Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3)

[DesertTinker]

1 minute ago, Cyberider said:

Looks like mine from the 1970's which is still going strong. 

The plug makes me think ’70s might be more accurate. I don’t remember when the switch to the polarized flanged plugs 🔌 occurred.

[blue_dolphin]

20 hours ago, DesertTinker said:

The plug makes me think ’70s might be more accurate. I don’t remember when the switch to the polarized flanged plugs 🔌 occurred.

I have a smaller cousin of your find, a Model SR-6E, purchased new in LA in 1980.  Has the same plug, though mine doesn't have the protective spring on the end that plugs into the machine. Also still works fine, though I tend to cook rice in the Instant Pot these days. 

[lemniscate]

Just in time for Halloween/All Saints/Samhain/Dia de la Muertos comes this wok cauldron.  $20.    It was cleaned and smoothed, so now seasoning starts.   Thing's a beast, 7" deep and about 24" wide.  

 

I had been looking for a discada, but this is just as good.   Playing with fire on the tao burner.

 

Before and During pics.

[lemniscate]

The seasoning was finished with hoarded freezer pork fat that was rendered into chicharrons.   All this was an early morning patio endeavor, so I cracked a beer and stirred and sampled the chicharrons as the seasoning continued.

[Kim Shook]

Found yesterday while out thrifting with Jessica:

These two covered serving dishes are Haviland Limoges France and coordinate with our wedding china.  They were $10 each!  I didn't really need them, but I couldn't pass them up.  

[chromedome]

3 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Found yesterday while out thrifting with Jessica:

These two covered serving dishes are Haviland Limoges France and coordinate with our wedding china.  They were $10 each!  I didn't really need them, but I couldn't pass them up.  

Nice. Now's the time to stock up on that kind of stuff, I guess, because a lot of it is going for dirt-cheap prices at estate sales (nobody wants granny's china anymore). In another 15-20 years, when tons of it has gone (sadly) to landfill, the pendulum will swing back and the hip young whatever-generation-after-Z kids will be buying it and driving the price back up.

[CookBot]

2 hours ago, chromedome said:

Nice. Now's the time to stock up on that kind of stuff, I guess, because a lot of it is going for dirt-cheap prices at estate sales (nobody wants granny's china anymore). In another 15-20 years, when tons of it has gone (sadly) to landfill, the pendulum will swing back and the hip young whatever-generation-after-Z kids will be buying it and driving the price back up.

 

So true.  There are a lot of country auctions and estate sales where I live, and I hear auctioneers complaining that they can't get rid of classic silver and highly decorated china.  People are paying more for modernist stainless steel flatware than for solid silverware.   Same with 19th century furniture.

 

 

 

[SusieQ]

On 9/24/2022 at 7:48 AM, lemniscate said:

Just in time for Halloween/All Saints/Samhain/Dia de la Muertos comes this wok cauldron.  $20.    It was cleaned and smoothed, so now seasoning starts.   Thing's a beast, 7" deep and about 24" wide.  

 

I had been looking for a discada, but this is just as good.   Playing with fire on the tao burner.

 

Before and During pics.

There should be a "wow" button. 

[ElsieD]

14 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Found yesterday while out thrifting with Jessica:

These two covered serving dishes are Haviland Limoges France and coordinate with our wedding china.  They were $10 each!  I didn't really need them, but I couldn't pass them up.  

 

They are beautiful and a real steal.  Congrats!

[Kim Shook]

16 hours ago, chromedome said:

Nice. Now's the time to stock up on that kind of stuff, I guess, because a lot of it is going for dirt-cheap prices at estate sales (nobody wants granny's china anymore). In another 15-20 years, when tons of it has gone (sadly) to landfill, the pendulum will swing back and the hip young whatever-generation-after-Z kids will be buying it and driving the price back up.

You're right.  I have 3 sets of silver because I'm the only one in the family that likes it and is willing to polish it.   One of the places we went to yesterday had a whole set of Limoges china (not my pattern) dirt cheap.  Hard to see people going crazy over 1970s crap and donating their parents' high quality stuff to Goodwill.  

Edited October 6, 2022 by Kim Shook (log)

[Porthos]

On 10/5/2022 at 6:00 PM, chromedome said:

Nice. Now's the time to stock up on that kind of stuff, I guess, because a lot of it is going for dirt-cheap prices at estate sales (nobody wants granny's china anymore).

Reading the Forbes article Sorry, Nobody Wants Your Parents' Stuff gave my Sweetie, me and other family members good insight when we cleaned out his parents house. There were specific things from the kitchen that My Sweetie and I wanted; no pictures - most of our kitchen is packed up since we're moving soon. My MIL had a large cookbook collection, and family only wanted a few of them. Our daughters didn't want the Lenox that had been handed to us by a great-uncle. We found a niece that did so they will be kept in the family. We've instructed our daughters that when we die to go through the house for anything they want then have a professional estate sale company liquidate the rest.

 

It has been very hard to resist going thrift shopping or stopping at yard sales but we've lived 38 years in the house we're packing up and don't need to add to what we will be moving. Thrift stores and yard sales will again happen once we're in our new home, which hopefully will be before Thanksgiving. I still have a few previous thrift store finds to deal with including pre-1960 CI pans to restore, and a few knives to restore.

[CookBot]

3 hours ago, Porthos said:

Reading the Forbes article Sorry, Nobody Wants Your Parents' Stuff gave my Sweetie, me and other family members good insight when we cleaned out his parents house.

 

Wow, that article was eye-opening -- and kind of depressing.

 

“For the first time in history of the world, two generations are downsizing simultaneously,” says Buysse, talking about the boomers’ parents (sometimes, the final downsizing) and the boomers themselves. “I have a 90-year-old parent who wants to give me stuff or, if she passes away, my siblings and I will have to clean up the house. And my siblings and I are 60 to 70 and we’re downsizing.”

This, it seems, is 21^st-century life — and death. “I don’t think there is a future” for the possessions of our parents’ generation, says Eppel. “It’s a different world.”

[CookBot]

Speaking of Grandma's China, I was just browsing the offerings on the auction site of Goodwill Stores of the Pacific Northwest, and the old Pyrex items are bringing higher prices than fine china. 

 

I like Pyrex just fine as a utilitarian kitchen item, but I don't think its decorative qualities are enough to justify the outrageous prices it's bringing for the past few years:

 

https://shopgoodwill.com/categories/listing?st=pyrex&sg=Keyword&c=62&s=&lp=0&hp=999999&sbn=&spo=false&snpo=false&socs=false&sd=false&sca=false&caed=10%2F9%2F2022&cadb=7&scs=false&sis=false&col=4&p=1&ps=40&desc=true&ss=0&UseBuyerPrefs=true&sus=false&cln=2&catIds=-1,20,62&pn=&wc=false&mci=false&hmt=false&layout=grid&ihp=

[Kim Shook]

18 hours ago, CookBot said:

Speaking of Grandma's China, I was just browsing the offerings on the auction site of Goodwill Stores of the Pacific Northwest, and the old Pyrex items are bringing higher prices than fine china. 

 

I like Pyrex just fine as a utilitarian kitchen item, but I don't think its decorative qualities are enough to justify the outrageous prices it's bringing for the past few years:

 

https://shopgoodwill.com/categories/listing?st=pyrex&sg=Keyword&c=62&s=&lp=0&hp=999999&sbn=&spo=false&snpo=false&socs=false&sd=false&sca=false&caed=10%2F9%2F2022&cadb=7&scs=false&sis=false&col=4&p=1&ps=40&desc=true&ss=0&UseBuyerPrefs=true&sus=false&cln=2&catIds=-1,20,62&pn=&wc=false&mci=false&hmt=false&layout=grid&ihp=

Yep.  I belong to some vintage and thrifting groups on FB and am constantly astounded at the things that the younger folks (I'm 63) are thrilled to find - Corningware, 1970s "art" glass, all manner of 1970s harvest gold/avocado/mushroom-themed kitchen decor, etc.  

[lemniscate]

A Mouli with just the fine barrel.  No batteries required.  $5.  Lady at the sale said it was her Grandfather's.  Need to get a nice chunk of hard cheese to utilize.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Picked this up for $2 Cdn.  Wantred a copy for awhile.

 

[CookBot]

1 hour ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

Picked this up for $2 Cdn.  Wantred a copy for awhile.

 

A wonderful food writer whose books hold up beautifully.  I also loved the huge 28-volume encyclopedia Olney did for Time-Life in the '70s, The Good Cook.  I remember that the volume on "Terrines, Pates, and Galantines" was the first really fancy French food I ever attempted.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

11 minutes ago, CookBot said:

 

A wonderful food writer whose books hold up beautifully.  I also loved the huge 28-volume encyclopedia Olney did for Time-Life in the '70s, The Good Cook.  I remember that the volume on "Terrines, Pates, and Galantines" was the first really fancy French food I ever attempted.

Agreed. I used to occasionally run across some of those volumes at garage sales and in used bookstores. Should have picked them up.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

Agreed. I used to occasionally run across some of those volumes at garage sales and in used bookstores. Should have picked them up.

 

 

I am fortunate to have purchased the full set on subscription.

 

[blue_dolphin]

6 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

Agreed. I used to occasionally run across some of those volumes at garage sales and in used bookstores. Should have picked them up.

 

 

I started the subscription when I got my first job but quickly realized they were too expensive for my budget.  Over the years, I've picked up some in used bookshops and more recently via online used booksellers.  My collection currently stands at 20 volumes. 

 

[CookBot]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

I started the subscription when I got my first job but quickly realized they were too expensive for my budget.  Over the years, I've picked up some in used bookshops and more recently via online used booksellers.  My collection currently stands at 20 volumes.

 

Yes, they weren't cheap once you got past the initial come-on discount.  My mother bought a subscription for me as a gift, and at one time I had them all, but have lost about half of them in cross-country moves, unreturned loan-outs, etc.  I still refer occasionally to the poultry and pastry volumes.

 

That series, and Jacques Pepin's "Art of Cooking" volumes, were the earliest examples I recall of step-by-step photography of technique (in color).  Pepin's earlier "La Technique" and "La Method" were superior in instruction, but the B&W photos were very poor, by comparison.

 

 

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I am fortunate to have purchased the full set on subscription.

 

You are fortunate!  I'll bet a full set of those brings a pretty penny on eBay these days.  I know the times I've tried to get a volume or two of the Time-Life "Foods of the World" series, I was surprised at the prices of mint volumes.  (The 5 volumes of regional American cooking from that series are excellent, with writing by James Beard, MFK Fisher, and their ilk.)

 

1981 TV ad for The Good Cook book series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y20IwvykTgE

 

[Kerry Beal]

I went out looking for baskets - I've got to put together a chocolate basket for fund raising. Value Village has gotten ridiculous - they want $5.49 for one but the re-Source thrift store charges between $1 and $2 for any basket. 

 

Found a nice collection of older stainless bowls - really heavy - I couldn't leave them behind - even though I need more stainless bowls like a need a hole in my head.  Four have rings on them - $1.50 to $3 for the biggest. 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

I went out looking for baskets - I've got to put together a chocolate basket for fund raising. Value Village has gotten ridiculous - they want $5.49 for one but the re-Source thrift store charges between $1 and $2 for any basket. 

 

Found a nice collection of older stainless bowls - really heavy - I couldn't leave them behind - even though I need more stainless bowls like a need a hole in my head.  Four have rings on them - $1.50 to $3 for the biggest. 

 

 

 

 

I couldn't have left them behind, either! Those are gorgeous!

[Laurentius]

On 9/4/2021 at 6:49 PM, CentralMA said:

Well you made me get up off my butt and go down to the basement (where most pots and pans reside) to get more info 

Looks like the mark shows "ATLAS METAL SPINNING CO SOSF CALIF" with a large stylized A in the center. No other logos I can see.

Very pleased with this find. After the water boil I brought it down to the basement sink and attacked it with Barkeeper's. Pulled off the residue, got it to a nice surface. Then hit it with peanut oil on the flame to protect the steel. Hope to use it this week, get some more seasoning into it.

Atlas made copper bowls worth having, too.

[lemniscate]

So, a few weeks ago, I was at an antique farm equipment show.  They had a  silent auction.   I rarely do anything with those because you are tied to the event until the auction is over.  This time, I saw what I thought was a monstrous kraut cutter, so I bid on it and I won it (there was actually a bidding war on this thing even though no one was really sure if it was a kraut cutter.

 

We brought it home and cleaned it up.   I bought cabbage heads to test, it didn't do a great job of cabbage slicing.  I also happened to have some russets and thought, eh, what the heck?   This is where I think we started thinking it was a potato chipper instead. 

 

Today I decided to put it in use.  I bought 4 medium-ish russets and we cranked them through.  350F oil and dang if we didn't have fantastic potato chips.  The machine is labeled JE Smith & Sons, Buffalo NY.  Research shows it may be from 1889-1890.  This thing is the most entertaining mandoline ever.  It made the most consistent potato slices.  Delicious with ribs and salad on the patio.  EDIT:  The ribs were done in the Big Easy, so that's 2 gadgets in use for 1 meal!

 

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by lemniscate (log)