This weekend I poked around on eBay for a little while and bought myself a McCoy vase to go with the…many McCoy vases I already have. It is more fun to stumble across McCoy (or Hull or Haeger or Shawnee etc) pieces at antique shops or estate sales but sometimes it is nice to just buy something you like. My mom has given me most of my nicest McCoy and other pottery, she is actually the best at finding them.
My online shopping excursion was somewhat inspired by reading about Martha’s Impressive McCoy Pottery Collection (calling your collection “impressive” on your own media property is just…so Martha) and while her collection is indeed impressive mine is no slouch for a regular lady! She and I have some of the same pieces in fact and I will definitely bring this up to her if I ever meet her.
I haven’t been to a good estate sale in a while for what I suppose are obvious reasons. I would go to a yard sale with a mask, but an estate sale – lots of people indoors, perhaps without capacity control, masks question mark? – feels like a no for me, dawg. The last estate sale we attended was at this magnificent old Cleveland castle. We did haul some treasures out of it (including a Shawnee Fernware dish!) but the best part was just prowling around in it. This all feels extremely long ago, now. Another world entirely.
Estate sales can feel a bit mercenary, but I like to think that I am picking out these little pieces of people’s lives and carrying them on through the next part of their time on the planet. To me, old stuff is the best stuff, and even though I don’t know the stories of these little objects, now they can get a new story.
Also, the single biggest takeaway I have from attending several estate sales every year is: You will never ever use all the wrapping paper and gift bags you are saving. Just recycle them.