Some Exciting News!

This little pile of treasures is brought to you by the VOA and Monticello.  The blue birdie, dresser box and the cabinet card are from Monticello Antique Marketplace.  I was so glad I decided to stop in because...
wait for it...
The manager saw me shopping and told me she may have a small wall space for me in April or May!!!  WooHoo!!  I was losing hope and backing off on buying the things that I consider too big or too heavy to offer on Etsy.  It is really hard to leave things behind but there is only so much I can cart up to my attic before my house sinks.  It is a very small space and still can't hold anything very big but it is a foot in the door.  I am excited and NERVOUS, too.  I'm on the hunt now for a furniture piece I can use to display things.

The rest of the treasures are from the old, reliable, VOA.  This adorable donkey planter is marked Japan on the bottom.

The mid-century coffee mugs and bowl are Inarco and still have their original foil labels on the bottom.  Sadly, I could not get the Forest Green tray clean.  I even tried Barkeepers Friend, but no luck.  Since I have a collection of Forest Green, this will be a keeper and put to use in my kitchen.

I was delighted to find two of these pieces with china roses.  They are ALWAYS chipped when I find them and these two are perfect.  I guess I forgot to take a close-up of the other one - oopsie.

The sweet blue birdie has the original label, as well, and is Goebel.

These are the "keeper" plastic buttons from the huge VOA score.  You can click the picture bigger for a closer look.
A couple of updates...
Several readers reminded me that the crockery cloche in the last post is a chicken feeder or waterer.  Soon as I heard it I remembered and I thank you for the memory jog.
There have been several guesses about the "What's-it" in this post, including something to check the temperature inside wine barrels and something to check the temperature of maple syrup.  Both seem totally plausible but it is still a mystery. I did find out you can still buy new ones that are very similar.  They are sold by scientific instrument companies but none of them tell the purpose.  I found both plastic and wood and the wood seemed to be so it wouldn't spark.  Just another piece of the puzzle...

The Button Picking Gods Smiled Down on Me Again!

I stopped at one estate sale yesterday where I picked up five gorgeous white lace-trimmed hankies plus two rather faded floral ones.  I also got a hand full of wooden spools and yet another jewelry box.  I was on my way home and made a last second decision to stop at the VOA.  Well, maybe my car decided.  It knows the way there and what it should do when it gets close. 

 Thank you to my well trained car!  The VOA coughed up yet another poke sack of buttons.  This was a much bigger bag than last weekend but I suspect it may have come from the same original donation because there were a few buttons that match what I got then.  How lucky is that - I got the rest of the story!

I didn't photograph all of them but these are some of the more interesting plastics and MOP.  Look closely in the upper left corner and you will see I put a quarter in for scale.  Those white plastic buttons are HUGE.  The MOP at the bottom of the photo are some of the biggest I have seen.  My favorite is the orangish one in the center with the crescent moon cutout.  They just don't make 'em like this anymore!