Treasures: Estate Sale Find!

Gorgeous day in the city on Saturday, and no obligations...a perfect day for a treasure hunt! So, I hit some of my favorite haunts, and wasn't disappointed. One of my favorite finds today was at an estate sale. In a group of items that had just arrived (lucky me!) I found a beautiful silver compote dish/centerpiece. It's about a foot tall, so it was more of a centerpiece from which you would serve or present fruit, nuts and candy, than a dish from which to serve an actual baked compote (a baked fruit dish). Made by the Poole Silver Company, I just love the elegant, elongated lines of this piece. It's poised and delicate looking, but very well made.

Shown here with a few of my alabaster pieces, compotes are great for the dining table. Sure, they're a bit old fashioned, but something like this adds sparkle and interest to the table, especially around the holidays.


An estate sale is like a big garage sale, and they typically happen when someone has passed away. The family can choose to have an expert come in, assess the value of the physical estate, and then dispose of that estate via an estate sale. These experts can also be hired to identify important pieces in the estate, thereby ensuring that the family is able to save these things. 

Project 1: Let's rewire a lamp!

The Background:

I found this great lamp on Ebay, and fell completely in love with it. While doing some research, I found another auction selling a pair of the exact same lamps, and gobbled those up as well! The lamps are primarily carved Italian alabaster, with teak wood details at the top and mid-base. I will probably do an entire entry on alabaster alone (Love it). The addition of teak in the lamp design clearly marks them as mid-century, if the design didn’t give it away already. 

That’s actually a good general rule of thumb. When you’re looking at a thrift store piece of furniture and it’s made of teak or includes teak, it’s probably Danish Modern or at least Danish Modern inspired. One of the great things about vintage teak wood items is the fact that you’re getting pieces made from old-growth teak. The amazing and dramatic grain of the wood is impossible to get in farmed teak pieces. While I would never condone cutting old-growth teak forest down to make bowls, the fact is, buying vintage pieces is very “green”. Reuse & restore, people! There are also a lot of vintage Southeast Asian teak wood products on the thrift market. Some of these can be great: 

• Teak bowls - if they’re solid teak and in good condition, they’re a great addition to the kitchen, and you will pay tons more for new copies.
• Occasionally, interesting boxes or platters - sometimes these have really nice designs and can be great additions to a modern interior.
• Oversized fork and spoon wall decoration - eh...they are everywhere…what were people thinking?

These tend to round out what you normally see around in thrift and resale stores. If you love it, get it. That is the cardinal rule of thrift shopping. 

Well, one of the lamps has started to flicker when I turn it on, which means either the bulb is going to die, or the lamp needs to be rewired. I’ve tried a new bulb and had the same problem, so it’s definitely the wiring. 

NEXT: Lamp disassembly and parts identification.