This past weekend, we stopped at an Estate Sale on Saturday morning in Elmhurst and I immediately headed right where I usually go: the basement. There I found a bunch of 90's Christmas stuff and then after looking around, I spied a box of older Christmas stuff under the tables on the floor. Digging through there, I found this beauty of an ornament.
This appears to be a homemade/handmade ornament from who knows when, but it isn't new. It is based on a styrofoam egg with quite a bit of pined bedazzling going on. There has to be close to 100 pins of pearl around this thing and someone with a lot of patience put it together.
On the front, there's a little plastic angel playing a violin with a little mirror behind her. She's surrounded by gold and pearl.
When I picked this thing up, it felt good. Felt substantial.
I know - based on where this was in the basement and the fact that this was the second day of the Estate Sale - that if I didn't buy this thing, it was destined to the garbage can. Couldn't let a treasure like this end up there, right?
I gave it a good look. Picked it up and put it down a few times as I was nosing through the rest of the box. I did notice that it appears that the Christmas tree on the back is pinned in upside down. Makes me realize that it was definitely a home-brewed ornament. A kit of some sort, I'm thinking.
So...I grabbed her and took her upstairs. I also found a vintage cardboard skeleton down there in the basement, so I brought them both upstairs.
At the checkout table, I asked the lady 'how much' for the ornament and the skeleton. She said..."You can just *have* the skeleton. But how about 25 cents for the ornament?" I put them both down and told her I'd be right back. I hustled out to the van and grabbed a quarter from the little drawer next to the steering wheel. I ran back in and plunked the quarter down and made the deal.
She's sitting on my desk (well...actually...my sister's desk) now and I'm expecting her to stay there until the day after Christmas when we get the tree for the year. With our stuff in storage, I'm not sure exactly where our ornaments *are*, so because of that, I know just know that this angel will get a good spot on the tree this year.