Vintage and Antique Fair

I get really excited for a chance to check out vintage and antique stuff, and that’s exactly what I did this weekend. I grabbed my brother and we headed for the fair. Before we could even head into the building, we were greeted by the smell of barbeque in the parking lot. Get behind me Satan.

But this story isn’t about my fight with the devil dressed in sweet and savory sauce dripping over juicy ribs… Damn it, I said get behind me. It’s about cool vintage and antique stuff that the people who came before us used to use.

It’s about stuff like this donut cutter. You ever see one before? Probably not!

An old timey wall phone with a fancy headpiece.

Folks have been seeking to relax (Rhelax) their stomach distress, torpid liver and foul breath since the dawn of man.

A man with a thick, luscious mustache is a man you can trust. Wait? Turpentine?

Does anyone else immediately think of a desperate housewife circa 1920 pouring this into her husband’s morning coffee? I can’t be the only one. I blame it on the movies.

I remember as a child being desperate to own one of these vintage perfume sprayers. I think they’re called atomizers. I saw so many beautiful ones, but the storage was low on my stupid phone so I only took a photo of one. I think the color is freaking gorgeous.

I don’t have anything to say about this. It’s just pretty.

This is a vintage hat pin. Here’s what I learned.

Here’s what I learned about hat pins. Back in the day, women wore their hair and their hats extra big. This particular hat pin is very long and customary. As hats and hair got smaller, so did the pins. Now, one hat pin was sufficient to keep a ladies hat in place; however, women would wear pairs of them. Why? Because if the man that she was with got a bit too fresh, she would take a pin out of her hair and stick him with it and he’d straighten up and fly right. How darling.

And what are these, you may be asking. I had the same question.

You know when you’re eating and you go to place your knife down and it slides off of your plate, or you accidentally knock it off over and over again? Well these beautiful objects were made for resting your knife on. Instead of your plate, you’d put your knife on something like this. There were many styles from metal to glass to ceramic.

They came in various sizes depending on the sort of knife that was being used and just how fancy you wanted to be. Everyone at the table would have one included in their place settings. The thing is, laundry was all done by hand and that was hard work. No one wanted a dirty tablecloth so they came up with this: something pretty to fix an ugly problem.

I didn’t get any photos of vintage napkin rings, but I learned something interesting. Remember that laundry? Well here’s the deal. People didn’t use paper napkins back then; they used cloth. Imagine that at the end of every meal, every napkin had to be hand washed for the next meal. That would suck. So napkin rings served a very practical purpose. Everyone had their own unique napkin ring and at the end of their meal, they would put their napkin into their ring, identifying it as their own. They would reuse their napkin until the end of the week when they’d all be washed. That way, no one had to be endlessly washing napkins and no one had to use someone else’s used napkin. I find it funny that nowadays napkin rings are typically sold in matching sets, all looking alike and totally against one of their original functions.

When shit started getting real.

I love vintage buttons. There were so many and it made me crazy not to scoop them all into my purse. More vintage pins. Can you guess the decade?

And for our grand finale. Yo-Yos, not just for kids anymore.

Goodness I could’ve gotten lost at the Antiques and Vintage Fair, lingering at the tables, asking questions about the pieces, touching history, gaining perspective. Spending time among old objects is always such a great learning experience. My favorite part is just being surrounded by so many beautiful and interesting objects.

Do you like buying or learning about objects from the past? Do you have a favorite piece?

Add more beauty,

Lyz-Stephanie

---

 

I want to inspire you to live a more interesting, fulfilling and beautiful life. Think of me as your well-being and happiness guide. Every day we can do something to make our lives happier and richer, make our minds more active and engaged. I’m on the journey. Will you join me?

If you like what you’re reading and think I’m kind of a cool chick, please like, comment and share. And don’t forget to find me on the other side! Instagram I Twitter I Pinterest