The Last Of The Weekends Estate Sale Booty - This Brutal Fireplace Tool Set - Was Found Quite By Lucky Happenstance. Status: Soon To Be Available.

After quickly wrapping up the Dorothy Thorpe chip and dip set (featured yesterday) that I picked up from estate sale #2, I started making my way home to get a few hours of much needed sleep. I am not a fan of leaving sleep on the table, but I spotted a green hand made "Estate Sale -->" sign at a corner. Ugh. Of course I turned around.

My curiosity just got the better of me! I had to turn around and see what might be there. The

Girlfriend has been bugging me to take her back out like we did in the (Good?) old days, where

we just mapped out a dozen or so sales without much idea what we might find and make a day

of it like so. This method holds a certain attraction. It really is much more of a hunt, like hitting

the thrift stores. It payed off this time!

I spotted this "poker" set just as soon as I entered the sale and noticed the price sicker on the

end of one the handles. I didn't want to haul the entire heavy set around with me while I checked

out the rest of the sale so I just picked up the one piece with the price tag knowing that no one

would try to pick up the rest without it or a price tag. One of the sales staff came running after me

to inform me that I couldn't "buy just one piece of the set". Uhm, duh. I thought about explaining

my modus operandi but just didn't have the patience or wear with all to do so. I just handed over

the piece and let her scoop up the rest and kindly take it to the sales table for me.

It's a great set and I feel pretty lucky to have found it. It looks like it probably was made by the

same company that made the set we are currently using. Well, not "using" using. It's like 105

degrees out. We ain't using the fireplace much these days!  One of the big differences is that this

new set has a cast brass holder instead of cast iron.  I know it's a little hard to see in the photos

because it's got a dark coloration on it. Does anybody know who made these sets?

Well, as you can see, one of the handles has a touch of wear.  What it's supposed to look like is

the handle in the second picture.  I'll give them all a little rub down with some Howard's

Restore-A-Finish and see how that looks.  I'm sure it'll do the trick.  I was just too busy to get

to it yet.  After I get them done I'll have to decide if I want to keep the old set or this new set. 

One of set is going to get the axe.

Oh, the bonus prize. I picked up this Manhattan serving bowl by Anchor Hocking at the same

sale. It's not perfect but it was cheap and I like the design. It's so art deco. One of these days I'll

get serious about collecting the Manhattan line.