Vintage Christmas, Italian Pottery, Butterflies, Dolls and Toys!

Last weekend was probably the last group of sales for me for the season. I found lots of vintage Christmas items which I have been rushing to list and they have been selling quickly. I went to a church Christmas sale that had some “Grandma’s Attic” tables. I picked up this dancing Otagiri Santa Claus music box, a pair of Christmas reindeer, a set of winking mugs featuring Santa and Mrs. Claus, a wooden family on a sled from Sweden, a wind up Santa riding a tricycle and a Christmas stocking for a dog. So far the Otagiri round music box has sold for $30, the pair of winking mugs has sold for $30 and the reindeer sold for $20.

Two other Christmas items found at a thrift store and a tag sale are this Putz church ornament and a Christmas music box house from 1983.

I also found some toys to list. This small apple with four wooden pigs inside is marked Japan and sold for $31 with free shipping. Years ago I found a similar wooden apple but that one had a tea set inside. I found a set of Powerpuff Girls figures also.

I also bought two dolls. The first is a Kit American Girl doll which was $15 at an estate sale. American Girl dolls don’t bring as much as they used too but I am hoping to still get a profit from her. The second doll is a Sigikid by artist Sabine Esche. She was $7 at a rummage sale and I think she has a beautiful face and outfit.

In the miscellaneous department I bought a set of framed butterflies which sold for $30. This is the second set of butterfly specimens I have sold this year. This set includes the blue iridescent butterfly which is very collectible. I also bought a Desimone Italian plate. I have sold several pieces in this style this year but this is the largest one I have found measuring about 12″ in diameter. They have a very distinctive abstract, primitive style.

Well I guess if that has to be the last weekend of sales for a while, it was a pretty good one. Now I’m going to go cry for a little while. Happy Holiday everyone!!

Thrifting Time as Sales Wind Down

It’s that time of year where the tag sales and rummage sales come to an end in the northeast. It makes me very sad but at least there’s still the thrift store for shopping! I found a few good items this week including two holiday items. This Santa on a Scooter caught my eye because of his unique look. He was marked on the bottom Vaillancourt Folkart. This brand seems to sell pretty well. I will display him in my holiday decor until he sells. I also picked up this pretty brass menorah with a spinning star on the inside. These items were $4 each.

I found some dolls this week including two Best Friend dolls, a Dancerella doll from the 1970s and, my best find which was a 1975 Mego Wonder Woman doll with her military outfit.

Two more toys I picked up at the trift store were this Danny Phantom figure from Nickelodeon and a Calico Critters red car that I put with a pig family I had recently bought.

The last thing I picked up at the thrift store was the vintage Couroc tray featuring a mom cat and kitten. I thinks it’s very cute!

Well, those are my thrifty finds for this week. I hope there will be a few more sales coming up before it all ends for the season.

Liddle Kiddles, Italian Pottery, MCM, Star Wars and the Bins!

Last week I went to an estate sale. I had seen the pictures and went there because they showed a collection of Liddle Kiddles. I arrived about an hour after they opened and was sure the Kiddles would be gone. I saw a small area where there were a few older dolls and figured that the Liddle Kiddles would have probably been there but were gone. But to my surprise, when I went downstairs I saw the Liddle Kiddles castle with Kiddles spilling out all over. I stuffed all the dolls in the castle to take upstairs. Then I saw a big Barbie doll case. It had dolls and clothes. There were two bubble cut Barbies and a Ken. When I looked at the clothes, the majority seemed to be home made. I wasn’t really able to look through it all because I was too excited about the Liddle Kiddles. I carried it all upstairs and nervously asked for prices. The guy was very focused on the Barbies. He was counting all the clothes and I was thinking that those clothes are homemade and not worth much. He said the price for the Barbies would be $60 and I passed. But the price he gave for the Liddle Kiddles was $50 and I bought them! Here’s some of the things in that group including a castle play house, Windy Wendy Fiddle who is a pilot, Liddle Biddle Peep and her sheep and Trikey Triddle with her balloon and bike. It was so much fun researching and trying to see if I had the pieces to make the sets.

There were quite a few sets and partial sets. The good thing about Liddle Kiddles, similar to Barbie is that sometimes a very small item can sell to someone who needs it to complete a set. For example, I have the two ladders that go to the firetruck of the firefighter Kiddle and a box of Kiddles Vitamins. The sailboat goes with a sailor Kiddle called Lola Liddle who wasn’t in the lot I bought. These items won’t sell for much but they will go towards the amount I paid.

On another day I went to a rummage sale. These are the things I picked up in the housewares/collectibles area. There was a museum reproduction of a Meissen apple box, a mid century modern brass mouse, an Italian pottery tile and a Picasso style creamer. The items cost between $1 and $2.

There was also a toy area where I picked up some items. For some reason the toy area was much more expensive than the housewares area. There was a Minnie and Mickey black and white figurine. I really don’t know why this was in the toy area. It was $5. I picked up a Lego Architecture Eiffel tower set that has been opened for $7. (May have overpaid on that.) I bought a Folkmanis rabbit puppet for $1 and my best find there, a vintage Star Wars Ewok village playset from 1983 for $5. Not looking forward to shipping this.

I also made a quick trip to the Goodwill outlet bins. Didn’t find anything great but only paid $10.90 so I should be able to have some profit. I found 3 plush toys and a horse show ribbon. One of the stuffed toys is called a Fuggler and he is the weirdest stuffed toy I have ever seen. I like the FAO calico cat. It reminds me of the cat I had when I was young. She is super soft.

Tag sales are definitely started to wind down. Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!!

Nurse Figures, World’s Fair, Tiki and Star Wars!

There were a few sales last weekend. There was a lot of hunting required to find good items. At one sale there was a small box of little toys. I spied a small plastic AT-AT from Star Wars and then a bunch of other figures from Star Wars but they were the size of army men. I’ve never seen these before but I bought the whole box for $1. When I sorted them out there were 50 figures and ships and they sold for $19.

At the same sale I purchased four monster dolls by Stuffins. I think these may have sold if I had them up before Halloween. I may have to save them until next year. I also picked up a tray with a sun graphic by designer Edgar Watkins, which I believe is from the 1960s.

The next sale I went to had most items for $1. I found a tiki mug with sunglasses but unfortunately the black paint is flaking. They had a pair of straw hats from the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. I came late to the sale and was surprised to see these were still there. Then I saw that they wanted $5 each. Since it was late in the day I asked if they would take $5 for both and they did. I attended this fair when I was 2. We lived in Queens and went often.

There was a free box where I picked up this tile showing an astrological map. It is marked Vienna Austria and framed in black metal. I went to one estate sale where all I picked up was this sweet mug. She is a Miss Dainty teacup by Lefton. She was $2 and I am hoping to get $20 for her. She has some flaws or I would be asking for more.

At the thrift store this week, someone who was a nurse must have donated their nurse figurines because there was every kind of nurse figurine you could imagine. There were dog nurses, jellybean nurses, boxes in the shape of nurses and doctor items too. I bought two Minnie Mouse nurse figurines and this wooden nurse that I believe is a Romer statue from Italy. There was also a doctor figure that I picked up but he is missing his stethoscope. I believe these are from the 1970s. The thrift store items were about $4 each.  When I went to pay for these the poor cashier stabbed herself with the doctor’s needle!

Tag sale season is winding down. Hopefully there will still be some Holiday Bazaars and church sales in the next few weeks!

Vintage Plush, Dollhouse Furniture, Mid Century and More!

This weekend I picked up quite a lot of plush items from TV shows and movies from the 1990s. I found two dinosaurs from the Land Before Time. I also picked up Steve from Blues Clues in addition to Mr. Salt. Mrs. Pepper and their baby, Paprika. I paired the seasoning family with Tickety Tock which I had before but wasn’t selling. Hopefully it will sell now that I’ve “spiced it up” haha! I also found Baby Sinclair from the show “Dinosaurs.” He has a pull string but doesn’t work properly – he talks too fast. I hope he will still sell.

I attended an estate sale where I picked up some interesting vintage items including this pair of cat eye glasses. They have a cool “mother of pearl” look and remind me of the ones my mother wore in the 60s. I found a vintage army bag and an interesting kaleidoscope shaped like an egg. My favorite find was an old tin miniature stove. After I got it home I found a mark that said “made in Western Germany.” I think it may be from the 1930s or 40s.

I hadn’t been finding much at the thrift store lately but was able to pick up a few vintage items the other day. This Trifari butterfly pin was hanging on the jewelry rack for $2. This brass anchor door knocker was also $2. I picked up a dog figurine for $3 because I thought he was so cute and looked like good quality. He has no marking on him. The best thrift find was in one of the bags hanging on the wall for $2. It is a small (4″) swan by a mid century Brazilian artist named Palatnik. He creates striped animals in lucite.

Those are the highlights from the past weekend! Can’t believe it’s already November. I hope people start holiday shopping in my store!!

Crystal Surprises, Wood Figures, Toys, Dolls and MCM

There were some church and community sales this weekend. One sale had a fill-a-bag where I had some happy surprises. I picked up this round little glass frog. When I researched it looked a lot like a Steuben “hand cooler” but I couldn’t find a signature. I found a listing that showed where the signature would be and sure enough, when I looked in that spot – there it was! I bought this very large 3 1/2″ square lucite die which I later found out is a pretty collectible op art mid century item.

I picked up this carved professor which turned out to be a piece by ANRI from Italy. Unfortunately part of his bow tie is broken off. The carved wooden beaver was another wood item I picked up which was not part of the fill-a-bag. It is from a type of wood called Cryptomeria which was popular in the 1960s and 1970s.

There were a lot of pictures and frames in the fill a bag area so I took a chance on two. One is just a wood frame with a carved floral design. The other is a flower illustration in a green oval wood frame.

I picked up some plush items because they were cheap. There is a Pokemon, a Star Wars Porg creature, an anime style cat in a coffee cup and a wizard hat with Mickey Mouse ears from Disney World. I’m hoping to get between $14 and $19 for these.

I am excited for a few dolls that I picked up including this My Twinn doll. I had to pay up for her at $10 and she has eyes which have faded to a purple color (I learned that this often happens to these dolls), but I’m hoping she will still do well. I bought this rag doll for $3. She has a simple style that some people call “Waldorf” inspired after a school curriculum which focuses on natural, simple things.

Two random items I bought include this Japanese marionette puppet and a brown cowboy style hat from Australia, made of “fur felt” – whatever that is.

There were two items I bought from the handbag area that are not really handbags. One is this Tutti luggage piece which is more like a doll case. It is in really good condition for being from 1965 and still has its original tag. It sold quickly for $22. Tutti was Barbie’s younger sister but she was later discontinued. Yikes. The other piece is this egg shaped bag that could be a hat or wig box. It looks to me like it was from the 1960s but it is not marked or labeled. The bags were $1.

Here’s one of my favorite finds. It was in a bag for $4. There were 11 pieces of Lundby dollhouse furniture. Lundby a Swedish company. I think these pieces were from the 1970s. They have a very mid century modern look to them. I like the funky designs on the walls that are attached to some of the pieces. Unfortunately some of the pieces are not complete making the set not too valuable but it’s still my favorite find.

The last find was also from the fill a bag area. I don’t know what to make of it. The hand is very graceful on the pillow however, it is still a disembodied hand – like Thing from the Adams family. Maybe someone will want it for Halloween!

On that note – Happy Halloween!!

Strawberry Shortcake, Madeline Dolls and Small Items

This weekend there was a church sale, an estate sale and a flea market! Yay! The church sale was pretty small but they had a toy room where it looked like someone had donated their entire Strawberry Shortcake collection. Many of the vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls have little resale value. I picked up a few items that I hadn’t seen before but even these have fairly low values. I picked up this butterfly doll ride for $3. It came with two dolls. I am hoping for $20 on this. I also bought this snail cart/picnic set for $3. It also will bring no more than $20 but they are cute and I will enjoy having them for a while. I also picked up a bag of shoes and clothes. Sometimes these can have value if someone is missing a piece for their doll. The clothes were $4.

There was also a vintage dollhouse from My Little Pony called Megan’s Place. It came with a lot of accessories and cost $7. I am hoping to get about $50 for it. I always like to pick up toys but am buying more especially now that the holidays are coming.

I went to a flea market where there was an older mom with two adult daughters. It looked like she had an extensive doll collection that the girls were trying to help her sell off. The girls were saying “just make an offer – it has to go!” There were lots of Barbie’s in boxes but I don’t know enough about them to make a purchase. I know some of the old ones are good but the more recent ones – even in boxes – might not be a good investment. She did have some Madeline items that were $2 each. I bought 2 dolls and 2 outfits and am selling it all together.

For $3 the same woman had this Littlest Pet Shop baby chimp set that was new in an opened box. This is the older kind from the early 90s that some people collect. He actually drinks and pees which is kind of weird.

A running theme through last week seemed to be small items. I love little things and miniatures and I also love looking through a group of items to find the small hidden gems. I was at an estate sale where there was a table filled with figurines. From this table I picked up this sweet pinecone Christmas gnome and a Josefs Original pixie painting a flower. Unfortunately the top of his paint brush is broken. These were 50 cents each.

When I was at the flea market I picked up this mouse for $2. It is an Original Fur Animal from West Germany. Some of them come in very cute accessorized costumes. This one has glasses and a bottle of Heinz ketchup. I also bought a Unicorno figure. Some of these are collectible. I actually sold this one a few months ago so I recognized it.

The theme of finding small items continued when I visited the thrift store. On the wall of hanging bags I spotted a bag of small ceramic animals. I recognized some of them as Hagen Renaker figures. There were a lot of broken figures and I was trying to decide if it would be worth it but I decided to buy it since it was only $2.99. After I sorted it I saw that there were many that were not damaged. I made a lot of Hagen Renaker cats and a lot of mixed animals. The mixed lot is a combination of figures from the bag and others that I had already.

There was also a small Dachshund in the bag that was marked USSR. I think I can get about $15 for him separately.

The last purchase I will mention is a doll I got for $2 at the estate sale. It is a Baby Tenderlove by Mattel from 1970. It is a larger, jointed version that I haven’t seen before.

So that was my week of small finds! I hope they bring big profits!