Thrifty Acres: Secondhand Adventures In Atlanta

Hello! Yes, I like to do secondhand shopping (thrift stores, rummage sales, garage sales) while on vacation. It can be a fun way to collect "souvenirs"; for instance, the Western-themed embroidered piece I paid a quarter for at a church rummage sale in Douglas, Wyoming. What can you find for a mere quarter at the touristy souvenir shops? Maybe a postcard at best! 

So what would I find on a recent trip to Atlanta? As it turned out, nothing that screamed of that area, but I only shopped secondhand at three places, and didn't have much time at each stop. Nevertheless, I was pleased with what came back home with me, such as:

Vintage handkerchief holder (perhaps 1940's?) from the Cathedral of St. Philip thrift store, Atlanta. 

A look at the lining:

Sweet floral print. 

The holder measures 8"x8" and is in good shape. I thought the $1.25 asking price was reasonable. I'll use it for wall display.

Not pictured is the Lands End half-zip fleece pullover that I snapped up for $4.00 at an Atlanta Goodwill. Brand new, this garment is currently on sale for $24.99, but can cost as much as $34.00. (the higher price is likely from the beginning of the cool weather season) Mine looks like new, so I got a good deal. 

Now back to the first stop, the cathedral-run thrift store. From there we had a bit of a walk back to the train station, but the first part of our journey was through the very pleasant-looking Ansley Park neighborhood. And just as pleasant to me as the houses and plantings was the yard sale sign in front of one of the dwellings. I told my husband I wanted to stop and poke around a bit. 

Of course, I was limited to selecting things that wouldn't weigh me down too much on the rest of the walk, but with this in mind, I still managed to find some goodies.

Small pottery tray, 7"x4". I thought the glaze was pretty. The bottom is stamped "Clarksville Pottery". An online search seems to indicate that this is an Austin, Texas gallery. 

Gwen Frostic journal/sketchbook, unused, 6 1/2"x 9 1/2". Gwen Frostic was an artist based in northern Michigan.  She became well-known for her nature-themed block print designs that graced a steady stream of greeting cards, notecards, calendars, journals and other paper goods. Before I started making my own greeting cards, I would use hers when penning a letter or thank-you note.  

A couple of examples from the pages:

Not sure how old this journal/sketchbook is, but an eBay seller calls it "vintage". 

Definitely vintage was a small bag of cake toppers, with a few different styles in it; all Japanese made. Probably all date from the 1950's.

Spun cotton heads with a Halloween theme; these would be considered collectible. 

Wooden (I think) animals heads with painted features and chenille stem "scarves". 

Wooden sailors and boat; painted a bit crudely but still cute! All figures have a hole on top for a candle. (visible on the boat)

Close-up of the above grouping:

With Easter approaching I was interested in a bag of what looked to be four hard plastic Easter figures. Examined one closely and saw it had been made by Rosbro Plastics, based in Providence, RI. The company name wasn't familiar with me, but the figures looked vintage and were lightweight, so I brought them home. 

From eBay, I learned that Rosbro made a lot of plastic holiday figures. They appear to have some collectible value, but prices were all over the place on the listings. My four are probably from the 1950's and range between 5" and 7" high.

 Not visible in the photo above are the holes in the hands; a wheelbarrow was attached to the holes, making this a candy holder. 

This bunny has a rattle inside. 

The egg shape is for holding candy and the wheels make this a pull toy (there's a hole in the small tab in the front of the platform for a pull cord)

Another pull toy, this one is the lone duck of the group. At first it seems ludicrous that the duck is holding a pair of pistols, but it's also sporting a vest and what may be a cowboy-style hat. Westerns were very popular around the time that this figure was made, which might explain the design. 

One eBay seller said that it's rare to find both guns still intact on this figure and priced his version accordingly high. However, another seller priced its duck w/both guns at less than one-third what the first seller was asking. So who knows what it's really worth?

I'm just grateful that I brought these back with me. With the mess caused by the burst water pipe while we were on our trip, they may be the only Easter decorations I put out this year. Better them than nothing! 

And nothing, by the way, is what I paid for every item from the garage sale. It was around 3:00 when we showed up, and while browsing I heard the seller tell another shopper that everything was free! She was at the point that anything left over was heading straight to Goodwill. Kind of made me wish we'd had a car with us...there were some nice skillets but they would have gotten a bit heavy to lug back to the train station. 

Still, I can't complain about my secondhand shopping in Atlanta!