Today’s post ran a tad late due to a house showing I went to. The place showed a lot of promise, Three bedrooms, 4 acres, huge garage/shop, in-ground pool, well water and propane. Not to get too excited but I may have found my future homestead. On to the topic of the day is vintage stores. Over the weekend I hit a few Vintage/antique stores and saw some great things. I only bought two things, for a great price, but saw some good stuff. Let me tell you about the experience and what I got.
At work the other day I saw a free magazine laying around that listed antique/vintage and flea markets. I decided to make a day of hitting some of them looking for some things and enjoying the sights. The first one I visited was huge! I’m sure I didn’t see everything they had to offer. I noticed that the prices seemed to swing from being a great deal to freaking outrageous. The store, called Gaslamp, had a mixture of what I would consider practical and in still working condition items to junk and useless items. The store was organized on themed rooms, kind of anyway. Although I didn’t get it I found a really nice old hatchet for $20.It looked like it was made very well and still had an incredible edge on it. I’m not much of an Ax/ hatchet guy though.
What I did end up getting there was a pewter tankard. I didn’t see a date mark on it. It was in great condition and cost only $6. From watching the War Time farm series and seeing their metal tankards I kinda wanted one. It easily holds a full bottle of beer with room to spare. After looking around some more and being in there for an hour I decided it was time to move on.
The next place I went to was Called Nashville Pickers, not affiliated with the tv show pickers, although I’ve heard they do have a store in town. Here I saw a few neat things. It was much much smaller though and way more cluttered. Once again I saw some things that I might get in the future. I thought about picking up an old razor.
While walking around I saw a stack that immediately drew my attention. Cast iron skillets. Whenever I see cast iron I run over to them and start flipping them over looking at the bottoms. So far I have seen Lodge (ugh) one that just said made in china (double ugh) and lots that were grimy and didn’t seem to have any markings. Never yet had I seen either of the markings I want to see. Griswold or Wagner, with Griswold being #1. This time I was getting disheartened until I picked up the very last one. As I flipped it over expecting to see grime or nothing I was surprised to see the Wagner logo! I tried to contain my excitement until after I found out how much it cost since this place doesn’t price anything. So I calmly go ask how much for it, trying to look uninterested. They guy says ten bucks! Ten bucks!!! Needless to say I bought it. The skillet was in great shape, no rust, not cracks pitting and not even dirty. It was missing some seasoning keeping it from being uniform in its black coloring.
As soon as I got home I washed out the Wagner #6 skillet using a drop of soap. Normally I never wash my cast iron with the exception being the before first use. From now on I’ll wipe it out but avoid water and soap. I rinsed out the water thoroughly and dried it then placed it on the stove on med low heat. I used some lard to coat the skillet. Once coated well I cooked up some bacon. I’m very happy with my new skillet.
One of the great things about both items I picked up is that they were both built to last. They have indeed already lasted a long time and look great. Any skillet you can get for $10 new in a retail store will not last more than a year or two at the most. If even that long. As far as I’m concerned I will own both items for the rest of my life.
What great finds have you got from vintage/ antique stores? Let me know in the comments.
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