Dig This Treasure!

Wow, hard to believe that over a month after my trip out there, I still have tales to tell about South Carolina. 

After our two previous treasure-seeking trips were pretty big busts, we decided to head out to another nearby town–Summerville–to see if there was anything good to find out there. Our first stop was the Summerville Antique Gallery. 

Right away, I knew it would be at least good for window shopping. It was a huge building with lots of little booths throughout. 

For the most part, prices were more reasonable than they had been at the place the previous day. Some were still pretty high. My dad was really interested in this Coca Cola stadium carrier. It had a strap that you’d wear around your neck–you know, to walk around baseball games and sell pop. 

But I looked it up for him and it was priced a little higher than what they sell for on eBay. Whomp whomp. 

I thought this was a pretty cute ways to display cards and other paper items! I loved those teeny clothespins. 

Here’s some of the cards close up. 

Cuuuuuuute! 

Does anyone know if these civil war bullets are legit? I thought they were but maybe I’m dumb. 

This thing was so cool…but what would you do with it? 

Ok, so I found a few cute things to purchase. First up is this adorable little girl sitting with her dog on a dresser. I don’t really know why I bought this or if I really need it (answer is no) but it was too cute to pass up. 

I also found a collection of these little trinket boxes. I’m almost positive that they’re new, but I still thought this one was too cute to pass up. 

Yep! When you open it up there’s a tiny little dog bone inside! 

I also bought this small, beat up chalkware dog for my mini shelf.

Anyway, we knew it was time to leave when I spotted this piece of sheet music.

I actually immediately hopped on a plane and flew home to Michigan.

-Sarah 

This is, hands down, one of my favorite ever greeting card finds. These fold-out cards seem to have been popular in the 1950s. I found a ton of them from “Jim” to his “honey” (AKA Goldie) and vice versa, back when I unearthed that giant lot of greeting cards a very long time ago. They were all kept in envelopes so that’s why they’re in such good shape. 

Even though it’s sexist and all, I still love it. It captures the time period perfectly, and I just adore the design style that was popular during this time period. I also love that almost all cards to and from adults contained cartoon animals in clothes. 

-Sarah

I like to tell myself that I purposefully saved some of these sale-ing wrap-ups for busier times of the year, but the truth is that I’ve just been lazy. At the end of SEPTEMBER, Adam and I tried to stop at a sale in the late afternoon that was supposed to be open until 7. When we got there (literally at 3:55), there was a note on the door saying they were going to close for an hour and re-open at 5, when, at that point, everything was going to be half off. Because this was in the front of the house, I did make the choice to come back at 5. 

The sale was close to our house so that made it an easy decision. When I arrived back, there was a super long line out front, but I stuck it out. When I finally got inside, things were pretty picked over, but it was worth the wait. 

This is mainly because the house basically looked as if nothing new had come inside since 1974. 

There were lots of books but this guy was the owner of all of them, apparently. He had been behind me in line and was huffing and puffing the whole time, and was also located about negative 3 inches away from me at all times. This is one thing I will never understand–do people think that invading your personal space will get them inside more quickly? Anyway, he was not allowing me to get anywhere near those books so I had to get on with things. 

The thing I loved the most about this house were that the bedrooms of the kids who grew up there were completely untouched. That means that every single wall hanging and poster was still on the wall. My favorites, of course, were these handmade emo banners. 

The second one is courtesy of David Bowie. I wanted these banners so badly but everything was so old and dried out that as soon as you tried to remove it from the walls, it crumbled. 

I left with a few treasures, and also a lot of sadness because I’m sure the house was just completely packed earlier in the day, so I know I missed out on some cool things. But here’s what I did find. First, these cool old valentines. I featured one of these that looked like Adam the other day. 

I also got some cute flannel baby blankets (for our dog beds) and kitschy little books, including one of my faves by Joan Walsh Anglund. 

Finally, I got some great records for myself and Adam (the Zombies, what what!) and a cute illustration of a beaver or otter taking a bath.

Here’s something I passed on. 

I know, you’re shocked. 

-Sarah

I’ve been holding on to some very cute mechanical valentines to feature in today’s entry. The first up is my favorite. It’s too bad it’s for a wife from a husband, because if it were the other way around, I’d have been able to give it to Adam today! This card is a great example of the cool mechanical cards from the 1950s, and also is an example of a booklet-style card. Many of the cards I’ve found from this era are made up of multiple pages.

Man, aren’t those cats so cute?!

When you move the page back and forth, the boy cat moves his hand up and down to demonstrate the saying on the left.

And finally, on the last page, the two cats hug! ADORABLE.

Here’s another cute one from a kid to his dad. It features a little booklet hidden inside, which I’ve also noticed was pretty common in the 1940s and ‘50s.

And finally… This one is a great example of the illustrations of husbands and wives in the '50s and '60s.

I love that little fold-out table with nighttime snacks!

Finally, also in celebration of Valentine’s Day, I’m thrilled to share these awesome valentines that Organ sent me pictures of! He found them in one of his mom’s scrapbooks from the '50s, and documented all of them. Hope you enjoy as much as I did! Happy Valentine’s Day, y'all!

-Sarah