A few months back, I talked about how I stumbled upon probably the biggest antique store I’ve ever been in outside of one of those massive outdoor markets. I’ve been meaning to get Dala there ever since, because it’s amazing. Hands down. Today, we did just that. Here’s our haul . . .

This is the glass we got. Dala is a huge fan of glass and she’s actually taught me quite a bit as we hang out and check things out over time. How things are made, how you can guess how old something is, why some glass bottles say things such as “Registered” or “Property of Such and Such a Company,” etc. Her glass collection is pretty awesome. Bowls, vases, makeup shit, medicine bottles, all sorts of cool stuff. Here, we have more mundane pieces because one, we were working on a budget, and two, she doesn’t have a lot of bottles and I just started collecting glass and the boring ass part of me really likes bottles.

The two bottles on the lower bottom left are nothing fancy. I just bought them cause they were cheap and will fit on my tchotchke shelf just fine.

The tall one in the center says “FURST – McNESS CO; FREEPORT, ILL.”

The small jar is actually just a plain old vaseline jar. It took a lot of expert deducing to come to this conclusion, but we’re pretty confident that we’re right, as the jar says “TRADE MARK; VASELINE; CHESEBROUCH; NEW-YORK.” There’s quite a few bubbles and imperfections in the glass that Dala likes, so she was excited to get it.

The dirty ass one on the far right says “DERMATINE MFG CO; ZANESVILLE, OHIO.” From a bit of Google-Fu, it looks like they made beauty products. I love the bottle because the glass looks like it’s beat to shit, possibly from sitting at the bottom of the river or something. However, I’m not a fan of the dirt at all and I’m actually currently working on a bit of an antique faux pas, because I’m letting it soak so I can clean it. Dala is giving me hell. I’m sure antiquers out there might blanche knowing that I’m cleaning it. To which, I will point out that bottles like these are common as dirt, so no major harm loss, and additionally, it’s mine. I can do what I want with it. So, nyah.

Glass insulator caps are common as hell. I shit you not, all told, we probably came across at least 50 altogether in this place. Stoneware ones, minus the modern ceramic ones, are a bit more on the rare side. This particular one was something we both wanted, because even though we think it’s a bit ruined by the felt on the bottom, we absolutely love the color and texture to it. It’s a pretty little bauble. I’m glad we found it, especially since both of us missed it the first time around when we looked at the shelf it was on.

It is my personal opinion that commemorative products are a poor purchase decision. Much of America does not seem to hold that opinion, as this place is full of plates and glassware and whisky bottle and who knows what else celebrating all sorts of things from America’s Bicentennial to that one time that one famous politician high fived that other famous politician and it got on the news. That said, we did come across an entire glassware set celebrating the many accomplishments of NASA (which can be found in the gallery Dala posted in the comments). It was a hefty $50 and Dala didn’t know if she wanted to spend the money on that. I was secretly praying she didn’t. Fortunately, she decided to mull it over and while she was, she came across this glass elsewhere in the shop. She got this as a compromise. Personally, I think she made the right choice.

This is just a cup and saucer from Red Wing Pottery. It’s cute. It’s nothing super special though it is very pretty. However, my mother adores Red Wing Pottery. I don’t know why. I do know that she also absolutely loves birds, so I picked this up as a Christmas gift for her this year. I know she’ll love it because it’s two of her favorite things.

Stay tuned, cause a bit later, Dala is gonna post some cool pics of stuff we came across and didn’t buy. They’re nifty though. Niftier than the stuff we got if I’m gonna be honest. But we like our haul. We really do.