amNew York stumbled upon this great treasure at Hell's Kitchen Flea Market last week. They got the name of the market wrong, but the address right! This 1920s vanity set will bring you back to the decade before the Great Depression-- kind of like the 1990s to us ;)
"A Swiss historian browsing at a Geneva flea market has stumbled upon a previously unknown maths text published in Bern in 1619." Article here.
For $10 you can get candle sticks, napkin holders, or bookends. Not bad for a couple of owls!
As featured in The Newlywed Diaries, designer Eddie Ross, a contestant on Bravo TV's Top Design,
and Heather of Habitually Chic took the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market by storm, and each came home with some great finds (including that pair of marble lamps, which Heather scored for just $100).
Eddie Ross of Bravo TV's Top Design show and a Greenwich, Connecticut-based designer, got a great vintage light fixture at Hell's Kitchen Flea Market.
He rightly notes:
even if you rent, don't settle for cookie-cutter fixtures! Lighting can make (or break) a room. Find a fixture you love—and if it's vintage, all the better
As reported in The New York Post (and on CNN.com)
A $10 flea-market picture of some flowers proved far more valuable when original handwritten lyrics to the patriotic song "My Country 'Tis of Thee" turned up in the picture's backing, a downtown [Manhattan] document dealer said yesterday.
The picture was purchased at the West 25th Street Market. The lyrics document was valued at $100,000.
With flea markets, you're sometimes treasure hunting and don't even know it!
A hat-tip to Urban Audrey.
What more can we say except, "Audrey, we love the purse!"
The contributer named Mel on the Moleskincity.com site for New York City recently offered some advice about Hell's Kitchen Flea Market:
There are definitely great bargains to be had at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market, but you are going to have to work for them. Here are a few tips that worked for me: Don’t sleep in; these vendors love to pack up by 4:30pm. Check the forecast; the best deals are found during lousy weather, when the sellers are feeling especially desperate. Also note that the more things you buy from the same vendor, the less you’ll end up paying for each item. Be sure to bargain; it is not like Chinatown but you can still make them an offer. This collection of vendors have all your typical flea market commodities: books, broaches...and vintage clothing plus the more random Victorian couches and tables, tea sets, and a decent collection of taxidermy. The Flea Market is held every Saturday and Sunday from 9am-6pm on 39th between 9th and 10th.
(Photo from the On The Inside's review of Hell's Kitchen Flea Market.)
The Wichita Eagle featured an informative Q & A article, "Personalize your decor with flea-market finds," in its Home & Garden section. The respondent is Mary Carol Garrity.
A strong segment of flea market shoppers includes those who repurpose old things of a more miscellaneous nature. No wonder flea market fans include environmentally conscious consumers and designers. With a bit of creativity (and sometimes some basic DYI supplies) an old birdcage can be transformed into a lampshade, an incomplete vintage croquet set into as an umbrellas stand.
(Photo: Old card catalogs show up at flea markets from time to time. Many libraries have switched entirely to electronic cataloging and no longer need their old card catalogs. Bits and Bobbins highlighted the repurposing of an old card catalog as attractive storage or organizing furniture.)
