Our lives are better because there are trays. Big restaurant trays hoisted by waitstaff bring our anxiously awaited food. Trays with tall sides wrangle our craft projects. Elegant silver plate trays hold tea sets both ornamentally and in practical use. Filigree-trimmed mirrored trays hold perfume to keep it from making a ring on the finish of your vanity. Big trays turn hassocks into coffee tables. And let us not forget one of the most vital tray styles–the TV tray. Always there when you need it and folded away neatly when you don’t. This week’s fresh to market vintage has a tray that is as beautiful as it is functional.
A tray like the one below would be useful to bring soup to someone who is stuck in bed because they met up with some nefarious cooties or for bringing tea, toast and the morning paper to someone who is luxuriating the morning away. The little deer bell might be useful in those cases too. Of course whomever is abed can text you, but a bell is so much nicer.
And with that thought, we present this week’s fresh to market vintage.
Floral Fiberglass Tray
This time of year folks tend to entertain, which means you’re going to need things like trays, platters, pitchers, and large urns for coffee, wine or other libations. While this tray clearly features fall leaves, it works just as well year round. Although the tray looks like it came right out of the 1960s, it’s actually dated 1985 and made in Korea. Made of fiberglass, it’s trimmed with gold. It works as a base for a coffee set up, floral centerpiece or fruit tray.
Autumn Floral Colors Tray , $27.95
Pam, Vintage Renude
Beaded Horsehair Badge c 1920s
This is another piece I wish came with a backstory. We purchased this in a tiny shop in SD thirty years ago and the owner knew only that it had come from a local estate. Obviously, it mattered because the maker put a lot of work into the beading and assembling the badge and the recipient saved it. But the occasion it was designed to commemorate is only a guess, which, to my way of thinking, is part of the fun to be found in collecting vintage.
Vintage Handmade Horsehair Badge, $ 25
Linda, Selective Salvage
Brass Deer Bell
This little brass bell makes a big sound, something you want in a bell (until it’s in the hands of a child who is enamored with the sound). The flowers look like they might have been carved or stamped by hand. The deer shaped handle gives it a bohemian flavor. It would be the perfect bell to have on a shop counter for customers to let you know they’re there, for someone stuck in bed to let you know you’re needed or to ring so you can give wings to angels, since it tis the season.
Brass Deer Handled Bell, $12.
Laurie, NextStage Vintage
Two Erzgebirge Putz Sheep
The origin story of the putz tradition goes back to the Moravians, who brought the church tradition of building elaborate nativity scenes called “putz” to America in the 1700s. Moravian putz nativities were build with natural materials like mosses, stones and sticks. By the mid 1800s, putz expanded beyond religious settings to include villages and farm scenes among other motifs. Japanese manufacturing of cardboard putz houses took off in the 1900s. Putz houses are still made today, with both handmade and mass market versions available. There are also tons of instructions online for making your own.
You can’t have a nativity without sheep. Putz sheep were made with clay or plaster bodies, stick legs and some kind of wool to make them fuzzy. The made-by-hand nature of putz sheep, especially their hand painted faces, make each one a little different. Their shabbiness from age only makes them more lovable. Look at those two adorable sheep above with their fine red noses, sigh. It’s easy to see why putz sheep are a collectible favorite.
Pair of 2″ tall putz sheep, $65.
Available from Laura and Lori, buckeyes and bluegrass
There is a novel waiting to be written about that horsehair badge. Why was it awarded and to whom? Who was it handed down to? It’s such an intricate and interesting piece, a definite conversation starter.
We can’t promise you a horsehair badge every week, but we do promise to find interesting stuff to put on our blog every week. Feel free to treat yourself to an email subscription to our once a week newsletter. You get one email with links to all the posts from the previous week. Trust us, we would muck out all the stalls in the barn with a teaspoon before we would ever share your info.
