Vintage Shopping According to Plan

Designers often include antique or vintage elements in their designs as this ‘flavor’ of something from the past imparts a sense of timelessness and history into even the most modern of designs.

This antique locket purchased at the Hendley Market in Galveston, Texas several years ago after much consideration is a fine example of how something from the past can be new again. The size and simplicity of the locket contrast with the ornate initials engraved on one side.

This photo of a vintage Celine design caught my eye in a story about the how Celine’s designs are being snapped up in vintage clothing stores. The necklace in the photograph inspired me to connect my locket to a heavy gold chain using a piece from a vintage watch fob.

This is the Hendley Market where you will find all sorts of interesting things, new and old. The vintage jewelry is always of interest to me.

It is helpful to have ideas about what sort of things might add this complexity to your interior or clothing. As you might expect, there are entries in my journal consisting of lists of such things to be discovered inside vintage and antique venues.

Before a trip to Italy you might want to read the City Secrets Series, Rome: The Essential Insider’s Guide (Fang Duff Kahn Publishers: New York; Robert Kahn, Series Editor). This is part of a series of books describing the favorite places of people who actually live and work in the city. Their recommendations include the best cafes and bookstores as well as beautiful views, morning walks, secret gardens and the like. This is a book you can read ahead of time and mark up places that appeal to you. For me, one of the 25 places marked to visit was the outdoor print market or the Mercato delle Stampe at Larga della Fontanella di Borghese. The market was in a neighborhood square with a café for coffee. When you visit a stall in the print market the person working there will pull out albums of prints or prints filed in protectives sleeves for you to choose from. I chose four different leaf prints.

The four botanical prints of leaves are my absolute favorites of all the botanical prints we have collected. We already had the frames, and only needed to paint the interior wood to soften the look and coordinate with the colors in the print. The frames had been black and silver.

One of the themes for my vintage shopping is intriguing tableware. We like to eat at tables all around the house and in the garden and enjoy collecting pretty things for the table and using them daily. My parents gave me a set of vintage dishes bought at a neighborhood tag sale for my 18^th birthday and it is likely this is where my interest in collecting tableware began.

Here is an assortment of little treasures including tiny round dishes we use for butter or salt and pepper. My favorite is engraved on the back, “Ana y Cesar 24-07-04”. The ridged silver cup and the other one in the upper left-hand corner are part of a collection of four. A dealer shared with me they were originally used for matches or cigarettes. We use them for soft boiled eggs or individual flowers at each place at the table.

Robyn Pandolph had a store in Galveston for a time and it was a favorite stopping point. Among her wares were antique fabric pieces and odds and ends from her trips to brocante markets in France. A set of three knives and forks labeled “French picnic set” found its way into my basket immediately. We have used them for picnics ever since!

You might like to search for implements to enhance your tea-time or coffee breaks.

These mother-of-pearl handled pieces have been on my collecting plan for a long time. The ones on the left have a faint engraving in black on the handles.

Mother-of-pearl handled knives were on my list during a trip to Comfort, Texas with my sister and we found them in a display case inside the Comfort Antique Mall. Years later, I found the forks in the same shop. 

Another find at the Antique Mall is my third monogrammed coin silver soup spoon. Some would call it a serving spoon, but this is Texas. The other two are from the Antique Pavilion on Westheimer in Houston, Texas. The different hand engraved monograms are simply fascinating. It is likely to take some time to find enough of these to have a winter dinner party beginning with a lovely soup.  My husband gave me a tureen for my birthday and a goal for me, in addition to locating more monogrammed coin silver soup spoons, is to discover a recipe for the perfect soup to fill it.

We bought our first silver napkin ring years ago in Fredericksburg, Texas. Ever since, we have made it a point to look for them when we travel. Some of them have dates engraved inside; our oldest dated napkin ring is from 1900. It’s nice to bring something home from a trip you can use on a regular basis. I can still recall where each was purchased.

Comfort Vintage and Bloom is a place you will want to visit if for no other reason than to see how they have arranged the shop. These coffee cups remind me of something which would be found in a diner. They are thick and heavy and they do have handles even though they are in the cabinet with the handles in back. The cups were originally purchased with the idea of using them as chunky cappuccino and espresso cups out in the garden or in our studios which we have done. They are also the perfect size to hold a dollop of berry sorbet and a thin wafer at the end of a dinner party. It is such fun to use old things in new ways.

During your forays into vintage shops you may come across something which is not according to plan. Such is the case with this two-volume set of autobiographical writings of Benjamin Franklin purchased as a gift for my husband. Or, the gilt framed daguerreotypes which to me, are exquisite, tiny art objects to place on a table, a stack of books or as in this photo, in alcoves among your books.

Finally, there are the silver handled clothes brushes from the Victorian era purchased at one of my favorite vintage shops, Somewhere in Time in Galveston, Texas. These brushes have been in several places in our home. Best of all, they are now on my dressing table in a glass top jewel case given to me by my sister. A beautiful way to start each day even if never used to brush my clothes.

Wishing you safe travels as you may drive down the back roads of the Texas Hill Country in search of wonderful vintage finds!