Long overdue boot fair finds

The weekend before last saw the first outdoor boot fair in our area, and it was BIG! Of course, boot fairs are not antique fairs or flea markets, so 99.5% of the stuff you see are baby clothes, adult clothes, toys, and tons of modern stuff people are just trying to get rid of. Vintage treasures are always few and far between, so I was really happy to see that some of the house clearance dealers I had befriended last year, were at the boot fair. At least with them you have the chance of finding some nice old vintage stuff.

I did come back with rather an eclectic mix of goodies, but I was quite pleased with the result of the three hours wombling about. Some things were dirt cheap, like the long pearl necklaces for 20p each, and some things were expensive, but totally irresistible, and as it was the first one of the season, I was in the mood, lol. So, where do I start? Oh well, lets start with B for bling, as it is the first pic in the folder -



My bargain pearls, excellent quality, hand knotted and very long -


and some small bags of lovely shiny pink oval beads and diamante -


The diamante seems to be very good quality, it sparkles beautifully -


I bought a big bag of buckles and buttons, which yielded these buckles from the 30s to the 70s -


glass, horn and bone buttons -


and a large amount of fabulous mother-of-pearl buttons, including some really huge ones -


Then I found a big pile of what looked like cloths and doilies all scrunched up, lying on a blanket on the ground. I rummaged through and pulled out a big handful of bits and pieces -


Amongst all the crochet and whitework doilies was this large lace collar -


and some lovely lace -


I also found some fabulous paper treasures. A bunch of mostly French postcards -


and a set of the most beautiful postcards I have ever come across, they really spoke to me, so I paid much more for them than I had ever paid for postcards. Sigh. But just look -


Aren't they just gorgeous?

At another stall I found this tiny little book -

So adorable. It is about the same size as the three French ones I have.

A Brewery manual from 1957 makes quite interesting reading and the pages are great for collage backgrounds, especially these blue ones, they are such a lovely colour -


I was thrilled to bits to see that the gentleman, whom I had bought some Victorian greeting cards from last year, was also at the boot fair. He seems to have a never ending supply of those cards and always has beautiful Victorian scrap books and scraps on his stall as well. I ended up buying two lots of cards and a small bag of the most delightful Victorian scraps, tiny flowers -



Yet another fairly regular stallholder, who mostly sells books (expensive out of my price range books), had a few bits of ephemera and magazines on his stall, and I ended up buying of pile of very vintage art magazines and a folder with some beautiful old engravings -



Lots of odd bits and pieces, like this bottle of ink,


and this little box, which I wanted just because I liked the design on the top, but which contained a whole lot of nibs!


I love the country scenes on these old Grindley pieces -


A hanging tealight holder for the garden in France -


A couple of silver bits -


and this rather odd spoon/scoop thing. The stall holder had no idea what it was for, neither have I, so any ideas you have, please let me know, it would be very much appreciated -


And then there are the bits which are perhaps not quite like my usual buys, lol, but so fantastic for mixed media collages, which I so want to try my hand at -

WW2 dog tags -

clock parts -

and a bag full of tiny tiny little clock parts, millions of them, lol -

Phew, I am exhausted now, lol, but I did warn you in my last post that this one would be a very picture heavy one. If you have made it all the way through, thank you so much, you really are a dedicated follower!

Toodlepip, xxx