So, probably too late to get the deposit back on that bottle.
The thrift store thread
- Thread starter Legion
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When I first started collecting vintage razors I would stop in random out of the way antique and thrift stores. On one occasion I found a shop in Bellville Ohio, the population is around 2000 people. I noticed a razor and after cleaning it up, I found it was a British Aristocrat Jr. I just surmised that someone had relocated from Europe to that small town. I traveled extensively in Ohio and this would happen occasionally, razors from all different countries would show up. What I wasn’t prepared for were some of the more obscure stories shop owners would tell me. Here’s my top: How did it get there items:
1. A collector outside Norwalk has Elvis Presley’s Harley Davidson motorcycle. He found it in a garage after a neighbor knew he collected bikes. He verified Elvis owned it and has it tucked away.
2. A shop owner has one of Dale Earnhardt’s race cars.He told me he has it stored on his property and proceeded to show me pictures of it.
3. A local in Norwalk Ohio found a fishing reel in a garage he was cleaning out and noticed it had rubies and diamonds on it. He listed it on EBay and started receiving crazy offers for it. A collector contacted him and explained that this reel was formerly owned by the Prince of Monaco. He pulled the reel off EBay and sold it via a large auction company.
I think I enjoyed the stories dealers would tell me as much as finding things.
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- Thread starter
- #83
But who transports a used milk bottle to the other side of the world, and why?
But who transports a used milk bottle to the other side of the world, and why?
Perhaps a collector?
It never fails to amaze me what people collect, airline sick bags, phone books, buttons, shoes, anything and everything.
Perhaps milk bottles is not so strange
Or perhaps they simply worked at the dairy and wanted a momento.
- Thread starter
- #85
Maybe...
But here is my theory, which I think is most likely.
Around the world there are a bunch of, usually, American expats. And they have a side hustle, travelling home and vacuuming the thrift stores for anything vintage Americana. Stuff that is common in the US, but kind of "cool" or "exotic" in other countries. Old letterman jackets, school rings, lunch boxes, bubblegum cards, sports jerseys... you get the idea.
They hoard it all until they have a shipping container, or partial container worth, then transport it to somewhere where they can flog that tat for bigger money.
Nine times out of ten that is Japan, but it goes all over the place
I bought a tidy, cased Gillette old type from a lass at a swap meet who did exactly this. There is a stall at my local antique mall full of over priced thrift store American clothes.
I suspect the bottle might have come in on such a run, and been bought by someone local who wanted a vintage "shabby chique" vase.
Very possible, since we can just buy things like that here I never knew that market existed. We have a 52,000 sq ft antique mall minutes from our home. Dealers flock to it from around the country and buy everything. I have seen milk bottles like that filled with styrofoam beads in one booth. Vintage Christmas ornaments (shiny brite) and Star Wars items are extremely popular during the holiday season. If you think it’s something worth collecting you need to buy it that day or it’s gone. People collect everything and the turn over is incredible.
Messygoon
Abandoned By Gypsies.
When acquiring a vintage razor, I enjoy contemplating its former owner(s).
I thought a lot about how this pristine milk bottle traveled from Baltimore to Australia. I imagine that on December 8, 1941 an 18-year old boy walked away from his job at Berg's Dairy and into a US Army recruiting office. Following basic training, he returned to Baltimore to say good-bye to family, friends and his best girl, Daisy. As he boarded the train for the West Coast, Daisy handed him this bottle, filled with cotton balls soaked with her perfume.
Following rail to San Francisco, a voyage on a destroyer to Pearl Harbor, and then island hopping with his new crew, he finally landed at his base in Darwin, Australia. He spent the war in the US Army Air Corps service making Aussie friendships that would last a lifetime. When VJ Day came, tears, hugs and gifts were exchanged. As he departed Australia, the bottle remained with friends, while the cotton balls were placed in the duffel bag and returned with him to Baltimore where he and Daisy finally married.
He returned with his bride in the mid-1990s to celebrate their 50th anniversary, to finally meet face-to-face with his Aussie buddies. During the reunion, the milk bottle came out, was filled with Victoria Bitter, and toasts made to renewed friendships. Soon, water replaced the beer and the bottle became a vase, filled with Everlasting Daisies.
That bottle was then safely tucked away for the next reunion. But age and time has a way of changing our plans. Three decades later, the bottle was uncovered as grandchildren prepared for an estate sale.
Perhaps tonight would be a good time fill the milk bottle and toast it's journey, how ever that may have occurred. Cheers!
I have a hunch that Savers stores here might do that, I've come across some pretty American and location specific clothing there that seems bizarre to find in Australia. Savers is of course a for-profit business unlike other more charity focused op-shops, and has a business presence in the US.
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- #89
I didn’t know that. I used to go to a savers in Melbourne fairly regularly.
I don’t know if it would be worth shipping things around the world and then selling them for thrift store prices. But who knows.
"thrift store prices" at Savers could still mean $25-$60 AUD or more for certain pieces of clothing, I don't really buy much there as the prices are rarely worth it. Went to Ringwood a few weeks ago as there's a few op shops near the station, and the Savers was easily minimuum 3x the price of the others just down the street. They did have a Gillette razor there, but it had major plating loss on the cap and wasn't worth $50 AUD to me. That one has probably been in Australia since it's manufacture (made in England with an old Wilkinson Sword blade in it), but the point is more about Savers pricing.
- Thread starter
- #91
If I’m not mistaken, that razor was made for the AU market, and is quite rare and valuable. A #15 Australian set? I have one somewhere.
When I was frequenting the Brunswick Savers was when my kid was born, so I was hunting baby stuff. My best score was a high end Baby Jogger stroller. Those things are worth a mint new.
Cool info about the razor, thank you, I didn't really research it as it was outside my budget and poor condition. I might've seen that set looking in Trove ads though.
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