Nancydr2's 2009 Finds

[valleythriftshopper]

They look good enough to eat!  I love the smell of vanilla, when I bake with vanilla I always stop for a minute to sniff the extract.  One time I decided to taste it, which was a mistake because the extract is quite horrible tasting even though it smells so good.  Do you ever emboss your soaps or use shaped molds?  It sounds like a fun hobby!

[nancydr2]

Last night, I found a great depression glass refrigerator dish in mint condition.  It's clear glass and still had the cover.  I paid $1.60 for it.  This is the best vintage item I've found in a long time.

The other thing I picked up was 3 boxes of Shiny Brite ornaments.  What's weird about these is that they are clear glass--no decoration at all.  They do not have the metal hangers on top.  After digging around in the Christmas stuff, I found a bag of metal hangers.  The hangers are marked "Shiny Brite" and/or "made in the USA."  (By metal hanger, I mean the piece that attached the metal loop to the top of the bulb, not the "fish hook" that was used to hang it from the tree.)

I have considered that the bulbs inside the boxes might not be original, but I think they are.  The reason I think this is that each box has twelve bulbs and all the bulbs are the same.  As dumb as it sounds, they look like they belong in the box.

Anybody have any idea what these are?  Were clear glass Shiny Brite ornaments sold? 

[Jay2TheRescue]

My grandmother had some clear ones with translucent stripes painted on them, so it is possible.

-Jay

Last night, I found a great depression glass refrigerator dish in mint condition. 

It's clear glass and still had the cover.  I paid $1.60 for it.  This is the best vintage item I've found in a long time.

The other thing I picked up was 3 boxes of Shiny Brite ornaments.  What's weird about these is that they are clear glass--no decoration at all.  They do not have the metal hangers on top.  After digging around in the Christmas stuff, I found a bag of metal hangers.  The hangers are marked "Shiny Brite" and/or "made in the USA."  (By metal hanger, I mean the piece that attached the metal loop to the top of the bulb, not the "fish hook" that was used to hang it from the tree.)

I have considered that the bulbs inside the boxes might not be original, but I think they are.  The reason I think this is that each box has twelve bulbs and all the bulbs are the same.  As dumb as it sounds, they look like they belong in the box.

Anybody have any idea what these are?  Were clear glass Shiny Brite ornaments sold? 

[valleythriftshopper]

I have seen the clear ones with stripes, I think those were made during WWll when they didn't have the materials to silver them, but I have never seen them just blank.  Maybe they made blanks for people to self decorate or these are factory leftovers that were not decorated.  In any case the boxes are great too, I would like to find some extra Shiny Brite boxes.  I saw this idea for a box display on a blog called Jane's Apron.

[nancydr2]

That display is really cute.  Of course, Goodwill used about a quarter of a mile worth of packing tape to shut the package up so there's no crafting potential there.  I was thinking of using the clear bulbs to make a Christmas tree lighted sculpture.  The way I work, I buy the stuff now and might actually get around to doing that in about 3-4 years.

Thanks for positing that pic.  I'm going to have to keep that idea in mind.

[valleythriftshopper]

That's terrible (about the tape)!  One of the Salvation Armys here used tape everything under an old manager years ago.  Now both stores put everything they don't want opened in plastic bags & then staple the top of the bags.  You could suggest it to Goodwill, even if it is improbable they will change.  There have been some changes at our stores based on customer complaints.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Yeah, I hated one shop here used to price everything with black permanent marker.

That's terrible (about the tape)!  One of the Salvation Armys here used tape everything under an old manager years ago.  Now both stores put everything they don't want opened in plastic bags & then staple the top of the bags.  You could suggest it to Goodwill, even if it is improbable they will change.  There have been some changes at our stores based on customer complaints.

[nancydr2]

I had a good buy today.  I went to the ARC thrift store in Tempe over lunch.  I found 9 pieces of vintage Fiestaware for $9.  I got 6 bread plates, 2 saucers and 1 salad plate.  All, but the salad plate are in pristine condition.  The salad plate has a couple of cracks, but it's still worth $1, in my opinion. 

I have to give them a better look this evening, but I think the saucers and the salad plate might be the elusive "medium green".  The bread plates are yellow, cobalt, and rose.  I find new Fiestaware at thrift stores often, but this is only the second time I've ever found the vintage stuff.

[valleythriftshopper]

Wowser!  Around here the thrift stores are hip to fiestaware now so you would never find it that cheap & I have never seen the vintage stuff.    A few years ago I got a bunch of new fiesta for 50-99 cents a piece which included some shakers & a butter dish.  The colors fit in with my LuRay stuff so that worked out nicely.  That was the only good Fiesta score I ever got.  I love color ware and would love to find any of the Homer Laughlin lines, Riviera, harlequin etc- but they don't ever show up in thrifts around here.  Good for you!

[nancydr2]

My new old Fiestaware.  BTW, I misremembered when I said one plate was rose.  It's actually green.

[valleythriftshopper]

Love the colors.  I would love to do a whole kitchen in those bright Homer Lauglin patterns like riviera and the mexican themed stuff.  My favorite piece of vintage fabric is this one with colorware dishes on it!

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

I found one Homer Laughlin "orange tree" patterned bowl for $0.99 over the weekend at the Salvation Army. It's a lovely little bowl, great sort of William Morris Tree of Life look to it.

[valleythriftshopper]

I had to look that one up, never heard of it before- very pretty! Lucky you!

[valleythriftshopper]

Another colorware line I often forget about is Taylor Smith Taylor's Vistosa.  It was produced only for a short time in the late 1930's and there usually aren't alot of listings on Ebay at any given time.  Still you can pick them up much more cheaply than the Homer Laughlin lines.  I don't know why, same great colors & design.  I might try scouting some pieces when the summer yards sales roll around & I have some extra bucks via selling yard sale goodies. 

http://www.ohioriverpottery.com/pages3/tstline02.html

[nancydr2]

I'd never heard of the Orange Tree or Vistosa lines.  More stuff to look for!  Of course, I had seen either of these, I would have snapped them up instantly.  I'm just not a earth tone kind of girl.