Antique Resale Shopping Down Hwy 421 Jasper Co & Hwy 2 Porter Co Indiana Junkyard Gypsy Style

This time of time of year in northwest Indiana can be kind of gloomy & cold.  We’re usually hoping for a bit more spring like weather to push us past the wintery doldrums, but that 

con hog Puxatony Phil pulled a fast one on us this year,

 stole our early sunshine & headed for the Bahamas!

With no garage sales in sight for weeks & weeks to come we headed out to some obscure resale and antique shops hoping to score some better deals than in the pricer stores

 where they tend to get more foot traffic.  

All bundled up, we scraped the frost off the windows & headed south down Hwy 2 towards Hebron, Indiana.  Our 1st two stops being at the downtown junction of Hwy 2 & State Rd. 8 sit adjacent to one another; Andrea's Gift And Thrift & Goodbuys Secondhand Shop 

Andrea’s shop was extremely well organized & tidy & crammed pack

with a wide variety of items.

I picked up a few St. Patrick Day items here.

However, someone forgot to tell the sic delusional girl

 that this was a santa bear elf NOT a leprechaun!

Mom found a set of sealed twin sheets for $5.00 that she needed for an air mattress, so she felt like she had scored a good deal.  Diane was interested in New York drawing kit, but they said they never negotiate on price, so that ended that purchase. Never understood small, single owner stores not negotiating a buck or two when they need to move 
SO Much junk.

Keep the stock fresh & moving - right?

Which is what Goodbuys Secondhand Shop 
 is doing next door.  

This was my 1st time there.  I was really pleased with the selection & prices.  Very friendly & helpful. I don’t normally frequent antique shops, but I could definitely see that changing with Goodbuys being a regular part of my junking haunt.  You can get a really good feeling for the the items they carry in their store through their Facebook page, 

as they photograph most everything in the store. 

I Just about fainted when I stumbled across this beauty!

My best find of the day - No, my best find so far for 2019!

Just a stone throw down the road, next to the school is a 1893 victorian home built 3 years after Hebron became an “official” Town.  For probably the last 40 years this structure has housed & served as mini town museum housing the owner operated  

Old Farm House Antiques.

Owner is super friendly & helpful. 
 Prices are spot on retail or over.

 But the eye candy always makes my visit a delight.

 

Continuing on Hwy 2 out of Hebron, we kept going straight on 421 into Demotte. 

 Downtown, close to the post office is Sell it Again.

 

Individual booths, I always like that, so you at least get a chance at finding a deal here & there. They also have a great catalog of store items on their Facebook page. Eclectic mix of a lot of different type of stuff, even big architectural pieces like fireplaces, windows, letters & signs. Or like this chalk dog, which I keep thinking I want to go back & get. 

 I don’t know, what do you think?

Maybe if the booth owner comes down a bit.  Hummm?

I also happen to run across this complete Pink Vintage Round Wedge Spice Set adorned with fruit and the stoppers! 

Always seems like the pink ones are incomplete &

 people are selling individuals wedges to complete a set.

Next we head further south to 

 Jasper Junction Thrift Store & Flea Market 

Hwy 231 & 14 right before Rensselaer.

Had we have known it was 50% off 1st & 3rd Thursday of the month we would have purchased more, but we didn't find that out till after check out. They also have 50% of clothing Tuesdays, 25% off for Seniors on Wednesdays & 25% for Veterans on Fridays. However, these discounts only apply to the thrift store not the individally owned booths.

We finished off our day with lunch in Rensselaer, jumped on Interstate 65 and headed north back home.  Spent a $100 on the excursion & got some much needed inspiration to get me past my groundhog let down.  Nasty varmint! 
Hopefully spring is around the corner, 

but for now I have new things to list for Easter!

Happy Junking! 

Antiques & Vintage Treasures JunkYard Gypsy Style

Up bright & early this weekend to do a little

treasure hunting.

This is just a small sampling of what I scored.

I consider this early 1900's child's artist easel

a touchdown!  The upper portion use to hold a roll of paper to doodle on, of which the writing section is about 3 inches in height (not much doodling room).  The desk section folds up and becomes a blackboard.  Very sturdy, very cute.

That's my new lamp I scored at auction, that hubby had to go home and collect the truck for since I had already filled up the car.  Hubby says - Note to self - "Do not leave wife at auction all by herself to retrieve truck, because she will have filled up the truck by the time you get back"!

 Note to hubby - don't be raining on my

happy dance auction winnings.

Had to have this metal lamp for the cool beanie helmet - but when I got it home I found out it's way cooler than I thought because it's an adjustable tilt!

I painted the last one red.  Any suggestions on what color to paint this one?  Oh, and my free standing birdcage which needs a redo as well.  Perplexed on what color to paint that as well.

Springed rocking horse has paint wear, but it's in excellent condition for it's age. Fisher Price musical Farris Wheel with the little people guy still churning out tunes!  Some retro bowed-tined mirror in need of a paint job.  Blinky eye doll (can't resist them) in the Box!  With her full wedding garb.

I'm going to use the old antique clock case to create some shadow box art.  Obviously something about time - think I'll save that for a winter project.

Found Bert & Ernie's Sesame Street house set at an unadvertised yard sale.  I love unadvertised sales, I swear they have the best stuff.  Just an ole (I use that lovingly - cause I resemble that remark) hippie couple down the street (he looked like a Prof from Purdue - braided beard - loved it) unloading their shed cause it seem like a good day to let go of some stuff.   I spent over $30.00 just at their sale.

I probably could have spent the day with them & kept buying because she kept dragging out more stuff.  I think I thought I was in heaven.  So anyway I picked up the Fisher Price Choo Choo, tin toy top, and the 1950's puzzle and MADE myself leave the premises.  I'm so tempted to go back, knock on their door and do the Picker TV thing.

I'll let you know if get that brave.

So take that pile and quadruple it and those my finds from the last 3 weekends.  I have a lot of listing to do!  Now if I could only teach hubby new tricks- 

sit, stay, list.

:)

Ciao!  My gypsy caravan friends ~

May your Junking endeavors lead you to Fab finds!

I Wanna Be...Your SledgeHammer

Ok, how about just your Soft Metal Mallet?

Most of us are familiar with 3 or 4 kinds of hammer.  Because we only use them for about 3 or 4 things.  We drive and pull nails.  We break things (hopefully what we plan on breaking) and occasionally to change the shape of something,

like straightening a bent nail.

We know a little about the claw hammer, the sledge hammer and the ball peen hammer.  Those with a little more experience know about the rubber mallet, the leather mallet, and maybe a cross peen.  In some industries there are also brass hammers, for working around explosives and combustibles, so they don’t make a spark when they hit other metals (an important feature around dynamite or gasoline).

And there are times when negotiating with a stuck nut or bolt, which the wrench simply can not move,

you need a “Persuader”.

Of course today such a situation would call for a large rubber mallet.

But those have not always been available.

So What did they use before that?

Well, they used a soft metal mallet.
  Usually made from lead.  But after a few uses the lead was badly bashed out of form.  That meant buying another one!

Until business man, tinkerer and inventor John Horat, from Lafayette, Indiana, designed the
Horat Soft Metal Hammer mould in 1914.

 When your lead hammer got in such bad shape that it was no longer usable, you simply cut the head from the handle, inserted the handle into one side of the mold, put the lead in the bowl, heated it till the lead melted, turned the form so that the lead flowed from the bowl into the form and waited

for it to cool.  And Wala, a new lead hammer to persuade the next stubborn bolt!

So what are you getting your honey for Valentines Day?

Well if you haven't hammered out all the details you may want to take a look at Graham Tools.  They have lead hammer mold sets starting at $109.95

Antique Horat mould pictured above is available at Bonanza

Dr. Lori Appraised Our Picture Frame at Indianapolis Holiday Show

Watching Dr. Lori appraise antiques at the Indianapolis Holiday & Gift Show, was way better than the Antique Roadshow.  Not only is she crazy smart, but crazy funny, or maybe she's just crazy.  Either way her shows were very informative and entertaining.  She appraises all the items brought to her in front of the whole audience, so everyone has a chance to learn about the different pieces.

Dr. Lori Appraising a CooCoo Clock

I brought my antique picture frame to see what I could learn.

Dr. Lori appraising my Antique Picture Frame

The frame dated somewhere between 1905 -1915.
A wood/compo (composition material made of chalk and resins to make the molded ornamentation) frame with a very famous print that unfortunately has mildewed because of the back being enclosed by wood.  Frame value $160.00, if print had not mildewed $2000.00.

Considering that I purchased for $20.00 I'll take that as a win.

Of course not everyone is a winner, but there were some exciting discoveries.  Like this lady being photographed with her $10,000 dollar Baleen basket made by the Haida Indians.  Some trinket she picked up on vacation in Alaska years ago.

They may call it the Antique Appraisal Comedy Show,

but it's also a mini history lesson.

Dr. Lori also does online appraisals by photograph.  She's not a buyer or seller, so there's no conflict of interest.  However she can be bribed with chocolate.  You can visit her website at http://www.DrLoriV.com/

If you are closing out an estate, she also does in home appraisals starting at $500.00 an hour.  Kind of pricey, but if you have a Baleen basket hiding in the closet, it would so be worth it.

Related articles

• What is Grandma's Quilt Worth? (librarianbrain.wordpress.com)
• All You Need To Know About Appraisals (apartmenttherapy.com)