Show us your Thrift and/or yard sale finds

[Dinerman]

$2 enameled ashtray. Thought it looked pretty old, from the colors and the way it's enameled.

Did a bit of research on the logo, and lo and behold

 

[tonyb]

Now THAT oughta set a collector's heart to thumping.

Great find.

 

[Shangas]

I found this this weekend....

ASTRO-COMPASS MK II

That's a compass? I thought it was a bomb-sight! That's pretty cool...

 

[tonyb]

Stopped in my favorite old-junk peddler's emporium today and stumbled across this ...

I'm pretty darned confident that it's the original artwork for a cartoon in The New Yorker magazine. (That's all the more apparent when it's viewed "in person." The man with the camera is cut from another sheet of paper and pasted in, and there's Wite-Out here and there.) I haven't yet researched when the cartoon appeared, or even if it made the editorial cut, but it's amusing and the 15x15-inch frame alone is worth at least the $10 I paid for it.

Before I handed over the dough I said that I felt it my cosmic duty to inform her of what I strongly suspected it is, and that her price was more than a touch on the light side. She said she was happy that it would go home with someone who appreciated it for what it actually is. Gawd, I just love the way that gal does business. She sure knows how to keep her regulars coming back.

It ain't in great shade. The artwork itself is slightly damaged and crooked in the frame and the glass is cracked in one corner. But still ...

 

[PoohBang]

That ashtray to a collector I'd imagine would hit $200 ish...

I love original cartoon artwork... I just have one, but still love it...

And it's not a true "compass" as we know it, but more a navigational device to get from point A to B in an airplane. I believe though it was used to get bearings and would have been part of a bomb sighting group.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Found these vintage novelty watches at the swap meet today. A 1970 Spiro Agnew watch and a 1976 Ronald McDonald watch. Both are mechanical though they also made a quartz version of the Ronald McDonald watch later on.

 

[tonyb]

Man, I want that Spiro T. Agnew watch. The sight of it jars loose a memory. I'd all but forgotten those things ever existed. The entire Agnew persona was just built for that sort of treatment. Or vice-versa.

 

[J.D. Hunt]

That stick propping up that wire??? Oh, the mystery...

I am sure that the wire in question is a clothesline that is being held up by tree branch. Time and setting is right. At seventy I saw many like it in my youth. J.D.Hunt

 

[Jan]

Thirteen whole days since anyone has added to this thread? It's enough to prompt a person to get out and find some cool old thing cheap, such as this kitchen step stool ...

I recall an earlier version of this type of thing being quite commonplace when I was a youngster, but those had more the look of a '50s dinette set -- thicker chrome-plated tubing and rounder (and thicker) seats and backs and such -- than this MCM-ish looking item.

AHH these are so cool! Great score!

I remember spotting one being left on the sidewalk, a block from my house. It didn't look like it was in working condition. Could've potentially fixed it, but didn't think it out, at the time.

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

Stopped in my favorite old-junk peddler's emporium today and stumbled across this ...

I'm pretty darned confident that it's the original artwork for a cartoon in The New Yorker magazine. (That's all the more apparent when it's viewed "in person." The man with the camera is cut from another sheet of paper and pasted in, and there's Wite-Out here and there.) I haven't yet researched when the cartoon appeared, or even if it made the editorial cut, but it's amusing and the 15x15-inch frame alone is worth at least the $10 I paid for it.

Before I handed over the dough I said that I felt it my cosmic duty to inform her of what I strongly suspected it is, and that her price was more than a touch on the light side. She said she was happy that it would go home with someone who appreciated it for what it actually is. Gawd, I just love the way that gal does business. She sure knows how to keep her regulars coming back.

It ain't in great shade. The artwork itself is slightly damaged and crooked in the frame and the glass is cracked in one corner. But still ...

Great find! It's definitely the work of Dana Fradon.

 

[tonyb]

Great find! It's definitely the work of Dana Fradon.

Yeah, I've done a bit of research since I posted this picture. I recognized it as the work of a New Yorker cartoonist immediately, as I've had a subscription since the Dead Sea was still sick.

What I've learned over the past few hours is that Dana Fradon is still very much with us, although he's getting on. He was born in 1922 and is married to Ramona Fradon, a fellow cartoonist. Dana's work first appeared in The New Yorker in 1948, and he's been a regular contributor since 1950.

At The Cartoon Bank, where a person can get license to reproduce a New Yorker cartoon, buy a print of a cartoon or magazine cover, or even the original artwork, when available, I learned that these things go for amounts that seem downright staggering to us down here in the low-rent districts. When you click on an item marked "Original Art Available," you get another thing to click that invites you to email or call an "original art consultant." It also says that prices for original artwork start at, get this, $1,900. I really doubt that this thing, while almost certainly a Dana Fradon original (I took it out of the frame to hang it straight and to clean the glass, etc., and I found even further corroborating evidence) would actually SELL for anything approaching that amount. I have yet to find this cartoon anywhere on The Cartoon Bank's website, which has me wondering if it ever did appear in the magazine, or even if Fradon ever submitted it. This is not to say that it DIDN'T run in the magazine, but I haven't verified it.

I'm guessing it dates from the early 1960s. All four characters are in fedoras, which says something, I suppose, but not as much as the equipment used by the press guys -- the big clunky tape recorder and the 35 millimeter(?) cameras.

I have no intention of selling it, but if I did, I'd swing by the junk peddler's place and share at least a piece of the proceeds.

 

[Widebrim]

Posted this on Goodwill Finds, thought I'd repeat it here.

U.S. Army, I would date it late-'30s--early-'40s. Has all the buttons, no holes to speak of, my size (sleeves have to be taken up a bit, though), very good condition. Definitely a keeper. And best of all, only 10 bucks.

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

Yeah, I've done a bit of research since I posted this picture. I recognized it as the work of a New Yorker cartoonist immediately, as I've had a subscription since the Dead Sea was still sick.

What I've learned over the past few hours is that Dana Fradon is still very much with us, although he's getting on. He was born in 1922 and is married to Ramona Fradon, a fellow cartoonist. Dana's work first appeared in The New Yorker in 1948, and he's been a regular contributor since 1950.

At The Cartoon Bank, where a person can get license to reproduce a New Yorker cartoon, buy a print of a cartoon or magazine cover, or even the original artwork, when available, I learned that these things go for amounts that seem downright staggering to us down here in the low-rent districts. When you click on an item marked "Original Art Available," you get another thing to click that invites you to email or call an "original art consultant." It also says that prices for original artwork start at, get this, $1,900. I really doubt that this thing, while almost certainly a Dana Fradon original (I took it out of the frame to hang it straight and to clean the glass, etc., and I found even further corroborating evidence) would actually SELL for anything approaching that amount. I have yet to find this cartoon anywhere on The Cartoon Bank's website, which has me wondering if it ever did appear in the magazine, or even if Fradon ever submitted it. This is not to say that it DIDN'T run in the magazine, but I haven't verified it.

I'm guessing it dates from the early 1960s. All four characters are in fedoras, which says something, I suppose, but not as much as the equipment used by the press guys -- the big clunky tape recorder and the 35 millimeter(?) cameras.

I have no intention of selling it, but if I did, I'd swing by the junk peddler's place and share at least a piece of the proceeds.

I agree that it's an heirloom and you have no desire to sell but I'd be interested in a guesstimate from the art world as to the value of this item. Non-published may make it more valuable.

I applaud you for noting that if you ever enjoy cash value for it, you'll share it with the shop lady.

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

Posted this on Goodwill Finds, thought I'd repeat it here.

U.S. Army, I would date it late-'30s--early-'40s. Has all the buttons, no holes to speak of, my size (sleeves have to be taken up a bit, though), very good condition. Definitely a keeper. And best of all, only 10 bucks.

Boy, I bet it's warm as toast. If that's you in the pic, it looks bespoke.

 

[tonyb]

Posted this on Goodwill Finds, thought I'd repeat it here.

U.S. Army, I would date it late-'30s--early-'40s. Has all the buttons, no holes to speak of, my size (sleeves have to be taken up a bit, though), very good condition. Definitely a keeper. And best of all, only 10 bucks.

Woo hoo, 'brim. It's great to find a garment of that age, in that condition, that actually fits (or could be made to fit at reasonable expense). Frequently I come across pieces that have two of those virtues going for them, but not all three, which used to be a source of some frustration, until I learned to take pleasure in the hunt itself, and to maintain an open mind about what I might come across. For me, vintage prowling is a lot like used bookstore browsing, in that I might go looking for a particular item but more often than not I come home with something I hadn't thought to buy, and in some cases didn't even know existed, until it appeared before my eyes. I strongly suspect you didn't set foot in that Goodwill store expecting to find a 70-year-old U.S. Army issue coat.

 

[tonyb]

I agree that it's an heirloom and you have no desire to sell but I'd be interested in a guesstimate from the art world as to the value of this item. Non-published may make it more valuable.

I applaud you for noting that if you ever enjoy cash value for it, you'll share it with the shop lady.

I sent an email, with photo attached, to the "original art consultant" at The New Yorker's Cartoon Bank store. Will he or she get back to me? There's no money in it for them, so it isn't that they owe me so much as a howdy-do. But my email was polite and to the point, so that's about all I can do about that, for now.

As I've noted before, the shop gal knows how to keep her regulars coming back. She has bought some items in her scouting expeditions with me in mind. Yup, she was right, I did indeed want those items. And she has sent me out the door with an item or two without accepting so much as a penny. I'm sure she does this for others as well. That's just a good business practice, of course, but it's also a personal touch you just don't see much these days. I've bought other items from her that I've passed along to others -- vintage glassware, Christmas tree ornaments, etc., all purchased at quite reasonable prices. So yeah, to stay right with the cosmos, I'd have to pass some of the proceeds her way should I ever sell the cartoon.


UPDATE: The original art consultant got back to me. I'd just copy and paste our email exchange but there's a notice at the bottom of hers saying that the message is intended for the original recipient only, etc., and I choose to honor that policy.

The gist of it is that the cartoon appeared in the June 19, 1978 issue of the magazine. If she were to sell it to a collector at retail, she'd be looking to get a minimum of $2,200. But here's the but ... a collector willing to pay retail for this particular cartoon doesn't come knocking very often. A more realistic guess as to its value, at a specialty auction house, say, or eBay, is maybe a couple hundred bucks.

In a way, I'm relieved by that. I've long known there's a wide gap between what people like to think their collectibles and art and antiques and such are worth and what they might actually fetch at any given time. I don't like this item any less because I couldn't get a tenth of what it might bring under the most favorable circumstances. And I'm not going to sell it anyway.

 

[Widebrim]

Boy, I bet it's warm as toast. If that's you in the pic, it looks bespoke.

Very thick, heavy, and warm.

I strongly suspect you didn't set foot in that Goodwill store expecting to find a 70-year-old U.S. Army issue coat.

No, I did not, especially in that Goodwill; it is the last stop store for items, so anything that doesn't sell is actually thrown away. How that jacket was never sold at the Goodwill it originally came from, I'll never know...

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

I sent an email, with photo attached, to the "original art consultant" at The New Yorker's Cartoon Bank store. Will he or she get back to me? There's no money in it for them, so it isn't that they owe me so much as a howdy-do. But my email was polite and to the point, so that's about all I can do about that, for now.

As I've noted before, the shop gal knows how to keep her regulars coming back. She has bought some items in her scouting expeditions with me in mind. Yup, she was right, I did indeed want those items. And she has sent me out the door with an item or two without accepting so much as a penny. I'm sure she does this for others as well. That's just a good business practice, of course, but it's also a personal touch you just don't see much these days. I've bought other items from her that I've passed along to others -- vintage glassware, Christmas tree ornaments, etc., all purchased at quite reasonable prices. So yeah, to stay right with the cosmos, I'd have to pass some of the proceeds her way should I ever sell the cartoon.


UPDATE: The original art consultant got back to me. I'd just copy and paste our email exchange but there's a notice at the bottom of hers saying that the message is intended for the original recipient only, etc., and I choose to honor that policy.

The gist of it is that the cartoon appeared in the June 19, 1978 issue of the magazine. If she were to sell it to a collector at retail, she'd be looking to get a minimum of $2,200. But here's the but ... a collector willing to pay retail for this particular cartoon doesn't come knocking very often. A more realistic guess as to its value, at a specialty auction house, say, or eBay, is maybe a couple hundred bucks.

In a way, I'm relieved by that. I've long known there's a wide gap between what people like to think their collectibles and art and antiques and such are worth and what they might actually fetch at any given time. I don't like this item any less because I couldn't get a tenth of what it might bring under the most favorable circumstances. And I'm not going to sell it anyway.

Well, I know what I'd do next.

 

[Dated Guy]

This magazine rack set me back 10 bucks, which didn't exactly thrill my parsimonious little heart, but then, it's hard to get much for 10 bucks these days. (Even a simple lunch out runs that much, after you leave a couple of bucks for the wait staff. Or so goes my rationalization.) And it fits that modern(ish) vibe I got happening in this part of the house. And really, it's worth at least that much, right? Right?

Slowly winding my way through all these purchase pictures and I stumbled on this picture of the magazine rack, a nice setting for it, but, in the background is the Parker Knoll armchair, I had to write this as I have two of the same chairs in our dining room.. I am currently replastering the walls and ceiling in the room at the moment, so one of these chairs is sitting right behind me in the spare bedroom as I type. This is East Coast Britain....!! It brings it home just how tastes continue no matter where one lives.. excellent !!!

 

[tonyb]

Thanks for the heads-up on that, DG. This one came sans pedigree, as some previous owner had removed the original (fagas strap?) seat base and replaced it with a thin piece of plywood, and whatever labels may have been there at one time went away. So I had no clue as to its provenance, but even I could tell that it was the Real McCoy, and not a more recent knockoff. As with all my finds, I have no intention of selling it, but it's good to know more about it. So thanks again.

Any guesses as to its vintage? I want to say early '60s, but that's an only minimally educated guess. And we all know what they say about the dangers of a little knowledge.