Sometimes we really do get some incredible gems in the store, and I am lucky enough to get my hands on a lot of treasures that are irreplaceable icons of history. Today I spent the morning getting to know a lovely copy of the Rockwell Kent illustrated first edition of the American classic, Moby Dick. Published by Random House in 1930, the Kent woodcuts make this book really impressive and I almost can't bear to give it up!
I absolutely adore furniture of the vintage and antique variety. Funnily enough that includes a lot of different styles and eras that are extremely different. For example, I love, love, LOVE mid-century style furniture for its beautiful clean lines and simplistic class, but am also a fan of the ornate glam of the antique Louis XV and provincial style pieces, among others. Lucky for me, we get a a few incredibly nice pieces in the shop now and then, and I get to admire them before they find a new home with some fortunate customer. We actually have some lovely pieces in the shop right now, and not a single piece is over $200! Check out the photos for some details of each piece! We are utterly thrilled to be supplying fashions for the Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice Seasons of Life fashion show this October at National Life! Not only that, but we'll be providing a model as well! If you have not previously attended the event, you're missing out. There are tons of fabulous fashions that come down the runway from all kinds of clothing retailers from around central Vermont. This year Rusty Dewees will be leading the silent auction again and there will be food, music, and a great occasion to dress up and help support a great organization! Get your tickets soon because the event sells out EVERY YEAR. Come see us on the runway and support CVHHH! Give them a call if you'd like to find out about tickets.
In case you aren't in the know, Halloween is kind of a big deal around here. Right now we have hundreds and hundreds of costumes and accessory items waiting to go out for sale. I'm slowly getting them out, but start looking early because the costume stuff is REALLY popular! Wigs are especially sought after and I don't have a large quantity, so get 'em before they're gone.
Just to give you an idea... Shoes for men, women, and kids, wigs for guys and gals (kids too, sometimes). hats of nearly every kind and color for the whole family, Halloween decorations, face paint, fake blood, scary temp. tattoos, jewelry to amp up your costume, tights and stockings, masks, and even some fake facial hair! We get strange mystery objects in here all the time. Usually with some time and research I can figure out what they are, but there are always a few that prove a real challenge and some that I never actually manage to identify.
This Tarbox and Bogart antique jar wrench was one of those mystery items. Having never seen one like this before it took me a little bit of guess work to identify it. You can tell how old it is from the patina and of course, the patent date! These little tools were quite handy for taking the tops off of jars. You simply adjusted the handle and the two halves of the round portion would separate, allowing you to fit the wrench over the lid. Then you would move the handle again and the wrench would close around the lid, gripping it. All you had to do was give it a turn and viola, No more lid! Got a question about Old School Cool, our Ebay shop, or something else? Here are some answers to help you out:
-We do offer returns on SOME items at Old School Cool. If it's something we can't properly test we offer a 7 day return option. This option only applies to things that are sold without our having been able to determine if they are working. Many of the electronic items, and a few other things like car battery chargers fall into this category, and DVDs and records can be exchanged if not working properly. Anything that is ON SALE or sold AS IS can NOT be returned. -If you purchase an item through our Ebay store, pick-up at Old School Cool can often be arranged. Just contact us through our ebay shop and we'll let you know if it's a possibility. -Yes, we do accept plastic! Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. -Periodically throughout the warmer time of year we host 25¢ "yard" sales at the shop. There are literally hundreds of items for only a quarter each! Silverware, toys, wallpaper, art supplies, kitchen tools, post cards, jewelry, and lots of other things go out for sale. Check our FACEBOOK page to find out when one is coming up. -We do purchase items from time to time at Old School Cool. If you have a small number of items you can pop into the store any time that we're open and we'll take a look. For larger quantities or to find out if we're interested before you come over, just send us an e-mail with photos and whatever details you can provide about the items. -We welcome donations of almost anything to the shop. The only limits are that we don't want things that cannot be re-used or recycled. This applies particularly to items that are mostly plastic and no longer working, such as coffee makers and vacuum cleaners. We do ask that donations be as free from pet hair as possible. Many people are allergic and we often have to recycle items that could have been reused because they had a a lot of fur on them. We can recycle a lot of things and have both free METAL and CLOTHING recycling here at the shop. We do ask that you please bring donation and recycling items to the store during our business hours only. If you don't see an answer to a question you have listed here, leave us a comment, give us a call, or e-mail us and we'll do our best to answer it! Although we work hard to make sure that everything we put it out is clean and presentable, this is still a secondhand store and things are still dusty and dirty. So, if you find some glamorous glass, a gorgeous piece of cast iron cookware, a new set of dishes, or some kitchen tools, make sure you give them a thorough cleaning before you use them!
Glass ware, kitchen item, and dishes can often be put through the dishwasher, but some of the older ones are not dishwasher safe, so do those by hand. To be on the safe side, wash all china by hand if you don't know its age. Cast iron is best washed by hand as well, but be sure to avoid letting it soak as this will promote rust. Keep a good scrubby handy and if you have stuck food or any other unwelcome guests in your pan, put some water in it and bring it to a rolling boil on the stove. This will help get most anything stuck in your pan off with ease. Seasoning your cast iron is very important as it helps make your pans more nonstick and virtually immortal. When you first get them home give them a good washing (use soap or go without, your choice) and then put some oil in the pan. Use an oil that's good for high temp cooking so you don't get burned oil flavor in your pans and keep away carcinogens. Wipe the pan down with the oil, inside and out, but make sure it's not sopping. You really only need to give it a light but thorough going over. Stick it on the stove or in the oven at a medium temp and let it cook for a little while then let it cool and give it a good wipe off with a clean absorbent rag or paper towel to get any excess oil off. Once it cools completely you can store as you would any other cookware, just being sure it's not kept somewhere damp. Enjoy the new treasures! This blog will be a place where you can find info about interesting items we've gotten in the shop, learn more about items up for auction on our ebay store, find answers to questions you may have, and just explore more about who we are and what we do!
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