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Saturday, August 25, 2018

Too much cleaning is a bad thing

  
I went to the flea market while it was open on Friday morning and found that a whole section had been closed off with CAUTION tape.  I asked one of the sellers that I know what was going on.  He said that the owner had closed off that section to keep the open tables closer to her house so she could see everyone.  Apparently she pissed off several exhibitors that had been there for over 20 years who liked their preferred spots.  He thought they may just move to a different flea market.  However this morning (Saturday) the market was quite full and that section was open, with many familiar exhibitors.  Maybe this was a tempest in a teapot?

I went back Friday evening and found a lot of fresh coin spills - lots of dimes - and a few jewelry spills, some buried and one fresh.  Total $1.88 in modern coins.  Some brass catches and part of a pencil compass.

The fun find was this part of a brass oil lantern.  It was about 4" down and it was dirty and looked in bad shape so I threw it in my rock tumbler for an hour with a little white vinegar + water.  That was a mistake!  It came out shiny new looking and lost the patina that makes it look antique, it still has a short section of wick.  It was made by Chalwyn of Dorset, England, probably in the 1950's.


Another item that I over cleaned was this tiny Lions Club pin made by Leavens Mfg. Attlelboro, Mass.  In business from 1948 to 1999 they specialized in making awards and emblematic jewelry for corporate America and civic and fraternal organizations.  I put it in a white vinegar/salt solution and forgot to take it out.  It was there for over 12 hours (should have been an hour or 2 at most).  The front is now barely readable, but it sure is shiny!

This is the second sterling brooch I have found of this design.  The previous one had 3 purple stones in the center.  It's basically junk jewelry as sold by many flea market vendors.


This necklace was a surface find hidden in the gravel under a table probably fell off the table in the morning.  OOOH! Shiny!  I'll probably give it to a niece or young friend.

This lead item is roughly bullet shaped, but flattened.  Not sure what it is, but it goes in my lead recycling bin which is getting quite full.





Here's the days haul.





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