While lamenting my inability to find and or identify vintage Christmas ephemera on Saturday at a local thrift, we turned a corner and came face to face with Santa and Frosty! Just like that (::snaps fingers::)! And while these might have been made later, they are marked 1968 AND Made in the USA.
You can see a hole in the back for a low wattage light bulb similar to what you'd find in a lighted globe.
I meant to pop these in the booth this evening but I was busy with excavating the Broyhill Brasilia dining
chairs to take to the booth and the Broyhill Brasilia harvest table (super rare) to take over to my buddy
Dan to have refinished. I picked up the Broyhill Brasilia drop leaf extension from him at the same time
and plan to drop it off at The Green Shag Market antique mall tomorrow (which is now today -
Monday). The Shag technically isn't open on Monday but I happen to know that on almost
every Monday there is somebody there from about 11am to 4pm.
So maybe I'll remember to take Santa and Frosty here to the booth (which is wicked full right now!) with
me Monday. I wish I had the lights for them but they were no where to be found at the thrift. Plus they'd
probably be heat damaged if they had been used with a lamp mechanism anyway. Mixed blessing.
Looks like this might be the only kind of snowman we might see this Christmas 'round here anyway!
It was tough to get a good photo of the print on the back of these. I should have taken these pics earlier
in the day when there was some natural light. I just had too much to do today. It's amazing how quick a
day goes by when you have lots to do!
On a sad note - remember this lazy susan that I picked up on vacation earlier this year? Well, when I
was moving my booth from space 44 to double space 5...I kinda forgot it was on the lower level of one
of the tables I picked up. Ever been in an antique mall when four small porcelain bowls crash and break
on a concrete floor? It's like a flipped car on the highway...everybody want's to see the tragedy.
This isn't the first time I've broken something while messing around in my booth. While mounting some
wire shelves earlier this year I jiggled the wall and a couple items in the booth next door dropped of a
shelf mounted on the other side. I did the right thing a picked up and paid for all that I broke. This time,
it was all me though. At least the center section with the lid survived!
Man, that sucks. That's my big fear every time I walk into an antique mall. Everything is usually packed in tight and either hanging out into the walkways or far enough into the booth that you've got to lean over other items. With luck like mine, it's a recipe for disaster.
ReplyDeleteIf you have the opportunity to walk into my wifes store at Sherry's Yesterdaze Vintage clothing and Antiques, www.yesterdazevintage.com. you will find the same situation! She has just about every inch utililized to the max! We just shoe horned in a nice 50's cracked ice dinette set today and hung some more lighting. Not only do I have to walk through but do the regular maintanance ie; replacing and rehanging lighting and art and help with display arrangement. I feel like the literal bull in the china shop and it's a major pain in the ass having to move displays out of the way just to change a bulb or move some fixtures around! At least you have a bit less square footage to deal with! My store is a bit more stripped down and easier to work with!
ReplyDeleteAce Hardware sells replacement light kits for blow molds that size. They include the C7 sized bulb, clip, and cord for about $5, and the new kits have a longer cord than most vintage originals.
ReplyDeleteThese large blowmolds require brighter bulbs to illuminate them. I have a new Santa that uses a standard base bulb rated to 60 watts.
DeleteI should put my glasses on, I see now that these are sitting on a table; you are correct - 7 watt candelabra base. At first glance I thought they were lawn size.
DeleteI have these same Santa and Frosty figures on a table in my living room. They appeared on my blog from a couple years back. http://garagesalin.blogspot.com/2010/12/merry-mid-century-christmas.html
DeleteThanks for the tipoff about the replacement cord. I had to rob one from another figure yesterday to light something else.