To tell you about the last part of our trip to Florida, I will focus on antiques and collectibles. I am constantly on the lookout for good buys that I can take back to our booth and resell for a profit. Saturday as we made our way to St. Augustine, we passed a sign that said Bayard Antique Village. We decided to stop.
It was set up in a way that I have never seen before, and I did not get the greatest pictures, so I will try to describe it. There was a large, long building in the center of the property, which they called the barn. It was all open air and easy to just walk in and out and browse. An oval drive surrounded the barn on the sides that did not face the highway. You just parked anywhere near that drive.
Spaced out at intervals around the drive and barn were lots of little cottages. Each cottage was a different color and had a sign in front of it. Some of the signs depicted what was sold in the cottages, such as Christmas items. Others just had cute names, like the above “Ali Mamas.”
We browsed in the barn for a little while. The salt and pepper shakers above must have been someone’s collection that a dealer bought out. Only a few compared to what I have!
The displays in the barn were certainly paradoxes. They were all grouped by what they were, such as the dolls above. But they were not displayed attractively and some of them were covered with dust. Many things were not priced.
Of course, I always look at dishes and glassware. I found some punch cups, and I will write more about them below. Everything in the barn was a mixture of junk (old computers? Really?) and good stuff.
Then we started looking in the cottages. We did not go in all of them, but wandered through a few. I did not think to take some photos of the inside of the cottages.
Suffice it to say that some had attractively arranged displays and some did not. In the Kitchen Items cottage pictured above, everything was just piled up in boxes. None of the cottages were staffed with anyone, and the people working there were sitting at picnic tables in front of the barn.
It was so strange. Seems like anyone could walk off with anything-but there could have been some surveillance equipment there that I did not see.
I also did not really understand the purpose of the cottages. Did they serve the same purpose as a booth at an antique mall, with each vendor getting a cottage? Of course, that was my first thought. But the more we looked around, the more we wondered if the cottages contained like items from several vendors, such as the Sports Memorabilia or Christmas cottages. Anyway, the people there were really friendly and we enjoyed visiting with them. David bought a chair that he thinks he can redo and sell at our booth for a profit. We’ll see.
Sunday afternoon we drove to Pensacola and stopped at a few places nearby. This Copper Possum Antiques & Collectibles Mall was fun to go through and look at what everyone had in their booths.
Even though we can rarely purchase anything from an antique mall to sell for a profit, it is fun to go through them and get ideas.
There were actually several antiques places that we could have gone to, but it was raining cats and dogs and we were tired and cranky from our long drive. We stopped in a couple of them, then went on to our hotel, and I won’t repeat what I said in the last post.
When we first opened our booth I had gotten several things at some garage sales to sell. I had purchased two punch bowls at a really good price. In particular, I loved the Jeannette Glass Company one above. It was complete with 12 cups. I liked the shape as well as the fruit motif.
The other one that I purchased was this Anchor Hocking one, one that is very common. As a matter of fact, I have one just like it. It came with 8 cups as well as the hooks to hang the cups around the bowl. However, neither punch bowl sold; they just sat and sat and sat. I marked them down, but nothing. I got to thinking that people these days entertain more casually than they did a long time ago, and punch bowls just aren’t used much any more.
Finally, after months, they both sold. Even with my putting them on sale, I made a small profit. I did learn that punch bowls really don’t sell, so I won’t purchase any more of them. However, if I get them for free, that’s a different story.
Recently my mother gave me some things that I could sell, among them two punch bowls. One of them was the same Jeannette Glass Company one like I had sold a few months back. The Jeannette one came with 12 cups, and I was fortunate to have all of them with no nicks or cracks. I put this set at my booth, and it sold in less than a month. I have no explanation for that. Is it because I moved downstairs with more traffic? Is it because of the low price that I was able to put on it since whatever I make is profit? I don’t know the answer, but I am just glad that it sold.
The other punch bowl is the Anchor Hocking pedestal one that is also fairly common. However, it did not have cups with it. It originally came with 8. Because of the previous experiences that I had with punch bowls, I decided that I would just let this one stay stored for a while and maybe I could gradually get a set of 8 cups as I went to yard sales.
Since punch bowls are not an easy sale, I really think it should have the cups to go with it. Just a week or two after I made that decision, I found about 7 punch cups at a junk shop in several different patterns. They were cheap, and I purchased all of them. When I got them home, one of them was in the pattern to match the pedestal punch bowl.
This brings me to my continuation of the Antique Village story above. On one of the tables in the “barn” I found all 8 of the punch cups in the pattern that I needed! They weren’t priced, so I asked the lady there. She gave them to me at such a good deal that I will still make money pairing them with the free punch bowl, even by putting a low price on it. So I now have 9 punch cups. The set originally came with 8, but I don’t want to sell it with an odd number. For now, I will keep it stored and try to find a few more cups. I would like to have 10 or 12 when I put it up for sale.
This morning I washed the punch bowl, and it is really pretty. The pedestal can be turned over and used as a serving bowl or even a vase. I think it is gorgeous.
Once I placed the punch bowl on the base, I fell in love with it even more. It just looks very elegant to me.
The cups are also very pretty. So now I have another dilemma. Should I keep this punch bowl for myself since I really love it and sell my old one? It will take up more storage space than the old one, but it is so lovely. Should I go ahead and put this one up for sale as originally planned? I don’t use a punch bowl all that often, so I don’t think that I would miss it if I didn’t have the pedestal one. I really just can’t make up my mind. Any opinions out there? Leave me a comment.
My parents and I traveled a few hours south of us this week because Daddy had a meeting to go to. We arrived early, and we saw a thrift shop and decided to kill some time there. I did great at this store!
I’m sorry that my pictures aren’t better. It’s hard to take pics of detail on clear crystal. They have etched detail on them and have the look of fine crystal.
However, they are thicker than normal fine crystal and therefore much more heavy-duty. I got them really low, so I will able to sell them at a very reasonable price.
If someone likes the look of fine crystal without the large price or risk of chips, these glasses will be perfect for them. There were four sets in different sizes, so I marked each set reasonably, then offered a discount if you purchase all 20 glasses. Clear crystal has never sold for me as well as colored crystal, but I have these priced so well that I can afford to have them sit a little while if need be.
I also found this really cute platter for vegetables or chips and dip. I can’t really guess about how this will sell. I have sold platters, but not a chip/dip one. It will be interesting to see how it sells.
I also got this really pretty platter. Platters sell fairly well, and this is a pretty one that would go with a lot of different settings.
My picture doesn’t pick up the detail well. It has a silver rim and the flowers around the edge are mauve and white with soft green leaves.
The purchase that I love the most is this Fenton Silver Crest banana stand with the low foot. They also made one with a tall foot. I recognized it immediately, but did not really think I would buy it.
When I was checking out, the man remarked that he could tell that I liked glassware and asked if I had seen the piece of milk glass that they had just gotten in that morning. I told him that I had noticed it and that it was Fenton Silver Crest. He and the lady working there seemed pleased to know what it was.
OK, so I bought it! I really didn’t originally intend to since the price was a little more than I normally pay for a resell item. But I think I can still make a profit, even though it will be a smaller one. I will keep you posted!
As for bargains for myself, I haven’t had too much to report lately. However, the week before we left on our trip, I had a great day at CVS. If you buy a certain dollar amount of products, you got $5 on your Extra Care card to be used on any full-price item.
I needed Bounty, Dawn, and Tide. However, I did not need any full price items. Since I buy 2-liter drinks almost every week, I decided to use my $5 coupon there.
When she rang me up, I also had 20% off coupon that had been sent straight to my card. She let me use both coupons for my drink purchase. I had no idea that she would do that.
Are you ready for this, folks? I got 4 drinks for $1.81! Yes, you read that right. I think that is the best I’ve ever done at CVS.
OK, I know that I have covered a lot of ground here: the rest of our Florida trip, my booth at the flea market, and my great bargains. Thanks for reading my ramblings and happy bargain hunting!
Tablescapes by Bev 
Looks like you found an interesting spot to shop for bargains. I love a bargain. I’m glad you were able to sell those punch bowls.
The trip to the antique place was very interesting. I love to look in them but most of the time prices are higher then I want to pay…lol…I want cheap like the dealers get it for! Good luck with your punch bowls, they don’t sell well it seems but sometimes they are being used for showers and parties like that again. Yay vintage! Thanks for linking with TTF this week.
Linda
Wow, that sounds like an interesting trip to thrifties! I love the old-fashioned very ornate punch bowls. Some of yours are very pretty. Susan
On a recent trip to Florida I was amazed at the number of antique stores. I checked quite a few of them out and was even more amazed at how much cool stuff there was. Someone told me much of it comes from folks who retire to Florida and change their style.
I love thrifting and antiquing – so neat that you have a place to sell items you fine. I hope to get to do a little more of that this summer. Happy PS!
The cottage displays were interesting – odd that some of the places weren’t displaying their wares well – love to visit and to find treasures – your punch bowl sets are gorgeous – LOVE the Fenton find too! I appreciate you sharing with A Return to Loveliness,
Kathy
A couple of years ago, right before our annual Christmas party, I found a crack in my punch bowl. I sent my kids to the antique store and they came home with a punch bowl set just like the one with the pedestal! I loved it and the pedestal gives it a much more elegant look! It had 10 cups with it. I had already purchased 2 cases of the clear Irish coffee mugs that the Dollar Tree sells to use as additional cups. Now I find cups that match mine the punch bowl at Goodwill all the time! I guess you can see where I’m going with this! Keep the pedestal punch bowl and sell the old one!
Thanks! You’re the first person who has actually replied to my question. Love your story!
Great finds and what a blessing to have a place to sell them. Thanks tons for joining Inspire Me. Hugs, Marty
My MIL gave me her punch bowl set Bev. Believe it or not, I have not even taken it out of the box to see what it looks like! I plan to though after the move 🙂
Nothing like a trip to Florida and time to look for bargains. I do love glass punch bowls, I saw a centerpiece on a blog with the punch bowl was on a stand and had a floral centerpiece, it was gorgeous so I have been thinking about making something similar for a tablescape.
Wow, you covered a lot of ground. Looks like fun!
True, not many use a punch bowl anyoore. I have a few. My silver one with cups gets used the most, people like to borrow it for parties and showers.
Thanks so much for linking to Let’s Dish!