The Most Unusual Things… 7

Finding unique and unusual vintage items is always a fun thing. Those moments of “would ya look at that!” are what makes our jobs as vintage shop owners fun!

Here is a collection of some of the most unusual things we have found in our travels. We hope you enjoy coming along with us on our adventures in vintage!

From Sarah Beth, MagnoliaSewingBasket:

My most unusual find was not so much what, but where… Who would ever think of looking under the shed for potential vintage finds! Makes you wonder what else might be under that shed…

We bought our house from an elderly woman whose son was moving her to his home in another state. We knew that her husband had been ill for some time and was now deceased. First unusual find was a glass urinal…. up on the top shelf in the laundry room. Glass! Very cool. I left it there thinking I would list it at some point. Other things were stored on that top shelf and I forgot about the glass urinal.

Along comes my son, rummaging through the stuff on that top shelf, and breaks the urinal. I was pretty disappointed because a glass one is rather unusual. (This breakage, of course, is why there are no photos of said urinal.) Then….

At the back of the property was a shed, obviously used by a “fix it” type of guy. One day I was doing my own rummaging around and saw something white under the back of the shed. I fished it out, only to find a urinal and a bedpan! Both white enamel. I pulled them out, scrubbed them down and prepared the urinal for listing. Somehow, I just couldn’t bring myself to list the bedpan – it’s still out in the shed!

From Linda, SelectiveSalvage and SelectiveSalvage.com:

My most unusual find was a piece of furniture my husband and I happened upon when antiquing in northern South Dakota about 20 years ago. The dealer specialized in early American primitives and had acquired it from the estate of a local man who had emigrated from Norway in the 1870’s. This pine chair had everything going for it in our minds. It was hand made with a strong Scandinavian country look, in original condition and retained its wonderful mustard based paint. I remember liking the small size and the almost regal lines it had.

Imagine our surprise when we took a closer look at it and realized the reason it looked regal is because it was a “throne”. Literally. To this day, it is easily the most elegant port-a-potty we had ever encountered. The base conceals a space for the chamber pot and a thick pine seat was designed to be removed when nature called.

In its new life, the chair is only pressed into duty when I need a geranium holder during the holiday season. The rest of the year, the slab seat is in place and our guests have no clue about its original, quite unusual purpose.

From Mary Ellen, AuntHattiesAttic and AuntHattiesAtticVintage:

My most unusual find was a pair of 19th century doll shoes. I was at my favorite Sunday flea market which is a hodgepodge of tables offering tube socks through very high end antiques. At an antique seller’s table I saw these two tiny shoes in a locked case and asked their price. The dealer was unloading things from a friends shop and gave me a great deal. I thought I could sell them no matter what but went home to do some research. These were hallmarked on the sole with JJ in a cartouche which really impressed me because these were so small. JJ’ s name is lost to history but was a renowned Paris shoe maker for dolls in the 19th century! They sold very quickly.

I really enjoy the hunt for the unusual.

From Merci. Solveig, VintageFindsFrance:

My most unusual find was a day at a garage sale with hubby:), he knows what to look for:). He suddenly stopped kneeling at a table and admiring a formula one table lighter. He enjoys a lot of old cars and F1:). He asked for information, and the owner told him that the lighter was part of his father’s collection who passed away lately. I joined them and asked to see some more. We followed him to the garage, and he opened an old suitcase – which we also purchased:), and what a sight to see! Several diecast, wood, enamelled table lighters in various shapes! We never saw these before, so we made a reasonable offer to the owner who was about to leave these “treasures” there, because he had to sell father’s home asap.

Hubby and I really enjoyed that particular day!:)

From Dot, AtticAndBarnTwo and AtticAndBarnTreasures:

My most unusual find really was a “find” and not a purchase…… here’s the story……

We attended an estate sale and found a tall jewelry chest I could use as storage for my shop. After making the purchase along with several other items we loaded up and headed home. When we were unloading I heard something make a little thunk when we stood the chest upright. I checked inside and found a small box. Inside the box was a love letter a couple of pins and a glass eye. A what!?! Not exactly what you would expect to find ….ever!

We took off again to return the box to the rightful owner, hoping against hope that they were still there (we knew they were moving back up north and taking Grandma with them – it was Grandma’s jewelry chest you see).

When we arrived back at the home I knocked and asked to speak with her. This little tiny lady came to the door and when I presented her with my “find”…. well, I just wish you could have seen her face. She lit up like the sun! I felt so good to be able to return something as treasured as that to the owner. But oh gee….an eyeball! You know that every single time I open that chest I remember that story. It makes me smile!

From Linda, Umeone:

My most unusual find was a vintage Folk Art collection of fishing sinkers each one tied to a center pole. I bought this from an on-line Estate auction so, I only had pictures of the item to judge my purchase by. When I saw the listing I thought it was a Christmas Tree made of antique Fishing weights and I had to have it! I won the Folk Art item in the auction and went to pick up my newly acquired purchase. The man working the sale took me to the basement of the house where my gem was waiting, he asked me “Do you want me to carry it to your car for you?” I said “Oh how nice of you but, I can get it.” Ha, I couldn’t even pick it up! Astonished, I quickly said, “Yes, please I think that is the only way it is going to get up the stairs and I will pull my car up so, you can put it in my trunk.” Note to self, lead fishing sinkers weigh a ton.

After examining this unusual find, what I thought was a center pole was actually a wooden carved woman praying underneath all of those fishing weights. Each vintage fishing sinker was carefully wired and attached to holes that were drilled into the statue. She carries the weight of over 100 Lead Sinkers. She measures about 19 inches tall, about 6 to 7 inches wide and the base she is standing on is only about 3 1/2 inches deep. She weighs over 30 lbs.

I imagined a story about the praying statue, that she is collecting the abandoned lead fishing weights that have been lost at Sea. The praying lady has been collecting each lead sinker in order to protect the waters from being poisoned by the lead. In carrying the weight of the fisherman’s debris she is praying to the Gods for forgiveness for all of us, for not knowing what harm we are bringing to our Oceans and the Sea Creatures beneath. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

For the 2nd time in 2 years, I had to move so I decided to purge as much “stuff” as I could so, the Fisherwoman statue was gifted to my brother.

From Loretta, MoonstruckCottage:

My most unusual find was found in the backyard at an estate sale. It was a large, round, and very heavy cast iron plaque. The design was an Indian and another man with a shield between them. An eagle was at the top, and Latin words were at the bottom. It did look familiar, but I really had no idea what it was at the time. I only knew it was interesting and old. I paid a few bucks for it and got someone to help me with it to my car.

After doing some online research, I found that it was a City of New York cast iron seal. These seals were architectural ornaments that were mounted to the outer walls of the West Side Highway, the first urban elevated highway. The West Side Highway (or Miller Highway) was officially opened in 1936 and closed in 1973 due to decay, disrepair, and safety issues. When the highway was dismantled in the 1980s, some of the seals went into storage, some were given to museums, some were sold to collectors, and I imagine the wrecking crew may have taken a few home with them!

I was torn between keeping the seal or selling it, but I decided to sell it for a number of reasons. I was a seller on eBay at the time (ten years ago). It sold for $787.00 to a man in NYC who was very happy about his purchase. And I was very happy about the selling price…and my unusual find!

For further info about the highway and the seals:
www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/GON020.htm
smpub.com/ubb/images/09/nycseals.html

From Mimi, CreekLifeTreasures:

Sometimes the best finds come when you are not even looking for them. One day we were coming home after attending an uneventful estate sale and a little disappointed. We spotted a guy putting out a Yard Sale sign in front of a storage unit site. He was dragging boxes out as we were picking. I spotted a cute little wooden box with tiny mice figurines inside. I asked him how much for the box without the mice. He replied, “if you want the box, you have to take those mice with you. The more you buy, the better deal I’ll give you, I just want this stuff gone”. I started a pile, I ended up finding several other items. He seriously just wanted the stuff gone, I drove off with a car full of treasures for $25.00! The best yard sale ever.

Once I got home and started sorting and cleaning the items to photograph and research, I noticed the little mice were signed on the bottom and had a label. A quick search on the computer, and I had 9 “Wee Forest Folk Mice” in mint condition. I ended up listing them on the eBay, one at the time. By the time I finished, I had a nice following and it was fun watching the bidding. I ended up making a very nice profit on those 9 little mice that I did not want to bring home.

From JD, ThirdShift and ThirdShiftVintage.com:

Unusual and unique are the things I like to find the most, and I find a lot of unusual and unique items – therefore, it’s hard to put my finger on the “most” unusual among them. I once found the most unusual hand-written song book. It was covered in what looked like hand-tanned leather with wax stitches. The pages inside where handwritten with a fountain pen. The music and handwriting was beautiful. But the lyrics were cryptic and kind of creepy. They were written in a language that was hard to decipher, but some of the phrases talked about death and dying and was just plain spooky! I was very happy when that book sold!

Another item I found that was somewhat unusual was an antique cabinet card of a young girl named Libbie D. Lloyd. While her photo isn’t the unusual part, it’s the effect she had on me that was unusual. You see, I found her photo in a large collection of antique cabinet cards from an estate sale. A friend and I were looking through each of the photos, making comments on the clothing and the overall look of the people in the photos. When I first saw the photo of Libbie, I had goosebumps on my arms and my hair felt like it was standing on end. I felt so incredibly sad and touched by her photo. When I turned the photo over, I saw that she was just 9 years old when she died. I took a photo of this cabinet card and listed it for sale in my shop along with all the others. It sold almost immediately. While I am always thrilled when the things I have for sale find their way to a new owner, I was so sad that this photo had sold. I actually cried. My husband and kids asked me why I was crying, and I told them that her photo had sold (they knew the story about when I first saw her photo, and the effect it had on me). My husband told me I should just cancel the sale and keep her photo if it meant that much to me. It sold on a Friday night, so I knew I had the weekend to think about whether or not to cancel the sale. I decided I didn’t want to upset a customer and continued with the sale – hoping the new owner would appreciate her photo as much as I did. I did get a message from that new owner after she received the photo – telling me she had a strong feeling about the photo and would treasure it forever. I knew Libbie had gone to a good home.

I’ve had lots of other unusual finds – from forensic fingerprinting kits with old wanted posters inside, to boxes with hidden compartments (one held a strange old ring). I could go on and on with stories of these finds, but I’ll save that for another time.