Saturday, March 31, 2012

Another L.A. Sunrise Estate Sale Adventure

First off I have to say that Dear Handyman is such a good sport. He was up and out of the house for today's adventure when it was still dark and our local Starbucks wasn't open yet. He's a Keeper!

We decided to drive into Los Angeles today to check out an interesting sale listed as a two-day, Saturday/Sunday sale. Shame on the estate sale company for not mentioning in their ad that they had a pre-sale for their email list clients on Friday. So we drove all the way into L.A. for a picked-over sale. Some of the things we specifically went for were already gone but we still found some great stuff.

My favorite find was this 1953 Mattel tin toy in excellent visual condition although it does not work mechanically.



I found this old cigar box with some unusual dominoes. I need to do a little more research but they are very old and don't seem to be made of regular plastic.
Note: After a bit more research and close examination, these appear to be handmade of bone and ebony.

We also found a few old, die cast cars. One is a Corgi and the green cannon shoots matchsticks.
I also found a lot of vintage sewing supplies. I've always wanted one of these tiered sewing boxes. It is in excellent shape.
There were also several bags of stray buttons.
Note: After sorting these I discovered that most of the white buttons are made of shell. 

I've never seen a Coats and Clark's thread box. I liked the tiny wooden spools.
I also picked up a sewing tomato. I have several old tomatoes but I just noticed something very different about this one. Look at how the pins are organized by type and color.

The last item at this sale was a two-deck set of playing cards with scenes of old Florida. 
We stopped at a couple other garage sales in the area. I found this cast iron item with the words "Taylor and Ng" imprinted. Back in the 1970s I was fascinated with the graphic design style of Taylor and Ng based in San Francisco. I didn't know what this was until I turned it over and saw the bottom. It was a bacon press and is much too rusty to be used on food although it will make a perfect doorstop.

We also found this sculptural Eiffel Tower lamp. Works great, looks cool, so I bought it.
The last item was the funniest thing I've bought in a while. My new dog tends to curl her legs under when she rests which makes her look like a deer. I've started collecting resting deer figurines and only had two until today. I could not resist this chippy old cement lawn ornament. 
This time I remembered to take some photos of Los Angeles in the early morning hours before tourists and locals were out and about. It was overcast and the sun had just barely risen so street lights were still on. I got a photo of the Wiltern Theater and later one of the Sony Studios entrance. Welcome to Los Angeles!
 The Art Deco front of The Wiltern.
 Looking up at the Wiltern into a street light.
Entrance to the Sony Studios. 

Hope everyone had a great day of thrifting.

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9 comments:

  1. even though the sale was picked over you sure got some great finds!!!

    Smiles,
    The joyful Thrifter

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  2. Even picked over you found some wonderful treasures.
    You have to find the positives, like getting up and out on time, enjoying the city without all the tourists, etc.
    Perhaps your dominos are made of soapstone?
    I also have old ones made of different materials. Those I hang onto just for display purposes.
    Let me add your pictures are brilliant!

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    Replies
    1. I just did a bit more research and I think the dominoes are made of bone and ebony. These will definitely be kept for display purposes. Thank you for the comment regarding my pictures.

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  3. Even for a picked over sale you found lots of goodies, I like that the toy shoots matchsticks (too cute) and I've never seen ivory dominoes in person. Congrats on the tiered sewing box find, I just purchased one at an estate sale last week after lusting after one for years!

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  4. You scored big this trip! I absolutely love the Farmer toy, never seen one before! Cute deer!

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  5. That old toy is marvelous, as is the matchstick shooting cannon. Despite the sale being picked over, you got some really nice things.

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  6. Oh I love the Farmer in the Dell toy! It's gorgeous! Great finds :)

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  7. Oh that lamp! what an eye you have!

    ReplyDelete

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