NIB OOP OOAK and IKISSTBIKIA

Estate sales are becoming an obsession. This is how I find new stock for my Etsy shop. This is the most fabulous area. People here are frugal and tend to use things forever rather than throw out and buy new. Add this to the fact that the average population in the county is one of the oldest in the country and you get fabulous estate sales. On Friday, the sale was advertised as being almost entirely 1950s and 1960s stuff. No joke! The lady running the sale wasn't kidding. Although some of the stuff ran into the seventies.

What happens is this. I show up and look for sewing stuff first. Then if they haven't got patterns, fabric or notions, I branch out. At this one sale among other things I bought scarves, mens' ties from the 30s and 40s, a big bag of vintage gloves, another big bag of vintage hankies, two vintage outfits (I usually don't sell clothes but I really couldn't pass these up), and a box of vintage white thread spools on cardboard. I think my total bill was 63 dollars. I will make this all back, probably from the gloves alone. But the reason my bill was a little high was that I found:

New in the box. Homer Laughlin 1950s Atomic Age Dura-Print dishware. Four place settings at 5.00 a box. Not a common pattern so I can't identify it. It matches my 1950s Eames era furniture perfectly. And then at a sale the next day, I found the divided pink Melamine serving dish for .50. Doesn't match the dishes but I don't care. The bottom line: I'm keeping them.

So to explain my abbrevations for those who aren't up on the latest ones:
NIB-New in Box (think The Prospector in Toy Story 2)
OOP-Out of Print-a biggie when you're selling doll clothes patterns
OOAK-One of a kind. I usually don't sell those because I'm always selling something commercial. But I love that acronym.
IKISSTBIKIA-I know I should sell this but I'm keeping it anyway.

So my new dishware and my pink bowl are IKISSTBIKIA. And to make room in my cabinets I'll have to sell off some of my other china that I was tired of.  I'll use the pink bowl to display stuff to sell. But we had salad out of it last night too. Marinated green beans in one side and green salad in the other. Awesome!