Redartz: Hello all; glad you could make it. Today we're doing something a little bit different. Many times, in the course of our dialogues, I've noted a fondness for visiting flea markets. That hasn't changed with the pandemic; since some have opened up (with social distancing and masks required), my wife and I have toured several. Now probably most of you have experienced a flea market or two. But for the benefit of those who may not have been 'flea-ing', and for those who have but miss the fun do to pandemic restrictions, we present a 'virtual flea market'. More accurately, you get a play-by-play with scenes from today's market visit. Everyone masked up? Okay, let's see what we can find.
As we enter the place, we take a brief look around to get the lay of the place. For indoor markets, we usually go down each aisle checking out both sides at once. This is a fairly good-sized building, and features a cafe in the back ( unfortunately we already ate).
Incidentally, as we go through we will skip over many booths; those offering 'new' items, discount tables, clothing and the like. Also it's advisable not to buy groceries at flea markets (at least, we never do). We are looking for collectibles, music, antiques, pop culture items; and , well, anything unusual. The first thing that grabs our notice is a booth with some superhero figures and other miscellaneous toys. The Iron Man is pretty cool, but I'm not really looking for figures today, so it's a pass.
We go on a little way and find a dealer with a bunch of books. Among them is a shelf of vintage Dr. Suess hardbacks; just like the ones I (and probably many of you ) learned to read with. In particular, that "Dr. Suess' ABC's" was one of my childhood favorites. A sentimental temptation, but not today. We move on...
A few booths later, we encounter a table with numerous Star Wars memorabilia. Figures older and newer, some books, posters, and miscellany. Probably would catch the eye of some among us!
A bit further, as we round the end of the aisle and start back in the other direction, we come to a booth with a wide variety of glassware. The Coke glasses get my notice, especially the nice holiday-themed ones on the right. On another shelf is a line of Mason jars; a very common antique in the US Midwest (countless families used them for home canning and preserves).
About halfway down the aisle is a big booth with loads of vinyl lp's! We always go throu
gh such stacks, as we have a couple family members who are big vinyl collectors. Also, I've been known to pick up the occasional album to convert on my computer, if the price is right. Most flea markets have LOADS of vinyl available, albeit much of it pretty worn. Today however, I find one to take home. Yes, the first purchase: a nice copy of John Barry's soundtrack to "From Russia With Love". And yes, the price is indeed right.
gh such stacks, as we have a couple family members who are big vinyl collectors. Also, I've been known to pick up the occasional album to convert on my computer, if the price is right. Most flea markets have LOADS of vinyl available, albeit much of it pretty worn. Today however, I find one to take home. Yes, the first purchase: a nice copy of John Barry's soundtrack to "From Russia With Love". And yes, the price is indeed right.We find another interesting LP, this one of the inauguration of President Richard Nixon. Not sure why someone would want 
a recording of an inauguration anyway, but it's a notable bit of history. A good example of "you never know what you might find'..
We move on. On the next aisle one single booth has a couple things that draw us in. One is an attractive old bicycle; a bit beat up but still pretty nice. Sharp color, too. And right behind it is a basket full to overflowing with dolls. One of which, from it's appearance , is none to happy about being there...
Turning another corner and starting down the right side, we see one of those "never seen one of these before" things. Our family closely followed all the Apollo space missions, and had plenty of moon memorabilia. Yet we never had a Command Module Cookie Jar! Any of you ever see one of these?
After a few more unremarkable dealers and craft tables, we arrive at a booth selling cds, dvds and vcr tapes. As with vinyl, I'm always on the lookout for cd's of interest. Both of these were considered: Julee Cruise singing for Angelo Badalamente (from Twin Peaks), and Meco (of 'disco Star Wars' fame) doing an instrumental collage album. The Julie Cruise disc becomes the second item in our purchase cart.
A brief observation at this point: it's a bit disappointing that we've so far seen no comic books whatsoever. However, we do find some toilet tissue...
Well, we're nearing the end of the flea market. One more aisle to go, and here's a promising booth with lots of paper memorabila. First we notice this; anyone else remember S&H Green Stamps? 
And did you folks in the UK ever have anything of the sort: trading stamps; given away at grocery stores 'back in the old days'. You'd save the stamps in a booklet until you accumulated enough to trade them in for a toaster or some such prize. My Mom had a drawer full of these things.
And as we turn around, we finally find a few stacks of comic books! My patient wife goes on ahead to look while I rifle through the boxes. Most of them very recent stock, and little of interest to this collector.
However, one book is worth a look (a look, not a purchase). "Zody the Mod Rob"? Man, you just had to love the 60's!
And with that booth, we come to the conclusion of our flea market. Up to the counter we go, coughing up the funds for the pair of musical items we chose. Then it's back out to the car, and finally off with the mask. Hope you found this 'visit' a bit amusing. Even on those occasions when we don't actually buy anything, we find these flea markets fun to walk through. Sort of like a mini-museum. Any thoughts on anything we've seen today? Any comments on markets you've been to, and oddities you've found? Share on...
18 comments:
It's funny how the setting has changed for flea markets and/or antique malls over the last couple of decades. Thrift stores as well, for that matter. They always used to be in crumbling old buildings-- cramped, badly-lit, rabbit-warren types of spaces where two people couldn't safely pass by each other. Your picture, there, seems to indicate the more current model of a retired commercial property (like a grocery store, say) that was available for a good price. A lot more like a big-box store. It does knock the charm-factor down several notches, BUT it certainly improves the browsing efficiency, yes?
We have a town that's sort of a suburb of both DC and Baltimore called Ellicott City whose long main street was almost entirely the former model, built on a very steep incline next to a river. Entire buildings that had been connected by passages and break-throughs, with zillions of individual vendors. Sadly, it was ravaged by two astonishing floods in recent years. In the videos we could see display cases we ourselves remembered browsing over, being swept out of storefronts and carried off in the torrent. . .
Floods were caused by rampant real estate development upstream, where environmental impact (erosion) regulations were blithely waved aside. . .
HB (always bitter--- my daughter and I LOVED that community. . . )
Here in Britain a flea market is called a "car boot sale" but I've never been to one.
I'm familiar with the green stamps but here they were known as Green Shield Stamps. About 1980 my grandmother gave us several books of stamps which enabled us to claim a pressure cooker.
I *love* flea markets, but don't get to them as often as I like. You're right that they're kind of like museums - I always say that flea markets and antique stores are like museums where you can actually handle the exhibits.
Back when I was living in California, there was a big flea market held in San Jose at a big drive-in theater lot on Saturdays and Sundays. So much great stuff to be found there. Your observation about buying groceries gave me pause, by the way, because the San Jose flea market also had a number of farmers' market-type booths with people selling produce from their gardens, including a lot of fruits, vegetables and herbs that were hard to find anywhere else, at least at reasonable prices.
Here in Zagreb, there's an outdoor flea market located, I guess appropriately enough, near the regional landfill. It operates on Sundays and Wednesdays. There's also an outdoor antique fair that's held on Sundays on a square in the downtown area. I haven't been to either in quite some time, though - and I don't know how they're even functioning now under the pandemic restrictions.
As to your virtual tour - well, I would definitely have lingered longer on the Dr. Seuss books, and probably purchased Go, Dog, Go! I know that one's not by Seuss, but it's one of my favorite children's books ever. I think I have a copy somewhere around the house, but wouldn't mind another. Assuming it's cheap, I would probably have also purchased Zody the Mod Rob. The more recent Black Panther book caught my eye, as I've been wanting to read the stuff written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. If that box had more of those, like a pretty decent consecutive run of them, I might have been tempted to pick those up as well.
And yeah, I remember Green Stamps. My mom similarly had a whole stack of those in a kitchen drawer, but I don't think she ever bothered trading them in for anything.
I haven't been to a flea market since I was a kid, but they're good for finding interesting stuff. I love that cookie jar!
It would indeed have been tough to pass up that cookie jar--- and I'm not even that big of a Star Wars follower--!
And I'm trying to figure out who-- if anyone?-- would purchase those old S&H Green Stamps books and sheets? I mean, they are certainly a very specific bit of nostalgia, but. . . they are literally without value-- heh. And they wouldn't have a personal memory attached to them, of course. . .
Did you happen to come across any booths that sold those 12" glass tumblers with animated figures stamped on them? They seem to have a HUGE collectors' community behind them. . .
I'll tell ya-- I tend to gravitate right toward vintage Christmas decor if anyone has it at their booth. . .
HB
HB- you're right, many flea markets these days are occupying former retail spaces. We have one such near our house (which I frequently visit). Sure beats another empty building. That said, there's nothing like a big outdoor flea market. While the indoor markets continue, the outdoor ones seem to have dried up during the pandemic.
And yes, there were some character glasses. Seldom hit a market without finding a few. Aaaaand, on the subject of vintage Christmas- do you have one of those old silver aluminum trees with the rotating color light? That's on my "always looking for" list...
Colin - "car boot sale"? Fascinating. Do you know the origin of that name?
Edo- regarding groceries- we do hit the occasional farmers market. But at flea markets, we often see tables of dinged up boxes of cereal, canned foods, cookies, etc. Probably salvaged from an overturned truck, with questionable expiration dates.
So do you find the same sorts of things at markets in Zagreb ? Many collectibles, or more 'serious' antiques?
Red, the outdoor antique fair I mentioned has more 'serious' antiques, some potentially quite valuable, as well as odds, ends and trinkets of far lesser value and usually a few hawkers offering old books, magazines and comics (almost exclusively locally published stuff, i.e., from Croatia or other places in the former Yugoslavia, with a smattering of Italian or German material), and, naturally, old records and CDs and sometimes DVDs.
The flea market, though, is pretty much anything goes: old junk and potentially collectable antiques, including toys of all vintages; books, magazines and comics (often just haphazardly strewn over an old blanket on the ground); old records, cassettes, CDs, VHS cassettes and DVDs; used household appliances, often in need of repair; old and used tools, including power tools (with the same caveat as the appliances); second-hand but also new, marked-down clothing and footwear; and yes, a lot of consumer goods still in their original packaging, including canned and boxed foodstuffs, soap, shampoo, detergents, batteries, auto-parts, etc., which may not have been legitimately acquired. On Sundays, used cars and other vehicles are also sold there.
There are similar open-air markets elsewhere in the country, at which you can also find fresh produce and even livestock - not just, say, chicks or ducklings, but also lambs, baby goats, calves and piglets, or even grown animals. Sometimes, in the case of the latter, they have little auctions for those.
Red, in the UK a car's boot is equivalent to a car's trunk in the US - so I suppose a "car boot sale" means selling things that are transported in a car's boot? I have no idea. But what about "flea market" - a market for fleas??
You mentioned having to wear a mask in those flea markets you visit - what about other shops? Can you CHOOSE to wear a mask or is it required by law? In the UK it is compulsory to wear a mask in shops and on public transport.
Oh! I had one other observation about coming across comic books in non-specialty booths at flea markets/antique malls/etc: Nine times out ten (it seems) the asking price is just hilariously inflated, and bargains are on the rare side. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that the non-hobby proprietor(s) must be grabbing a copy of Overstreet from their buddy in the booth two aisles over, quickly looking up the Mint value of the books in their box, quickly tagging on, like, 10% or so for "overhead", and slapping that price on a sticker on the bag. I have laughed right out loud at high volume on more than a couple of occasions under these apparent circumstances. Which startled even myself, given the often library-like hush that rests over so many of them. . .
Only at a flea-market could a New Universe title like "Spitfire & the Troubleshooters" #1 be deemed a highly-regarded, valuable collectible. . . heh. . .
HB
Another British word for flea market could be a "jumble sale" but they are much less interesting than the flea market in this week's post. The jumble sales I've frequented usually sold some home-made cakes, second-hand clothes and tatty old paperback novels.
Colin- your jumble-sale sounds much closer to what we'd have for a yard-sale (or perhaps garage-sale)--- minus the baked-goods. Health laws have tightened in some places about selling unlicensed home-made consumables to the general public. Which is, of course, MURDER on Bake Sales. The work-around there is that the treats are "free" but there is a specific "donation" that is highly expected from anyone who decides to indulge. . .
Regarding your mask question-- it SHOULD be a nearly-no-exceptions health code mandate (like wearing shoes and a shirt in a restaurant, say--)-- but was turned into an asinine political issue by a extraordinarily strident and ignorant minority (though a sizable one) of people who simply cannot bear having anyone tell them to do anything that they find inconvenient. Unsurprisingly, this brought to light an embarrassing number of folks from my own childhood hometown who are STILL thumbing their noses at seatbelt laws, and are proud of the fierce, rugged, patriotic individualism that they feel they are adhering to. Same group of folks. And since the president doesn't wear one, they're pretty sure that exempts them as well, regardless of local mandates. . .
HB
Colin, re: "tatty old paperback novels." Sometimes there's nothing I like better than browsing through stacks of old paperbacks...
Colin- I've no idea where the term "flea market" originated from. Granted, I've seen some that could be described as "flea bitten", but most have been fine...
As for masks, most establishments in my area require masks for entry. Of course there are always some who, shall we say, don't pay any heed.
HB- quite so, some flea dealers are nuts price wise. And if you ever shop antique malls, the situation is even worse. That said, one can still find the occasional bargain. I've found many, and if condition isn't critical, it's easier still. Plus, even at booths manned by a specific comic dealer, negotiating is possible. Some of those dealers are quite happy to make you a deal if it means a sale...
And I fully agree with your views regarding the politicization of public safety. Our country must have fallen into the Twilight Zone. If only Rod Serling would show up with a satisfying ending...
Hiya,
When I helped several young film makers on their first projects I had to literally drag them into the flea markets, second hand shops and the Good Wills to prop and costume their works.
If no one at the flea market carried that one of a kind just got to have it even if I can't really explain why in the film, they knew of someone who did.
Always thought that would be a great environment to set a murder mystery in.
By the by, while I agree with the implied value of the New Universe, has anybody else noticed that Shooter took the concept and made it work so well at Valiant that his partners stoled the company from him and sold it for over one hundred and fifty million dollars?
Seeya,
pfgavigan
Red! Sorry I am so late to this party.
A month ago I went to a garage sale where they were only selling their father's old 45 records. The lady posted the upcoming sale on "Nextdoor.com" which I highly recommend everyone join in their community, and listed each record. She offered to set aside anything anyone wanted in particular.
I emailed and asked if she'd set aside any Beatles 45s for me and she said, "Sure!"
Well, she only had one. "Sie Liebt Dich!" (She Loves You, Yea, Yea, Yea.) the German version, LOL.
So, the sale started on Saturday at 10:00 AM. I dutifully showed up and gave her $1 (all records $1) and drove away happy.
I ebay'd it out of curiosity and it seems the cheapest you can get it is $50.
But in truth I got it b/c my son (21 y.o.) and I are huge Beatles fans. Also he and I love my stereo system with record player from 1980 and really prefer vinyl to digital. (He's played piano and jazz guitar for several years, now.)
This single is not going to see ebay for many decades if at all. What a find!
And what is interesting is the two folks selling their dad's records were maybe in their late 20s / early 30s and seemed completely happy to be selling these hundreds of 45s off at $1 each. They were all from late 50s through 1964ish. I also grabbed On Broadway by the Drifters.
P.S. ON Nextdoor.com folks are giving away a ton of free stuff (pianos, dining room tables. paintings) in addition to advising about coyote sightings, lost kittens, good / bad restaurants, stores where folks are not wearing covid masks... it's a real gem for the community. I highly recommend it.
Pfg- afraid I never read any of the New Universe books, or anything from Valiant. Perhaps others have a thought. Oh, and you're right, a flea market would be an interesting setting for a murder tale. Which makes me think- my wife likes to watch the Hallmark Channel. They have a series called "Garage Sale Mysteries ". Unfortunately they seem rather formulaic.
Charlie- good to hear from you anytime! Cool story, and a cool find. Did it have a picture sleeve? Plus that Drifters single; excellent song!
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