Top Hat! Where did you go, what did you see?

Just wanted to show you this real cool beaver top hat from the 1800s! A must-have for the Steampunk fans and also for Civil War Re-enacters.

I found this one at an estate sale in the countryside west of Philadelphia. When I look at a hat like this, it is obviously well-traveled. Not a prop or costume, it sat in a hat box after its owner put it aside for the last time, probably a hundred years ago. Waiting in an attic waiting to be prized again. It's original owner wrote his initials in it.

Who knows what this hat saw and heard? The Gettysburg Address? A Philadelphia "A"s game in the late 1800s? Had it strolled around Rittenhouse Square on a spring day, complete with ascot and spats? Ridden in a horseless carriage in the spendor of an autumn day in Chester County? Was it the dear upscale possession of a young turk trying to make his way in the world? Or the every day hat of a Main Line patriarch? We will never know, but it's fun to wonder!

Some vintage collectors claim to "feel" old owners. I don't. But I like to wonder about them. And there's something just so wonderful about a hat that has seen history...of some fashion! And now it's ready for its second spring, out of the box and ready to live again! Here's where you can find this vintage top hat!

Fabulous Friday Vintage Finds - 4-22-11 - Op Art, Carved Box and More Victorian Art

Far out! I just listed this groovy Op Art psychedelic record album carrier on Ebay! Listing is free for the first 50 items a month and the traffic is incredible there, so I will be listing at least 50 items a month! Here's another great piece, a 1940s tweed stripe suitcase. Just getting started though, had a wild and busy week, all fun. We sold an old truck that hubby was hoping to restore but gave up on, so a whole new garden patch to work!
In my Any Old Time Vintage on Etsy, I did get a few things listed including this midcentury Asian decor recipe box. And even more real Victorian chromolithographs. I love this genuine Victorian art to offer, so romantic, huh? If you missed my blog all about Victorian chromolithographs, just click on the banner on the top of the page, and you'll see my whole blog!

In my Artfire shop this week, I just tinkered with my vintage for sale, come see them all!

But I bought a ton of unbelievably wonderful vintage this week that I am preparing to photograph and list for you! Want to receive my newsletter every Friday? Just click on "follow", or as more and more vinties are doing, follow by email, up on the upper right of this blog!

Fabulous Friday Vintage Finds - 3/25/11 from Any Old Time

Retro Red seems to be the vintage theme this week, with red and white monogrammed 1970s cups, a 1950s wood barrel cookie jar with red letters and even a red kettle bank! I have a neat slanted glass canister with a big plastic red knob coming, but the photos are not up to par, so that will come.

Also new are an adorable old teddy bear, a metal toy horse, and really pretty silvertone vanity mirror, among others, all on my Etsy Vintage shop.

I think more vanity are coming, and lots more of everything.

This week I spent more time moving in person and online than I did listing. As I mentioned earlier in the week, I'm moving all of my items from my failed experiment of trying to sell on Artfire, and was so encouraged that two of the items formerly languishing there sold in very short order on Etsy!

And I am moving my vintage work/storage room from the smallest room in the upstairs to the largest, which gave me an opportunity to clean the very back of the closets and actually get rid of things nobody has wanted or needed for 6 years!

I did also get to a flea market this week but not with my good vintage. Instead, I took the nice-but-not-vintage I find or get in box lots at the auctions and estate sales I go to. The weather isn't cooperating for more outdoor things for a while (since they start in the wee hours of the morning) so now that I'm organized, I'll be listing lots more on Etsy. Ebay starts up again in mid April, when listing with no fees begins. I'll have both vintage AND artwork of my own, other contemporary artists, old lithographs, vintage artwork..just a ton of interesting things up for grabs.

I'm also planning on a sale for my blog followers, only, so sign up to save! Thanks for stopping by another edition of my Friday newsletter!

Vintage Industrial Chic fan - midcentury modern classic

I spotted this fabulous vintage industrial chic fan made in 1960 at a garage sale where it sat, sad and dusty and forgotten on a bottom shelf.

So I inquired and got it! Don't you just love the sleek midcentury modern design? Not a smidge of plastic on this beauty.

I've learned to take a look around at garage sales at what's NOT on the table...the things I love the best are often thought of by their owners as too old to be salable. And they think an "antique" is a chair or a dish! Authentic vintage at its best here at Any Old Time!