Monday, September 6, 2010

Thrift Find Provides Hours of Entertainment



Last week I stopped at one of my favorite junk shops up here in the mountains.
It is housed in several big old barns...dimly lit with layers of dust.

Lately there has been more new merchandise than old consignment items which...
... of course is disappointing to someone like me.
I poked around a bit and then decided I would look behind things and in the back of shelves to see if any older things were hidden away.

I hit the jackpot when I bent down to look under an old sideboard and saw two old plastic tubs filled with old wooden and metal stamps.



I brought them up to the counter to ask the price and after remarking that she didn't realize that there were any of "those" still left...
...the owner sold them all to me for a song.




Hundreds of metal signatures on wooden blocks!



My Dad got busy cleaning the dust and grime off of the bottom of the stamps and held a mirror in his lap so he could hold up the stamp and read the reversed name.



My sister Lynn and I recorded the names...



John P. McGuire
Edward J. Kelly
Kenneth L. Ensign
Joseph Spraker
Hazel Reiff
Merritt G. Montpleisir




Richard P. Hayes
Betty Brownell
Harold W. Mathias
Richard Pelham
J. Forrest Brown




Margaret K. Kelly
Alice L. Haynes
Louis A. Devaney
Donald E. Parry
Gilbert T. Edwards




Jean Parkinson
Richie C. McKee
Ward S. Hinkle
Rose Jane Quilesi
Mrs. J. Wayluzo




Kenneth Panjaun
Marjorie E. Marshall
W. H. Rew
Howard Putnam
Eliza May Engelhardt




Melvin E. Kruger
Rev. H. Bangs

...to name a few.

It was a delightful way to spend an afternoon...
We had a lot of fun making up stories of who these people might have been and why they had needed a signature stamp.

We are easily entertained!




The weather has been much cooler here the last few days...
...sweaters and sweatshirts...
...great sleeping weather!




I hope you have a good night and a great day tomorrow!
:)