Hats Off to the Regent Square Neighborhood Yard Sale


Yesterday was the annual Regent Square Neighborhood Yard Sale, and the weather was fine and the competition fierce. I put on my comfiest walking shoes, hooded sweatshirt and jacket to protect against the morning damp and parked in a central location, so carting treasures might be just a bit easier.

With this good early start in the morning, you'd think I'd have been alone in my quest. Ah, but a home selling a wide array of tempting Victorian prints and paintings proved to be just a tantalus to yours truly...

A man and a woman (not together) were there before the sale officially started and were already pulling everything from the boxes they could carry-- dozens of pieces, and protecting their position at the artwork like famished birds of prey. The man eyed each piece with a jewelers loop.

Amusingly, when I did finally get to one of the boxes and looked at the crumbs left behind, the man turned to me as he finished demolishing his box and said, "Is there anything good in there?"

Oh, why yes, let me just fork it over to you, sir. I am not here to shop myself. :)

(I didn't say that, by the way. Not my style, as you know.) I'm guessing he had to have been pretty darned "In the Zone", though, not to have seen the illogic of his question.

Anyway, I was quick to move along-- because the day was young, and it wasn't as if there weren't other lovely things to be had! Like two marvelous vintage hats...


This red one was, according to the owner, her favorite-- and mine, too! All the red velvet, the delicate rosebuds and leaves... It was entirely too fun to pass up. The second hat I got came in a hatbox...


I belive this address would be where "Candyrama" currently is in downtown Pittsburgh-- but I could be wrong. That area of town has suffered a bit, as shopping malls with free parking have drawn shoppers into the suburbs and away from downtown. I love thinking of this area as having been filled at one time with high-end hat shops. And talk about your high-end hat!...


Hat in hand, I trudged the muddy streets, into garages, on porches and down neighborhood alleys perusing the goodies of the good folks around. So many times I spotted things that would be great for SOMEONE-- just not needed by me. Like the person selling gallons of unused interior paint... Or the man looking to unload a retro bedroom set... Or folks with whole Pirates bobblehead collections or comic books. All of these things, I found myself wishing would find good homes... Would connect with that right person who would see them and feel overjoyed at their terrific luck...

I imagine there was a lot of that going on yesterday. Or at least I like to think so.

I did a bit of connecting myself. The church on Mifflin Avenue was having a rummage sale...


And there I found a few fun things. Like this pastoral satin photo holder (I'd gotten one of these before for my friend Scoobie who has a French theme going on in her decor.)


And these excellent 40s and 50s homemaking and recipe books at a quarter a piece...


I think I got a quarter's worth out of them already, because in one of the cookbooks, I learned something incredibly helpful. There pictured on one of the pages were my Hazel Atlas Moderntone Platonite dishes-- and best of all, they were utilizing the "mystery piece" I have, that I'd originally thought was some alternate styled sugar bowl. It turns out, it's a SOUP bowl. As shown here!


I feel like so much of my life involves piecing together little mysteries like this. And ya know what? I love every minute of it.

I moved on to the other side of Braddock Avenue, and even more sales were to be found. A book sale inside a local school netted me T.H. White's Mistress Masham's Repose (I LOVE T.H. White-- a great humorist who I think is a bit under-recognized currently. This story expands on Johnathan Swift's Gullivers' Travels, as Liliputians have vacated Swift's story and have taken up residence in a little girl's backyard.) I also found this nice Victorian novel with an Art Nouveau cover.


Way, way far along the route and close to Frick Park, I uncovered these excellent 50s aluminum tumblers-- six of them for $5. Amusingly, two antique shops I've seen recently have them running for about $5 a cup!


They're going to be excellent as drinking glasses to go with either my Hazel Atlas set, or my carnival glass. Woo and hoo!

And lastly, as several hours in the great outdoors was proving a bit rough on this allergy-prone gal, and the pollens were a bit over-enthusastically joinining me on my journies, I found something I'd been hoping for for a while-- at a good price and in good condition, that is. An alabaster lamp!


All, and all, it was a really great day. I'm sore today, from hours of trudging up hill and drive and front steps and back again. But it certainly was the kind of fun that makes it well worth getting up at the brack o'dawn.

To Jill, who had emailed me saying she might attend the sale, too-- Here's hoping you found some great treasures, and I'm sorry I didn't spy you along the route!

Thanks a bunch, dear friends, for coming along on my yard saling journey this week!

20 comments:

The Queen of Fifty Cents said...

OMG! Those hats! That lamp! Fabbo finds!

Rosemary said...

Sounds like my kind of day Jenn.
I love all of your goodies, but I especially like the lamp.
We had our community garage sales around here yesterday as well.
Have a great week,
Rosemary

Lois said...

Wow did the tumblers you bought ever take me back to when I was a kid. I remember that good friends of my parents used to have the tumblers in colours just like those. They also had a gold coloured jug that went with the set. They always made "freshie" for us kids in that set. Enjoy your finds!

JEWELGIRL said...

I love yard saleing! Your finds
are wonderful, wish I could shop
in that neighborhood!

Carrie said...

My, the alabaster lamp and vintage hats are wonderful. Some years ago my sister gave me one of those satin photo holders with photos of her family done in sort of sepia tones.

Jenn Thorson said...

Queen of Fifty Cents- I think there might have been a fifty cent buy in there-- the books, possibly. Garage saling appears to be overall cheaper than thrifting, though I must say, the excerise is a lot more. :)

Rosemary- Oh, you would have had a blast! I think of you when I go to these sorts of events.

Lois- Interesting information about the jug-- I haven't seen a jug yet. I'll look up "freshie"-- haven't heard that one yet. Was that sort of like Kool-aid?

Jewelgirl- thanks for stopping by-- and I love the vintage pic avatar you have. Looks like "Scout" from "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Carrie- Oh, that sounds like such a nice gift idea. I'll have to keep that in mind.

Anonymous said...

amazing treasures...the hats, the lamp are my favs. I love it all. Wonderful!

Jenn Thorson said...

Hi, Pam- Heh, your faves are my faves, too, I think. It was a really fun day.

Lidian said...

What fantastic finds...The hats, the cookbooklets, the lamp, the tumblers - what a treat to see your finds! You are amazing!

Jenn Thorson said...

Hi, Lidian- Ah, it's probably less amazing and more being lucky enough, to quote Dave Matthews, to find "the best of what's around." :) There's just a lot of neat stuff lurking!

Anonymous said...

I just love the red hat. But you knew I'd say that didn't you? LOL What an amazing block sale!

Jenn Thorson said...

Chyna- Ah, I'm glad you're a fan of the red hat, too.

I asked the seller at the time, "What did you wear with it?" but she either was stunned that I asked and blanked, or she didn't remember.

I would have LOVED to see the whole ensemble.

Jillian's Bella Rosa Antiques said...

Super finds! Those hats are awesome! And the photo holder too.
I love how you found your soup bowl in the cook book. I guess it would be a cream soup? They usually have the double handles.

Jillian

Jenn Thorson said...

Jillian- I wasn't aware that you used different soup bowls when serving cream soup versus other soups... That's pretty interesting, I will have to look into that a bit more.

I honestly was pretty surprised to find my soup bowl in that book. Usually when it comes to old cookbooks I'm looking at the dishes and not, er, the dishes. :)

Anonymous said...

I can see a white filmy type dress with tiny rose buds embroidered on it. Perhaps red short gloves or better yet white with little roses on the cuff and some white shoes. And delicate earrings and a simple strand of pearls.

That is one thing I hate about buying stuff from people is when they tell you how much they realy liked the item and give ya a bit of guilt for even considering buying the item. I've had people do that to me over wooden spoons! Sure they're seasoned but come on they're wooden spoons.

Jenn Thorson said...

Chyna- Yup, what you describe sounds just right, doesn't it?

I don't mind sellers saying how much they liked something they're selling because usually they have some pretty good stories to go along with it.

I actually prefer people LIKE the stuff they sell, to care about it, rather than feeling it's all just about buying things in order to get the big bucks for it. I understand sellers' needs to make a living, but sometimes the detatchment from the actually things, and the sense that they don't actually LIKE stuff at all, creeps in.

Miss Shirl said...

It's amazing how many things you uncover that are "antiques" that I've had laying around the house growing up. I hope that doesn't mean I'm getting old. Oh, well. :)

Greg said...

Looks like a fun and productive day. Those hats are just Too.

Bet you get a good blog post or two out of those old books!

James Mayhew said...

Lovely vintage books, I hope you post more. I collect them myself and love to discover others I didn't know existed. you can see some of mine on my blog:
http://jamesmayhewpresentsellabellaballerina.blogspot.com/

thanks for posting these lovely things...

James Mayhew said...

Lovely vintage books, I hope you post more. I collect them myself and love to discover others I didn't know existed. you can see some of mine on my blog:
http://jamesmayhewpresentsellabellaballerina.blogspot.com/

thanks for posting these lovely things...