Do you "Adopt" discarded Golden Era Items?

[freebird]

I would if I had that kind of luck - all I ever see when I stop by Goodwil or Salvation Army is junk from the 1980's.

You must be shopping at the same Salvation Army store's as I am. If I do find anything worthwhile, for example a cast iron dutch oven, the item is priced high enough that a collector would think twice.(The Dutch Oven as far as I could tell had no makers mark, but was priced at 50.00.) I have better luck at garage sales/ estate sales.

 

[Johnny B]

I don't hoard everything I see but I also don't care if someone wants to buy a typewriter to turn into jewellry or a television to drop out of an airplane or whatever because if they're willing to pay for it they can do anything they want with it. In the same vein, I'd rather some typewriter get turned into a necklace for someone to enjoy than stuck out of sight on some back shelf in a basement for its "protection" for the next 100 years

 

[LizzieMaine]

Lizzie, if you haven't become irrevocably entangled with the typewriter, would you consider sending it to a loving home? (For an appropriate adoption fee of course). I've been keeping my eyes open for one, but no luck over here yet..

Alas, I fear that I have become quite attatched to this machine -- it has a really nice snap to the key action, and it's one of the few typewriters I've used that I dont type too fast for! So it has become a permanent part of my household, and now I'm hoping I can find a nice vintage wheeled typing table abandoned and looking for a home...

I do have another Royal upright that I'm not using now, a late-'40s version, but it does need some work -- some of the rubber on the paper bail is flattened, the capitals are ever so slightly out of alignment, and it could use a good cleaning. If you're able to get those issues dealt with on your end of things, though, we might be able to negotiate something...

 

[Hamilton_Honey]

Alas, I fear that I have become quite attatched to this machine -- it has a really nice snap to the key action, and it's one of the few typewriters I've used that I dont type too fast for! So it has become a permanent part of my household, and now I'm hoping I can find a nice vintage wheeled typing table abandoned and looking for a home...

I do have another Royal upright that I'm not using now, a late-'40s version, but it does need some work -- some of the rubber on the paper bail is flattened, the capitals are ever so slightly out of alignment, and it could use a good cleaning. If you're able to get those issues dealt with on your end of things, though, we might be able to negotiate something...

I think those are all "dealable" issues - I shall PM you

 

[Forgotten Man]

Search and rescue!

That's me... only if it's not too much money! I'd have jumped at the chance to grab that typewriter! What a fun thing to use!

I pick up little odds and ends now and again... when I find them. I am pretty good at organizing and have very little clutter. What I don't use, I make sure that it goes to someone who'd love it or use it to some degree... that is if I sell something or give away.

If there's someone giving something old away, I'll take it! Because, I do end up using it or, finding someone who wants it more then I. My land lord was tossing away a lot of stuff... and in his trash can was an old fruit crate from the 40s... with the original lable on it!!! It wasn't too bad of shape so, I grabbed it... just need to clean it up a little and put it to use!

Most of everything I own I use... and I always keep an eye out for little items that are looking for a good home. For every thing that is saved, there is at least something being destroyed somewhere... think about it; if it weren’t for clutter bugs or packrats, we’d have very little or nothing at all from the past that we treasure!

 

[Hamilton_Honey]

$15 Chair Pictures

As requested, here are a few pictures of the $15 "rescue" chair - amazingly there are no deep scratches or dings and it is stable and tight:

Front View:

Side View:

Area showing varnish coming off - needs light refinishing:

Needlepoint seat - although difficult to see in the photos, the background is a very dark green with muted rose, cream and greens in the flowers:

And not least of all its charms, the original paper label is still attached - the phone number for the manufacturer is "Superior 4100"

This is certainly not "fine" furniture, but it is well designed and sturdily constructed with nice lines. I believe the needlepoint was added by the owner after purchase (as it is not completely uniform in the background, but still very good) and does not match the "fibre" content listed on the label.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Oh, it's even better because of the needlepoint!

 

[freebird]

Alas, I fear that I have become quite attatched to this machine -- it has a really nice snap to the key action, and it's one of the few typewriters I've used that I dont type too fast for! So it has become a permanent part of my household, and now I'm hoping I can find a nice vintage wheeled typing table abandoned and looking for a home...

I do have another Royal upright that I'm not using now, a late-'40s version, but it does need some work -- some of the rubber on the paper bail is flattened, the capitals are ever so slightly out of alignment, and it could use a good cleaning. If you're able to get those issues dealt with on your end of things, though, we might be able to negotiate something...

I don't know where it went to, wish I did, but when my employer closed the doors they either gave away or threw away a vintage wheeled typing table. I'm thinking my Dad has it, but I am not sure of it at the moment.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Am I the only one with this stray-cat mentality when it comes to Golden Era items? I somehow think I'm not.

Not at all. We even adopt stray cats (well, we're cutting back on that).

Not exactly an "adoption", since I was trying to buy it anyway, but the guy who bought my '67 Chrysler before I could (believe me, I was trying to buy it and that's the only reason he called me when he decided to sell it a few months later) told me, while the car was being loaded onto a flatbed to be hauled to my home, that he'd had plans to chop the top off of it!

I have, on a couple of occasions, bought or accepted items for the sole purpose of saving it from the dust bin.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

I adopt vintage items quite often to save them from the trash bin. I don't know for sure, but I would imagine that many of the thrift stores I shop at throw stuff away if it doesn't sell after a while. I can't stand the thought, and often items can actually be worth something if you know were to sell them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who feels as I do about this. I guess the way I look at it is this -- there's no such thing as permanent ownership of anything: we came into the world empty-handed, and like it or not that's how we're going out of it. At best, all we can claim to be is temporary custodians of whatever we happen to accumulate in our lives, and if we're really serious about preserving the everyday artifacts of the Era, then we have a responsibility to see that those things we come across are well taken care of. Maybe the next person to get hold of them will feel the same way, or maybe not -- but at least we did our part. After all -- they're not making this stuff anymore.

 

[cherry lips]

This is an interesting read. It's true that we have the clutterbugs to thank for all the vintage items that have survived. However, I don't like clutter, and since I don't have a huge house, just a flat, I have to think twice about these things. I agree with LizzieMaine that's it's horrid when a perfect vintage item get's altered/ruined. Apart from that, I think vintage items should be loved and used. If I buy a lovely vintage dress/shoes/hat etc only to find that it doesn't fit me, I will give it to a vintage friend (or if they don't want it, sell it). I think vintage lovers should share the vintage. If something is too small/big for you, or you never use it, make someone happy by giving it to them! Maybe they're dreaming of that particular item! Maybe they never find their size! The vintage cloting items I'm thinking of are 30s-50s. I understand if you find something older than that, you might have more of a "museum attitude" towards it.

 

[Flivver]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who feels as I do about this. I guess the way I look at it is this -- there's no such thing as permanent ownership of anything: we came into the world empty-handed, and like it or not that's how we're going out of it. At best, all we can claim to be is temporary custodians of whatever we happen to accumulate in our lives, and if we're really serious about preserving the everyday artifacts of the Era, then we have a responsibility to see that those things we come across are well taken care of. Maybe the next person to get hold of them will feel the same way, or maybe not -- but at least we did our part. After all -- they're not making this stuff anymore.

Very well stated. It really *is* about preserving this stuff so it can be there to be appreciated by future generations. And as temporary custodians, we get to enjoy owning the piece while we're around.

But all of this carries a responsibility on the part of the custodian to preserve as much of the originality of the item as possible. In the old car hobby, for example, the original approach to "preservation" was to do a complete, frame-off restoration of *any* car, whether it needed it or not. The object was to turn the car into a piece of art...better than new. But, unfortunately, many good original cars that really didn't need a full restoration were restored this way, thus losing their "originality" for ever.

Today, there is a great appreciation of vehicles in original condition. Many of the clubs have instituted a preservation class in their judging to encourage people who own original condition cars to leave them that way and to bring them to shows for all to enjoy.

Don't get me wrong...over the years, auto restoration has allowed the preservation of a huge number of vehicles that would have been scrapped if they were not treated to a full restoration. But I'm glad the hobby began to appreciate original condition cars, too, before they were all restored.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

I'm of the museum mentality. I don't have to touch and handle everything, just looking at it is using it. I do share and wear and use things, though; my whole house isn't a museum.
Speaking of museums, and I've mentioned this in an old thread, but on my honeymoon we went with my mom to Don Garlits' museum. There are dozens of beautiful old cars and a 'vintage room'. My face was a little red when I recognized the bathroom scale, the flour sifter, the cheese grater, the stand mixer, the coffee pot, the dishes, etc., etc. that I use! Then I felt proud that I continue to use things my folks brought North, including wedding gifts, instead of tossing them out and replacing (and replacing and replacing) them with Dollar General items. Now these things aren't totems or fetishes, simply good useful stuff my family had and I now have.

 

[freebird]

I'm of the museum mentality. I don't have to touch and handle everything, just looking at it is using it. I do share and wear and use things, though; my whole house isn't a museum.
Speaking of museums, and I've mentioned this in an old thread, but on my honeymoon we went with my mom to Don Garlits' museum. There are dozens of beautiful old cars and a 'vintage room'. My face was a little red when I recognized the bathroom scale, the flour sifter, the cheese grater, the stand mixer, the coffee pot, the dishes, etc., etc. that I use! Then I felt proud that I continue to use things my folks brought North, including wedding gifts, instead of tossing them out and replacing (and replacing and replacing) them with Dollar General items. Now these things aren't totems or fetishes, simply good useful stuff my family had and I now have.

I'm the same way. I sleep in an antique iron bed,use my straight razors on a every 3 day basis, and felt like I had committed the ultimate sin when I put a fluorescent light bulb in my vintage desk lamp. My camera collection has been gathering a little dust the last several years,(lost the urge to pursue photography as a paying hobby when my eyesight went south and my prize camera was stolen). However, I'm starting to get the urge to dust them off and run some film through the ones that they still make film for.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I feel it is my responsibility to save 20s and 30s movie magazines from "those people" who like to tear out individual pages and try to sell them on ebay for $24.99 a pop when everyone knows you can buy a WHOLE MAGAZINE for under $10!!!

Tearing up old magazines disgusts me.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Yes

Old stuff in good condition is just cool. Whether I have an actual use for it or if it ends up as clutter, if it's still in good condition to this day, that is proof of an item's value. My old 1930's Keystone 16mm projector that still works is one example. Stuff like this will become increasingly rare, and if I don't grab it, then I would hate to think of it ending up as part of some goofy performance "artist's" projects.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Oh, I've Got it Bad...

... and not only for "vintage" things.

I think it is because my mother and cousin socialized me, when I was quite small, to see things, whether they be human, animal or man made, as having a "soul" or spirit or Manitou or whatever. They probably did it to keep me from stepping on bugs or harming things.

It worked. I not only see vintage pieces that call out to me to give them a home to save them from being trashed, I do the same with other inanimate objects. Maybe that's why I have so many old hats -- they cry out, "Karol, save me, save me -- or some yo-yo will buy me, take me home and destroy me just for fun."

Once, during a cold, cold winter, mother noticed that I would come home from school with a number of rocks in my coat pocket. Finally, after days of pulling stones out of my pockets, she asked me why did I have them. I told her that I saw them on the way home, felt sorry for them because they were cold, and so put them in my pocket to keep them warm.

I have an old vintage 1942 table top Stewart-Warner radio that no longer works. It was our family radio and I haven't the heart to throw it out. I keep thinking I will bring it in to some old radio shop (do they have those places anymore?) and have the tubes and wires taken out and a modern piece put in, but don't even have the heart for that.

It will get junked when I die, so we will "die" at the same age.

I really should live in a warehouse -- one about the size of the government warehouse you see at the end of the first Indiana Jones movie.

krol

 

[Burnsie]

I'm in the club that feels a responsibility to keep vintage items well cared for to pass on...my first house was a 1951 rambler and there were many original owners in the neighborhood when I first moved in. As they passed on it amazed me that their families would leave so much stuff at the curb as trash. I adopted a lot of wonderful stuff in that neighborhood - it feels good to know I'm preserving the belongings of these people I was close to. And from a purely logical standpoint - who throws away depression glass, a 20s banjo, vintage family photographs and 30s yearbooks, a 50s TV, Heywood Wakefield dining chairs...?!?!?! Yep, all stuff I trash picked in my old 'hood.

 

[Foofoogal]

The link doesn't work as I bought it. Why, I have no idea. It would only fit me if I took a few ribs out. Maybe I will just frame it and hang it on the wall. lol
Vintage stuff was almost always made so much better than what you can get now.