This will be a quick post because I have a question for you.
Are you a collector of anything?
I’ve collected vintage clocks for a long time, but I kind of stopped buying them because they were so expensive everywhere I saw them. I do love my collection of ironstone pitchers.
I’ve used those pitchers all over my house. They are currently on my Antique Stove, but I’ve also used them hanging in my kitchen window as a Faux Window Valance.
One thing I’ve never really thought I was a collector of is baskets. Specifically, Longaberger baskets.
Years ago, one of my cousins sold them and I bought some from her that I’ve used ever since. They were crazy expensive back in the 90s, so I couldn’t afford very many but now that Longaberger has gone out of business you can find some fairly inexpensively at resale shops, antique stores, and even occasionally at a yard sale.
Longaberger baskets can also be found on Ebay, but I’ve never bid on any.
Last weekend my husband and I drove to Kansas City where he wanted to look at a used car.
I had to go along in case he bought it, which he did, so I could drive my car back.
We had some time to kill waiting for the other man to get off work, so my husband took me to a resale shop where I scored quite a few Longaberger baskets in several shapes and sizes. They were very reasonably priced. Otherwise I would’nt have bought them.
None of them are considered collector’s baskets because they don’t have the metal label on them that collector’s baskets do. They did have a few of those which were more expensive, but I like my baskets without the labels anyway.
A few of them came with the paper label stating what the baskets were called.
I bought a round fruit basket with a handle that I love!
There’s also an oblong vegetable basket, a key basket, and a candle basket.
Most of these baskets will be decorative only, but I will put a few to use because they are so sturdy.
I’ll show you where I’m going to use the baskets in another post.
The only other thing I bought was a wooden tray. I have makeover plans for it!
Be sure to let me know in the comments below if there’s anything that you collect!
Vaya con Dios,
Angie
Those are Longaberger baskets. The company filed bankruptcy this past June. I sold this for over 20 years.
I know. I was sorry to hear about it.They made such lovely baskets.
I was so happy to read your Longaberger basket story, as I sip my second cuppa from my pink Longaberger coffee mug! I too collected, probably more than I should’ve and now wonder where my baskets and I stand. I do use many, but there are more I do not. I will not part with my breast cancer baskets, all bought before my experience with the disease (4 yr survivor come this next Aug!). Now I may rethink what I may or may not put in our local Lions flea market next month. I don’t want to deal with mailing and those costs, so ebay is not an option. Oh my, sorry to carry on so! It was, to repeat, so good to read about these well made beautiful baskets!
Thank you so much for sharing survivor story Georgia!!
Can’t wait to see what you do with your wooden tray. what great looking baskets.
Me; I can’t pass up rolling pins or wooden cutting boards along with old kitchen utensils
I love old cutting boards & rolling pins too!
My collections are very piecemeal. Some come from my Nana and some from my in laws, but most has been picked up from thrift stores one piece at a time. Depression glass, hobnail glass, MOJ porcelains, 1800’s silverplate, crocks, a 1920’s scale, and even vintage tools among others. I love making little vignettes to place around the house. Spying a vintage item mixed into a jumble of modern stuff being sold for way less than it is worth is my favorite form of treasure hunting.
Most of mine are that way too Mellisa.
Hi Ange… collections! Well… there’s something I know a bit about. Till I moved to Greece before Christmas I had a lot of collections which I had to sell all or most of, cause I couldn’t keep it all. I was moving continents and taking as little as possible with me as I didn’t have a house to live in and didn’t know what I’d need or what space I’d have.
My collections included:
poodles – anything poodle from ceramic figures to pictures, stamps, accessories, you name it, I had it.
vintage strainers and colanders
vintage jugs for boiling water
vintage kitchen and farm scales
vintage canning jars
vintage vases
vintage dishes
vintage thread spools
buttons
vintage tins and metal containers
old tea kettles
old flour sifters
old light switches
boxes and crates of all shapes and sizes
rolling pins
I’m sure there’s more but right now I can’t remember… LOL
You had a huge amount of collections Zefi!
I love your baskets it’s so sad when company’s like that go out of business. I have a few too many collections but i love white stoneware, old wooden utensils, aluminum kitchenware, wooden bowls etc. I won’t name them all, some i have in old gallon jars and when full i quit.
Yes, it was very sad. He built a wonderful company & product. I’m just glad that he wasn’t alive to see it end.
Beautiful baskets, Angie! They are on my list to collect, too…as are way too many other things lol.
Linda, I love them because they are not just pretty but are strong enough the work!
Baskets
Wooden boxes!
Gnomes
Cookie cutters
Vintage Children’s books
Vintage books pre-1950
Vintage linens
Vintage kitchen gadgets
Vintage cook books
Alice in Wonderland anything!!!!!!!
Vintage, Vintage, Vintage
Wood boxes are some of my favorites too!
Oh my, I’m just like the others. I collect a little of this and a little of that and redecorate my house all the time.
That’s why I love collections Garnet, You can just rearrange them and it looks like new decor!
Oh I’m a collector! And it’s kind of out of control. Maybe. 🙂
I have quite a few of those baskets, more than quite a few actually, since I did sell for about a year and a half.
My next largest collection is probably graniteware. I cannot seem to pass to much of that up, if it is what I consider a good price. And vintage tablecloths, oh my, the printed ones from the 40’s and 50’s. I’ve had amassed quite a few of these too.
I have many other little collections of things. They make me smile. My husband has a huge collection of old road signs, the embossed ones. I’ve always said, and now he agrees, that some day there will be this fabulous farm auction and someone will get lots of treasures. That will hopefully be years from now though, so we have lots of time to keep searching for more fun stuff.
That angled basket you called a candle basket is actually a vegetable basket. I used to sell Longabereger baskets and have quite a few.
One of my favorite things to search for and collect are spice tins. I love blue and white, so have the Crescent tins that were made here in the Northwest.
I don’t collect anything specific – I was collecting cast iron pots/skillets but got too many to store, then I cleaned old copper pieces I bought and got too many. Collections can be a problem! I look for trays I can refurbish and also wooden bowls and cutting boards. I refinish a lot of them and give them away. Some of my favorite DIYs come from items bought from dollar stores – they are cost-efficient and can be made into cute decor projects.