Long Weekend

With a three day weekend, we are back on the road looking for those beautiful fall colors...and of course some bargains as an added bonus.

We started toward Mississippi and ended up in Duckhill. Barbra and Ida run a little shop called The Thrift Den on South State Street. I found a couple of little gems there - a clear glass juice pitcher with a starburst design for $4, and four little dimpled custard cups for $2, also in clear glass. Barbra and Ida are a joy to chat with, and will definitely work you a deal on their already reasonable prices. Be sure and check out the items inside the little shop, as well as the tables outside.

 

 

We were back on the road and stopped in Elliott at a little roadside barbeque stand and thrift store. The barbeque smelled divine but it was a little early for lunch. Buster did spy a green glass bowl that he snatched up for me for $1. Won't it look nice filled with green and black olives?

 

 

 

On to Granada and Another Man's Treasure! As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I have a weakness for restaurant ware, especially pieces that have an air brushed decorative edge. I found three pieces in an absolutely beautiful blue! I have never come across this blue before. The two round bread plates and one small oval came to $6.

 

 

 

We traveled on to Abbeville and found The Abbeville Flea Market open for the last day this season. Unfortunately, they are not sure if they are going to reopen in the spring. That is such a shame as they have very high quality goods at very reasonable prices. I didn't find much to catch my eye but Buster spotted a hammered aluminum tray that I had missed. Look at the details in the tray handles and the fine lines in the tulips, and for only $4!

 

 

 

The uppermost stop on our trip was to Lobelville, Tennessee. A new shop was opening - 72 N. Main Antiques - the name and the address. The owner was working on the interior arrangement and not really open but let us browse around just the same. I found a lovely yellow dove vase for $16. Her shop is a true delight and I cannot wait to see the shop filled as her taste is very similar to mine.

 

 

 

 

 

As we started back down, we stopped in Bellmeade Antiques located in Franklin, Alabama. I didn't think this was really our kind of stop but Buster convinced me to get out and stretch my legs. I am glad I did. I found six Ballerina Ware coffee cups. The cups were 50% off so they came to $6. I love those 50's colors of burgundy, gray, yellow, and green.

 

 

 

Now for the find of the weekend! At John's Trading Post, a little open-air stand on the side of the road in Guntersville, I found Marcrest Daisy Dot pottery and Russel Wright! Four Daisy Dot beer mugs (which I use for coffee), a bowl, and a coffee cup came to $6. That works out to $1 each! Amazing considering that I have seen the mugs for $18 in antique stores. The Russel Wright divided vegetable bowl in blue was $2! Also amazing! Russel Wright is my favorite designer. In addition, I found a small mixing bowl for $1. Everything was covered in dirt and full of leaves but, at these prices, I don't mind cleaning things up a bit.

 

 

 

 

Be sure and say hello to Delbert when you stop. He is really a character and can tell some stories. Buster chatted with him and got in a few laughs while I browsed. I uncovered two matching 8x10 frames before I left. They were also $1 each.

 













That was our last stop before heading south. We had a long way to go but we enjoyed our long weekend...On the Backroads with Buster.

P.S. The fall colors were already past. We could not seem to time it right this year.

Spring in the South

Spring is short in the deep south. We usually see a week of beautiful weather and it is gone. This year we have had an extra long stretch of spring temperatures. These mild temps are perfect for treasure hunting and poking through the flea markets that dot the southern landscape.

On a Saturday morning in April, we headed north on I-65. We soon left the interstate for better hunting grounds - the backroads. We took W-158 and then N-45 to Citronelle. We stopped at Citronelle Furniture and Appliance. It was closed! Buster says this little gem has tons of dinnerware and I was looking forward to perusing the patterns. Oh, well. Maybe another day.

Next, we went to little tiny Toxey on Hwy17. We stopped at Nelson's Fabric and Variety Store. This place was a goldmine. As long as you do not mind tightly packed aisles that you might have to turn sideways to squeeze through, you could spend hours and still not see everything! Linens, and quilts, and dinnerware, and the list goes on and on. I found some Russel Wright salad plates for a dollar a piece, a green glass salad plate, and an oval platter and cup - also green. Do you think maybe I like green?

Six Russel Wright bread plates - Iroquois Casual in ripe apricot - $1 ea

Green glass bread plate - 50 cents

Granada oval platter - $2

Granada coffee cup - 50 cents

We were getting hungry and there wasn't much to choose from. We stopped at Hardee's in Butler and had tacos. A word of advice - if you want good tacos, go to a taco place. Buster did enjoy his chocolate milk shake.

We started toward Linden on E-10. We found a new place to stop. In what looked like a converted service station was a pleasant little shop called Scavenger's. It is only open on Saturdays. Minette Henson, the owner, had arranged antique and vintage items on large open shelves around the edge and down the middle of the shop. No squeezing down these aisles! The items were a priced for a variety of budgets, from odds and ends to the serious collector. I found a cute little round green planter, a yellow teapot, and two figurines. I don't usually go for figurines but they look right at home with the green and yellow that I love. I would be interested to know more about the figurines - I am thinking they are from the 1940's but they are in perfect shape so they could be reproductions. They have no markings so if anyone has a clue as to their origins, please let me know in comments.

Round green planter - USA - $4

Yellow teapot - no markings - $5

Two green and yellow figurines - no markings - $4 for both

Well, for some reason, we didn't find a lot of places open today but we did end up with a few finds. And most of all, it was a great day for a ride - On the Backroads with Buster.

Go West!

We decided to shake it up a bit. We usually head north when we take off on a trip so we jumped on I-10 and headed west. Buster had heard of a flea market just off the interstate reported to be the biggest in Mississippi. We thought we would go check it out.

After an hour and a half, we left the interstate and immediately saw the signs for the flea market. The surroundings were very pleasant - trees, benches on the front walkways, and canvases at the back of each booth to block the sun. We started down the first aisle.

My first find was a Russel Wright coffee cup in blue. (Iroquois Casual)

A bargain at $1!

Soon I came across a whole bag of red buttons for $2 to add to my craft room. Buttons are so expensive that when I come across a good buy, I snatch them up.

Next, Buster came across his find for the day - two little individual creamers. Remember when your mom and dad ordered coffee in a restaurant and the creamer came in little individual servings? My mom didn't use cream and always let me drink it. Funny how the little things are special memories now.

Hall individual creamers, brown with white interior

One more fun find - a green and yellow platter to add to my plate wall in the bathroom. Yellow chrysanthemums on a white background - I don't have a clue to the pattern but it will look beautiful with my other yellow and green plates. Also, the platter was only $1! I don't think I have ever paid a dollar for a platter in perfect condition.

We headed out of the flea market and stopped at the vegetable booth on the way out. The vegetables were no special deal so we got back on the road.

We took a right and started for the beach road. We had not been on the beach road since Hurricane Katrina and didn't expect to see much of anything. We were pleasantly surprised to see more houses than we had imagined would be there. We stopped at an ice cream shop with a little girl's birthday party happened to be in progress. As we enjoyed our ice cream, another little girl came through the door about fifteen or twenty minutes later. She put one hand on her hip and looked at her mom and said, "oh, great, we are late" before marching back to the party. It was just so unexpected, and she looked about fifteen at that moment instead of five!

We stopped at a thrift store. Buster had just asked me if Daisy Dot Dinnerware had saucers. We didn't have any and had never seen any on the road. I really didn't know if any had ever been made. I was shocked to see one right as I walked into the store. For some reason, the store separated the saucers from the cups. I walked to the back of the store and spotted the matching cup. I thought it odd that there was only one cup and one saucer but I was happy to find something that I hadn't found before.

Daisy Dot, Marcrest, cup and saucer

We hit a number of different little shops but you don't find many bargains on the beach road. Time to head for home and the end of another adventure, On the Backroads with Buster.

The Find of the Century!

This was the day of the Find of the Century! Well, maybe not the find of the century but top 10 on my list of finds!

The day started out with a casual stroll through the flea market. We found a few fun items - a brown pitcher, and a few pieces of the square plate pattern for my daughter. We ended by heading for the vegetable isle. We picked up bananas, strawberries, avocados, and a pineapple at considerably less than you pay at the grocery store. Can't beat fifty cents a piece for avocados!

unmarked brown pitcher

Syracuse Trend

Buster wasn't through looking and wanted to stop at a few places on the way home. We stopped at a yard sale. There were so few items that I am not sure why they bothered. A store had a bunch of stuff outside and Buster pulled over. I saw some really over priced items and headed for the car. Buster found two iron stands that I thought were holders with a base to sit on the table and a vertical piece with a hook to hold a lantern with a votive candle. Buster held them horizontally and wanted to use them to hang ferns. They were certainly heavy enough! Besides, he got them for a dollar a piece. Not much of an investment if they didn't work out.

fern hanging from the iron hook

We headed on down the road. Buster saw a shop that he thought looked like fun. After he pulled over, he said for me to look around for a while, he wanted to sit in the car. As I walked in the shop, the shop attendant made it abundantly clear that she was trying to move merchandise! Make an offer and she was willing to deal. Many items did not have prices on them. That always makes me a bit uneasy. I feel like they are trying to size me up before they tell me how much they want for it.

The shop was a little dark and it was stuffed full of merchandise. There was tons of stuff to look at but the things that were marked, were a bit expensive for my taste. The clerk said that she was willing to deal so I decided to ask how much she would be willing to go on a couple of pitchers. They were ball pitchers in bright yellow and bright blue. I have some of my grandmother's creamer sized ones and I think they are from the 1940s. I asked how much she wanted for the pitchers and she turned them over looking for a mark on the bottom. They were unmarked and she said $30. I thought she meant each but it was for both. I was interested! I usually see them for about $40 each.

blue and yellow ball pitchers

Next, I asked about a solid white teapot. I knew it was a Russel Wright Iroquois Casual but I didn't offer the information since I knew she would check the bottom. She retrieved the teapot from the front room while I continued to look around. She said she would take $15. I said how about $12 and I would take the pitchers too. She jumped on it. I noticed an old green pottery mixing bowl. It was probably from the 1930s or 40s. She wanted $60 for it and said that she couldn't come down on that one. I understood. It was much older than the other items. I will keep that one in mind for another day. I took my finds and headed out to the car.

Russel Wright white teapot

Buster had that look in his eye. He thought I was going to run in and run back out. When I stayed for thirty minutes, he knew I was making a purchase. But, all in all, he is happy when I am happy and I was grinning from ear to ear. I couldn't wait to tell him about the Russel Wright teapot! Twelve dollars for a Russel Wright teapot is unheard of! I was so excited! Buster was amused that I was so excited.

Of course, I had to get on the Internet as soon as I got home to research the price. Russel Wright teapots in white were offered on a number of sites for $200 dollars! There were lesser prices on EBay but you never know what the final price will be on an EBay auction.

The debate - is a Russel Wright teapot in white for $12 a pretty spectacular find? Enough to make it to the top ten list? What is your opinion?

Cruising the Backroads

Buster and I and the little blue convertible are on the road again. The weather has warmed to a balmy 75° in the middle of the day and it is quite pleasant to be roaming the backroads. We headed north.

Our first stop was in Bay Minette. We grabbed a quick hamburger and ran in the thrift store across the street. They had a Golden Meadow plate that I liked but I didn’t want to pay $1.50 for it and decided to pass it by. We jumped back in the convertible and headed toward Atmore. Buster spotted a road-side yard sale and we pulled over. Buster didn’t see a thing that suited his fancy but I spotted a clear glass flower frog for fifty cents. The frog was extra thick, and I snatched it up thinking that it will be the perfect stand for my technical pens. We hit the road once again.

Glass Flower Frog

I love for things to be repurposed!

As we headed to Atmore, we took a slight detour across the state line. We picked up a couple of lottery tickets. Hopefully, I will be rich tomorrow and I can open the little junk store that I have always wanted to open. Cross your fingers for me.

I made a wrong turn in Atmore and had to go around the block. On the back street I found a delightful little shop. Buster and I stepped inside and prowled around for thirty minutes or so. My little find was two more pieces of Ballerina Ware, a creamer and a sugar in dark green. The sugar had a top that didn’t match but the bottom was perfect and will look fine without it. Don’t hesitate to go into the off-the-beaten-path shops; they always have the best prices and the most surprising finds.

Ballerina Ware

Monroeville was our next destination. Right off the square was a thrift store. Buster immediately spotted a small bowl in my Autumn Harvest wheat pattern. At thirty-two cents it was a bargain that I couldn’t pass up. As we checked out we asked the check out girl about other thrift stores in the area. She suggested another place a short distance away. The Maywood Mall was your typical antique mall with little vendor’s booths. Their prices were very reasonable so we decided to look around even though we usually avoid any store that says antique. 

Maywood left me drooling for more! Glassware and vintage dinnerware were plentiful. I could have spent much more time browsing but I discovered one of my favorite patterns right away – Bob White. I love the little birds in blue and brown - ten pieces for $35. I couldn’t really decide if I wanted to spend the money because I have found it in thrift stores on occasion. As I continued to browse, Buster made my mind up for me. He took it up to the counter, paid for it, and had it wrapped and in the car before I finished looking around. My husband knows me well. He knew I would regret it if I didn’t get it and he didn’t want to hear about it for days.

Bob White

Back on the road again and it was getting late. The stores were closing and we were hungry. We decided we wanted “real” food. We stopped at an ATM in Linden. After retrieving our money from the machine, we noticed that there was a local restaurant next door. The place, Screamers Ice Cream and Cafe, had lots of customers and we took that as a good sign. One side of the café was ice cream and takeout food. The other side was a sit down restaurant. We began with fried mushrooms which arrived crispy and piping hot. Then, Buster ordered the Shrimp Alfredo and I decided on the pork loin with mushroom and apple gravy. The portions were very generous. Buster’s shrimp was good and came with a side salad. I couldn’t find any apples in my gravy and the mushrooms were oddly shriveled but the gravy and pork both tasted delicious. I chose green beans and a baked sweet potato for my sides. The green beans were tasty and the sweet potato tasted as if it had actually been baked and not nuked in a microwave. Wonderful!

Time to find a motel! We wanted to go to Eutaw the next day but Eutaw is very small. We decided to stay in Demopolis for the night. Another motel guest had a dog. The dog started barking the next morning at 5:45. I don’t know what was worse, the dog barking or the owner yelling “quiet”! Anyway, it made for an early start. 

The early start made for a problem with Eutaw. We got there long before any stores were open. We decided not to wait and headed on down the road. We went south through Demopolis and Faunsdale. We found one little yard sale with nothing of interest. We continued south.

Thomaston had two fun little shops. The first that we stopped at was Colleen’s Antiques. Most of the items in the store were small tables or pottery and china. Colleen was quite friendly and was very willing to bargain. I picked up a Russel Wright Iroquois vegetable bowl for $3, marked down from $4. Then I found three more pieces of Ballerina Ware, $1.50 each marked down from $2.

Russel Wright vegetable bowl

Ballerina Ware bowl - Any ideas on what this size bowl is called?

A couple of doors down were This and That Collectibles. This little shop had lots of pottery and but also had a good bit of furniture. This shop was one that I could return to over and over. It was like eye candy to me! I immediately spotted a dogwood platter for $3 and a small creamer for $1. Then my eyes landed on a whole set of Ben Seibel dinnerware – gray with wavy horizontal lines. Forty dollars for the set! Buster offered the proprietor $30 and he jumped at it. He really wanted to move some merchandise. We didn’t realize until we took it down off the shelf that the set had been originally priced at $75! The guy said, “My wife is going to kill me…” but he stuck with his $30 deal. 

Ben Seibel casserole

Ben Seibel plate

Cup, saucer, bread plate, dinner plate

Wavy line pattern

Franciscan creamer in Parchment Brown

Dogwood platter

We made one last stop in Axis. The owner of B.J.'s Cherishables was  the former postmistress of the Axis Post Office. She filled us in on some interesting bits of trivia about the original post office. She still had bits and pieces of post office memorabilia. After our little history lesson, my eye caught on some pieces of Autumn Harvest wheat pattern. I didn't need the cups and saucers but I did need the bread plates. They are a little harder to find. On a low shelf, I also found a Blue Heaven creamer. I probably didn't need it but I have a hard time passing up Blue Heaven.

TS&T Autumn Harvest bread plate

Blue Heaven creamer

As soon as the postmistress wrapped our pottery, Buster and I jumped back in the BMW and headed south again. He was itchy to get home. We passed several interesting shops but those will have to wait for another day of backroad adventures. Beautiful weather, wonderful bargains, enjoyable scenery – what a pleasant way to spend a couple of days on the Backroads With Buster.

Finds of the Week

Since we can't go on a road trip every week, I am going to include a few local finds.



Aztec cup with saucer

 Remember the Aztec dinnerware that I found a few weeks ago? (Metlox page) When I found the cups, I didn't find any saucers to go with them. I did a little research and discovered that the saucers have no decoration on them, only the background speckles. I wondered if other people could have overlooked them as I had. So...I headed back to Goodwill. It didn't even take a minute in the dinnerware section - there they were - three saucers stacked together. Nice save!






Dark Green Planter

 I am a nut about dark green planters from the fifties. It is kind of an obsession. I use one for my sponges by the kitchen sink. I use another for my makeup in the bathroom. And I have a whole bunch on a display shelf in the sunroom. I picked up a new one for $2.98 at America's Thrift Store. I love the scallops along the top.








Russel Wright dinner and salad plates



 When I was growing up, we used Russel Wright Iroquois Casual as our everyday china. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a few years ago that it was all the rage with collectors. I inherited some of my mother's brown Russel Wright and some of my aunt's blue. I have collected a number of other colors over the last few years. As it gained popularity, the prices soared.

Five new style and three old style cups

I went into America's Thrift and was quite surprised to see the familiar shape of the cups. I didn't think  it could possibly be because Russel Wright has become so popular that it is usually snatched up immediately. Unbelieveably, it was Russel Wright! Two sets of four charcoal cups each. Eight cups for $2.00. Unheard of! Off to look for the saucers...and there they were. Also two sets of four charcoal saucers for $2.00.





Do we really need all this tape?



Of course, I had to look for more. There was no more charcoal but there was white, which, by the way, looks very nice with charcoal. Two salad plates and two dinner plates. Russel Wright was designed to be mix-and-match and so many of the colors look really great together. Now - how to get all that sticky tape off...





Blue Heaven

Now how about a couple of blue cups - Royal China's Blue Heaven  







$1.48 for two Jamestown China dinner plates

 A Jamestown China plate with brown flowers -- Early Autumn

Brown Snuff Bottles

 And a couple of old snuff bottles.