These past weeks I've been obsessed with material things, specifically with researching, photographing, and writing up things to list for sale on eBay--both some of my own old things, and also vintage stuff I find at thrift stores.
When I was younger, say until my forties, I was mostly taken up with metaphysical things--what are and what do I think about god, relativity, psychology?
Now I wonder about things like, Who invented polyester?
How do you clean aluminum?
Doing eBay has been a mash-up of three things I loved when I was a kid:
scavenger hunts, show and tell, and thrift stores.
It satisfies some hunting-and-gathering instincts too:
I feel atavistic.
(Can you feel atavistic? Perhaps I am atavisticizing?)
I've made almost $100 profit in 6 weeks (hm... about what I made writing nonfiction for young readers). I've spent it on other things I want from eBay, including the Czech spaceman I already posted, and a Pyrex glass stove-top coffee pot, which is on its way.
Here are photo collages of some of the stuff I've listed:
I researched all these things and am confident in my identifications--the dates, for instance, are often from original ads I found online, not just what other eBayers say (not a reliable source).
They are, listed in order from Left to Right in each row:
• Wear-Ever Aluminum Pan, 1956, anodized lid, curly-loop handles
• Canadian Mountie RCMP figure, on birch disc (1970s?)
• Items from The Golden Rule Lutterloh Pattern-Making Set, 1966
• Boontonware Melmamine 9"/4Qt Mixing Bowl, Raspberry-Pink Splatter, 1960s
• Tag from sheer yellow apron, handmade by Mae Bennett, New Prague, MN
• Card of 2 LaMode-brand black plastic "basket-weave" buttons
• Buttonhole attachment for Singer Sewing Machine, © 1940
• White ironstone 7" tall sugar jar & lid, Meakin, 1870s
• 4 Fire-King Peach Lustre Cereal Bowls, 1950s
• Repoussé tulip spray on hammered aluminum, casserole holder by Rodney Kent, 1955
• Nesting brushed-aluminum canisters, anodized lids, mid-century modern
• Sterling Silver Salt Shaker, Lunt 1100, 1920-40s
• Nicholson Brand 13" File
• Star Trek fabric, 1970s (not a reproduction)
• Unbranded Cathy Doll, drinks, wets, blinks, waves, 1960-70s
When I was younger, say until my forties, I was mostly taken up with metaphysical things--what are and what do I think about god, relativity, psychology?
Now I wonder about things like, Who invented polyester?
How do you clean aluminum?
Doing eBay has been a mash-up of three things I loved when I was a kid:
scavenger hunts, show and tell, and thrift stores.
It satisfies some hunting-and-gathering instincts too:
I feel atavistic.
(Can you feel atavistic? Perhaps I am atavisticizing?)
I've made almost $100 profit in 6 weeks (hm... about what I made writing nonfiction for young readers). I've spent it on other things I want from eBay, including the Czech spaceman I already posted, and a Pyrex glass stove-top coffee pot, which is on its way.
Here are photo collages of some of the stuff I've listed:
I researched all these things and am confident in my identifications--the dates, for instance, are often from original ads I found online, not just what other eBayers say (not a reliable source).
They are, listed in order from Left to Right in each row:
• Wear-Ever Aluminum Pan, 1956, anodized lid, curly-loop handles
• Canadian Mountie RCMP figure, on birch disc (1970s?)
• Items from The Golden Rule Lutterloh Pattern-Making Set, 1966
• Boontonware Melmamine 9"/4Qt Mixing Bowl, Raspberry-Pink Splatter, 1960s
• Tag from sheer yellow apron, handmade by Mae Bennett, New Prague, MN
• Card of 2 LaMode-brand black plastic "basket-weave" buttons
• Buttonhole attachment for Singer Sewing Machine, © 1940
• White ironstone 7" tall sugar jar & lid, Meakin, 1870s
• 4 Fire-King Peach Lustre Cereal Bowls, 1950s
• Repoussé tulip spray on hammered aluminum, casserole holder by Rodney Kent, 1955
• Nesting brushed-aluminum canisters, anodized lids, mid-century modern
• Sterling Silver Salt Shaker, Lunt 1100, 1920-40s
• Nicholson Brand 13" File
• Star Trek fabric, 1970s (not a reproduction)
• Unbranded Cathy Doll, drinks, wets, blinks, waves, 1960-70s
