pickin' and grinnin'- the best of this weekend's vintage shopping

It's been a while since I have posted some of my great picks... but "good" shopping has been light on the ground lately. This week was different and awesome! It is mostly headed to my Etsy pop-up shop at Hanna Antiques! More images on that to come from the shop!

From this week's shopping, I found, this fantastic unsigned painting- looks like Chinatown, maybe? Love the more you look, the more you see. It is on natural linen and looks quite old and more vibrant in person. I think I may live with this one for a bit while I do some more research.

Some fantastic house details from one of the sales this weekend. Really lovely home built in 1905 with period lighting and original tile coal fireplaces.

side door to the screened in porch

Wowza of an art deco half tester bed

I'd buy the house for this tile work alone!

And possibly for the fantastic brass sconces!

This image is from the Multiple Listings for the house- which I understand is sold.*

This is the other end of that glorious staircase! *

Front of the house... I think a porte cochere, on the right, would balance this view nicely. *

*I do not own these images that contain the copyright of RealtySouth. All rights belong to RealtySouth.

Furniture flips- the computer armoire

I am super excited about the 1920's armoire I scored this weekend! It is in rough condition with a giant hole in the back and some junky "half a job", as my mom would say, shelves. So, it is perfect for a real revamp.

The previous incarnation was to house a TV. As it enters it's centenarian years, it is moving into the 21st century as a computer armoire. It is the perfect size for a small home office. The redesign will include a new back with holes cut for power cords, a writing surface as well as a pull out drawer for a keyboard or a laptop, some LED lighting in the "ceiling" of the cabinet, and maybe a cubby or a slide out spot for the printer.

The piece has great bones, now it just needs an ergonomic redesign and some paint!
Here's the homely lass now...

Got any paint color suggestions?

the great hotel hunt- the ongoing story of my new old steamer trunk

My recent acquisitions included an old trunk. A real handsome devil with two vintage labels from the same place, both damaged and each with a partial address. As a former researcher, I hit the trail to find some provenance for this trunk.









There was a name on the end, Russell Clark of New Orleans and I did find an actor in the 1920's with this name. Could be the same guy, but I wanted to work on the labels before I decided it was his.

So on to the label and the internet.




I pieced together the two labels in photoshop to see if I could pull any more info out of the labels. I knew I would be able to complete the address, though I was guessing not the establishment.

 

So, together, they read Fourteen East 60th Street and then I have an EA and a big missing space and a BCOCK with an illustration that looks like a street scene.

 

I started with the address, without a city or state to see what would come up. Perhaps there is a hotel still in that location, or a train station.  And, I can up with the address for flagship store for Barney's in NewYork! It is a cool old looking building and the street is Madison Ave. I also found other businesses with that address including The Library of America and the Central Park Conservancy. Not from or in NY, I'm not sure how all this plays out. Maybe the building spans the street to the avenue since all three business claim that address on Citysearch... not that that is really advancing my cause.

 

I searched the history of the building that Barney's is in and I have contacted the conservancy as well as a blog about New York City's historic buildings hoping they can point me!

 

 

Oddly I also found an e-book poorly, poorly formatted... so poor that I cannot tell exactly what the subject is. Too bad, because it could be exactly what I need. There is an entry that reads like this:

 

 

Fourteen East 60th street, 156 rooms, 84 baths. Eager &

Babcock, proprietors; Theodore Fassig, steward; Felix
Delill, chef. 

This appears to be a hotel with 156 rooms and the proprietors would fit the EA and the BCOCK on the label to my luggage... but what is this place! What kind of food did Felix Delill cook? When was Theodore Fassig the steward? Was is fancy? Was it an apartment hotel?


I still do not know, but hopefully I will soon. In the mean time, here are some detail shots of the trunk... currently airing on the patio.