My Cubby Of Curiosities

I have a small collection of very small weird things, and I figure, since most of it was either thrifted, passed down, or came into my hands in odd ways, it was worth a post.

My title is a bastardization of, of course, a Cabinet of Curiosities which would be far more interesting than my little collection, I had never heard of one of these until I picked up a book in a series I loved by the fabulous Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - I love many of their books, but of course, the Pendergast series is my favorite.  I didn't realize that people were always collecting odd and rare things, but recently I read that even cavemen collected "unusual" stones and hid them in piles.  We're a collecting sort, we are!

Anyhow, to my collection:

Still have some spaces to fill!

Here's my collection.

One of my favorite pieces is that "bronze" mermaid on the bottom right.  That's actually a butane cigarette lighter that I bought on the street in Rome.  When you press a button, her nipples light up and a blue fire shoots out of what WOULD be her crotch if she actually had legs and not a fish tail.  The incongruity of a flaming crotch on a mermaid was what sold me more than the light up nips, but the overall tackiness is what made me fall in love.  And of course, all the funny looks when I whipped this big heavy thing out of my purse to light my cigarette.  I quit smoking over 8 years ago, but I will always keep this lighter, not just because it's technically my only souvenir from Italy (I lost my other one, an amazing red velvet scarf that I sorely miss), but because it's still so silly.

That harmonica in the front was my grandfathers.  Those three stamps to the left of that are all around 22 cents or cheaper, and for some reason, my grandmother held on to them and they were in her writing desk that I inherited.

Fancy needles from England, an ancient matchbook from "The Scandia"
a smorgasbord restaurant and an old NYC subway token

I also have a thing for old matchbooks from New York that have the old school phone numbers on them that start with letters (like Circle 6-6608).  The Scandia Restaurant is now closed, but a postcard lives on, check out this crazy interior.  Naturally, I love anything from NYC considering that I consider myself a New York City transplant even though I grew up 30 minutes from where I now live in Northwestern CT.  I still passionately love New York and miss it almost every day-- but what I am really missing is the New York of my past.  It's changed a lot and I'm glad I live where I live now, but if I come across a token or any matchbooks or any photos of defunct NYC places, I snap them up.  I have been using Pinterest to "Pin" photos of places in NYC that I loved that are now closed, too.  Another "collection."

Spy camera! See that tiny foil? That's the FILM, I die over this.

Ahh, the Hit type C.M.C. spy camera! This is one of my favorites, and was once my mother's.  It comes with this awesome leather case and a wee roll of 18.5mm film.  I don't even want to use it although I have found places online where I can get other rolls of this film.

I think this is such a funky little thing that I can't believe my (totally square but awesome) Mom had this.

I wish they'd make reproduction of this camera, but make it a digital camera, and I wish it would come with the kicky yellow leather case, too.

Let's see Clockwise from left:

Bakelite mah jong tile,

Odd brass label plate, don't know what for

Silly glass mouse pendant

Little wooden mushrooms from that one estate sale haul that netted me a TON of vintage sewing and craft supplies

Heavy metal spider ring with cement in the crevasses - a gift from a boy that I met on the Amtrack from Ft. Lauderdale to Philadelphia - we talked all night and exchanged rings and not numbers because we knew we could never "work" in the real world.  I wonder if he still has mine, it was a silver band with leaves and vines carved on it.

And this is my most prized possession.  I found this in my grandmother's writing desk.  My grandfather used to smoke and for their anniversary one year Grandma bought him a Zippo, borrowed something with his signature on it and had them engrave his actual signature on the lighter.

I found this after he had passed away and seeing his VERY familiar handwriting dissolved me into tears, I will always miss him!  But I do have this!

and to wrap up, here's:

A Tiny little bucket

A pewter Pegasus "holding" a crystal ball (so groovy)

My goofy mermaid lighter

A TINY Chinese change purse -- seriously, I doubt it would hold a quarter.

Finger cymbals from when I attempted to be a belly dancer.

Hard to make out, but next to the finger cymbals is another old matchbook from a  NYC Restaurant called "Moby Dick" that is still in existence.

What about you? Do you collect little weird things too?  What's one of your tiny prizes?

Viva Las Vegas!! Part Two

My best friend Mothra didn't really "get" my love for poking around flea markets, estate sales, vintage stores, thrift stores, tag sales (how we say garage sales in CT) or antique stores looking at "someone else's unwanted or abandoned old crap."  Mothra likes things new and pristine and never-used.  I knew she was indulging my need to check out the Charleston Antique Mart because we have been best friends for 29 years and she loooooves me.

After poking around with me, she is kind of coming around to the Dark Side, and I'm thrilled, it's fun to talk to someone else about the things that make me throw up some jazz hands and squeal.  Like vintage dish towels and travel souvenirs.  I am almost jealous because where she lives in Lake Havasu City, they put out a weekly paper similar to the Pennysaver which is nothing but listings of garage sales/estate sales and fleas.  I  bet there's a lot of great Hollywood Regency stuff out that way!  She even told me via email today she might go out this weekend to some garage sales.  You go, Mothra!

Mothra said "I can't believe how much character everything has - this is at least INTERESTING."  Perhaps one day she will know the sheer joy of gazing over a pile of boring stuff and zeroing in on that ONE thing, feeling her pulse race and the wash of intense glee when you flip the item over and see it's reasonably priced and you have the cash. 

Back to the Charleston!  I want to show you some of the lamps that set my heart ablaze:

What are these dogs, Afghans with haircuts? Greyhounds
with perms? They and their fiberglass lampshade were awesome.

These lampshades were ALL wrong, but I loved loved loved
the teal bases.

Not the original shades, but I loved the shape of these two!

Hollywood Regency at it's over-the-top finest! The lamp
base lit up (red) -- I also loved the bar-cart, too.  This
dealer also had zebra skin chairs and surf records.

My boyfriend loves old tube radios, I like old clocks, I took a few shots of both:

This radio was in GREAT condition and was playing an "oldies" station

Check out this INCREDIBLE gorgeous stereo cabinet!!! Again, fantastic
condition - turntable and radio

Even a slot for records -- just like the stereo I grew up with (except Mom's
was that mid-century faux-colonial...I like this one much better)

I love the rounded corners on this one

A clock radio AND desk lamp!!!

Old rotary phones, clocks, and a Selectric!!! 

Some other fun things...

Swizzle Sticks!!! Oh, how I long for some classic
Vegas Casino swizzle sticks...but not at $5+  I also loved
the TWA "destination" swizzles.

Randy was so close to sporting the below shirt -- the abstract pattern, not the dice on fire

If only it were an XL...the "L" looked a little small in
the arms.

Holy cats! This is just a small section of the whole shelf.

There was a tremendous amount of vintage clothes here, I looked over a bunch of handbags and hats and even gloves, and managed to control myself.  I really wanted this aqua number even though it's MUCH too small for me:

I can see myself doing some major Brady Bunch choreography in this
bad boy.

I should have picked up a few of these for my decoupage -- just for the articles, of course!!!!:

Naked + go-go boots and big hair = awesome

So many amazing tiki bar accessories -- and how about THAT lamp?? HOT!

I don't know how this happened, but I'm so glad someone took a picture.

I will do one more Vegas post, but concentrating more on the vintage signage and neon out there that I love so much.

A Good Weekend At Estate Sales

Had a great weekend at estate/tag sales.  I purchased a nice mix of collectibles, impulse treasure, and even got a few things to add to my vintage kitchen.  First, the Pyrex:

"Daisy" Mixing Bowl

I love this one!! 

Square baking dish and "Golden Poinsettia" Casserole dish
WITH LID!

I was very excited to add to my collection.  I also picked up these ADORABLE "snack" plates with built in rest for a tea cup and what I *think* is a thumb rest for someone to hold the plate on their lap.  Cookies and tea? Coffee and cake? I'm crazy about the atomic-esque pattern on them!

The lady at the estate sale said these were from the 40's
and were made in Japan.

My favorite thing however was this AMAZING psychedelic case for your 45 records - and it was FULL of awesome hit songs from the late 60's - early 70's.

Don't stare too hard, you might break out
into bell-bottoms! Far out!

Then today, Randy and I found this great Columbia Compact Stereophonic record player at an estate sale, a little dusty but in perfect working condition (needs some velvet or thin foam on the turntable) - and we had a crazy listening party with all of the great 45's in my snazzy case.

Some of the great songs?  The are ALL in excellent condition, too - all of them had jackets.  I don't remember EVER keeping the jackets of my 45's.  Maybe it's because I never had a great case like this for mine, I had a shoe box.

My other favorite stuff:

Fabulous Fondue pot...in RED one of my
kitchen accent colors.  Bring chocolate, stat!

Glass pearls and crystals and other weird stuff I can use
in my decoupage

Wood rooster canisters 

Swizzle Stick-o-Mania!

Lots of great vintage swizzle sticks from places
that don't exist anymore...love them!

Randy also picked up some dumbbells for the home gym and we picked up a little end table for $5.

I had BIG PLANS for some jewelry making tonight but I am now more inclined to read a book and lay around and maybe even go to bed early,