Compacts - Three Years On

Three years ago today my gran died - a lot of things have changed since then and if there's a positive to come from her passing it really opened my eyes into the world of collecting vintage things. You'll probably all know the story of randomly finding five powder compacts in her collection. Other family members wanted to throw them out, but I grabbed and kept them. 

These are the ones I saved; blue plastic compact with Avon marked on the puff, Stratton compact [round gold design] square Vogue Vanitie compact with white lace detailing, horseshoe material compact closed with a zip featuring Gorey Castle and an over sized Gorey Castle compact with watercolour picture.

Little did I know that three years on I would own 49 compacts spanning over 80 years and manufactured in 4 different countries [Germany, France, England and the United States]. Everything I know about the compacts has been self taught through the countless compact books I own alongside the two notebooks I have crammed with information I've come across elsewhere. Although I never got chance to bring all my compacts over to the US [I think about 9 are back in the UK] one day my collection will be reunited.

If I had to show you my favorites, well that would be hard. I love them all for different ways - why we brought them, where we found them, maybe it's the colour. But I've managed to pick out six which inspired different parts of my collection;

From top to bottom, left to right;

1. The compact that started it off - Vogue Vanitie square English compact, the lack of the "s" in vanities indicates this compact was produced between 1940-42 as the introduction of that extra letter only occurred after the company restarted production after WW2.
2. One of the first compacts Joe brought me - 1950s unused Marhill [American] butterfly compact designed with imitation mother of pearl slab.
3. Adventuring into mixed compacts/vanities - Columbia 5th Avenue compact, another gift from Joe came with unopened Jergens foundation sachet and hidden rogue compartment under the mirror. The rhinestone detailing always caught my eye and I've been wondering since 2010 as to what it's meant to be.
4. Edinburgh find - while holidaying in Edinburgh we were staying so close to so many vintage shops and found this gorgeous, rare 1950s Flamingo compact. I love that it's oval and the flower detailing is divine. This was the first compact I shelled out on - spending £30 for it.
5. War love birds - this Zell compact was one of my greatest eBay finds, not only was it unused but it was complete with its original box and mailing boxes which themselves told such a great story of this compact being given as a gift during the war.
6. Start of the souvenir collection - after visiting Chicago my eyes were open to all kinds of souvenirs and after spotting this 1933 World Fair compact it found it's way into my collection. It might be small but its still a mixed rogue and powder compact, I love the space age feel to it too. It's also one of my oldest.

Where my collection will go in another three years, who knows!

Collectors Club: Transformers

Now this collector is an addict and because it was his birthday yesterday I thought he more then deserved the last slot in this collecting series. I call him an addict frequently but it's allowed because I'm married to him. So I admit Joe isn't a blogger, but I felt my guys collection was worthy of being included because I share my life with it. Plus it lets us have an insight into a man's collection!

Close up of Cheetor from the Beast Wars line

In 1996 an 11 year old boy got hooked into a new cartoon called Transformers: Beast Wars which was based on robots which transform into animals on an Earth far into the future. Divided into two factions - the maximals [goodies] and the predicons [badies] they are the descendants of the Transformers we see in the films, from which countless toy lines were manufactured. At one point his mum threw out a garbage bag, little did she know she was throwing out his entire Transformers collection. 15 years later that boy is recollecting and still obsessed with the show.

When I first started dating Joe I knew of his love for Transformers but I was amazed at how many he actually owned. Currently the total stands at 109 [I think, excluding the ones awaiting being put on eBay] and predominately they are from the Beast Wars, Beast Machines [both old cartons from the 1990s] and the Transformers Prime [film and the contemporary cartoon] lines. Yet it involves more then collecting toys, it involves cartoons, films, searching eBay, membership to the official club, getting member only toys and trips around countless stores to try and grab them. Even I could name your Optimus from your Cheetor to Soundwave to your Snapper. Date a guy with a collection like this and you get interested too. 

Comic within the official Transformers members magazine and Optimus Prime from the film line.

Joe's was always one step ahead of me when it came to collecting, he can part with, and sell them on eBay if he's buying in a lot and there's some he doesn't want or he already has. We don't make lots of money but we hope they go to a decent home. It always come down to condition just like compacts. Paint and chrome-ware all come into account, missing parts and missiles all affect the price. We never keep them in their original boxes [unless selling them], they are toys and they are meant to be played with so that's what we do. But it's why we need an extra bedroom, just so I can contain them into one room. It always surprises me how many grown men are buying Transformers in stores and bid on them on eBay, there's many more Transformers widows out there. The things you do for love!

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This looks to be the final post in the bloggers who collect series - although i'll gladly accept any more posts if you want to fling them my way. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that took the time out to make this little series happen. I hope you all enjoyed it just as much as I did putting it together!

Collectors Club - Vintage Cookbooks

Welcome again to another edition in the collection club series of us blogger who collect, today I'm delighted to be sharing Jenns collection ...

I’m Jenn and I collect…all kinds of stuff, really, mostly related to the 1940s and ‘50s. I’m excited about the opportunity Rachael has given folks to guest blog about their collections: such a fun way to meet new people and learn a bit in the process! Rachael and I connected online through our mutual love of powder compacts. You can read more about how that collection started on my blog, powderkegcompacts.wordpress.com here. I also enjoy cooking and baking, which spawned a collection of vintage recipes and kitchenware. 

The recipe collection started accidentally. I inherited my grandfather’s 1961 edition of The Joy of Cooking, and my mother gave me some 1970s Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks when I first moved out of the house. The photos cracked me up—they were so dated! But some of the recipes were pretty good. 

When I was 23, I met two women who encouraged my love of vintage—Helen and Wendy. They were both about my mom’s age. They both LOVED poking around antique stores, auctions, and flea markets. And passing on cool things they found years ago that they no longer used—like cookbooks. Sometimes I took them just to be polite. But years later, I’ve grown to appreciate the artwork and the language.  I like seeing how ideas about health and nutrition have evolved—how we eat today as opposed to the way vegetables are classified in this 1949 recipe organizer. 

I cherish the way farm cookbooks from the first half of the 20^th century assume the reader knows how to handle a sheep’s head. I enjoy looking at Ladies Auxiliary cookbooks and wondering about the group dynamics and how their recipes morphed as they were passed down through different generations. 

When I’m looking for authentic recipes for classics, I turn to my 1939 copy of The American Woman's Cookbook, Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook from 1959, or, my first edition Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook. In addition to cookbooks, I love recipes torn from old magazines, as these tend to have the best illustrations. I’m also a huge fan of advertising in disguise—pamphlets like “How to use and care for the Crosley Rotary Barbecue” or “77 Recipes Using Swift’ning Make Your Own Mix.” 

Vintage cookbooks are practical and affordable – besides consulting them for recipes I’ve framed old recipe cards or magazine pages in the past and used them as kitchen decorations. 

Excited to learn more about what other folks collect and how they got started! Keep the guest collector posts coming! 

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Remember if you collect and want to take part, leave your contact details below! 

Collectors Club - Postcards

Thanks to everyone that commented on the first edition of this series of bloggers who collect. Today I'm featuring Dani from A Blog From Blackpool who has an amazing collection of postcards.

I collect old, written, sent postcards from Blackpool and Greece.

My collection started by accident I wanted to write a collection of short stories in which the lines between fact and fiction could be distorted and a bought a small selection of old sent Blackpool postcard off Ebay.


I found them fascinating like little glimpses in to someone else’s life and I started to use them to inspire my writing.

At first I was only interested in Blackpool postcards because I like to be able to relate to the images and the places mentioned, plus I’ve always had a huge obsessive interest in the history of Blackpool.

Whilst searching for Blackpool postcards online I came across a collection of Greek postcards for sale, looking through a few images I realised that some of the postcards where from a place I’ve visited in Crete which was enough to spark my interest.

I now have over 150 postcards most of which are from Blackpool. My oldest postcard was sent in 1903.

My favourite postcard was sent in 1905 and simply says “As promised” on the back. This was the first postcard which inspired a story.

Collecting postcards is not a particularly expensive hobby; I must have only spent about £10 - £15 on my entire collection. I think this is great value for more.

I think most people who collect postcards don’t collect postcards from/to strangers and I assume those that do collect them for the stamps or the rare images but I collect them for the memories written on the back.

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Do you want this series to last more then a couple of weeks? Do you collect and want to feature your collection in this spot? Get in touch!