Sunday, January 30, 2011

Adventures in Old Crap, and a Little Family History

Something's simply never change. I was running errands on Castro Street, minding my own beeswax, when I was sucked into the vortex of a huge garage sale. Two queens who had been antique dealers were cleaning out their backrooms . Fabulosity ensued. I apologize publicly now for cheating on Diane von Austinburg by running around to a tag sale without her.

I was poking around looking for a lampshade when I ran across a bread plate and then, later, a small salad plate both in a pattern that matched some cups and saucers I had inherited from my great aunt, Lucille.

Lucille, I should mention, was a firecracker. Her father was a butcher and worked for the railroad and was generally a small step above actual poverty. Lucille (my family always called her Ciel) had had enough of that by the time she grew up so she got herself a rich husband, got the hell out of south Texas, never looked back and proceeded to fill up her house with Nice Things. She is a hero to me.

Anyway, I was standing there admiring the china (which is Royal Albert china. A very fine line that i always get confused and call Prince Albert,
which I shudder to bring up knowing all the low class piercing jokes that opens itself to) when one of the guys running the sale volunteered that they had a bunch more. The next thing I knew I had sprung $80 for 14 luncheon plates, 4 dinner plates, 5 cups and saucers, the salad plate and the bread plate. He actually only asked $75, but I didn't have change.

Do I need any more china? No I do not need any more china. R Man enjoyed giving me very nice china and porcelain as a presents and I have a sizable closet filled with it. And now I have some more. The pattern is called Canton.

And then, because I was on a roll, I snagged two very pretty silk damask curtain panels.
Have I mentioned our house is very Brady Bunch plain ass modern and is NOT THE PLACE for silk damask and mahogany Georgian furniture, but that's what I keep dragging in. Still, I talked the guy down to 15 bucks for the pair, they're beautiful heavy fabric, lined with silk and in good shape, except a little musty, but I'm airing them out on the patio, so I expect that to pass. Saki seemed very interested in them when I brought them in, and I noticed a tore up place on the lining right at cat level, so I assume they have had a Kitteh-centric existence. Again, OK by me.

7 comments:

  1. All is forgiven; any score that great can't be resented! And I can't wait to see the loot!

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  2. I was talking about your house to someone just today, trying to do it justice with words.
    I just couldn't.

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  3. you were smart to buy what
    you don't need. brilliant, actually.

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  4. Note how Saki cleverly has written this post in a way that suggests Peenee penned it himself?

    Waiting until the last minute to make mention of himself.

    Clever.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, darling, rest assured you did the right thing.

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  6. My advice is buy what you love, and don't bat an eye toward eclectic pairings.

    Remember - a Roseville Carnillian vase was modern, once, too.

    Now if you spenting your money on things like paper plate dispensers at Wal-Mart or a mobile home in a flood plain, then we would have an intervention.

    But these buys are lovely!

    ReplyDelete

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