Hands Up, If You Went To An Auction This Weekend!

Well, my hand is up, and it's danged hard typing
with only one hand on the keyboard.

An auction of household goods at a beautiful home in the 

western New Jersey countryside; how could we not go?

It explains the flatware bound up 

and being held hostage in my sunroom:

77 pieces of heavy, excellent condition Community Plate, pre-1920.

(You can tell by the knife blades.  They are silverplate.
After the First World War, knife blades were made in stainless steel.)

The pattern is called "Patrician" and was introduced by Oneida in 1914.

I think it's gorgeously sleek and contemporary, even today!

All pieces are monogrammed with either "M."

Or "R."  Most have the R monogram.

Although Howard thinks that it is a "B."

We'll humor him, and say, yeah, maybe.  Sure.  It could be a "B."

Other finds?  Peek into this plastic bag;

there's a twin size older matelasse bedspread and sham.

A dainty glass compote.

Two chunky glass candlesticks.

(I am keeping them.  Shhh . . . don't tell.)

I do not know why that ten dollar bill is there.  But it is mine.  Really.

A box of old Austrian china, with two covered vegetable bowls,

and a really neat gravy boat with attached plate.

A big box of linens, including several 

banquet-sized Irish damask cloths.

I darkened the picture to try and show the tablecloths more clearly.  They are brilliant white in "real life!"

One has oddly colored flowers that look rather blobby.

This is new to me.  Have you ever seen damask colored like this?

The only furniture: a mahogany muffin stand. 

How cute is he?
He just needs a quick waxing, and he'll be ready to hold
cupcakes and scones at tea, or display tureens,
or be home to lovely cascading pots of ivy.

We also got a watercolor landscape, a print that I bought for its frame,

a small lamp, a few more pieces of vintage silverplate flatware . . .

and I think that's it!  All in all, a good haul for our antiques booth

at Somerville Center Antiques.  Now I just need to find 

some way to display everything to advantage!

Happy Hunting, my friends.

Keep it thrifty, and OLD.  :-)  Like me.  -- Cass

P.S.  Come with me tomorrow to an estate sale, where I am stalking something that Howard and I hoped to get at Sunday's auction but were outbid; wish me luck that this time, I can get the prize(s).  And don't tell Howard.  Oh wait.  He can read.  Eh, he'll forget . . . .

Sold! to #97 . . . A New Jersey Auction Adventure

'Scuse me while I go close the skylights in the sunroom;
it just got through to me that it is pouring rain.

Leaves blow in and get caught on the screening.  Looks awful, doesn't it?

I never claimed to be a MENSA candidate.

Done, and I'm back at my desk.
Watching the ferns fly in the wind.

Dear Howard: Where DO those extension cords on the metal chair belong?

  

Everything outside is wet and toppled over.

 These pictures are taken through the drippy sunroom glass.

The poor iris-es . . . they finally bloomed, and they're getting their iris-es kicked by the weather.

There's been a lot of rain, but thankfully Sunday was beautiful.

Clear, a little on the cool side, but a perfect day for this -

a barn auction in a gorgeous gentleman's farm setting.

Howard's carrying the coffee cups; we are ready to bid!

Where's Howard now?

Getting ready to bid on some small vintage chairs.

And we got 'em.  Nine country Sheraton-style chairs.

Rush seats.  8 maple. 1 oak.  None is identical to any other.

They must have been collected over time.

Broken rush; we're keeping this one to use ourselves.
What do they say about the shoemaker's children going barefoot?

5 have seats in excellent shape; they're going to my antiques booth.

4 have holy smokes falling apart rush seats.

We're using them around the old oak table in our sunroom.

Slat backs, with thumb back posts.

Yup.  Boo-Boos on the seat of this one, but the chair is still

very sturdy and usable.  I'll trim and glue the rush,

and make nice ruffled squabs for the seats.

This one has little black rubber shoes.  None of the others has rubber shoes.
Possibly there's damage beneath that black rubber.  I'm ignoring it.
I think the little black feet are kind of adorable.  Like tap shoes.

Howard and I had talked - at length - about buying matching chairs

for around the sunroom table.  We just didn't think we'd find them

at an auction, and pay $4 apiece for them.  Yes, you read that right.

****************************

Other auction wins . . . .

For $5, a box full of old silver plated stuff.

Like, a couple of old dog trophies from the 60s that appear to be shrimp servers.

Those Weimaraner folks apparently love their shellfish.

And . . . meat platters, serving trays, serving dishes, and a water pitcher.

Some of these pieces are going to polish up nicely; they'll head for the booth, too.

Others?  Not salvageable.  I'm going to try painting them.

Never thought I'd do that . . . but there's a first time for everything.

To the right - Clothes from Goodwill for Anne's latest
costuming job, a revival of West Side Story.

As the deli man says, "And vat else?"

Among other auction wins - a big lot of brass candlesticks,

a cut crystal lamp, a child-size drop leaf table, a country-style

Windsor bench, a brass tray on a stand, a Chippendale-style hanging shelf,

a box of antique linens - most of them useable! - and this:

a lamp made out of an old water pump, mounted on a piece of barn wood.

Yeah.  It's no great beauty, is it?  However, it brings back memories

of when my sister and I pumped oceans of water

from Grandma's backyard well to keep her garden in good health

when she took her annual summer visit to Aunt Bertha in Vermont.

I can still hear that distinctive squeak of the pump.

And how Peggy and I were sure that if we filched

a warm ripe tomato off a vine, that Grandma  - 

across Long Island Sound and many miles north - would know.

Well, I'll clean up this strange old lamp, and 

rewire it, and then decide - keep or sell?

It might look good in the sunroom.  Hey, you never know.

At least Dylan can't break it when he sneaks up

on the corner table to get a better view out of the windows.

How our Dylan spends a rainy day.  Love the damp curls!

Well, I have putzed around at the computer long enough.

Time to make myself useful.  -- Cass

And In My Spare Time . . . .

Projects.
To-Do Lists.
Why are there always more of them, than there is
time in a day?  Or a week?  Or a month?

There ought to be a name for this phenomenon;

I don't think Cass Syndrome will catch on anytime soon.

My today project is this:

A Victorian settee, from an auction last week in Pennsylvania.

The fabric on it is intact and clean, but poorly done and cheap.

I aim to replace that fabric with something less poorly done.

On a side note . . . I have never done this before.  Could get interesting.

"Dear upholstery gods . . . help!  Amen."

There's a home dec fabric outlet shop nearby, with a clearance room out back,

where all the bolts sell for $5 a yard, and the trimmings are a buck a yard.

The settee was a very good bargain, so I didn't want to spend

a lot on new fabric.  I want to sell this at a reasonable

price to someone who will love it, so I need to keep the costs low.

In the clearance room, we found (okay, Anne found) a simple upholstery

fabric in a neutral green with a little quilted diamond pattern,

and a multi-colored gimp that tones nicely with the fabric.

The fabric and gimp together cost me $27.  Now that's what I call

a bargain, and I can pass that savings on to someone else.

Wave bye-bye, little settee.

I am about to do scary things to you.

********************************

After my whining over the weekend about not finding anything 

at that auction in Connecticut, I need to show you a recent

New Jersey auction find.  Nye and Company in Bloomfield

holds live online auctions, and during the last one I made a

ridiculously low bid on a late Federal (early 19th century)

turned maple rope bedstead . . . and won.

Bonus challenge:  Guess what I paid for it?

I picked it up yesterday.

It's lounging, wearing its original 200 year old dust, in my front hall. 

 I love the swoop of the headboard. 

Obviously, it needs a good cleaning and

a beeswax massage at the That Old House Spa.

Easy peasy.

Good sturdy legs.

Perhaps it played field hockey once upon a time.

And once upon a time it had pegs along here, below, to hold the ropes

that supported those lumpy mattresses of olden times.

Someone sawed off the pegs a long time ago, probably at the 

request of his wife who was tired of dusting between them.

Yowser! that's a lot of dust.

And that's all I can think of for today.

Except that my next project is an old Sheraton style washstand

in mahogany.  It weighs a ton, despite its slender good looks.

Must have an excellent metabolism.

I hope your Wednesday is as beautiful as mine!

New Jersey is showing off the last of its August weather. -- Cass

A Tale of Three Bargains for Three or More Tuesday!

It is Three Or More Tuesday, hosted by Tam at The Gypsy's Corner. Visit her here:

The Gypsy's Corner: Three Or More on a new day and a Surprise!!!


This is my tale of acquiring three things I am proud to have found at what I think are rock-bottom prices. Including free.

This house is larger than our last. What was enough furniture for our sweet brick Craftsman was not enough for That Old House! We needed furniture, and it's lucky we like things old.

So first goal -- a breakfront. A big breakfront, to hold china and stemware and all sorts of stuff. I searched Ebay and Craigslist until I found two I liked.

The Ebay item had an opening bid of 800-dollars. Ouch. I liked it, but I don't like anything that much! Lucky for me, it didn't sell. It didn't sell on its next go-round either. Nor the next. Finally, I bid when it reached an opening of $200.00. And that's what we paid:


My husband and a friend from work, Andy, picked it up at its East Side Manhattan location, and brought it to That Old House.

I won't describe how hard it was for them to get it down our old stone steps and into the house, because mostly I had my eyes closed and pretty much only heard some cussing and occasional yelps of pain.

It's by Saginaw Furniture, and it's big and it's pine, unusual because most breakfronts of its style and manufacture are mahogany. I think the pine goes well with the old floors in the dining room. That middle drawer folds down into a butler's desk, with little cubbies and things. The butler didn't come with it.

Another breakfront, smaller, and mahogany, beckoned from Craigslist:


It was the last item being sold in an estate sale, and there were no takers. I communicated -- a lot -- with the nephew handling the sale. I couldn't pay the $400 he was asking, it was more than my self-imposed limit. And after all, I already had a breakfront, and two is one too many.

But we chatted, and I told him about our old house, and he finally said, "No one else wants this, and my aunt loved it. You take it. I know you will give it a good home." I protested, as I felt very awkward about this -- it had never been my intent to get it for free.

However, he was ready to call the junkman, and the piece would end up in a landfull. So, we took it.

I need to work on placing items on the shelves and on top -- it's all rather haphazard now -- but it's a sweet, compact piece. It likes living in our parlor, I think. And we have indeed given it a good home! It, too, has a butler's desk hidden behind that middle drawer. We have two breakfronts with butler's desks, and a butler's pantry now. All we need is the butler. Ummm... yeah.

The third treasure is another Craigslist discovery. I saw an ad for a needlepoint chair from a seller in a posh neighborhood nearby. I went, I saw, I loved, and I offered less than the asking price. I got it: $100.




















It's in excellent vintage condition, lovely crisp carved frame, pristine needlepoint, and it is solid and sturdy and clean. The colors set the palette for the guest room.

I visit in that corner of this guest room nearly every morning, before going downstairs... just sit in the lovely old blue chair and spend a few moments, thinking. It's a peaceful room.

I'd already painted the walls Benjamin Moore's Cornsilk, a lovely soft yellow, but the blue and peachy-rose of the chair gave me my accent colors. Serendipity.

And the picture, above, was taken Sunday at a Judy Collins concert. See the little "Annie" at the upper right hand corner? That's my daughter! She is part of a singing group at Ramapo College -- CantaNova -- and they sang back-up for Judy Collins at her two New Jersey concerts. Sorry, that's not three of anything for this Tuesday, but it's one big Mama brag. Ms. Collins was amazing, and so was CantaNova (of course!).