Archive for the ‘Vintage Items’ Category
Still Life with TV Guides and Still Lifes
Sunday, February 26th, 2012Calling All Candystripers!
Saturday, February 18th, 2012The Mystery Spot has just added a nurse-themed tableau to our decor, chock full of vintage nurse pulp fiction paperbacks ($4. each) and – no, your eyes ARE NOT deceiving you- a vintage TOY HYPODERMIC NEEDLE for the kiddies called DR. SQUIRT. Dr. Squirt “SHOOTS 35 FEET!” and is “FUN FOR EVERYONE!” Cool way to get your kids on the fast track to a fulfilling career in registered nursing (or perhaps junkiedom) for only $15.
Fungus documenting a 1924 climb to the top of the Hunter Mountain Observatory
Monday, December 19th, 2011Every now and then we find a true treasure in a house contents call. Plucked from the destiny of the dumpster was this tree fungus memorializing a special summer day in the Catskill Mountains eighty-five years ago.
This tells the date of the EVENTFUL CLIMB of mother (Belle Schumer) Aug. 29, ’24.
Started – 10:30
Reached Top – 4:30
Arrived home – 6:30
Glorious day – glorious time – glorious view. Mom is haps.
HUNTER OBSERVATORY.
J.m. Schumer
Belle
Natalie
Arthur
Leo Jacobs
Mabel
Harold
David Melvin
Rebecca Cohen
Nathan
Miss Cohen*
*and a few other names we can’t make out.
(These fungi are called “Artist’s Fungus” because you can scratch on them with a stick and the image is burned into the surface permanently. People still draw on them to this day, and for that matter, people still hike to the Catskills’ fire towers to take in the mountain views.
Columbus Day Weekend Blow-Out Sale!
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011Come on down to Mystery Spot Antiques this Columbus Day Weekend for our biggest sale of the season. The leaves are changing, the Catskills air is fresh, the sun is shining, AND it’s time for our annual blow-out sale!
Everything in the store is on sale. Yes, this is the big one.
Everything is 20% off!
Even better, all vinyl records and vintage winter coats are 30% off!
sale hours:
Saturday Oct. 8 (11 – 5)
Sunday Oct. 9 (11 – 5)
Monday Oct. 10 (11 – 4)
Memorial Day Weekend = Our Idea of Heaven
Saturday, June 11th, 2011For is it that last weekend in May that the annual yard sale, church rummage sale, Boy Scout sale, estate sale and flea market season gets fully underway in the Catskills. Not to mention some great small town parades. At the first ring of the alarm clock at some ungodly hour at the break of dawn (usually on the Friday of) the dedicated have gulped down their coffee, made sure to pack lots of small bills, and head off to the races.
We’re convinced that the entire village of Phoenicia puts on its wonderful Memorial Day Parade every year simply to announce that yard sale season has begun. One of the perks of having a storefront on Main Street? They march right past our front door!
Spotted at The Spot (Memorial Day Weekend Edition)
Sunday, June 5th, 2011Now that we’re open for the season (did we mention it’s our tenth?) things are hopping at Le Spot. Come meet some of our Memorial Day Weekend visitors….
Hubba hubba! This vintage 1950s Betty Grable Hawaiian print sarong bombshell swimsuit ($60). has been patiently biding its time on the racks, waiting for the right girl to try her on and snap her up. And who should walk into the Spot this weekend but Jen Storch, a barista at Fort Defiance in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Bullseye! Wear it well, Jen — you rock it! (Speaking of rock, did we also mention that Jen sings and plays drums in her band, Flower Orgy?).
Felipe Flores is 19 and has been living in the Catskills for the past year as an exchange student from Chile. He simply had to have this vintage Polaroid Sonar One-Step Pronto camera (with all attachments and case), and for $28. American, it was his! Felipe plays the guitar and the euphonium, is planning to study photography and the visual arts.
Our old pal Bill Adler from the Def Jam/RUSH days and his lovely family drove up to Phoenicia to finally see what the whole Mystery Spot thing was about. Bill got lost for hours in the vinyl room, finally emerging with this Garnet Mimms album ($8). and a stack of singles for his famous Xmas mix-tapes that a few lucky souls receive every year. Sara Moulton is a world-famous chef and all-around sweetheart. She went right for the cookbook section and picked out one with a title that she couldn’t resist: “A Pinch of This and a Dash of That.” Daughter Ruthie selected the first of what we hope will be a continued and lifelong art collection for her wall, our portrait of Bjork from 1991. We’re truly honored that she chose one of our pieces to start off her collection.
We love meeting fellow vinyl dealers, especially when they give our shop two thumbs’ up. Jann and Tom have a record store in Rochester, NY called The Bop Shop, which, according to our young cousin Nick, who lives in Rochester and is somewhat of a music maven, is “sweeeeet.” Their score at the Mystery Spot: Dr. John’s Gumbo ($20., minty-mint) and a jazz record I can’t quite make out from the photo (Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, et. al.).
Mildred Pierce mystery circa 1911
Sunday, March 27th, 2011In honor of the Kate Winslet remake of Mildred Pierce which premieres tonight, we present to you this mysterious postcard from 1911 which we found in our travels many years ago.
So many unanswered questions….
Did she have to help Edith carry the money bag over the hill?
What was in the money bag?
Why is Edith referencing herself in the third person?
Whatever happened to Mildred Pierce of Delhi, NY?
Hitting the Spot on New Year’s Weekend
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011This is our last “official” weekend until the spring, as we prepare to go into hibernation mode. However, look for us to pop up on the holiday weekends (Presidents’ Day, etc) until our official re-opening in May (our tenth season!).
Meantime, Homer and Langley’s Hibernation Sale continues through the end of today (January 2nd). Check out some of the new customers and old friends who popped into the shop this weekend for vintage bargains galore!
Cozy vintage coats were a big seller this weekend. Artist/set designer/builder Marc Rubin totally scored with this vintage tundra-worthy fleece coat ($55.). It weighs about twenty pounds, but every ounce is pure unadulterated warmth.
Another super coat score! Lucky Yelena spotted this killer Seventies belted blue/gray leather DiModa coat with fur collar ($125.). As concierge at a big Manhattan hotel, she knows a thing or two about secret sources and good finds!
International Woman of Mystery Nicole Moomjy got into the holiday spirit with this festive Sixties metallic gold fitted jacket ($50.) and a must-have copy of Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet ($15.).
The vinyl also flew out of the bins this weekend. Case in point: nineteen year-old Colin Rocker (yes, that’s his real name). He just moved back to the Catskills from Bozeman, Montana and headed straight to the Spot to stock up on vintage C & W records (Ernest Tubb, George Jones, et. al.). Colin gave the Mystery Spot’s vinyl room this rave review: “One of the greatest country record collections I’ve ever seen – East, West, North, South.”
Another vinyl junkie! Musician Jordan Shapiro plays in a bluegrass band called Astrograss based in Brooklyn and stocked up on a baker’s dozen of records from Zappa and the Mothers to Flatt and Scruggs, all at $4 apiece.
Happy Halloween!
Sunday, October 31st, 2010Exhumed from the crypt, one of our favorite pieces from our personal collection. An incredible piece of folk art. Masonic robe? Yale’s Skull and Bones Club ritual robe? 1920′s Halloween costume? We have no idea what it is, but we thought we’d share.
We picked up this early skull and crossbones black ceremonial robe from one of our favorite dealers at Brimfield many years ago. He got it out of a Connecticut estate, but that’s all we know about it.
The front says CONN 370. The back, the skull and crossbones and again, 370.
Any guesses? Let us know!
Trick or Treat!
Sunday, October 31st, 2010Some of our friends who have popped into the Mystery Spot during this glorious Halloween season.
Lauren and Lucia totally rock the roller derby girl look for Halloween, giving it their own special spin. Lauren is twelve, a ballerina and figure skater, and skates with the Holy Rollers. Our good friend Lucia, also twelve, has taken the art of being a Girl Scout (or, as we see tattooed on her arm, a Hurl Scout) to a whole new level of cool. Lucia, when not skating the derby, sings and plays guitar in the rock band Tofu Decoy. Both girls accessorized their look with vintage 1950s cat’s eye eyeglasses from the Mystery Spot ($8 – 15).
Our friend Darth Maul (aka Raffie) is 8 and likes catching animals. In fact, at the moment he’s taking care of an injured bird he caught and is nursing back to health. He instantly bonded with Petey the Piranha.
Marta and Pablo get a giggle from the vintage 1960s Bozo the Clown masks ($8.) we’ve got a stash of at the Mystery Spot. Remind us to tell you about the time we and our friend Leah raided an old novelties warehouse in Soho being emptied out to renovate into high-priced condominiums. The workers were throwing everything in the dumpster and very kindly allowed us to have a run at the place. We loaded up on all sorts of deadstock vintage novelties – including these Halloween masks.