Last weekend Michael and I had the opportunity to do a little antiquing on our way to and from a family reunion.  YEAH! 

We drove the back roads and stopped in every small town along the way.  When you do that — it’s always a crap shoot.  Is there an antique store?  Is someone having a garage sale?  Or will you meet someone at the diner that thinks you should call Uncle Ed because he inherited Aunt Mabel’s stuff and doesn’t know what to do with it?  You never know.  You might find a treasure — or it might be a total bust.  

We were fortunate last weekend.  We stopped at 9 places.   At the first stop we walked through a HUGH warehouse.  Now I’ve got to admit that I am not like American Pickers.   I don’t enjoy wearing gloves and fighting my way through piles of junk.   So this stop was tough for me.  There were three levels of bad garage sale merchandise with a few good items tucked away in dusty corners.  We left with some hand painted butter pats and a couple pieces of amberina.

Royal Nippon Tankard

A few hours and 4 stops later we made the purchases of the weekend.  This time we were in an antique mall about 15 minutes from the Mississippi River.  We had walked the entire mall without much luck – and then at the last booth Michael spotted a hand painted Royal Nippon Tankard.   With a phone offer going to the dealer — we had a few minutes to kill — so we headed back around. 

That was a good decision!

Moriage Cobalt Crescent Vase

For some reason — on the second pass we found two more treasures.  I found a beautiful piece of cobalt moriage.  And Michael found a gorgeous 1949 Esquire Calendar.  He says it’s not for sale —  but as Walt says — everything is for sale!