2553🌟Vtg Antique 20s German Vanity Lot Crystal Perfume Mirrors Powder Box porcelain half Doll

Nice little lot of vanity items:

Cut crystal perfume atomizer mister - heavy glass the bulb is hard as a rock

2 advertising pocket mirrors

1 beveled edge pocket mirror

Gorgeous powder box with remnants inside

Original Johann Faber Goldfaber German Wood Pencil 1930s Rare Blue Gold Stripe

Advertising letter opener

Porcelain flapper 1/2 doll marked germany

Unlaundered. As found. Age toned. Never washed. The rulers and tobacco tins are not included.

Review all the photos carefully, and when in doubt reach out with questions you may have. Remember vintage and antique items are not returnable.

Ask me anything— and please, make a cup of joe and enjoy this wonderful piece of history. I think it will take weeks to get through them all- I do have to press a couple things.

HISTORY:

Im onto an 1850s woman (monogram CM) and her daughter a young 1910s flapper girl from Stockholm, Germany during WW1 and immigrated here in 1927/8. I can tell you the daughter’s name was Malvina MacKay (Mally MacKay- MM monogram) and grew up in Berlin. Born on Sept 4, 1906.

I had a bit of laces to iron, and items date back to the late 1800s so perhaps family heirlooms. Ive found no mention of her mother, however there is a beautiful photo of her dad, I assume, in a frame that was a love token when he left for service.

Her dad, ‘Ike’ or Issac or Iven went off to military service Sept 1909. There’s a framed photo of a man with a handwritten note on the front and a handwritten note on the back, which is a sweet poem- that reads (translated from old german) “Sept 4, 1909. Suffering is a merit of life- just as happiness is. What is gone, does not return, but if it went down brightly, it still shines back for a long time!” On the front is inscribed: “To my dear…. From your faithful, loving Ike” (i think- its really fancy handwriting).

Now that Ive taken the weekend to go through the rest of the items I acquired from this estate, I believe he was in the Imperial Navy and served on the “SMS Grosser Kurfürst” meaning Great Elector, a battleship in the imperial navy that fought in the battle of the Jutland during WWI. I found his silk and brass metallic embroidered cap tally among the linens I was ironing. This is an original tally as it is the same age as the rest of the collection. There was a Mackay that sailed on that battleship.

I have from her mother a sampler dated 1887 with the monogram CM worked onto heavy canvas with turkey red wool. There’s another very fancy sampler that is not dated but from the same timeframe. A fine french ivory vanity set of mini cut crystal perfume bottles (4) that fit in the celluloid container monogramed with a CM, as well as others including cosmetics and perfumes.

Malvina, her daughter, like Ive previously stated was born in 1906. I have a small cigar box with a sweet note “first little shoes and ivory teething ring, born in Stockholm 1906, September 4th. Its written in german and I translate it. Inside were 2 pieces of ivory and a pair of tiny leather shoes. There’s also a fancy jewelry box that was for a ladies gold pocket watch, that is now used to hold a pair of large french ivory monogrammed “MM” buttons.

I searched her name (I have a small typed story, like for school, about a teddy bear, on the front is the name Malvina Mackay and her address written from a fountain pen, also she wrote her name Mally Mackay in some of the small wallets and note pads. Even the long stocking have silk tags with MM monogram in red sewn in. There was a Malvina and her sister Charlotte Mackay on the Titanic. Im sure it’s just a coincidence- Im guessing her name was very common like John Smith is today. I read all about Clan Mackay (McCay, Mackie, Mackee plus others). Started originally in the highlands of Scotland and were all over Europe.

They were quite well off, Ive acquired many fabulous jeweler’s boxes from Vienna, Stockholm, Berlin. There’s a whole bunch of small wallets- that young girls always seem to carry, many with advertising inside. One with the Imperial Eagle embossed on the front. As well as a souvenir notepad with pencil from the Hamburg-Amerika Line, a steamship with a calendar in the back dated 1928-1929. I believe this is when she came to America. There are travel related things as well as a souvenir from the steamship line. Small photos, a bunch of girlie things, laces and linens. Even a enamelware chamber pot.

Germany was a crazy place during this time and I can only assume she either fled or ran off with a soldier to a better life in the US. She definitely embraced the flapper style with fabulous embroidery stockings, and some dress embellishments as well as perfumes, cosmetics with all the fabulous packaging to go with it. I believe she was in her 20s when all this stuff was amassed, and stored away. (There’s always those boxes you never go through after moving that you “have” to keep with hopes of going through them….”someday”.

I have 4-5 myself in my garage right now with all the things that a young girl saves, scrapbooks, my college acceptance letter, love notes, scholar and academic medals & awards and varsity pins from sports, my baby book, cards my mom received from her baby shower, report cards, photos etc- that my mother gave to me when I left for college, so when I got married those boxes were always carefully carried from one home to the next.) Some things never change, eh? Probably why i love my antique treasure hunting hobby like I do…especially after nearly 30 years, Im still so excited when I get to go through and research someone’s past— special enough for them to keep for their lifetime.

I had to get all this research written down today while it was still fresh on my mind- afterall, I did have a stroke last year. Lol.

Im going to focus on this acquisition this week, as well as finishing up the last one with the last lots of lace.

Have fun window shopping, make a cup o’joe and stay awhile!

-lori

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You might wonder, why, if I have all these wonderful linens, would I lump them all up into lots? Well folks, last year I celebrated 30 years of antiques dealing. I started off in my 20s because I “needed a hobby”- and having just moved from Southern California to rural Michigan, well, I was bored and really feeling culture shock going from a big city to the farmland. I was the director of advertising at the local newspaper but wanted more than just my new garden. In the 1880s downtown district someone had converted an old Woolworth’s dime store into an antique mall— so i went in and chatted with the new owner! They were new to the business just a bit older than I was. I rented a booth and was hooked. That was during a time of rural estate and farm auctions- outside, with several callers, an Amish food truck and just so much junk to go through. I would spend every weekend hauling old stuff home to carefully clean and put in my little booth. Which turned to 2 booths. Then the entire basement. Then to 2 booths in a nearby mall. Then ebay came along. (I can tell you about the pioneer days of ebay- and you kids are benefitting the impossible work from us pioneers that makes ebay the giant in the game it is today. There was no clicking a few buttons on your phone- heck, we didn’t have cell phones. The internet was new. So it was a film camera, scanner and learning to write code. Windows had just come out.)

Ive had several careers, started a manufacturing company which put me in front of some of the nation’s biggest buyers in the gift industry. But nothing has been more fun and exciting than my little business here at home.

Last year, I suffered a catastrophic neurological event that has turned my world upside down. I had to move, but brought all the boxes of inventory Ive amassed to my new place. It’s my passion. Now it’s time to winnow it out so that another young person like myself can piece them out, do tiny repairs, boil buckets of hot water, and sit and iron for an entire afternoon. My body just can do it anymore.

Im certainly not going to stop buying, or even selling, but I am going to loosen then hoard into something more manageable. So here’s to you, the next generation of linen’s dealers. I loved buying it all.

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GENERALLY…

NOTE: Bear in mind, all of my offerings came from an estate usually from the midwest or the Colonial states. All have been stored in their respective homes, boxes, bins, attics, trunks or basements (or even a barn or two) for years- not at my home. While I don’t mind musty and/old smells, there might be from time to time and Ive become quite nose-blind to it having dealt in this type of business for over 30 years now. I have no idea who these previous owners were (unless I actually do and will include all info I am able), how they lived, whether they smoked, had 10 cats or 9 children. I know where it came from. All I really know is that I buy really old stuff which has probably lived with several households during it’s life- and now, it’s ready to go home with someone else! I think that’s so cool.

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I had a customer once scold me for taking the fun out of vintage linens by soaking and pressing them. And to leave them as found as it’s part of the fun for a buyer to bring such beauties back to life. So that’s what I do. You get them exactly as they came out of the estate. With age toning and sometimes spots.

Holes - if too large I save for a cutter lot. They are usually always shown. Most just need a good soak and pressing. Or can be used in and for projects.

Finally… lol…I will continue to list more gorgeous antique christening gowns, petticoats, dresses and embroidered accessories.

Ask questions- have fun, and make a cup o’joe and do some window shopping!…. There’s always more fun stuff in my linens and lace hoard!