what i bought on my summer vacation...mid-century modern midwest

Now for the fun part. When we trekked back to the Midwest over the 4th of July, my patient and tolerant cousin indulged my love of the op shops.

I decided I would focus on mid-century modern Midwest pottery.

And Husky paintings.

This oil was done in the sixties and is rather primitive. But I like it. And was willing to ship it home. Kudos to Olde Timer's Antique Centre in Sandwich, Illinois. They had a shop that went on for days. If you looked closely, mid-century modern could be found tucked into many nooks and crannies. But, to be fair, you really had to look.

You can kinda see the resemblance.

In the same very massive dealer mall, I found, for a very good price, a Russel Wright Chartreuse pitcher from Steubenville Ohio, in perfect condition. I have a soft spot in my heart for anything both pottery and chartreuse.

On another muggy afternoon, we drove over to Volo, Illinois and stopped in at Volo Antiques Mall. Also massive. They had a special section which contained a good portion of their mid-century modern neatly displayed together. And, the rest of the aisles, and floors, and aisles was devoted to country, Victorian antiques, and other whatnot.

I got a few of these Royal Haeger art pottery vases. I had never before bumped into Royal Haeger pottery. With a little in-store Googling, I figured that Haeger is an extremely local potter, in fact, first established in the late 1800's along the clay rich Fox River (which runs along the Farnsworth House as well). Their original product, bricks, was used extensively in rebuilding a burn-proof industrial Chicago after the Great Fire.

Aren't they stunning?

And, I got this little fabric scrap. It was in a pile of sample pieces from a 50's drapery shop.

Enough to make a pillow. It is marked Colonial Drapery & Curtain Corp, 79 Madison Ave., New York. The pattern is called Yuma 466. All I can find about this mid-fifties company is they had a couple of skirmishes with the IRS.

 Next up, orange!!!

I was attracted to this Vernon Kilns bright orange water pitcher. It is probably from the 40's. And, I can't find anything like this pitcher on eBay or the web. Frankly, most of their stuff looks like a bit of a Bauer/Fiestaware ripoff. I bought it, in spite of the fact it is California pottery.

I was very impressed that the lid survived all these years.

And the orange pitcher is sitting on a mosaic Georges Briard mosaic tray from the 60's. I happen to have another one of those, but smaller, so I picked it up for a song. A little wear, but perfect for holding stuff.

Last purchase at Volo was this weird little blue vase.

I couldn't make out the label or the marks, but knew it would fit perfectly under my bathroom cabinet on the counter. I am always looking for stuff to tuck in there.

No idea. But it was cheap. And old. And caught my eye.

I think that about wraps it up for Volo. Yolo.

Our trip moved out of Illinois into Indiana to drop our son off at a soccer camp. My husband and I did a quick stop at Shipshewana Antique and Flea Market, down in  Amish country. Well, the Amish are famous lately.

I swear, I saw these bonny lasses texting on their cell phones.

I do not get it at all.

The Shipshewana antique mall kind of sucked too (sorry, I try not to be negative). High prices and very commercial. Limited mid-century modern. I did manage to find a piece  glass, probably from the sixties, that looked interesting.

Unmarked and unlabeled. Looked like a knockoff of the Hooped Glass Vases which I have purchased before.

Cost next to nothing, so home it came. And the little vase will also fit under the bathroom counter and look nice next to the pottery turquoise vase.

Cool, huh? I don't get to go picking through shops in the Midwest EVER, so I enjoyed myself. My cousins were impressed with which the speed I could spot something, and then buy it. Over the years, I have learned not to pass up a good thing at a reasonable price. You rarely get back down the same aisle twice.

I think that is it for our summer vacation. I could show you some Indiana farm pictures, but that would be just gratuitous, and not mid-century at all.

Related Posts

• What We Did on Our Summer Vacation Part Three: Millennium Park. 
• What We Did on Our Summer Vacation Part Two: Chicago Architectural Boat Tour
• Farnsworth House: Mid-Century Modern Minimalist Miracle