Andrew Fussell Sterling Silver 2 oz Jigger 1965

Hmmm, well I just woke up from a 5 month nap of sorts - I have had lots of stuff happening lately that seems to have made blogging a low priority. But one of my new years resolution was to get back on the blog horse, so here goes...

I found this hand hammered sterling silver 2 ounce jigger at a recent farm auction hidden in a box of random stuff I managed to catch for $1.00. It's made by Andrew Russell (1904-1983), from 1965, out of Toronto. Russell was born in Germany, and moved to Canada at 22. He learned his craft in Toronto night schools and later taught jewelery making in night classes.

I love that the arms on this are crooked, but they get a bit in the way when I have been mixing drinks with it. It looks great on the bar though!

Baribocraft Salt & pepper Mill

We use this badboy every day. It's got better action than the Quistgaard mill we scored at the same Pembroke Value Village. This was cheaper ($1 vs. $2), and it's Canadian, so it's much cooler. That's that.

Baribocraft Slate Cheese Cutting Board Tray - Baribocraft The Leading Name in Woodenware

You'll see old hammered dryed-out wooden Baribocraft bowls in pretty much every Salvation Army housewares section across Canada. Rarely, if ever, does it make the cut. Here's my exception: this awesome slate cheese tray cutting board that came out of a westside Ottawa thrift. $5. The best part was the original tags were lying on top. 

There's a good link to the back story on Baribocraft here.

Vintage Handmade Cowhide Throw Pillow

$1 at the Prospector in Pembroke

Chalkware Bulldog & German Shepard dog banks

I believe these banks were giveaways from the old-school country fairs that are common out in Eastern Ontario. So far these are our two best behaved dogs. We got the Bulldog, Herman, at the Prospector, in downtown Pembroke, which went out of business last year, for $20. The German Shepard, Prince, came from a a small junk store on the other side of Algonquin Park, which is also out of business. Prince was $20 as well.

Cool 1970's desk lamps

Who doesn't need another cool desk lamp? That's what I always seem to say when I buy one. I hardly ever use my desk at all these days (thanks laptop), but I find these things irresistible. I scored these three lamps in successive weeks at one of our local spots. This first one needs a new bulb (I guess) so I haven't managed to get it to work just yet.

 

We're going to putting this one up for sale in our new Etsy Store. It's made by Well-Lite in Hong Kong. The label on the bottom looks 80's, but I'm not so sure.

This is the only one we'll probably keep. It's all metal and really heavy and has this cool faux wood finish. It also telescopes up to ridiculous heights.

Midcentury Steel & Teak Tea Set

 

Another tea set! This was a $19.99 eBay purchase. I think it's actually meant for coffee rather than tea.

Mosaic tile metal art Tray

Trays, tea sets, salt & pepper shakers, all of them call out the siren song to Sonya. They find her and she cannot resist them. I would estimate we have in excess of 20 various trays at the moment. This one has a nice mix of metal & other tiles and has a metal underside and rim. We thought it was one-of-a-kind, but then we saw another that a friend scored 2 years ago at a garage sale. We got this one with a huge haul at a great farm sale on the Opeongo Rd. during the summer. The garage sales out here are sick, we killed it this year. I do not miss the city.

Memphis Sottsass 80's Deco Tea Set

We picked up this nice looking unmarked tea set at Value Village off Bank St. in Ottawa for $5. It kind of reminds me of Ettore Sottsass Memphis designs

1958 Raymond Loewy Le Creuset French Dutch Oven cast iron casserole

We scored this great cast iron dutch over in the wilds of Abbotsford BC a few years back. Sonya (the sharp-eyed cutie) spotted it, and like a magpie drawn to something shiny, this badboy came home with us. It was $2.

Since then we figured out this was a Le Creuset dutch oven, designed by Raymond Loewy in 1958. This is the '25' size, and from what I can  gather, turqouise/aqua is one of the rarest colours that was originally produced (I couldn't find another anywhere online), and this colour wasn't re-issued with the new Raymond Loewy-Le Creuset collections. I just love the shape and colour, it makes me happy every time I walk past it in the kitchen.

Stainless Steel Lundtofte water pitcher, Denmark

We purchased this stainless steel water pitcher, made by Lundtofte, at the now defunct, Salvation Army in Pembroke, earlier in the year, for $1. I'm a sucker for anything with a label with 'Denmark' on it. Our collection of stainless steel is always growing. We're always on the lookout for anything marked "18-8", which is my personal favorite grade of stainless steel (and a mark of true quality, generally) particularly for vintage flatware.

Digsmed Danish teak candle sticks

I keep seeing these Digsmed teak candle sticks in various backgrounds in all the same boring style magazines (how hard is it to be stylish when you're rich? I want to see a magazine on cool looks with no budgets). I believe they come in at least 2 sizes, large and small. These are the small ones, approx. 3 1/2" high. We scored these for a $1 at the once-a-week thrift store in Deep River. Since then we've managed to pick up a few Canadian-made copies, but they're slightly chunkier and haven't been as elegant as these ones. Some Digsmed and Dansk stuff always seem to sell cheap on eBay (particularly their candlesticks & candelabras). Candlesticks (and teak) are one of those things we always buy when we see them in the field. They're beautiful, but somewhat useless, we don't seem to ever burn too many candles in htem. These ones are relegated to the basement graveyard for the moment.