The following is a reprint of my column – Sincerely,
Vintage
– that appears in
the July issue of the New Century Collector. Happy junking!
I’m all a-flutter for junk. I just spent the past few hours with a bolt
cutter performing surgery on a deliciously rusty set of bed springs, preparing
them to be used individually in all manner of DIY projects. At least now the bed springs won’t be propped up against the side of the
garage and my house will look a tad less like a salvage yard for a few days – until I bring home the next deliciously
rusty __________ to prop up in its place.
Actually, it might only be a day until the slot gets filled again, since we’re headed out in the morning for my second
trip in a week to Nephi, home of Picker’s Paradise - Larry Ray’s Heaven-on-earth for junkers. I got
to know Larry a little when he was a vendor at our flea market, fleattitude, last month. Larry’s the guy with the twinkle in his eye and the good stuff in his booth that everybody wants – pedal cars and road signs and rotary telephones and
traffic signals (yup, the real kind) and rusty wagons and more rust – lots
of rust.
After seeing what treasures Larry had in his flea market booth I just had to see “paradise” for myself. . . so a friend and I set out earlier this week with an empty
SUV, some leather gloves and a few cold drinks and made the trek to Nephi. We were not disappointed. In the
least. Here’s a partial list of our haul:
Two old sewing machines, one totally rusted.
Several faucet handles.
A double bike basket, the kind that goes over
the back fender.
One wire shopping cart,
the old kind.
A basket full of ornate door knobs.
Several glass bottles.
Two Chevrolet emblems.
Two feet for a cast iron tub.
One rusty bucket.
A couple of huge rusty hinges.
A small painted wood drawer.
A minnow bucket.
Two rake heads, very useful for hanging
jewelry.
And a very old Frigidaire refrigerator.
Oooh – it
was a good day for junkin’.
So.
. . what is this new-found attraction
to stuff that used to be tagged to go to the landfill? Junk seems to be popping up everywhere the
past few years, and in well-respected antique circles to boot. Take, for example, Junk Bonanza, Junk
Salvation and Funky Junk. . . all
flea markets ranked among the best in the country (in Minnesota, Washington
state and Idaho, respectively). There
are books about junking. A few of my favorites are the “Junk” series
by Mary Randolph Carter; Found, Free, and Flea: Creating Collections from
Vintage Treasures by Tereasa Surratt; and The Salvage Sisters’ Guide to
Finding Style in the Street and Inspiration in the Attic by Hackett and
Young. There’s even a Facebook page and blog that represents a guy’s
perspective on junking, Junk Nation
Review. And this is just the tip of the
iceberg. . . or, perhaps a better analogy is that this is just the junk we can
see from the curb, not even touching what’s in the garage, the yard or the
shed.
Curious
as to exactly why junk is America’s newest antique “darling,” I put out the
question to some fellow junkers. Their
replies were eerily similar.
*
“Simply
said, we live in a disposable world nowadays. I love collecting and junking because it
reminds me of my grandparents and simpler times. Getting something new was a
real treat back in those times. I
treasure my vintage finds as they spark memories of my awesome childhood.”
*
“I
think that our history and heritage is being lost in the new generation and
it's so important. There are certain things that I feel like we need to keep in
order for those who come after us know what it was like for those who came
before us.”
*
“My
grandparents are gone and there were 90 grandchildren to share with, so I watch
for things they had so I can have them too. My most treasured item from my
grandpa is an old chew can. Smells like grandpa, I love it, cried when my
sister found it.”
*
“When I see a piece that resembles
something we had when I was a child I want it. It is my "comfort
quilt" in this crazy busy world. I miss Mayberry.”
There was another stream of thought in the replies I
got, this one along the line of how junking is “green” and affordable, and that we can
turn our junk-treasures into something “more” than what they originally were: “The creativity of people absolutely blows my mind!! Junking is a new art
form and I love seeing what people do with things that would otherwise be
destined for the landfills.” And another view: “Personally I have always been a
"Junkie." But I
think the recent surge has been spawned from the recession: people are getting more creative with less
means; to help with either making ends meet or making money; or finding fun and
inexpensive ways to feed their addictions, create art, etc. Right now I am making some very cool bathroom
towel hangers out of cement finishing tools. . . ha – who would of thought?!”
So.
. . what do I think about all
this? I love antiques that show their
age. Love the rust, the dents, the
chipping paint, the frayed edges. I love
things that are not perfect. Love things
that have earned their place in the
world by having been here for a while. I
love my rusty sewing machine that was likely cast off when a newer,
sleeker model came along. I think I’ll
hang onto it to remind me of all delicious things from years past. I
miss Mayberry, too.
Sincerely,
Cathie
