Cardboard Box Finds

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

Wondering what happened to me?  I have been unpacking more family possessions from the storage unit and just take a look at what it is I found yesterday!

I found two exquisite hand made, hand painted Red Clay Masks from a Cuban Artist named Victor CamaGuey.  I researched and researched this name and found nothing. If you have ever seen anything like this, or know of this Artist, please take a moment to let me know.  I am sure others were made and bought by Canadians on vacation or business in or around Havana. 
These were made sometime in the early 1970's and have been carefully packed away for years. 

These are exquisite and one of a kind to be sure.  I am not selling them in my Vintage Shop due to the American Embargo on anything Cuban.  I have done all I can in terms of researching this Cuban Artist, but, found nothing at all.  Since Canada has no such embargo, this means I may sell them, just not on any E-commerce Sites such as Etsy.. 

Many people from around the world have chosen Cuba to vacation and have come back having thoroughly enjoyed their stays and brought many Cuban artworks and items Cubans make and sell to the tourists in order to make a little money to augment their meager wages.  I know my late Aunt would take two large suitcases filled with items of clothing to leave behind and the contents of these suitcases were just as sought after as were tips for those in service at the hotels. 

IF YOU might be interested in these, contact me, I do wish to sell them, both pieces for $150.00 Canadian currency plus shipping costs of course.   In order to determine shipping costs I parcel the items and attend with Canada Post with a postal or zip code for an actual and accurate shipping rate. 

Then, after finding these I unpacked a unique little rustic clay bowl, hand made and hand painted but not glazed on the inside and some thin glazing only on the outside and made by some unknown potter selling his wares from a stall in Tijuana, Mexico.  Someone brought it back in the mid 1960's while visiting family in San Diego many moons ago.   Isn't this a very colorful bowl? 

These are beautiful items and things I haven't seen in years and years.  

Have a wonderful day and thank you for your visit.  

Vintage Hats

DO YOU wear hats anymore?  These head coverings were very popular in the mid century for women who attended church and were popularized over the ages by many Iconic Women! 

Hats were adornments popularized by such iconic women as Audrey Hepburn, Jacqueline Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth II and her daughter-in-law, the People's Princess, Diana!  Today it is the Fascinators that grab attention and while at first were worn while attending the famous Ascot Race day!  In todays' fashion world,  it hat fashions have become the "in thing" to wear at events like weddings, and cocktail parties, Race Derbies across the world, and other momentous events where Fashion dictates your head covering is noticed. 

While in my family, hats always were worn to attend Church Services and church events but my late Aunt really was the one who bought and wore hats for just about every event going in her circle of family and friends.  

In the mid 50's women in England wore head coverings while shopping even.  Hats were the perfect fashion accessory back then, and even if money was not to be had, head gear was hand made and changed frequently if once upon a time they had a great foundation. 

Several hats were unpacked from my Families Estates and most I found can be viewed in my shop, all in gently used condition.  The majority were all from Canadian Designers and well made. 

Four Spring/Summer hats which are terrific for foundation, or re-designing with a variety of flowers or birds, a butterfly as one in the photo will show.  My late Aunt would make changes depending on the occasion she thought would be appropriate.  

These are wonderful hats made from Canadian Felts and Designed for women who liked a warm but fashionable hat for fall and winter all looking like close to being NEW. 

Sooooooooooo if your looking for a Retro Hat my shop is where you will find a few more.  Browsing doesn't cost a penny, so if you have nothing better to do, nothing new to search for, com'on over and browse my fashion accessories.  

Now being popularized once again are hats for men, and I do have a few listed over at SOCIALTYES.  I have sold so many and these are all that were left, so when I decided to open a shop for men's fashion accessories, I decided these would fit right in. 

YA YA Those Are Divine Shoes

Old photographs have been coming to light while going through boxes packed, repacked and repacked so many times that even the boxed labels are untrue.  

I actually found a photograph, which I didn't remember, of myself and my youngest brother, on the street in front of our home at that time.  My goodness it did bring back memories.  My little brother was actually wearing my brown leather tie up shoes which I wore at his age.  Those shoes are actually still around and for sale inside the shop!

My father, a Canadian Soldier was a Military career man!  From his stint in WWII as a young man right into the 1970's working for the Department of Defense.  We moved too many times to count anymore and resettling became a problem while growing through the teen years.  We never knew which language or which type of school we'd be in next, the world in the 1950's and 1960's was a magical place to get an education.  
So those little shoes which began their life in Holland as my shoes have seen many a piece of ground as my siblings and I were their masters. 

My mother was a Dutch Girl and of course the Dutch like every other European lost so much during the war years, these shoes managed to remain as they were on my feet as a toddler and even then if memory serves me correctly these belonged to some other child before these were found by my uncle to send me off to Canada with.  Must have cost him a pretty penny, a penny he didn't really have in those days.  

You've all heard of the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood?  Well these are the Divine shoes of an Immigrant Toddler!

Be kind to Refugees because having survived the German occupation and the devastation of loss it was very difficult for people in Europe to become settlers in a new land and trust that where they were bound for would afford them a much better life than what they were leaving behind.  
Leaving their families, their friends, they cultures and being frightened of how they'd be accepted upon arrival in a new country and culture was such a challenge.  Some never could settle and some settled right into Canadian Life and as many were farmers, they made themselves keepers of land and growers of food which was needed all over the world due to the costs of war.  Battling the psychological I think must have been the hardest of hurdles to overcome.  

Today is no different, refugees are human beings fleeing death and destruction....if you were in their shoes, what would you do if you survived?

Rediscovering My Blog

It has been so long since I paid any attention to posting on this blog, blame it on my tunnel vision which was aimed at clearing out the over 100+ boxes I had in the storage locker from the estates.  I seem to get tired of all this confusion around me that some days are spent not accomplishing very much at all. 

So many new finds in those stored boxes and the efforts to either find them from my memory bank or doing research just to recover the correct history of them.  My mother's family became such collectors of possession they had in their families before WWII and somehow when a recovered item or a find they came across, of course it was gathered as quickly as possible.  Some items with histories and some just because they had it or something close to "it" before.  

There is no one left but me and I confess growing up among those survivors I too am unable to turn to a disposal bin and see them off to the nether regions of a landfill site.  I have such an attachment but my simple little home to which I downsized to just will not accommodate any more of those wonderful family TREASURES.  

Hopefully there are individuals out there who might appreciate these old and sometimes odd things that they might give them a new home and allow the history of its past to continue. 

I am going to list as many of the things as I can and if you see something you think you might like, then hit which ever link you see for it and go grab it. 

My BYGONEA SHOP is filled with Vintage Treasures and in that shop is a perpetual 30% off, every day, every week and all throughout the year, that makes for great bargains, especially for any buyer living outside the boundaries of Canada as the currency certainly allows for an even better bargain because of the low rate of our Canadian Dollar.  

I found 5 watches, can you believe it?  

My BAG LADY FROM THE BAY SHOP is where you will find those hand made items I love to make and do sit in front of my sewing machine as often as I am able given there are simply not enough hours in my day.  

I found all of these Resin Cherubs and Plastic Angels and little doves just the other day so will have to get these listed in the Supplies section.  

My last shop is SOCIALTYES selling off all of the many items which belonged to my male family members.  The vintage ties seem endless, checking them over to make certain these are in terrific condition and astonished to find many of those ties to be vintage new ties..

A brand new Combat Jacket and I did make time to list this and put it into a sale the shop is running.  

I hope you have not given up on me and that you might come and visit once in awhile.