Tobacco Felts

The Flea Market Acquisitions, Part II

I found a big pile -- no less than 50 big -- of these lovely butterfly flannel pieces on the second day of the giant flea market.



The dealer was from Pennsylvania and found them at the bottom of an auction box lot. Because she didn't know much about them, I'm guessing I paid a lower than average price.



These butterfly flannel bits are called "felts" and considered part of the larger tobacciana category of tobacco-related collectibles. On ebay, you'll find them listed under Felts & Silks.

With the helpful information on a few ebay listings and this www.fabrics.net article -- Textile Tobacco Inserts and Premiums -- I learned a bit more about my new collection. The felts were likely produced in the U.S. around 1900, give or take a couple decades. Like cigarette cards, they were freebies inside tobacco products. They were collected and sometimes stitched into pillows or quilts.



Not sure what I'll end up doing with these. Some are very appealing, like an old scientific illustration. Others are in fact quite gaudy. I expect that I'll pull out a few to frame and put the rest away until inspiration strikes .

vintage transfer patterns

The Flea Market Acquisitions, Part I

On the first and second days of the Giant flea market at the WV fairgrounds, I did a little hunting for myself.

Transfer Prints

My first purchase was from Jan, one of my favorite regular flea market vendors.

She pulled out a cardboard box filled with embroidery transfer prints. It has a great mix of the standard floral and kitchy novelty kitchen designs -- those animated pots and pans, animals doing chores, and the like.

Not all the transfer prints are embroidery-related. There's one for cut-work designs.

Two transfer patterns are from J.P. Coats: a little doll pattern transfer with instructions for her wardrobe--my favorite pattern in the bunch-- and an applique of a dog and cat.

Some of the best things in the box are the pattern envelopes. Note the very simple address format -- just name, city and state -- and illustrations printed on the envelopes. I wonder when did away with the Needlecraft and Pattern departments at the Charleston Gazette.

I love finding a full collection of something like this, where you can see bits and pieces of the original owner's history and personality peeking through.

the Giant flea market

While I'm a frequent browser and buyer at area flea markets, I've only set up and sold my wares a couple of times. I gave it another shot this past weekend at the biannual giant flea market at the West Virginia State fairgrounds.



The weather was terrible, as seen by the stormy sky behind the Fairgrounds sign.

I shared a giant outdoor spot with three friends, one of whom had a luxe RV to serve as a getaway, bathroom, and storehouse for our operation.




It was definitely a buyer's market -- my largest single sale was a mah-jong set for $32. Far and away, our most popular area was the $1 dollar table, which seemed to get fewer lookers after we knocked the price down to $.50. Could that be possible?


The rebirth of home sewing hasn't hit this area, so my sewing notions weren't very popular. Luckily, I did manage to sell the over sized Coats & Clark zipper display to a fellow who'll use it for tool storage. I was so excited when I bought it a year ago at an antiques fair in Virginia. Hopefully its new owner will have better luck using it than I did. It was just too big and odd to be very practical.


It was fun but crazy amount of work -- a bit like moving each day, with unloading, displaying, then loading and packing up.

Paint-by-numbers

Paint-by-numbers - winter scene
Originally uploaded by cluttershop

Several years ago I started buying vintage Paint-by-numbers. Because there are so many around, I established a few buying guidelines to limit my collection and possibly reign in the clutter.

I have two basic guidelines for my Paint-by-numbers acquisitions:

1. never spend more than a few dollars each ($10 max, but only if absolutely necessary)

2. limit purchases to pastoral scenes

A few odd paintings have found their way in over the years but I'm happy to report that I've never spent more than a few dollars for any one painting.

All of my Paint-by-numbers have come from the Fairlea or Pence Springs flea market.

hog #42

hog #42
Originally uploaded by cluttershop

I found these odd little glossy prints in a box of farm-related ephemera on my last trip to the Fairlea flea market. Each picture is numbered on the back in a very official manner. I'm not sure what the official purpose was, but for 10 cents a piece, I could hardly go wrong.

I bought 15. Three went into my mom's Christmas stocking. The rest are for me.