Good day to thrift!

[Other People s Junk]

I had some time to kill earlier, so I went into the Salvation Army... I found four old mystery books (the Double Day book club types with 3 full length stories each, from the 40s/50s), an old restaurant cook book from the 50s (it looks like it will be fun to look through- the recipes are for large quantities, so 50+ servings per recipe!), an old tie from the 40s in green with orange/black accent (these are getting harder and harder to find and green is a rare color, at least for me), an old little saucer that is handpainted with flowers, an old little porcelain butterfly- I was thinking it was a ring holder, but it might be a cigarette holder?  I also found a vintage jewelry box that was in bad shape, but had a Sarah Coventry bracelet caught underneath the drawer.  It's not in the best of shape, either, but it has great style.  My grand total was $9.10. 

It was fun as there was a lot of neat things out- Sure there was still the standard junk, but there were neat items to look at through out the store.  I love thrifting when it's that way!  I don't feel like I am scrapping the bottom of the barrel with my finds. 

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Congrats on your great day!  I've never seen a restaurant cookbook, let alone one from the 50s. Does it have pics? The tie sounds neat. I love funky ties. My DH has one from his dad from the 40s that is so entirely rockabilly it's to die...

I like your comment about the SC bracelet. Great style trumps "not in the best of shape" any day!

SeSo

[Other People s Junk]

I had never seen a restaurant cook book, either.  This one is from the John Sexton & Co.  Apparently they were "Manufacturing Wholesale Grocers".  The front page has a big long list of who their market is and included are "Acadamies, Air Lines, Bus Terminals, Cafeterias... Convents... Drive Inns, Dude Ranches, Fountainettes... Infant Homes, Normal Schools, Orphanges... Sanitoriums... Tea Rooms, etc."  Those are some of the more colorful ones listed!  There is part of a speech made to the National Restaurant Convention, Cleveland, Ohio, April 1948 as the intro.

There are only pictures at the beginning of each section (Appetizers, Beverages, Breads, etc.)  Those all seem to be Sexton grocery products and are related to the section. 

My love of 40s/50s ties started out with one that was my Grandpa's... I never met him, but came across the tie after my Grandma died (when I was eight).  When I was older, I decided it would be great to merge my love of old crazy quilts with that tie... so about 8 years ago I started making a crazy quilt with vintage ties.  (It's going to take me forever to make it, as I am only 3 blocks into it!)  I feel super guilty cutting up some of them, as they are works of art.  I have a book I got second-hand that is great on the subject.  It's called "Fit to be Tied: Vintage Ties of the Forties and Early Fifties" by Rod Dyer & Ron Spark...  It has great pics.

Here's a link to Amazon that has some pics from it:
http://www.amazon.com/Fit-Be-Tied-Vintage-Recollectibles/dp/0896597563/ref=pd_bbs_sr_9/002-2195466-3040817?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191606564&sr=8-9

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Wow, thanks for the info on the book and ties and your quilting!

The book sounds super-keen. Dude Ranches and Fountainettes (I LOVE that one!), Covents and Tea Rooms.  It all sounds so 50s! 

I would love to see pics of your quilt. What a great idea, and I appreciate the link to the book. I love those ties.  My husband's looks a lot like those on the cover. I never find cool vintage ties when I go thrifting. DH doesn't wear them that often. But I'll start to look now for sure!

SeSo