On Saturday we hit up the Kane County Flea Market, which is one seriously huge flea market held in Geneva, IL. “Country primatives” and boxes of junk (as in “why bother hauling this stuff back and forth to these markets, it’s pretty much garbage”) are everywhere. But there are awesome booths with cool and unusual stuff too, which makes the trip very worth it. The weather was great for November, and today ended up being my most successful day at this flea market to date.
What you see here:
- A mid century Schaffenacker abstract cat ceramic art tile with foil label signature reading “Ken.” I still need to research this signature label and how important or not it is to preserve it on the tile, but I think it’s a good thing to have. Schaffenacker tiles are pretty famous to collectors of this era of ceramics, and this particular design is one I can’t find anything even similar to online (so I’m hoping that means it’s rare in a good way). This wasn’t cheap but I really dig it, and I’m pretty sure I paid less than it’s worth; I’ve found tiles going online for over triple so that’s a good sign.
- A Lapid mid century ceramic vase from Israel, hand-painted and signed. I got really lucky and paid only $5 for this (eBay seems to indicate it’s worth more like $40-$50).
- Two vintage tumblers made to match one of the Fiestaware color schemes of the day. Another deal at $5 for both.
- In the background: an antique Hamilton brand letterpress drawer. This is a full size drawer in incredible shape for its age; the finish is still smooth, no chips or cracks. Just a nice patina. I think I’ll hang this on the wall as storage for my ever-growing collections of tiny things. I got a ridiculously good price on this.
- Finally, Dustin’s take from the day: an Art Asylum Enterprise NX-01. This came in its original box but it was quite chewed up, so he opted to open it. Great sound effects!
More detailed pictures of these items and other scenes from the day are on onion of infinite leaf.
