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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Just an FYI to anyone, while modern pewter is safe to drink out of, older pewter contained lead and should only be used for decorative purposes.
Thanks for the info Hraz. This one looks to be on the newer side. I think couldn’t find a date on it
I too shopped at at 2 flea markets this weekend, one being an out door market with booths and tents, the other being an indoor type flea market. James, just a note, don’t get disheartened about not ‘finding’ the ‘Griswold’ brand cast iron. I collect and use cast iron cook ware as well. I now have over a dozen various sized skillets including 3 dutch oven ranging in size from 4 quart to 20 quarts. 4 of my skillets are Griswold’s and all but one was got at a flea market or junk shop at junk shop price. I cook almost exclusively on cast iron, everything from Venison stew, to roast chicken. I even bake corn bread in one skillet. I love my cast iron.
This weekend i found a ‘Universal #1 meat grinder(made in USA) with all the attachments for under $10. I got into canning and preserving this past summer and already have a Presto 22 qt. pressure cooker/canner. adhering to the ‘Prepper idiom that “two is one and one is none”, i jumped on an opportunity to get another pressure cooker/ Canner. This one is an “All American” Pressure Canner that has the lock down top and looks like a torpedo tube hatch on a nuclear submarine. It came complete with internal rack, gear driven pressure gauge and relief valve. I paid a grand total of $20 for. Happy days… i counted my blessings and went home a happy camper.
Some of the other miscellaneous stuff i picked up also was a 12 foot long 3/8″ steel tow cable with end hooks, a package of various sizes stainless Hose clamps. I also found in a fabric bin, 4 1/2 sq yards of Camo burlap to make a Ghilli suit with for under $4
I love flea markets, Yard and garage sales, antique and junk shops. And don’t overlook Goodwill and salvation army stores for some great finds. A few years ago while parusing a “Goodwill” store, I found a beautiful 50# Laminated Mahoghany Recurve Bow sitting in a golf bag with some random golf clubs. I paid $10 for the bow. I don’t play Golf.
TinMan
Wow Tinman you scored pretty good!
Want to double your money on the All-American pressure canner? I’ll even eat the shipping!
🙂
2 great finds, for under 20 bucks. wtg. how much for the house, if you dont mind the asking? and the city?
The house is 84k in Ashland City which is where I currently live
Looks like a couple excellent finds.
One of my best at a flea market was 3 cast iron pans for 6 bucks. The middle sized one a Wagner, the other sizes generic. The smallest one was in excellent condition. The 10″ was rusted, pitted and still had actual dirt in it. I figured I was ahead the money for the other two, so why not try to rehab the larger one? I have been using it for a while and you can still see some pitting on the bottom, it’s almost all patina’d over and fries very well.
with modern automation, why cant manufacturers make great cookware like griswold or wagner? i agree that lodge in crap, i wouldnt buy it for a door stop. keep up the great posts. i heard about you on jack spirkos survival podcast by the way
I assume they are just lazy. I also assume they would charge twice as much. So a $30 new Lodge would be in the $60~$80 range
Great article! I plan to link and feature this on my Pinterest account for others to share. Thanks!