Mystery Items #3 Revealed

May 11, 2017 by Florence 10 Comments

If you remember the post from a few days ago…..Mystery Items #3 for you to identify. I purposely decided to hide the comments from everyone. Today I’m reporting on the results!

Mystery Items Revealed~

The real question became~

~whether #1 was a napkin holder, or both were a vintage desk set. And what was that thing on the right.

The Votes~

25 Comments

Thing on the left:

Napkin holder: 3 votes

Envelope holder: 5 votes

“The thing on the right”:

Cookbook holder: 5 votes

Memo Pad holder: 5 votes

There were several “don’t knows” and miscellaneous guesses.

So I conducted a little test~

The thing on the left is holding the smallest napkins I have….beverage napkins, but the scale looks a bit off to me.

The thing on the right cannot begin to hold that cookbook up. It would fall over if it didn’t have the back.

Whereas here are the envelopes and memo pad….

a better scale, yes?

Several people told me the memo pad holder should lie on its back, so maybe it’s for loose note paper.

mystery items 3 revealed — Not sure whether it lies on its back or upright…

And as for the funny looking tools?

Just about everybody either knew what they were called, or how they were used.

The flower-like one is a “Rosette Cookie Iron” or “Timbale Set.” The purpose was to dip into batter, then fry in hot oil, and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Sounds pretty good, huh? Kind of like the stuff you used to eat at the fair, and came home with a tummy-ache (or at least I did.)

So why is all this so important anyway? Who cares?

Well, I do. Because when you sell online like I do, you have to know what it’s called before you can sell it. Before I came here to ask you guys, I probably would have called this a napkin holder, but I didn’t know what to call the other thing. Finding the first two items in a kitchen really threw me off. So there you have it….mystery solved.

Until the next mystery comes along…..

Mystery Items #3

May 7, 2017 by Florence 50 Comments

Mystery items #3…I acquired fairly recently….Item #2, I definitely have no idea about. I appreciate your help!

You want to see past mystery items?

Mystery Items #1 is here.

Mystery Items #2 is here.

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Identify the Mystery Items

1.

In case you can’t tell, these are ceramic, and I found them in the kitchen of an estate sale. I assumed the one on the left was a napkin holder, but what’s that thing on the right? These are both vintage pieces.

Left item: 5″L x 2″W x 2.5″T. It is rather short. Most napkins are going to fall over and not look pretty.

Right item: 3.5″L x 1″W x 5-1/4″T

I asked the male cashier about the thing on the right, and he said flippantly, “oh it’s for memos, YOU know…memo pads!” All the while he’s flipping his post it notes pad into it, and I’m nodding like I agree 100%. But I’m thinking…a memo holder with a napkin holder??? Doesn’t make sense.

So now I’m thinking the thing on the left COULD be an envelope holder! What do you think? And the thing on the right looks a little odd to me anyway, even if it is for memo pads. Maybe the whole thing is a desk set. I just don’t have a clue.

In our house, we didn’t have “desk sets” LOL. Just plain ole, plain ole, if you know what I mean.

2.

I have no idea what these are, but I picked them up at an estate sale for 50¢. They are both metal, and rather thick as you can see. The one with the cup on the end is 9-1/2″L. The other 8-1/2″L. The handles don’t go straight down, but at an angle.

The one on the right reminds me of a cow brand (like I’ve ever in my life seen what a cow brand looks like).

OK, over to you! And thanks in advance for your help with the mysteries!

Y’all, I have a confession to make….you have been leaving lovely comments and super guesses. I’ve enjoyed reading each one, and I will post them towards the end of the week with my comments. But I have found with “Mystery Items” posts, a few people guess it & other people coming along behind are going….”oh, well, they’ve guessed it, so there’s no point in my leaving a comment.” I know what you’re thinking! NO! I LOVE your comments & guesses, so if you’re checking back, that’s why you aren’t seeing anything.

Mystery Items What Is It 2

March 4, 2017 by Florence 22 Comments

Another installment of mystery Items what is it 2. If you’re new here, I publish a mystery item post from time to time when I’m stumped and need answers. In my last mystery post, these three items were up for identification and the general consensus was:

Yellow clown bottles were a promotional circus item originally holding candy…

This little pile of lead is melted bullets, and/or pie weights….

mystery items what is it 2 — Lead pellets

And this is a punch tool for making loop rugs….

…and if you have a burning desire to possess any one of these lovelies, just check out my Etsy shop now!

I carry vintage items in my shop, vintagesouthernpicks.etsy.com. Surprise, surprise! Betcha couldn’t tell! (wink wink) I go to yard sales, estate sales and thrift stores every week.

I found the mystery items at an estate sale several years ago. Bought without having a clue what they were, but figured it would be easy to find out. WRONG! They must be relatively rare because in 4 years, I STILL don’t know what they are. And ya gotta know what something is called to sell it. You can’t just call it “little white china thingies.”

Case in point:

A couple of years ago, I had the below item for sale in my Etsy shop.

It wouldn’t sell. It was dainty and pretty, porcelain, obviously old, not a thing wrong with it and something very appealing. But it wouldn’t sell…and it wouldn’t sell. Like for a year it wouldn’t sell. I couldn’t understand it.

I called it an “Egg Strainer.” It looked like an egg strainer to me. And I thought it was lovely.

One day some kind soul pointed out that it was probably a tea strainer instead. Oh! (head slap). Of course! I changed the title to “tea strainer,” and it sold within a week.

So you see you gotta know what something is called to sell it.

You can do descriptive searches on Etsy or Ebay and often find what you are looking for, but THIS was a little hard for me. How to describe it…”cup with lid that has holes in it”? Well, frankly I never tried.

It was an egg strainer.

OK, you ready to see the mystery item yet??? I’ve probably blathered on long enough.

Here it is! What in the world is it??

It is helpfully marked “Belleek Willets.” Willets Belleek is an older form of the Irish-made porcelain. Supposedly more valuable. 2″T x 2.5″W

If anyone knows, please enlighten me!

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Mystery Items What is it?

January 19, 2017 by Florence 26 Comments

“Mystery Items What is it?” is a post I’ve had on the back burner for a while. All of the items below are mysteries to me which I will be showing from time to time for help in identification.

I have no idea what these are. Can you help me with a clue? Or two?

Mystery Items What is it?

The clown bottles are about 2-3″ tall. Note the caps/hats (navy blue) in the shape of a big top. If they had a slight smell inside, I think that would give me a clue, but no smell. I’m thinking these date from the 60’s-70’s.

Has anyone seen these before?

mystery items what is it

I have a whole zip lock bag full of these lead pellets. They were found in a kitchen at an estate sale, but what are they used for? They are about the size of mini chocolate chips.

I believe this is some kind of a crafting tool with interchangeable ends, but what is it, and what is the little thingy to the right of the big tool? mystery items what is it