Another Adventure . . . .

We love Estate Sales and always have . . . 

We prefer them over auctions

for you come, you look, you buy or not

And then you leave

No waiting hours and hours

and then going home empty handed

because you were outbid

as often happens at an auction.

At an Estate Sale,

the price is there

you buy it or not

or you could wait for the last day

and if it's still there get it for half price!

There is a great site called

Estatesales.net

Estate sales all over the United States are listed there

We have automatic emails about the ones in the cities

surrounding our little town

The good news is that you can see the offerings at the sale

The bad news is that often the description creates imagination

Which means that you think the offerings are better than they actually are

and estatesales.net tells the "ugly" truth

about that walnut end table or the silver serving pieces!

And actually, since it is a drive, we go less now for we find the sales less interesting.

Or perhaps we go less now because we need less!

I was trolling this week's offerings when I came across this picture:

With this tag:

And if you looked at the picture and enlarged it the price seemed reasonable.

I immediately called my friend Shirley Ann

She and I are the friends of Adventure

for she was looking for several pieces of

Pfaltzgraff Folk Art

A pattern that she had used and loved in the 80s when it first came out,

fell out of love because she couldn't find pieces to replace those lost to breakage

thus resulting in an incomplete set

But

And what old is new again

And there it was

Lots of pieces including ones that she didn't care about

Sold not as a set but by the pieces

Perfect!

Lenexa Estate Sale Full of Arts & Crafts Furniture 

Saturday was the third day

And the half price day

She came over and we left by 7:15

And arrived at the Estate Sale location a full half hour before the sale began

(a must)

And sat in the car chatting until 8:45 when we went with the others to stand in line

at the front door

A full fifteen minutes before the door opened!

It was cold -- really cold

She doesn't do well in cold but she was bundled up

And with frozen noses and chilly fingers

We stood, visited, stomped our feet

(And I reminded her that when I bought my china cabinet that it was colder,

it was also rainy, and my crocs that day had more holes in them!

So this was good!)

Finally, finally, the door opened

From the pictures, we knew that the dishes originally were in the kitchen

And we had a plan

We both would go for the dishes,

I would stand guard over them while she took the ones she wanted to the cashier

If they were still there!

And they were!

She bought:

Dinner plates

(way more than she needed but hey, extras are always nice)

Salad plates

And more cups (because they were so reasonable)

which also came with saucers!

We were both giddy with excitement over her purchase!

Once the dishes were securely behind the cashier's counter with her name on them, we looked the other items over.     Neither of us were impressed with the remainder of the stuff

And so, the dishes were our only purchase!

Pfaltzgraff dishes were really popular in the 80's

Which was when she originally bought hers

The blue and grey pattern, Yorktown, is the top selling pattern in history.    First produced in 1967 it is still in production today.    Which is probably why you see more of it in flea markets and antique malls than any of the other Pflatzgraff patterns.

The pattern is reminiscent of salt-glazed stoneware.     

It is sad that Yorktown is no longer made in the United States.

which means in my opinion, that buying used from flea markets, garage sales, antique malls or estate sales is the way to get the better quality Yorktown.

The brown Villager pattern runs a close second to Yorktown.    It does say 80's, doesn't it?    It was first introduced in 1975.    This is the warm earth tones of the 70's translated into dinnerware.   It is a classic Early American look which was popular with the 70's country decorating style.    The pattern was retired in 1996 but by popular demand was brought back in 2004 for 11 years.

The length of production and the fact that newer pieces were made means that pieces are prevalent in flea markets and antique malls.

And the third color/pattern was the brown and dark blue Folk Art,

Friend Shirley Ann's pattern of choice.

And to me, I think the classiest of the three.

It was in production from 1977 to 1983.

By far the shortest production period of the three

Which is probably why you don't see as much of it in the secondary market.

But half the fun of collecting something is "the hunt"!

And Saturday we definitely were on the hunt!

Our entire time at the estate sale was a little less than an hour.

We loaded the one box of dishes in the car

And off we went in search of a warming cup of coffee.

We stopped at a couple of other places and then felt we needed lunch.

A new place in the city that I wanted to try was

It had been given good reviews on Facebook

And friend Shirley Ann loves Southern food!

At around 11 p.m., it was both breakfast and lunch

With only a cup of coffee for breakfast, I was hoping for something

hearty and was thinking lunch

But Magnolias breakfast won us both over.

I had the biscuits and gravy

The best I've had outside my own kitchen

The gravy was especially yummy

And probably the best biscuits I've ever had.

Square -- not round!

Shirley Ann had Magnolia's French Toast

Cinnamon soaked "7-up" cake, peach cobbler compote, maple whipped cream

Although it was a different French toast, it was so very good.

We, of course, traded tastes!

It was a fun day

Another day of adventure

But in our years of friendship

We've had many of those

(Just ask about our furniture seeking trip to Nebraska, where we winded up in

Weston, Missouri, and Shirley Ann rode home in the back seat surrounded

by two of the four pieces of a parlor set that she bought!)

At least this adventure, the loot of our adventure was on the floor of the back seat

And no one had an uncomfortable ride home!

I'm sharing my Saturday adventure:

Bernideen

A Stroll Thru Life

Rose Chintz Cottage