a love of all things old and quirky

  

God help me I've become collector!

  When many people my age are beginning to down size, I have become a collector of things. I don't really need things, and I am not buying new things, I am hunting for treasure because I love the thrill of the hunt! I love searching through dusty old boxes filled with potential. I love the feeling of excitement when I see just the tip of an old piece of depression glass or the edge of an old polaroid peeking out through  piles of discarded excess. Most of the time I research items after I find them, but occasionally they come with their own history. Recently I found an old print that I fell in love with and when I removed the back I found a piece of a newspaper from the late 1800's discussing whether Lord Kitchener would be returning to Africa or not to discourage the "natives" from threatening to stop construction on the railroad.

  I like stories that give the objects character, or give them a life of their own. My mother once had a favourite cookbook that went into a garage sale without her knowledge (forgive me mom). Oddly enough a few years later my older sister found that same cookbook in another garage sale and bought it back. I'm hoping that someday that cookbook will find it's way into my hands. But it's not just the history that gets me excited.

I also get a feeling of satisfaction from rescuing things from the land fill,  from knowing I'm not adding to a world that is fast filling up with unwanted "stuff". I haven't set my sights on any one thing, I like cameras it's true and I guess I have quite a few of them, but I like vintage anything and I just have a nose for things that are special and or unusual.  So what am I collecting besides all those cameras you ask? Pretty much anything that was made before about 1975 or so, which, I'm horrified to say was 36 years ago!!!! Any way, here is the abridged list of items

 West German pottery
 Czech glass
 depression glass
 vintage pyrex
 old and obscure photography books and magazines
 tea cups
 lamps
 vintage clocks
 vintage suitcases
 mid century modern items
 vintage jewellry
the list goes on and on....

The thing is I don't really have room for all this stuff, so what on earth am I going to do with it all? I'll tell you what, I'm going to open a new section in my etsy shop for beautiful,  sometimes unusual, vintage finds. And yes there will be some cameras and camera related equipment among those precious things.
So I hope you'll drop by for a visit or two. And if you like what you see, do tell a friend, or two, or three.

Here is a teaser of items that will be coming to my shop in a day or two