Whenever I’m out shopping (for antiques) I tend to bring home little things I fall in love with that are also inexpensive. I just don’t have the budget for the beautiful expensive things, I mean who does? Not me! So of course I have a wish list of sorts… things that I would love to buy if I win the lottery or find an amazing price! Sometimes this happens and it’s like an ah-ha moment. Pure joy.
It happened when I found my little blue and cream child’s suitcase for only $5. With suitcases being so popular at the moment it was hard to find one at the right price… and the right color! Of course the wish list is always changing as I find certain things (like the child’s suitcase or my antique ironing board) and as I add new items (like the typeset of printers type pieces I’ve been obsessing over for the last year).
However, the one stable on my wish list for the last three or four years has been a scale. A kitchen scale in the perfect shade of blue or pink. I absolutely adore the big scales, you know the ones used for feed or grain but with price tags in the hundreds I figured I would never own one! I set my sights on a little antique scale, you know the type square top, square base perfect for the kitchen. I’ve seen hundreds over the years but always green or “rust” colored. Then a picture of a blue one would pop up online taunting me, letting me know the elusive blue scale existed but was just out of my reach! When I perused the photos of Miss Mustard Seeds booth at the Chapel Market there was a blue scale perched right at the top of the pile. I could literally hear it taunting me.
See it? I was so frustrated that I missed it! That baby was long gone by the time I made it to her booth. One of the first ladies through the door must have snatched it up knowing that a blue scale is elusive and hard to find! Even more elusive is a pink scale… but that ladies is exactly what I finally located.
If God rewards the patient then this is my reward. I found her in the back of a dinky little antique store on my recent trip to North Carolina. Mom and I had several hours to spare Sunday morning and we decided we may as well spend them combing through a local antique store. One of our favorite pastimes! It’s always nice to look through new junk! I saw this beauty halfway down our first aisle. Of course I ran over and looked at the price tag expecting the usual of anywhere from $100 to $600. I was shocked when I read $30. That’s right thirty dollars for this beautiful lady.
After doing some research I found that most scales of this type (with the basket, instead of the flat top) were used for grain, rice, seed, something of that nature. This scale states quite clearly at the top that it was made in 1961. It is a smaller version of the hardware scales with the ability to measure only 2 pounds at a time. I found that this pink version and several other brightly colored scales (red and orange) were manufactured to function as candy scales! They would weight candy for sale at a grocery or candy store! Maybe I’m not fully recovered from the high of finding a thirty dollar pink scale but I LOVE that this is a candy scale. That sounds so much better than a grain scale or a rice scale. We’re keeping the romance alive people!
Eek! I still can’t believe it! Can somebody pinch me?
[…] This quick little Easter Nest definitely takes the cake for most adorable! I even love how she put it on top of an antique scale… I might just have to follow her head and whip one up for the top of my pink Toledo scale! […]