Friday, November 26, 2010

"The Cheap Shop"

On Thanksgiving, one thing I have to be thankful for is all my amazing finds at the Salvation Army and other thrift shops.  Here's a fashion show of the latest.  Makes shopping retail look...redundant, doesn't it?

"We have been to the cheap Shop, & very cheap we found it." - Jane Austen, 11 June 1799

Jones New York black velvet jacket ($8)

 
 Jones New York 100% wool coat ($25)

Anne Klein trench coat ($25) and purple scarf ($4)

 Namaste!  Beautiful shawl made out of sari material ($10)

Ralph Lauren Polo jacket, 100% cashmere ($6)


Black velvet shawl ($10)

Martial hates posing

 
Green and blue Venetian glass pitcher ($12)

Blue and white Italian bowl ($12)

Detail of antique Chinese porcelain lamp ($25)

Collection of pins (mostly cats) on Chinese silk

The three chairs await refurbishing. Left will be in black silk, center red silk, brocade as is.

And three cats will sit on them.

"I am sorry to tell you that I am getting very extravagant, and spending all my money, and, what is worse for you, I have been spending yours too." - Jane Austen, 20 April 1811






4 comments:

Elizannie said...

Well your thrift shops seem to do you very well! Mind you I was pleased with my charity shop yesterday as I bought some of the Torquay ware [http://www.torquaypottery.com/] that I collect, at a really good price, a good copy of '1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare' by James S. Shapiro and a lovely wooden pendant!

Unknown said...

A lovely treasure-trove, Diana. As you know, I am a fellow thrift shop devotee, but I am on a self-imposed hiatus from them right now. I find too many wonderful things, and then I have to create a place for them at home, which sometimes leads to a domino-fall of culling, rearranging, consigning to the garage storage, or just plain getting rid of things I actually still like and/or wear.

I was going to tell you that your new old chairs are Eastlake, but you already know that. Very nice ones, too. Eastlake furniture was among the first to be made entirely by machine, and was often shipped disassembled. My mother owned an antique shop for many years, starting in the late 40s, and at that time an antique, for purposes of taxes and import duties, was defined as being over 100 years old and made by hand. The Eastlake furniture reached the 100-years-old mark and changed the made-by-hand part.

My cats send regards to your beautiful trio.

Diana Birchall said...

Ellen Moody had trouble posting a comment, so I'm adding it for her:

Surely you didn't find all these things in one stop. I used to haunt thrift shops (before I got on the Net and found a new way to spend time) and while I'd once in a while come home with beautiful objects, often I would just find something practical, and when I did find something especially nice, it was usually only one at most.

I didn't have an art thrift shop that was my problem: a lovely woman's clothes one, one that also ran auctions (there I did find Art Deco objects galore but you had to bid and it was not a silent auction -- which I don't think fun anyway) were the best. Even when the US and we here were doing okay (or so it was said) our thrift shops in Alexandria were of the Salvation Army type.

I love the bowls.

Ellen

Unknown said...

Diana, I've been meaning to tell you how much I enjoy looking at the background in the photos taken in your house. You have so much Interesting Stuff that if you left me alone there I could entertain myself for hours, without even touching anything. (Except, of course, the cats. How could anyone resist petting a cat that seemed at all approachable?)

Kay