Flea Market Finds

If the find is a primal urge, then the monthly Alameda Flea can only be compared to nature's most spectacular feeding frenzies.

Thrifters abandon their favored hunting grounds to converge upon this site of vintage bounty. Each month we take the long walk from some distant corner of the parking lot and pass satisfied hunters clutching their trophies, dragging heavy furnishings off to their cars. I usually spot something rare and delectable on another person's trolley and pick up the pace to join the fray. Once we're inside the gate we're on the prowl. There's enough for each gluttonous shopper with a few bills to fill their rolling cart, but there's still that predatory instinct: don't let that tea set get away, you may never see one like it again!

Adam and I like to work the rows together. He's on the lookout for French kitchen knives and copper pots, I scout for glass cake plates and tole chandeliers. I pounce, he goes in for the deal. We're always in pursuit of the find.

We did so well this Sunday I thought I'd showcase a few of our prizes!

$20 won me a lot of brass flatware. It's actually two different patterns. One I've yet to track down, but the knives, forks, and soup spoons with the tough studded handles are Dirilyte Empress Goldware. Now I've got something new to stalk on eBay!

Adam snapped up this Pyrex thingamajig for $5. We liked the quirky variation on the cloche shape, and it's just right for housing a tiny curiosity (or perhaps an air plant?).