Vintage Christmas Village

Hoping it was a Merry Christmas for you!

On one of my thrifting outings, my little eye spied treasure buried in a pile of Christmas rubble. A vintage Christmas village! I'm very sad to report that Santa is up in arms over the loss of Ruloph's head. I do believe he can be replaced as he's quite useless for guiding the team.

There were a number of bottle brush trees, a train, some tiny people and quite a few sections of plastic 'wrought iron' fence, two having ornate gates. Overall, the village has held up pretty well.

Currier & Ives Candle Jars

Perhaps not such a treasure but that depends on how one looks at things. This takes me back to the childhood 'magic' of my Christmas. 

These candle jars are not in perfect condition but I don't care about that. When they're lit up, they're giving me warm fuzzy feelings. 

I found the one and when I went to pay for it, along with several vintage mercury glass ornaments (score!), she says "That'll be 25 cents each for these." 

No problem!

The next day, I just had to pop in again and there was the other one. Crazy goodness.

Newly Found Lovelies...

Anytime I head out the door of my country home to do the grocery shopping, it always includes a trip to my two favorite thrift shops. The things I keep an eye out for are not what most others here would take an interest in. I'm glad for that as it means I have less competition. I've been collecting and researching for over 10 years now so I look treasures loosely based on my acquired 'knowledge'. I'm certainly no expert and I do buy duds but I'm also fussy about my finds. You could say it's a case of hit and miss. Mostly hit (in a good way)!

Yesterday, I was about done looking at the same old stuff and then my little eye spied these little gems. So cute! I really wanted a Christmas elf but didn't think I'd find one just like that, but I did.

After I finished at this thrift shop, I headed over to the other place which is quite a different type of store. You never know what you'll find there, including name brand clothing still bearing tags. I head straight for jewelry bin. Signed jewelry and tarnished silver pieces just look like junk to the sorters as they don't examine pieces like I do. Fine with me. Three new pretties to add to my collection. 

The wings on this brooch are on tiny springs. 

I just adore bug brooches which is odd
cause I never wear them.

This is stamped 'silver .925 taxco' but was
very tarnished. Not anymore. Great score!

I am dilly dallying...

Wherever did the term "dilly dally" come from anyway? Do you even know what it means? It must be old.  "Come along now, Children. Don't dilly dally."  Really.

OK.. so you get it now, right? My days of dilly dallying are drawing nigh. Sheesh... another ancient term but this IS a vintage blog after all. All this means is I have to make up my mind about what I'm going to do for income and just get at it. That's all I'm going to say about that for now. I shall think about it tomorrow.

I've had a couple of comments where interest was expressed about an item. Unfortunately, I can only reply here and then hope that person reads my comment/reply. 

That is why I added the "contact me" feature in the top left sidebar. See it? If you click on it, a little pop up window will ask you for your name, email address, subject and message. Then, I can reply to you personally. 

Bit of this and that...

Free form art glass.. 
a beautiful star shaped bottom with amber accents

Not an over-sized piece and so elegant

Well, I don't smoke but this
ashtray is one beautiful work of art.

Vintage goodness. Mid century pottery by
Quebec artist Maurice Chalvignac

Covered butter dish with a mix of mediums.
Aluminum tray and glass dish under a floral porcelain cover.

Eight Anchor Hocking etched 'boopie' glasses.
Gorgeous. All eight of them.

Vintage wool and angora collar, made in Italy.
Need I say more?

Sweetest pair of angel candle huggers, don't you think? 

This takes me back to the Christmas of my childhood.

1994 Lladro... Christmas angels. Perfection.

Do you know food tastes better when eaten
with elegant silver-plate cutlery?

Butterflies and apple blossom
Wood & Sons tiered dessert tray. 

Elegant. Pink. So fine.

Country style English milk glass gravy dish.
Yes, please.

Dressing up the Table in Gourmate Style

It's quite by accident that I discovered these funky Gourmates chrome serving dishes by Glo Hill. I'm quite pleased to have found several items on my thrifting journeys. They have stood the test of time and are certainly not out of place at any occasion's dinner table.

Just a little history on the company for your reading pleasure....

In 1946, Sol Globus officially registered his business, The Glo-Hill Corporation, in Montreal. Sol, his two brothers (Paul and Leo Globus), and his Brother-in-Law (Harry Hill) sensed the change that was on its way and took advantage of it. Together, the Globus Brothers and Harry Hill became 'Glo-Hill'. The Globus Brothers were of Belgian descent, their family having arrived in Canada at the beginning of the 1900's. The young brothers began their business in Montreal as cutlers and manufactured lovely carving sets and cutlery. Later, the business grew and began offering chrome holloware pieces used in home entertaining: serving trays, cocktail items and kitchen tools of various sorts. Situated right on the river in Montreal, Glo-Hill's factory was well-placed to take advantage of materials available from factories located along the Eastern Seaboard. Bakelite was imported from the USA and glass components were supplied straight out of Pennsylvania, a state that had become expert in glass manufacture (McKee, Glasbake, Jeannette Glass). Glo-Hill also partnered with Canadian manufacturers to provide materials for their products. Baribocraft, a Montreal company that was started by the Baribeau family, supplied exquisitely finished wooden items for Glo-Hill. Baribocraft wooden carving boards lined the inside of chrome trays that were styled and manufactured by Glo-Hill. What sets Glo-Hill apart from others is their exquisite designs. Paul Globus was considered the 'stylist' for Glo-Hill and it was his ideas that became the popular Glo-Hill designs we still see today. Glo-Hill became available to Canadians through many retail outlets. It was not unusual for Glo-Hill to be available both at high-end jewellery stores (some of the items they manufactured truly were 'upper-crust') and also available to anyone at local department stores.

I am so horribly behind on pretty much everything. Life is getting the best of me and I got hung up, pre-occupied, side-lined, thrown down, stomped on, distracted, busy with freelance work and all my plans regarding my shop fell by the wayside. Big sigh.

I'm digging my way back to the surface and not losing site of my goals. Life has a way of getting in the way at times. You know it does. 

Here's some recent fab finds. I'm chipping away at getting photos done but still way, way, WAY behind on getting them all done. Oh, the horrors.

Sweet milk glass bead earrings.

Gorgeous black faceted bead chocker.

Sweet child's cedar lined trinket box

Chunky link bracelet

Lovin' these 40's floral prints, signed M. Black

I so remember something like this from my childhood.

Gold filled or plated fish pendant. 

I had my Hubs upcycle this very cool gooseneck lamp.

Cutest little hair combs. Possibly silver plate.

60 inches of Monet goodness

A little peach lustre anyone?

I was hopeful this was bronze but seems
to spelter. I'm not sure, but I think
this is from the art nouveau era.

For the past few days, I've been wearing the hat of photographer, not that I'm necessarily gifted. It's a daunting task as I need four or five good shots for each item and feel I've barely scratched the surface on my hoard of finds. I also have hundreds of photos taken over the past year to sort through. Here are some recent finds from yard sales and my fav thrift shop.  

Vintage Windmere makeup mirror in PINK!

Chanel No. 5 cologne. It's full, too!

Chunky vintage bracelet... guessing 60s or 70s?

Vintage cufflinks that would best on a woman's blouse, I think

Gorgeous vintage evening purse by Fine Arts Bag Co.

Unsigned beauties that appear to be gold plated.
Screwback style and mint condition.

Sweet vintage pearl teardrop clip-ons are good quality
and in mint condition. 

Mom!

I think of Easter when I see these 'Sunday' gloves.

Cabbage Roses plate by Z.S. & Co. Bavaria