A post in which my birthday glass luck asserts

I decided just to stroll on through the White Horse Road flea market for the heck of it today. Holiday weekends usually suck, but it was like they were giving away free money today. Tons o people. The weather was gorgeous, which always helps, but I guess folks just decided not to go out of town this weekend with the economy being down. That is my best guess.

I didn't see any glass at White Horse, but since it was still fairly early, I decided to ride on down to Anderson for the fun of it if nothing else. I hit the jackpot there! It was homo day in Anderson. I saw my friend Dan and Steve. I also saw a gorgeous Floral and Diamond Band green pitcher. Sadly, it was out of my range. They guy wanted $50 for it, and although it was worth twice that, I didn't want to spend all my money on one thing. I'm kind of kicking myself over that.

I did stumble across a Mayfair vegetable bowl though, and there was a Bubble bread plate on the same table. I hadn't seen any Bubble glass in a while, and was keen to buy it, but the redneck girl was convinced it was something rare and wanted more for it than it was worth. She also wanted to sell the Mayfair bowl as part of a set with another worthless bowl. She was telling me how the Amercian Prescut on the table was "pure crystal", so I knew she was a complete idiot. I walked around for a bit, and when I came back, her dad was back. They wanted rid of the stuff. Quote from Mom "Do what you want - I don't want to carry this stuff home." So I talked the guy into splitting the "set" of bowls, and selling me the Mayfair bowl for $5. Book on it is a good bit higher (about $23), but it is chipped, so I didn't feel too bad about that. I talked them down from $5 to $2 on the Bubble plate, but when I got it home it had two chips. Sometimes it's hard to see them when you're out in the bright sun. I'm usually pretty careful about rubbing my finger all around the rim but Bubble appears to be pretty sturdy, and it usually isn't hard to find a piece in good shape. I guess that's what I get for being greedy.

Mayfair "Open Rose" 7" vegetable tab-handled bowl in pink by Anchor Hocking, circa 1931-1937

"Bubble" 6 1/2" bread plate in Sapphire Blue by Anchor Hocking, circa 1940-1965

I walked around inside some, and decided to head back by the yard sale section on the way to the car. I had seen a guy that had some Manhattan peices on my way in. He had the fruit bowl I want, but in crystal instead of pink. Still it looked to be in good shape, and in checking the book, I saw that he had made me a decent offer on it. He offered me the fruit bowl, the vegetable bowl, and a sugar bowl for $20. I had thought I might be able to get him to knock a couple of bucks off by not taking the sugar bowl (after 15 years collecting, I need another sugar bowl like I need a padded bra). But the sugar bowl wasn't the valuable piece, and he wouldn't come down from $20. Since the book value (in the old book) on the two pieces was $60, I went along with that. The price has probably dropped some since last year (the market is down right now because of the economy), but it was still a good deal. Also, rare for Mahattan, these pieces were in perfect condition. I can't find a chip anywhere. The glass is very bright and new-looking, but undoubtedly the real thing. I've never seen Manhattan in such great shape. So I felt good about that, and I can use the clear until I find a pink fruit bowl.

Manhattan 7 1/4" serving bowl in crystal by Anchor Hocking, circa 1938 - 1934

Manhattan 9 1/4" footed and handled fruit bowl (this one is shown sitting on a dinner plate as a liner)

After loading myself down with glass, I headed back for the car. On the way home, however, I started thinking about the friendly antique man on exit 39. I hadn't been in to see him in so long that I decided to drop in just to say hello if nothing else. I am spoiled for flea market pricing, but I find a deal in there every now and then, and he and his wife have been so nice I really enjoy going in. I saw a lot of glass today. They had two bowls that I really wanted, but were too expensive for me. They also had a matching set of Sierra Pinwheel Sandwich trays in pink. I hardly every see any Pinwheel at all, and when I do, it's usually chipped all to pieces because of all the little points on the edge. But both of these were perfect as far as I could see, with the exception of a molding flaw in the center of each that caused a white mark. When I checked the price, they were very reasonable, so I picked them up. Surprisingly, the man and his wife remembered me, and I really enjoyed talking to them while she checked me out. I really like that shop.

Sierra "Pinwheel" 11 3/4" handled sandwich tray in pink by Jeannette Glass, circa 1931-1933

When I got home I was pretty whooped after being out in the sun, so I lay down for a while before I got ready to go to Russ and Billy's.

It was really good to see Joanne and Rob. They were in town from Savannah this weekend. We headed over to Sassafrass downtown for supper, and what turned out to be a surprise birthday meal for me. Lori came, and Vince and Brian were there. We had a lovely meal on the patio, sipping cocktails, rolling off one-liners, and watching the boys walk by. Russ went next door to Mass General and bought a huge bag of candy out of their old timey selection, and we sat around eating candy when the meal was done. The weather was just beautiful, and it was perfect night to be outside.

After dinner, we headed back to Russ and Billy's house for cake and presents. Joanne and Rob got me a really cool Snuggie (I didn't have one) that had Stewie from Family Guy printed all over it. So that was pretty much perfect. Russ had picked up a gag gift for me at the Trident Knights run the weekend before. It was a basket filled with bacon stuff. It was all individually wrapped. There was bacon flavored floss, jelly beans, gummy bacon, bacon-look band-aids, a set of 'Baconator' vs. 'Monseur Tofu' action figures, and a bacon bits video game t-shirt. It was funny, but I kept thinking that there would be a real gift in the bottom of the basket. There wasn't. Russ told me Lady D had helped him pick it out, and they both got a big laugh out of it, so it was worth it for that. I did think it was a funny idea. But of course the real gift was the lovely get-together and dinner.

We had a very nice evening visiting, talking, and eating cake. We made plans to go to the Barnyard in Duncan (the one flea market I didn't hit this morning), and I headed home to bed.