"Wahoo!! .... Nothin' "

Sometimes you feel like Yukon Cornelius.

You walk into an antique or thrift shop full of hope and anticipation.

You wander around, looking for HSOs

and you find them

but they just aren't the HSOs you want or need.

You find real horse-life items

and cool vintage horse-related games.

Bookends

and salt and pepper shakers

and vintage trophies from real horse shows.

Framed prints

and more framed prints (someone liked paints and pintos!)

and old metal clocks.

Rubbery horses,

cheap plastic knock off horses,

and giant horses for giant dolls.

A few things are tempting

and make you second guess your decision to leave them behind. (They look like Mortens Studios, they feel like Mortens Studio, but are they Mortens Studio?)

And when you do find something you are interested in, the seller's price is often more than the piece is worth and so you leave it behind.

"Wahoo!! ... Nothin' " indeed.

This time. 

But Yukon Cornelius kept looking and he did eventually find what he was looking for.

I'll keep looking, too.

Stay 'tooned!

Found but Left Behind

Unlike the crying towel that I shared about yesterday, I don't rescue every horsey or hobby related item that I find. Here are some "left-behinds" from a recent visit.

I took a closer look at this Breyer unicorn thinking that I might get it for a Pony Pal, but at $60, I left it behind.

Same with the Marx doll that was tagged with a Barbie horse for $89.99. Nope!

An unusual horsey teapot caught my eye, but the price was too high and I don't drink tea. (Although I am sure I could fill it with my Vanilla Coke Zero... LOL)

These Hagen Renaker knock-offs are cute and in great shape, but they were over $30 apiece so I left them behind.

I do collect non Hagen Renaker chinas, but the detail on this mare and foal pair is poor.

I just went through our mug stash and took a bunch to Goodwill. I will wait on this and if it is still there the next time I visit that shop, I will take another look.

Sorely tempted on this gourd that had been turned into a vase, but I would never use it and left it behind for someone who could. Pretty cool piece, though!

I thought long and hard about this 1995 Kaleidoscope but left him behind. He's another one I will look at again if he is there the next time I visit this shop.

Now, this pair of zebra salt and pepper shakers was cool and I thought about buying them, but ultimately left them behind.

A possible pick for a pony pal, but no. 

There is a LOT going on in this painting but where would I hang it?

I did buy a few things as I am always on the lookout for items that would make nice donations to shows or gifts to friends. This dog is going to the GLC show later this month as a donation.

So is this china lion.

And this Made in Japan rhinoceros.

I may keep Mama and Papa Duck for myself, but I'm still thinking on that.

Because April is going to be so busy for me, I'm not sure when I next will have the opportunity to go back to this antique shop. Some of those items that I left behind but may reconsider may sell before I get back.

But that's okay - it's part of the fun of poking around while looking for HSOs.

Venturing Out

After having had my second shot of Moderna this week, I took a deep breath and ventured out into the community. It felt terrific!

Teacher Daughter Lisa and I went poking around for collectibles - me for HSOs (horse shaped objects) and she for Moon and Stars glassware and vintage Christmas ornaments.

There was a surprising amount of Breyers to be found.

While I have come across Breyers in the past,

usually I don't find so many at once.

But Breyers weren't the only thing on the shelves.

There were a large number of Hartlands,

especially the horse and rider sets.

I do collect Harlands but I am also beginning to think about downsizing some of my collection.

Still, these sets were nice and most were reasonably priced.

There were several Marx Thunderbolts available (I have developed a fondness for that big boy),

Melbaware,

metal horses and clocks (recognize that imitation Breyer QH Yearling?),

and lots and lots of horse themed items.

Lisa found a large amount of the Moon and Stars glassware, some priced to sell, others that made you put them VERY CAREFULLY back on the shelf and walk away.

Aside from curbside pick up at JoAnn's, a couple of quick runs into Walgreen's (while wearing not only a mask but gloves, too), and the barn, it had been a year since I'd done anything like that. It was wonderful, and I even came home with a couple of items.

More about those in a future blog post. Stay 'tooned!