Dig This Treasure!

Zach and I took a short trip to New York City this weekend.  We wanted to sneak in some freedom and fun time before the baby comes in October.  NYC has got to be my favorite place on Earth (Zach’s too), and even though we only had a couple days there, we made the most of it.

We spent our first day visiting Rosie Pope Maternity (shout-out to Bravo TV fans), perusing fake goods in Chinatown, and going to the bar with friends.  Sunday, however, was dedicated to treasure hunting.  We started the day at a street fair near our hotel.  I bought some of these embroidered pillow shams (a zebra and giraffe).  Supposedly they are handmade in Kashmir, but that is probably a lie.

You might remember that last year Zach and I visited Brooklyn Flea.  This year, we decided to check out GreenFlea in Manhattan.  It wasn’t as large as Brooklyn Flea, but ended up having really great treasures.

Zach spotted David Fricke of Rolling Stone magazine fame.  This was actually the first of two celebrity sightings, as Zach inadvertently found a seat by Andre 3000 later this day at the airport. 

David Fricke wears flip flops.

Some of the best things at GreenFlea were:

This INCREDIBLE Skookum doll.  I actually missed this when walking around and Zach brought me over to it.  When I saw it, I hoped so badly I was going to get an amazing deal on it.  So far, I have never paid more than $30 for a Skookum.  The woman selling this though wanted $200.  

These silver and bakelite bugs.  The old man selling these actually makes them himself! They were each around $200, which was out of my price range.  I would have bought one in a heartbeat though, as I am always looking for nice pins for my Fall jackets.

These shadow boxes.  SUCH A GOOD AND SIMPLE IDEA.  This person buys old lead figurines (just like Zach collects) and then mounts them in shadow boxes.  Very cool.  Here is another one, but with old razors:

This giant metal horse head.  The woman selling this said it came from a kids’ ride-on toy from the 30s.  I would have liked to buy this for the nursery, but it was $75, which seemed steep.

This HERWI nodder made in Germany.  Clearly this is really old, but does anyone know if it is valuable?  I couldn’t find anything on ebay.  Asking price was $40.

We ended up buying only a couple things.  First was this super old Santa figure.  It seems to be carved out of wood, or some sort of chalkware type material.

It was $5. Also $5 was this lead soldier Zach found:

Zach also found the last two items we bought.  First was a cool Andy Warhol card from the 80s.  We haven’t found out much info on the company that put this out, but it seems to be some sort of super tiny, independent erotica place.  I’m only saying that because there is stuff on the back of the card about sex.

The last purchase was this old business card.  Zach couldn’t pass it up because of the hilarity.  When he asked the price, the man selling this said, “Hmm, I don’t know…it could be valuable.”  That is always THE WORST thing to hear a seller say, especially when something is clearly not worth much.  Zach bartered him down to $1.

Eleanor was real sassy.  Just like David Fricke and his flip flops.

I should also mention that at this flea market I ate the best treat of my life.  It was a waffle with nutella and ice cream.  Seriously so boss.

Until next time New York!

-Erin

So the New York posts continue…

While walking around the West Village with Zach and our friend Mary, I spotted this little basement shop called “The Porcelain Room”.  It seriously looked like the cutest place on Earth, packed full of tiny porcelain creatures and decor.  

I don’t think I realized my love for porcelain until I went in this store.  I wanted pretty much everything, especially this deer bowl:

I kept imagining what it would be like to have a party and serve something in this adorable dish.  It cost $2,500 though, so I guess I’ll never know.

I did find something a bit more reasonable in price.  It was this cute rabbit made by KPM in Berlin.  He was $310, which is still pretty outrageous for a porcelain anything.  I pulled this photo of him off the KPM website:

So the point here is that I want me some baller porcelain.  It’s something I am going to keep my eye out for at future sales, which I am sure Zach will be thrilled about.

-Erin

So, as mentioned, I was in New York last week for work.  Zach tagged along and we stayed through the weekend to maximize our fun.  On our last day we headed to Brooklyn to check out a flea market there.

I was actually scared about going to Brooklyn.  Literally all week people kept saying to me, “You’re not going to Brooklyn right?”  It turns out that Brooklyn is a lot like shopping at American Apparel or Urban Outfitters, at least the area we were in.  Still kind of scary, but not in a dangerous way.

Here’s a wide view of the Brooklyn Flea.  It was huge.  Most booths were crafts or food, but several had antiques.  The first one I went in had tons of plastic toy soldiers and old typography letters.  

I was hoping I would find some Marx figures but gave up pretty quickly because most of the figures were broken and chewed.  I did buy some letters that spell out our last name:

The best find by far was this weird handmade horse toy/figure/thing.  It is made from real horse hide and hair, which I am sure most people would find horrifying.  

The guy selling this said that it came from the estate of a mortician, and that he made it for his children.  This could be a total lie.  Here is the man who was selling the horse:

I tried SO HARD to barter with him, and only got him down $5.  I brought Zach over to look at the horse, thinking he might talk me out of it, but in the end, Zach loved the horse too.  He now lives on top of Zach’s piano in our living room.

-Erin

Update from Sarah: I’ve been there before and some of that food is dope.