Shopping Collectibles: Vintage Oyster Cans

 Who knew?

Definitely not me....

 On one of my usual daily diversions, 

to take my mind off the things that are making me a complete nut job....

I go "cyber antiquing"

It's fun to search out an interesting item 

or an idea that might be the new hottest collectable.

 Cyber-shopping is fun because you don't need to buy anything 

you can just window shop...

from the chair in your office 

or kitchen!

Fun?

I know!

 There are so many unique and one of a kind things that might be wacky or different and can be found in unlikely spots all over the United States...
using the internet.

 I typically look for things that no one seems to be collecting...or at least that is what I thought in this case...but was I ever wrong!

Oyster tins....yes sir.... they are so collectible!

Prices seem to start around $20 dollars for a pint sized tin, that can be readily found, to over $1000 for a rare gallon sized tin in excellent condition.

What is appealing about these is the variety of colors and wonderful graphics.

Intact lids add to the value.  

The bucket above was listed for $1250!

Bail handels also seem to fetch a higher price

I hate to even say this but...do I hear "Pottery Barn Catalog"?

These would work in so many different settings...a seaside cottage or a cabin maybe?

Lots of red white and blue...very American

These must have been packed for use by restaurants 

because who could use a gallon of raw oysters....?

What is even more interesting is how many different brands there are....

there is probably not an oyster left on the east coast!

I bought a few of these little pint sized cans from a really fun shop called 

three potatoe four

The green one above,
when I last checked it on Ebay
had 7 bids and was up around $250...
who knew these were so collectable?! 

The big gallon sized beauties would look so beautiful filled with fresh flowers 

or some herbs in the kitchen

I should probably buy this one and use it as a bank to put money in

 so

 I can start an oyster can collection!

What would you do with these?

Are you a collector?

Love to hear your ideas....

~kelley~

ps

Thank you for all of the advice on floor staining....

it was a big help and I think we found our color!

Under Construction

 This room pretty much sums up the disaster area that we have created at our little house in Ojai

It looks like we were having a paint ball party in that room!

One thing has sort of lead to another...

funny how that happens with a remodel!

it's that can of worms thing

 so now we have now jumped in with a vengence...

or a whimper as the case may be here

suffice it to say we are not, 

I repeat,

 NOT carpet people

we tend to bring the outside in with us...lots of the outside,
and
the occasional dirty frisbee

 So we are putting in some new hardwood floors. 

And in order to do the job correctly, 

some of the weird and wacky 50s trends needed to go...

such as this ugly brick hearth

 And the fake ceiling beams  and a few other miscellanious cobbled together works of master carpentry (not)

 which are now residing happily in the dumpster.

After we pulled up the carpet we found the old oak floor....which we knew was there,

and yes that's my wine on the table....

much needed after a day of watching this demo happen.

I actually like the demo part...it's always sort of exciting

So exiting in fact that I need to drink wine alot.

Ok well...enough of that

 but surprise surprise ...when the hearth came out, we were left with this large hole and no floor
and to make matters worse the original builder 

had filled the open space inside the hearth 

with rocks and sand from the yard...

which also included cat poop....also from the 50s,

interesting how long that kind of thing (poop)can survive right?

weird...I know

 any way...moving right along

 I was able to find some beautiful old wide plank pine for a pretty good price,

 but there wasn't enough to do the whole house

So I found some smaller width, newer pine,

 and we will be blending it in with the old stuff...

which I think will look more interesting actually

 Now for the fun part...

well it started out fun

 I think we have mocked up just about every stain color on the planet trying to find the perfect color for this house.  

I'm looking for something that looks like old drift wood.

like this:

the photo above is from the Sundance Catalog 

I want that floor!

 way too red

 too yellow

 too dark...

Every thing  we tried was just not right

so....

we decided to create our own custom blended stain.

I will explain how we did that on a future post.

thank you
John and Dave and Greg

It really is not all that hard, just a bit of trial and error 

and twenty trips to the paint store.

But today is friday and the guys need to be paid....

And in order to keep my guys happy 

they got a nice check
I am aways happy to pay them because they work so hard

by the way
 I have great guys!

and

 a gift from the garden for their sweeties

have a wonderful weekend
and thank you so much for stopping by!

kelley

ps
please include
 your email  when you
comment

I love to chat