Market Haul: Vintage Maps!

I'd like to announce one of my favourite finds ever!!!

If you've been reading my blog for a while now you'll already know I am a map freak! Well, at a market on Saturday I stumbled across a box chock full of vintage maps. I have come across such things before at dealer markets only to be told the maps cost $3 to $5 EACH! So I was overcome with joy when the lady selling these announced they were 10 cents each!! Looking through the box I realised I liked almost every single one, so I decided to ask for a price for the whole lot.

Answer "Um, two dollars"?

Well you know those moments you wish you'd brought a getaway car with you? You are so terrified the seller will come to their senses before you get out of there! I passed over my two dollars, stuffed the maps into my bag and moved on with a speed an Olympic sprinter would have envied!

Just look at them!

There are over 70 in total making them under 3 cents each!

A few of the many city maps.

So many National Geographic informative maps.

Loads of lovely European maps.

Gorgeous graphics.

There is just too much maply loveliness for me to unfold and photograph them all. There are maps of everywhere from Nepal to San Francisco, Middle East to Canada. Suffice it to say I am a very happy girl :-)

I got a lot of great stuff on the same day so watch out for my next post!

Concerto

My Grandfather was a jazz musician, he could play any number of instruments but specialised in the saxophone. Although this gift never manifested itself in either my father's or my generation I often wonder if maybe one of my boys might show an interest or talent in music at a later age.

We have a variety of kiddy instruments in our playroom such as a keyboard, guitar, bongo drums, recorders, tambourine and lots more but none so lovely as this...

I picked up this lovely child-sized violin recently in Vinnie's for $20. I was particularly excited to find a violin because my boys are huge Andre Rieu fans.

Seriously. You know the Dutch violinist who travels the world with his orchestra and soprano singers? His concerts generally concentrate on popular crowd-pleasing classical pieces and waltzes and sell out to huge numbers. Well most nights before bed, we put on a few segments of one of his concerts to get the boys to wind down and it works like magic. They stop in their tracks the very second "O Mio Babbino Caro" comes on and stare in fixation... I'm still not sure whether it's the music or the pretty soprano who holds their attention but they really love to watch Rieu's music :-)

I think this little violin really is a beautiful object, it needs some tlc but I don't ever plan on it being a working instrument. I'd like to let the boys play around with it and maybe use it as decor later on (if it's still in one piece). It would just be interesting to see if any of them seem to take a liking to holding it and trying it out before we ever considered buying a new quality instrument or organising lessons of any sort.

Rainbows

Nothing really say retro more than a rainbow logo does it? Here are a couple of favourite bags I have picked up on my wanderings...

I adore this retro Trafalgar Travel tour bag from back in the day when coachloads of British and Irish would descend upon Spain in search of bingo and fish 'n' chips in the sun :-) It was in the "Take for free" box in an op shop although being a charity shop obviously I gave a donation.

H has claimed it to use to store his art-in-progress (believe me, there's a lot, some days our lounge looks like a paper factory has exploded all over it)!

I was delighted to pick up this compact little laptop bag for $2. It's a nice size, perfect for a small laptop or maybe an iPad (HINT HINT HUBBIE)!!!

Anyone else prefer the old retro Apple Mac logo with the rainbow colours?

Andy Quirks Giveaway!

Have you seen Andy's lovely blog? Head over there now for lots of gorgeousness and her fab giveaway!!! Here are the beautiful items you could win...

Good luck! (I don't mean that, cos I want to win!!!)

Snowflakes Falling

You may remember me showing off my gorgeous festive red snowflake pyrex dish in a couple of previous posts, here it is...

Well, I have some bad news, not long after my Festive Finds post we were having friends over for lunch, I loaded my gorgeous dish up with summer vegetables, drowned them in lashings of olive oil and left it on the kitchen counter ready to put into the oven.

A few minutes later some complete idiot* was sweeping the floor and with the top of the broom handle knocked the dish off the counter, onto the floor whereupon it shattered into a thousand tiny pieces...

It's for the best I was too busy cleaning up the massacre of glass and oil to even think of taking a photo of the tragedy, it would have brought tears to the eyes of all my fellow pyromaniacs (you know who you are). I have only now been able to bring myself to post about it. And all the lovely comments I got commenting on how rare it must be and how people haven't seen the red snowflake design before have shattered any hopes I may have of finding another.

However I did find this a few weeks ago...

A gorgeous big aqua snowflake casserole, my favourite colour and large enough for big family meals, this is my new favourite :-)

*me

Silver Lining

I just thought I'd share a few of my favourite recent silver finds...

This gorgeous covered dish is by the English Silversmiths Roberts and Belk of Sheffield. I researched its hallmark and it is dated approx. 1920s. I love that for $2 I can own something that has probably seen so much history, maybe initially used at glamorous 20s parties, hidden away during the rationing of the the war, possibly reloved in the 50s and now on my table :-)

A pair of elegant silver-plated vases - $3 each.

I framed this photo of my hubbie and I cutting our wedding cake in this lovely silver frame which cost $3.

Today!

Look what I found today!

A beautiful set of Noritake china, 13 pieces in total.

I think this pattern is just so simple and elegant. It is the harwood design produced 1962-1974.

Each piece has such a classic shape.

The demitasse cups are just gorgeous.

The platinum detailing on the edges finishes them off beautifully.

Oh, I almost forgot to say how much I paid - $15!!!!!