The 21st Century Versus The Renaissance

Remember how excited we all were when these affordable folding camp chairs arrived on the market (once we got used to stuffing them back into their bags)?  This blue one is particularly nice because it has a can holder that works most of the time. Now I’ve seen them with canopies and maybe once in a while with a kitchen sink. This isn’t the first portable seating solution to be on the market though. Wood folding chairs have been around for years…centuries actually.  

Take this 15^th century replica camp chair (also known as an X chair). 

There is a brief moment or two as you arrive at a garage sale when you do a quick scan of the items being offered. I ignored this particular piece during my first pass and set to examine the table displays. Coming back around though this chair beckoned me and held my interest. If nothing else, I had to ask about it’s origin. A gentleman carrying his little dog wearing one of those awful, clumsy head cones came over to give me the details. In 14^th-15^th century Italy, these were royalty travel chairs. The ornate back piece is easily removable. Take off  the pillow and the “X” folds up flat allowing for efficient transporting.

 

Look closer at the beautiful detail on the back piece. This replica was made around 1970. It was all hand carved and painted (according to the previous owner). 

The back wasn’t what my son, Lo, zoomed in on. He was much more  interested in the lion head at the end of each arm rest. Lo begged me to let him have it. "No!"  Then he begged me to let him borrow it just one day. Why? Hasbro has a war game called Risk he and his friends play. “How cool would it be mom to sit in this chair and stroke the lion heads while conquering the world?” Too creepy for me...so the answer remains "No!"

As a side note, when researching this chair on line, I could not find a similar design. Even so the surfing re-sparked an interest in the Renaissance, particularly the incredible artistic talents of the era including da Vinci, Michelangelo, Giotto, Donatello, etc. I purchased Artists of the Renaissance by Irene Earls which discusses their lives and famous works. This, my friends, is what garage sailing is all about!

Fading Photographs

I have an uncle who spends hours reviewing and organizing hundreds of old family pictures ranging from three years to one hundred years ago.  One might say he is a bit compulsive, but I understand the lure. It’s probably not a bad thing that I have other responsibilities to keep me distracted from pouring over the hundreds of old photos I’ve seem now to have accumulated. I waited a bit too long though going through the family photos. Some of the pictures are too old. They may strike a memory for our aging family members, but not necessarily a name.

I don't often see these pictures at garage sales - estate sales or auctions maybe, but definitely in many of the shops around town that sell antiques and collectibles. I asked at one of these stores and the owner said that old portraits, even with beat up frames, sell real well. He had a picture of a woman on one wall and a picture of her son on another. He didn’t feel it obligatory to sell them as a set. He seemed indifferent to the relationship. I personally enjoy looking at old portraits trying to imagine that person’s life in a time long gone. My dad says I’m a relentless romantic. I’ll accept that.

This set of pictures came from my parent’s attic. Sadie, leading off, is the beautiful mother of the three others; Melba, Gail and Helen. As a mother myself, there is a universal connection....

Sadie was a feisty woman who in her and Theodore Roosevelt’s day (1904) felt compelled to write and deliver a speech insisting that women had as much right to be president as any man.

Melba was 5 when her mother was married. There’s a good possibility that this photo was taken as part of the wedding festivities. What an exciting day!

Lovely Gail at 23. She married and had a son and daughter but passed on at much too early an age. Such a heartbreaking time for a mother and family to go through.








Helen was in her mother's womb when her father died. Imagine the proud tears blinked back as mom watched Helen strike this charming, confident pose on her prom night.

I find these pictures simply enthralling!

Battling for the Prize!

What a blast this summer going to the local garage sales in search of items for my son’s first apartment! I started by picking up a side table and rug for him. My son, Lo, was intrigued and asked if he could come along next time. Frequently you would find us pulling back into the drive on Saturdays with big smiles on our faces excited to show off our new treasures.

Our first competition was this floor lamp. There was no photo in the ad and I had a hair appointment. I had seen a small spotlight floor lamp in a Seattle residence just last Spring and came home looking for one of my own. I had only found larger ones to date and they ran a couple hundred dollars. I gave Lo $60 and told him to be the first one there when they opened and send me a picture so I could let him know if I wanted it. (Then I slipped him another $20 just in case. )

Sitting in the barber chair it was getting much too late in the morning and no word from the boy. I broke out my phone and sent him a message


“Well???”
“I got it!”
“Did you like it?”
“It’s amazing!”
“It’s mine you know.” No response.
“I say, it’s mine you know.”
“Not if you didn’t pay for it.”


I hurried home after my appointment to find the lamp set up as you see it here. What a different look! It was the larger spotlight but it still added a unique new flair! Lo came in through the doors and handed me all my money back. I rolled my eyes. He said I could use it ‘til he reclaims it in the fall.

I got a lot of advice over this one; mostly folks telling me it wasn’t right and I should assert my authority by declaring that floor lamp as my own. I have to tell you though, I was proud of my Lo! The selling price started at $125 and with a potential 2nd buyer lurking about, he still brought it home for only $60. I knew it was a good deal and his resolved tactic with me was quite witty. The lamp was his.