Thursday, February 3, 2011

Vintage Stuff on the Wall

If it's old and cool-looking and reasonably flat, it just might find its way onto my walls.


I got this print (which I guess is old enough to be considered truly "antique" and not "vintage," technically) at a print shop in London a few blocks from Covent Garden. They had even older prints in the shop (I was especially tempted by a map of Romania that dated from the 1500's), but they were a wee bit expensive for my grad student budget at the time. I liked this one because of its lovely pastoral subject, plus it was from Shropshire County (formerly called County Salop), which I visited on that trip. I also liked that it was printed only a couple of years after the Declaration of Independence was signed (note the 1778 date.)
My grandma's best friend after she retired made her this, and I asked my parents for it when they asked if I wanted anything from her condo after she passed away. It always makes me smile.I have no idea where this mirror came from. My mom had it lying around her house, and I needed a mirror and asked for it. The paper lining the back looks about 1950's or early 60's era. Yes, that's me making a funny face taking the picture.This is my great-grandfather's baptismal certificate. It was on the staircase of my mom's basement, all rolled up and (as you can see) not in the greatest condition because it had been in my grandpa's garage. Mom had no idea what it was, because of course it is in German. I rescued it and got it framed (my husband says we should probably get the glass replaced with UV screening glass, because the ink is getting faded.) It is a very valuable source of info, because we did not know very much about this side of the family and it has names of family members we'd never heard of before.Finally, you know you are getting old when things from your birth year are now "vintage." This is a crosstitch picture that a friend of my mom's made for me when I was born.

I am posting this to Vintage Thingie Thursday.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, those are all really special pieces. How lucky you are. Those are really nice treasures to own.

Sherry@Back2Vintage said...

You have some beautiful antique and vintage pieces! Thanks for sharing and thanks for stopping by my blog!!!
Sherry

Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures said...

What precious family treasures you have. I love that cross stitch and baptismal certificate; it would be such a shame if it faded any more. Thanks so much for sharing these;-)

Anna Matthews said...

Fantastic pieces, and that baptismal certificate is wonderful. Thank goodness you rescued it. Happy VTT.

Love the Decor! said...

Wow some beautiful things!!
I love that birth certificate so glad you "rescued it"
have a wonderful weekend!!