Tuesday, April 24, 2012

NYC thrifting (Status: Bubba likes Danish ceramics)

New York was originally named "New Amsterdam" so I suppose it is only appropriate that I hauled in some Danish ceramics (plus a little metal owl sculpture).  Here is Bubba casting his regal, pirate cat gaze over my booty and declaring that it meets his standards.  Last plug: I'm on the Anderson Cooper Show Wednesday the 25th!

So I spent four days in the Big Apple (one to tape my TV appearance) and used a couple of hours from that time to hit the Thrift stores located around 23rd and 3rd in the Union Square/ Gramercy area.  There was a Goodwill, Salvation Army, Housing Works, NYC Opera (or maybe Metropolitan Opera) all located on 23rd then there was a Jewish charity store called Vintage Thrift located around the corner on 3rd.  
I also found a little tiny, disorganized and dirty ceramic store on 17th; there was no name, just an older lady sitting on a chair by the open door.  That is where I found two square-ish bowls.
 This is a Royal Copenhagen bowl made between 1969 and 1974.  The shape comes from the Tenera range designed by Nils Thorsson.  It's pretty small, only 4.25 inches square and one inch tall.
 The pretty blue design was created by Marianne Johnson 
I could date the bowl because there is a "bar" under the "G" in Copenhagen.  The MJ is for Marianne Johnson, the numbers refer to the glaze and glaze colors and the writing to the right  of the wavy lines is the painters signature.
This second bowl is from the Baca range, also designed by Nils Thorsson and also is dated to the 1969 to 1974 era.  This bowl is a bit bigger- 6.5 inches square and 1.5 inches deep.
 The design on the bowl was created by Johanne Gerber.  I've seen some Vases in this pattern that are really striking!
Note the bar under the "G" in Copenhagen.  The artist signature is the circle with the j and sideways g thingy.
 I found this shallow oval dish/ bowl at the Vintage Thrift on 3rd.
 This piece was made by Soholm Ceramics.  It is 16 inches in length and 6 inches in width. There is a small chip on the edge; I still thought it was cool enough to plunk down a few ducats.
Despite the fact that the Soholm stoneware company made a lot of pieces and existed until 1996, there is surprisingly little information available about pattern names, designers or artists.
 The last thing I picked up was this cute little owl sculpture at the Housing Works thrift on 23rd.
 It's only 6 inches tall, including the base
 Check it out, it is made mostly of spoons!
 It also has keys for feet
Try as I might, I could not find any info on this sculpture; I assume that the "Lima" on the underside of the base is Lima Peru.
Buying this stuff is a testimony to owning a piece of oversized, hard shell luggage- don't leave home without it!

12 comments:

  1. An excellent haul! Did you make it to any of the flea markets? I like hitting the Garage Flea and then walking to all the thrift stores you hit, the Vintage Thrift is great for housewares and clothing. Isn't it amazing how well merchandised NYC thrifts are? Nice find at the random little pottery thrift, those are the kind of stores I dream of finding on trips!!

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    1. I was in NYC from Monday until Friday so I missed the flea markets (I didn't find anything at the Anderson flea).

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  2. So ya go to NYC to talk about finding epic loot while thrifting...and you can't stand not thrifting while you're there. Ya got it bad! I feel ya.

    And Hurray for the return of Bubba!

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  3. No matter where I travel or for what reason, I can't pass up doing some shopping. Always seem to find something cool out of town!

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    1. I stopped by several vintage furniture stores and saw absolutely no Hey Wake

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  4. Nice NYC finds! We were just in Charleston and had to stop at every thrift/antique/flea market we came across.

    I saw the latest Dispatch article...very nice! I assume that will be a forthcoming post? ;)

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    1. I saw a Wegner "Papa Bear" chair and ottoman at the Housing Works thrift that was posted for auction on their web site- it sold for $7200!

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  5. Replies
    1. Give a hoot, don't pollute with spoons

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    2. Bubba is the cutest cat!! Loving your finds! Xo
      megthecoolgirl.blogspot.com

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    3. Thanks Meg; Bubba is his own cat, we just live in his world.

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