though of the clothes though. We're almost the same size but not enough. The jacket including a beautiful but moth eaten Norfolk  (which I should have taken just for the fabric), several pair of jodhpur boots, sadly not my size. A Fulbright scholar who taught at a number of institutions before settling in at U of T,  he did manage to shop at the local campus shops for some great trad gear.

Raleigh Wheels

Today's yard sale Catch o' the Day is this Raleigh Bike; the Tourist, I think the model is. Rideable right now, but needs a bit of work, nothing serious, some nuts and bolts, brake work and a proper Brooks saddle. I haven't had a chance to do any real research yet but it's probably from the late 1960s or early '70s.

A very handsome ride indeed.

Just in time for Winter

Today's Yard Sale Catch O' the Day: with winter just around the corner, we managed to pick up a slew of men's scarves in wool & rayon. Most were the trad patterns: paisleys, pasileys or how about some paisleys; not that I have anything against paisley (unlike Hal Rubenstein, author of Nothing Goes With Paisley) but sometimes we get something different.

Another Opening, Another Show

We popped in to wish Ian Drummond (the Ian Drummond Collection) felicitations on moving into his new digs out Islington Way.  Ian's space is open to film & tv costumers and his incredible collection of vintage clothing is for rent only.  He does sell a few times a year: at the CAFTCAD Shows, next one OCT. 23/10; and at the Christie Antique Show, coming up September 11, 2010.

Sharing this space with is Ian, is the lovely Caitlin whose The Wear & Now also rents to film and tv and has found a niche by supplying all kinds of uniforms.

Curbside

I loved it as soon as I saw it, but it took P to tell me what it was. She determined it to be an artist's bench. The back board serves as the easel with the two strips in front, barely visible, acting as the canvas stop. haven't decided whether to keep it or take it to Christie on Sept 11.

Thimble of Tea

Found this a.m. at the Flamboro show

Flamboro at Milton

did a little shopping today the Flamboro Show at the Milton Fairgrounds, next show Oct. 16th.

Beautifully restored tractor

and finally, sorry it's a lttle blurry, a butterbox as a commode.

Lacrosse Pin from Orillia

Just added this wonderful old souvenir of Orillia Ontario; a cloisonné enamel lacrosse pin. It might even have been a lacrosse club membership pin.

For a better look, jump to the web site vintagecuff.com.

I can see clearly now

Found this week, a pair of vintage Russian army goggles, should go well with a steampunk look, I think.

Other news on the horizon, we're starting to get ready for the Toronto Vintage Clothing and Textile Show at the CNIB campus on Bayview Ave in Toronto on Sat September 25, 2010

Unfortunately there's another show on that day which has very small vintage component but a large advertising budget so our show may get lost in the shuffle. Their show is all weekend, so visit us first!

Visit on Facebook and follow on Twitter.

From High Sierra

Today's Thrift Store find is a High Sierra Backpack, rucksac, bookbag, whatever you choose to call it, this is one of the best: canvas and leather and barely broken in.
You can have a look at some of their newer stuff at High Sierra Sport Company.

My last Brooks saddle was stolen right off the bike.

Let me clarify that title a bit. Some lowlife took mine from my bike (probably ended up at Igor's, who knows.) This one is 1920s '30 vintage I believe. It will be chained down.

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.

Christie Antique Show

The ipod alarm went off at 3:00 am so I could finish loading, prep lunch (salmon patties) & mid-afternoon snacks (Niagara prosciutto & melon), and then hit the road to the Christie Conservation area about 45 min outside of town at Hwys 5 & 6.

It's the crossroads, so put on some Robert Johnson.

It was an easy drive at that hour of the morning and we took our place in the dealers' line to wait for the 5:15 a.m. lifting of the gate to allow the dealers access to the field. Fast and easy check in, found our spot and got to work. I didn't get a chance to walk around and look at other people's stuff because it took me the full three hours to get set up for the 8:00 am opening.

PZ walked around and bought a couple of things but no serious shopping.


Jeff and Wendy Gadsden, the show promoters are seasoned pros at this and the rumours were the crowds were the biggest ever, I'm guessing at 20,000-30,000 shoppers.

By 10:00 am the line-up to make the turn off into the park from HWY6 was about 45 minutes long. The crowds were steady all day long.

People seemed to be shopping because we know that the four cash machines ran out of money and had to be refilled (at least once) but they seemed to be cautious shoppers, no panic buying, people thought about stuff and came back for it after looking at the rest of the field.

A lot of customers from the late lamented Harbourfront Market stopped by, people we hadn't seen in years.

The show, for us, was successful in that I moved a lot of merch I needed to move; in other words, not a huge profit day, but a good cash flow/cost recovery day. I don't know if I have enough merch to warrant taking a spot on my own in September and then renting a vehicle to bring it all to the show. The Explorer just doesn't hold enough to justify the expense.

All in all, the weather was great, I'm so glad we had the tent, a good turnout, we brought our own food and drink and an uneventful load-up and drive home.

And then we did the Sunday Market the next day. So a 4:00 am wake up for that and...

White Bucks

Time to dust off these puppies and hit the bricks with these white bucks with red brick soles. I bought these new from Bass about twenty-five years ago. They're vintage now.

Crate & Bicycle

I do believe that a Bushmills  crate beats a milk crate every time.

Of Boardwalks on the Islands & Judy

PZ on the Boardwalk on Ward's Island for a celtic slash pagan wedding dressed in stripes with polka dot bag and white brogues.



And today's Catch o' the Day: a Girl Size Judy. We've had lot of Judy's  & James' over the years but never a Girls'.

Christie Antique Show

Doing the Christie Antique Show next Saturday for the very first time. We've shopped the show since it started but have never set up before. It's one of the best field shows ever. So we're bringing field boots.

See you there.