SusieQT's Vintage Vault: the things I keep for ME

Resolved: to post more in 2013. OK, there, I said it, I will do my best to get back to posting more regularly!

All this time, I have been quite busy thrifting and listing things in my Etsy shop. I have never been too sure if you all really want more of the "look what I found thrifting" types of posts, or the "visit my Etsy Store commercials", so I thought I'd try to commit to blogging a bit about the things I already have and treasure.

Ever since I was little, I loved the past, and have always tried to read/see/experience as much history as I could get my hands on. When I was in 7th grade I fell in love with Big Band swing and my interest in the 1930s and 40s took off. A little bit later I added the 50s to the mix. And so I started collecting things from those eras. I have also been fortunate to inherit some really nice things from my family- and it always helps when they know you love those types of things!

There are a lot of things I have acquired over the years, and since I have taken the leap into reselling, I am aware of how hard it can be to find some of this stuff. It has literally taken me decades to find some of it, and, well, I guess I ought to let you all in on some of the things I keep only for me.

First up, every girl loves jewelry; I know I'm no different. But did you ever think of jewelry for your shoes? Fiona over at In the Heyday recently posted about her shoe clips that she made and it got me thinking about some that I own.

I love marcasite. It is sparkly and sophisticated without being too showy. It has been very popular and relatively affordable since the Victorian era and the first few decades of the 20th century, and was probably most desirable in the 1900s into the 1920s.

I inherited these shoe clips from my Grandmother, who was born in 1910. I believe she would have worn these in the late 20s, but they are probably older than that and most likely belonged to her older sister or mother.

They come in a very elegant blue embossed leather box.

You can see how glittery they are, without being overtly sparkly. I would love to wear these to a dimly lit supper club and hear a dance band!

I have two sets- a square one and a round one. Both are backed with black leather. The clips have the manufacturer's mark (can't make it out) and "Paris", so I'm sure they must have been quite expensive back in the day. I think they could also have been used as glove cuffs or dress clips.

 I posed them on one of my favorite pairs of vintage shoes- I bought these blue velvet peeptoes years ago at the NYC Vintage Show and they are actually a bit big for me!

Stay tuned- I have tons more in the vault!

Recent Bakelite finds

I was just lamenting the lack of Bakelite in the thrift stores back in the summer. Then I had a few finds and my luck has changed! Good thing, because there is nothing I like finding more in a thrift store than Bakelite (yes, even Pyrex, although that is a really close second!) I don't know about you all, but I can't afford internet prices on Bakelite, so I have to get mine the old fashioned way.

And this first one was really done the old-fashioned way- digging through stuff at the pound store!

This cute red scotty was actually a zipper pull on a kids' outfit. The outfit looks to me to be from the late 60s/70s- it's double knit polyester with a scotty motif. In and of itself, the outfit is cute enough that I bought it to resell, but the bakelite zipper pull will be far more valuable. It's pretty large- 1.75 inches from nose to tail- so I think I will make it into a necklace or pin at some point. Just goes to show you that sometimes bakelite can be found in the most unlikely of places.

These earrings I found at a thrift store, and they are what is called "end-of-day" Bakelite, meaning that any leftover single colors were mixed together. They are kind of mustard with bluish-green striations (there's your SAT word for today) and are clip-ons. When I went to pay for them, the lady at the counter looked at me and said- "Oh, these are Bakelite, they're probably worth more than the $5 price tag..."

Really? You don't say...I had no idea.... Gee, and here I was just buying them because I needed a pair of mustard-colored earrings! :)

This bangle I just found today- had a few extra minutes and stopped into a thrift store on the way to pick up my daughter from school. It's a really heavy ivory bakelite. Surprisingly, I don't have any bangles this color (lots of red, yellow and orange, though) so I suspect it will get a lot of wear. It's also a bit oval in shape- I have never seen that before- $2.

This last is a single butter knife. I was really fortunate to find this because the thrift store I was shopping in usually prices their Bakelite utensils through the roof. (I guess it's because every time you open MS Living or Country Living in the recipe sections you see photos staged with these old bakelite-handled utensils- ever noticed that?) Anyway, I always buy them if I can get them cheap, and this was- 25 cents. Must have slipped through the cracks!

And I don't care if it matches anything else, because this is how I display them:

Just fun to look at next to the stove!