I stopped by the antique mall today on my way home from shipping chicks in Sacramento. My friend Susan and I used to prowl the antiques stores from Friday night to Monday morning in the heyday. Susan is now living in Alaska and I have more stuff than I know what to do with do I don’t go very often anymore. Susan and I had strict rules we followed when antique shopping. The most ridiculous was that upon entering the store, we always kept to the right. We also went up and down the aisles looking only on one side on the trip up the aisle and the other on the trip back. We cheated on this rule when something special caught our eye. We were collectors of depression glass, elephants, hats and hat boxes, graniteware, butter molds, milk bottles and so many other things.
My trip to the antique mall today was not as much fun and I broke all the rules, but I came home with some wonderful treasures.
I have had a couple of cracked glazed chick figurines for some time now. I like them but couldn’t really find a place for them. I turned the corner in the antique mall today and spotted a beautiful old green cracked glazed hen to go with the chicks. My eye always seems to come to rest on anything related to poultry. I had to have the old green hen and I knew exactly where she and the chicks would go. I came home and placed them atop a tall book case in my office. I used to have a fake plant up there gathering dust. Now I just collect dust on the shelves.
She is a pretty old girl with a lovely green color and aged patina. I will enjoy her every day.
I also found a great old children’s book, Mystery Ranch, written in 1951.
I thought it would make a great backdrop for chick pictures. Yikes, with flash it looks like a low budget Japanese sci-fi movie featuring a 50 foot chicken.
I think the inside looks better. Two days old and she’s already reading.
The find I am most excited about is another old book, Poultry Science and Practice, written in 1941. It was a textbook for Purdue University and the student who owned this book was Henry A. Wennmacher from Layette, Indiana.
The book is in great condition and it contains the underlined information young Henry felt important.
It also had in it his freshman class schedule and tickets to Purdue Broiler School and Purdue Poultry Breeding School, both two day events.
I am so excited to find this book and can hardly put it down. There are so many things that we are doing today as was recommended in 1941 and that is probably a good thing. The funniest picture so far is of a man in a suit stepping into a pan of disinfectant before entering the chicken area. What a treasure I found! Young Henry Wennmacher, freshman owner of this book in 1948, would be around 82 years old today.
The Other Mary says
What a terrific shopping trip!! I love the green hen and the Poultry Book looks as though Henry was a great student. I have to admit that my eyes go to anything chicken first, too!