Kane County Antiques Market 6/3/2012

Sharing some nifty finds from last weekend's market foray. I may be making posts like this throughout the summer as the outdoor markets are in high gear.

I wish the picture had come out better, but the glare from the glass was an issue. It’s a memorial diorama for a little girl that died in 1895. It’s rather sad that it ended up at a flea market and I wonder about the path that led it here. I talked to the dealer (who, if you’re interested, I can send you contact info for. She’s tagged $75) for a while about Victorian memorial pieces like hair jewelry, death portraits, mourning brooches, and the like. While I’m fascinated by cabinet card death portraits, I’m a bit twitchy about using those images. I don’t know why, but it feels like an uncomfortable intimacy and violation of the sacred. I also have weird quirks about rosary beads. I occasionally find broken strands that…if the beads were on a piece of jewelry…I’d repurpose them in a heartbeat. On a rosary…no.

This isn't a much better picture, but I wanted to try to get a bit of the detail.

 Always sound advice!

 Haven't you always wanted your own psychiatrist's couch? This was in fairly good shape and circa 1960s. The vendor had it marked $150, but was willing to let me have it for $75 if I took it with me this past Sunday. There is no way that I could do it though and absolutely no room in my apartment. I took her name and number, just in case anyone local does have the means of transport/space for this.

I’m just glad this little one is behind glass. He seems to be...plotting.

  (Our National Calamity of Fire, Flood, and Tornado: Thrilling Stories With Photographs and Sketches)
This was on a table of mostly vintage children’s books. The perfect gift for the kid who found Old Yeller to be too upbeat.

I started to dig through this box to find a companion for my male doll (the one in Eastern Orthodox vestments), but Matt stopped me. Apparently, he feels that one disturbing celluloid doll is enough for our domicile.

 (The aforementioned gentleman. He came from the April market at Kane County)
I’m not sure why I own him other than the fact that he somehow reminded me of my childhood and the dusty dolls that I’d see in the Eastern European-American shops in the Detroit neighborhood of Delray (I’m of Hungarian descent). He now lives with me, much to my boyfriend’s dismay. I wore him in my cleavage when I went out to dinner with friends after the market and I was highly disappointed that nobody commented on my tag along friend. Then again, if a little priestly head was popping out of someone’s blouse, wouldn’t you politely ignore it?

I really wanted this, but I’d already bought one antique poison/pharmacy bottle for the day and I was practicing restraint. I should have gotten it for $15.

The Sanitary Nipple Drinker by Porkmaster! (Sometimes I have the brain of a twelve year old boy. I keep it in a jar...wanna see?)

 This vendor had a few of these, but this is the only one that had a hand. (Yes..those are models of human fetal development in cutaway uteri in the background. Alas, I don't have a better picture of them.)

This was from the same dealer that had all of the prosthetic arms.

Love this Catrina. LOVE. HER. She’s about 9 feet tall and made of salvaged sheet metal. If I could have her come live on my apartment patio, I would (during warm months, of course. She’d reside in my living room in the colder months. I have no skeletons in my closet…she’s next to the sofa, perplexing the cats). This dealer had all sorts of gorgeous Calaveras and other Mexican art, including Catholic icons.

 What goes better with a smooth mild smoke than a female Terminator?

Marlene and Darlene had a lovely time at the dance and are now doing the Sunday morning walk of shame.

I am doll eyes
Doll mouth, doll legs
I am doll arms, big veins, dog bait
Yeah, they really want you, they really want you, they really do
Yeah, they really want you, they really want you, but I do too
I want to be the girl with the most cake 

 When life gives you scrap metal and cattle bones, make lem...er...sculpture like this.