Modern vs. Vintage toys

It's kind of a long story but my parents have always been into collecting random vintage and antique pieces, mainly figurines and little pieces that serve as home decors. I grew up watching Antique Road Show with my mom and always thought "who would PAY for these things??" As a kid, I never thought much of my parents collection...they were always around looking dark and old. For the last few years it's been a trend among interior designers and decorators to include a piece of vintage architectural salvage/furniture in the house. Now companies are producing decor pieces that "looks" old and rusty to imitate the look. You see these fake vintage rustic stuff everywhere to the point where you might even start to hate them. My workplace also happens to be located in an industrial area where we're literally surrounded by vintage shops. So for me there is really no escape....

Recently, I've been working on a new project for work and I checked out an episode of American Pickers for reference...and I ended up getting hooked on to the show! I've been fascinated by rustic vintage stuff for awhile and I think this show really pulled me in to the whole thing. I think there's something fascinating about digging into a pile of junk and finding these pieces that have a story and a sense of history to it. 

SO I've finally checked out a few of the vintage stores around the area. Very pricey stuff but I can understand why, some of these pieces are one-of-a-kind and may be the only one that still exists. Couldn't help but take a few pictures although I'm always a bit paranoid about taking pictures in stores...like the owners might slap me in the head and kick me out the door. 

Earlier today my mom was telling me about this huge estate sale where the passed owners had a huge vintage toy collection. So I decided to stop by today and was totally excited to see all the awesome vintage and antique stuff!! Some pieces were very pricey but I'm sure it's because they checked their values online before pricing everything. It was exciting to see all these things that I could see American Pickers picking up. As you may know, estate sales are usually (not always) when the home owners passed away and everything in their house gets sold. Walking around, it kind of saddened me to see the owner's collections breaking up this way since they probably spent all their lives collecting these things (and they collected A LOT of things; from toys, to a basement full of wood working tools, to glass, posters, etc). You could tell they really valued everything they collected.

But part of their collections are now in good hands! When I buy I second hand items I always feel like I need to value them just as much as the previous owners did.

Moving on to pics!! 

My favorite buy of the day!! This is a mini vintage lantern full of candies. I was fascinated by the colors of the candies and especially liked how the letters were actually embroided into the glass. It was very pricey for an estate sale find but everything was 50% off and I figured if I don't buy it now, I would never find it again. Also the thing I like the most about vintage objects is that they're so intricate and made with quality materials. You can't find things that are so well made today (especially if it's made in China) 

Old candy bottles. I picked one and when I went back, they were all gone!!

 The one I picked. Love the old label and colors of the candies. 

Also got this mini gumball machine. It's surprisingly the cheapest out of the three and the heaviest. The candies are probably like 50 years old but obviously nobody's going to eat it unless they have a death wish.

Saw this really cool cigar display box. Photo doesn't do it justice, but it's a very unique piece. They were selling it for over $200 but I'm sure any antique shop would be happy to buy it. 

Old spice containers!! Now that I think about it, when I took a cooking class back in high school there was a shelf full of these kind of spice containers...and we actually used some of them. Made me wonder how many decades they've been in there...

Not sure what these are called officially but they're like little pinball games made out of paper. Saw this cute one where you have to fit all the little eggs into the nest.

Took these photos at the vintage shop downstairs from my workplace (Aurora Mills). They have so.much. cool stuff!! See that curly hanging lamp shade? I think if I had my own house I would've bought it in a heartbeat. 

 Letterss 

Love the bold colors of this old sign. Could see it looking great as an interior wall decor. 

Old letter stamps 

Postcards and flyers 

Photo is a bit out of focus...but that table on the bottom left is made out of this metal spool (??) and ropes with a glass as table top. I've never seen anything like it.

Here's a fake vintage container I saw at Ross and I'm contemplating on whether to buy it or not...

Found out that Godeleine De Rosamel released these collaboration pieces with anthropologie and just had to get them. 

Some random toys that's been sitting in their boxes for awhile...

No room to put big pieces so they're all sitting on top of my shelves!!

  

Wooden worm designed by bubi ai yeung. 

Bought this Big Hero poster with a coupon! Really liked the colors and design. I'm too lazy to hang it up though since I'll need to drill holes into the wall.

Gave felting a try since I haven't done anything crafty in ages. Takes a loooot of patience but it was pretty fun!! 

Had a lot of extra felt so I made a baby too.

Horrible photo but I got this screen printed poster from Linework art fair a few months. It's made by a Norwegian artist. Still need to find a frame for it though. Hopefully I'll get a much better picture of it later...