I have found this chocolate tin at an antique fair. It is Romanian, from 1951 (the factories used to mark the year of production on tins). It’s in such a perfect condition for its age (usually these boxes have rust on the inside or outside). And the characters on the box, even if it was produced 30 years before my childhood, are so familiar, so very much the same as the characters from my own books and toys.
I’m doing this in my very limited (lately) free time. I cut colorful tights and I started to weave pieces for a future small blanket. It goes very slowly (my friend said I’ll have the blanket ready when I go into retirement :). I like the strong colors and the texture that is not too stiff. I keep the tights “yarn” in a Romanian tin from the sixties.
I have already posted at some point the smaller and older snuff box, but yesterday I have found another one at a vintage boutique. It’s not so pretty like the older one (that also has a celluloid sheet inside), but I like this one because an year (1941) and a place (Lagan) is scribbled on it. I’m not sure what’s the meaning of the inscription (I have searched it in Swedish and “Frans ny” would supposedly mean “the new fringe” that doesn’t make much sense to me), but who knows… maybe the translation is not right. Or, it could have some relation to the war? Or, it could just be a private joke of the person who had this snuff box 74 years ago?
It was a great day at the flea market today. I’ll post tomorrow the nicest find, but these are also things that make me very glad.
A snake ring for my collection.
A silver button with enamel and a tiny rhinestone (I’ll use it on a charm bracelet) and another silver charm.
Two watch chains (I wanted one for a long time now). I’ll use the simpler one to build a charm necklace and the more intricate one is perfect as a bracelet. Watching them more closely, I have noticed that they are both marked “Murat”, which a a French jeweler. They are gold filled and probably from the twenties or thirties.
A strangely organic looking old brooch.
Another stick pin for my collection (unfortunately no more stones on this one, but I probably replace them with some).
An old paper ring box.
A tin of colored pencils from the eighties, with some very nice shades.
A beautiful Russian tin full of interesting buttons (many of them bakelite). I think the tin is from the 1910s or 1920s.
Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.
Bakelite and celluloid are some of my favorite things to find at the flea market. Also, I like the ritual of smelling them under hot water :), of never being completely sure. But as long as I don’t plan to sell them, I don’t care so much if all of these pieces are really bakelite (celluloid is much easier to recognize) or just some other type of early plastic.
These pendants are all celluloid. The smallest one with the flower and the oval one with lots of flowers belonged to my mother in the sixties.
This pendant is reversed carved lucite mounted in silver. Also the brooch is from this material and technique, but I think the brooch is older.
This small cameo is bakelite. Not really my taste :), but still funny to have.
I’m not sure if I will wear this as a pendant, but it’s really nicely made with a soft texture. And it’s a lizard!
But this heart pendant goes really well with the rest of my jewelry, I’m actually wearing it while I type this. 
I have lots of brooches that are early plastic.The French celluloid one with the deer is really old, I have seen online similar ones dated as early 1900.
I have found this one in an old button tin.
This really strange bakelite and silver Art deco brooch is one of my favorites. 
All these are celluloid.
This huge brooch that is copying amber is lucite, with a very pretty depth to it.
I’m always looking at plastic bangles at the flea market. My favorite find is this celluloid snake from the 1920s.
These bangles are Chinese, copying cinnabar. I have different things with this pattern (a pendant, beads, clip on earrings). Although these are still produced in China, mine are older and they definitely smell like bakelite.
These are bakelite and celluloid.
I only have one bakelite ring, although I’m always looking for them.
Bakelite clip on earrings.
I have a few celluloid hair barrettes, but I don’t really dare to wear them, they could easily slide away from my hair.
I keep all of these in pretty tins from the twenties.
Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.
I don’t collect watches (it would be too expensive, for sure), but I have a few that belonged to members of my family and to me. The oldest one is this Omega pocket watch. It belonged to my great granduncle, who collected many things. Not many of his things stayed with us, though, he didn’t have any children but his relatives sold after his death his collections of antiques. I always wonder what he really had in his collections, the image of his rooms filled with old stuff were a great part of my grandmother’s stories to me when I was a child. His things were bought by a collector in Bucharest, so they ended up in good hands. This watch was a gift of him to my grandmother. She gave it to me when I was in high school as a first piece to a collection of antiques that I wanted to start. It is entirely original and it still works and keeps time. I looked up the serial number and it was produced between 1913-1914.
This one is just a case I have found at the flea market for almost nothing. I think it is silver or at least silver plated. It doesn’t have the face, only the case and part of the movement, so I have no idea what watch was it (it says Swiss made on the movement and it has a serial number). I will maybe use the cover at some point and convert it to a pendant, but I’m not sure yet how I would like it to look like.
The rest of the watches are much newer but with such a beautiful design.They are all Soviet watches from early sixties till the eighties. I recently took them to be serviced and now they are all in working condition.
This one belonged to my grandmother in the early sixties. I wonder why she bought such a big wristwatch with a masculine look to it (not consistent at all with her tastes in fashion). Anyway, I really like the contrast between the tarnished face and the shiny bracelet.
This Luch one, much smaller, was also my grandmother’s in the seventies. I remember it very well on her wrist as a child. I also wore it in high school for a while and I wear it now from time to time.
This Zaria watch was a gift to me from my mother’s friend. She bought it in the early seventies from her first paycheck. It still has its original bracelet.
The silver tone Chaika was my first watch in the early eighties (I have written about it here). The other one, without a bracelet, was a flea market find.
This Chinese cheap little watch was also mine as a child. It broke almost immediately.
I keep the watches in this funny case I have found at the flea market some time ago. I suppose it’s from the sixties or seventies. The clock is still working.
Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.
I have finally went to the flea market today after a two weeks break, which feels like a lot to me :). I have found lots of celluloid things.
This collection of dolls from the forties, I think, were really clean, obviously someone cared for them. I think most of the damages happened to them during transport, some of them were under piles of other, heavy stuff. I’m glad I have so many of these really frail toys. They are marked Japan with a clover logo. I have found online that this logo belongs to a company called Sekiguchi Corp. I will try to find out more about them. I will keep them in this needlepoint box, found also today.
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I wanted this kind of celluloid dog brooch for a long time now. My friend spotted this for me in a pile of other things.
The ring and lizard pendant are also celluloid.
I have also found this barrette for my collection.
Other non-celluloid things were this really pretty art deco brass pendant and chain.
A glass and brass pendant, from the twenties or thirties.
A small glass and brass box.
And another old brass ring for my collection of modest jewelry.
Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.
One of my favorite things to thrift are vintage craft supplies. It’s so satisfying to find quality stuff, usually quite expensive to buy new, for really low prices, and also there is something so nice about looking through someone’s sewing box and giving those once cherished things a new use.
One junk shop in Timisoara is especially good for sewing/knitting/crocheting stuff. It’s the kind of shop where there are lots and lots of junk to search through, some with prices on them, others not and you get a total price for all the stuff you want at the counter. The guys who own it don’t care at all about the “women” things :). While the “men” tools can be priced quite highly, crafting supplies are really, really cheap. I found there in the last two years lots of pretty buttons, scissors, needles, yarn, etc. These is just a small selection of the things I have.
I’m not sure what these yarns were used for, maybe for repairing holes in socks and stuff? Anyway, I really like their muted colors and I will use them to weave something.
These cotton yarn balls have so nice colors and they are really good for crochet.
Very thin sewing thread, perfect for tiny embroidery stitches.
Tin and plastic boxes with needles and other things.
Big wooden boxes for crochet and knitting needles. And different sizes of crochet hooks. I especially like the really thin ones with wooden holders.
A strange little instrument called Witch.
This other tool is still a mystery to me (maybe something for punching holes in thick materials like leather)? It has a nice box, anyway. The ugly little bear was in a sewing box (it’s an eighties copy of an antique bear, stuffed with wood shavings). My friend told me he looks like me when I wear lipstick :).
A really tiny cardboard box with safety pins and a huge safety pin.
To be continued … 🙂
Linking up with Vintage Bliss Tuesdays.
This tin represents Casa Scanteii in Bucharest. (Scanteia, “The Spark” was the name of the official newspaper of the Communist Party). In small letters, almost merged with the folkloric inspiration pattern on the sides of the box, there is written “8th of March”. The box is from a 1964 lot (this is written also on the tin). Two years later, Nicolae Ceausescu will initiate a law banning birth control and abortions and limiting access to divorce. A date about women’s struggle for labor rights lost in an image of power and of the conservative implications of a “folkloric” motif.
I never knew as a child in socialist times what were the origins of 8th of March, although the date was intensely celebrated as Mother’s Day.
These cards are from the sixties till the eighties. Flowers and birds and kittens…
Still, happy 8th of March to everyone identifying as women!
I have bought these boxes at the flea market in different occasions. The 800 silver pill box has my initials in pretty letters, I had to buy it and it wasn’t expensive, also. I’m not sure about its age, I tried to look up the hallmarks, but I had no success yet (and not enough patience to really look).
The wooden snuff box is antique, I think, I have found ones very similar online listed as late nineteen century. I cannot be sure, of course, but it is definitely old and a beautifully made object. It has wooden hinges and a sheet of faux wood celluloid inside. It is in good condition and it was less than 2 euros.
The third box is much more modest, it is a cardboard ring box. Not sure how old (maybe the forties?) and not in perfect shape, but with such a pretty design.
stories of objects 