Sunday, September 30, 2012

Oh, the weird and the wonderful .....

My father-in-law, Mr. Really Bad, and I went junking this morning and
it was a day of interesting finds. We came upon some of the most unusual things! I'm going to show you my favorites.

Can you believe this? A corset! Original box and everything! A short Google search leads me to think it's from about 1917. Never worn.

I added to my collection of old bottles. I look for ones with lids and reluctantly took two with damage.

Turns out what I thought was a common bottle with a damaged lid is a vintage ant catcher. Well who'd a thunk that?

As I was inspecting some tools Mr. Really Bad bought a sword-shaped letter opener.
Well, it's the prettiest letter opener I've ever seen. 

Cute handle.

One man's trash is indeed another man's treasure. Mr. Really Bad was just thrilled with his little sword. 

Because it isn't a letter opener.

No. It's a Midshipman's Dirk from the late 1700's to early 1800's. 
Horatio Hornblower would have carried one of these.
National Maritime Museum
Yard Sale

Mr. Really Bad paid $1 for his "letter opener." It's worth from $350 to $700 dollars.
The handle is ivory and the brass is gold-plated, although worn.

Amazing, right? An ancient British naval weapon on a rural farm in Oregon. How much history is in the landfills because we simply don't know what we have? Just sayin.'

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2 comments:

  1. Wow, on your finds! I think I'll just follow you around next time you go yard sale shopping! ~ Maureen

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  2. I absolutely love the "letter opener"!

    Do you have a Pinterest account, by the way?

    ReplyDelete