The most recent estate sale that I attended yielded some great finds. It was the estate of a family very prominent in retail furniture sales in Raleigh way back in the 1940s and 1950s. 
In an excellent neighborhood just two houses from 'CCC' (Carolina Country Club, founded 1910), the house was very nice but relatively modest by modern 'prominent family' standards. This is usually the case. It's funny how houses that were built for these types of families in the 1950s through the 1970s seemed so impressive at the time but would be swallowed up by recent decades' McMansions. In that sense, I guess the McMansion housing boom has more in common with the Early 20th Century which saw really large houses built with luxury details ranging from the tons of finely carved hardwood details in Victorian mansions to cutting-edge Mission style homes to charming, well-crafted Sears cottages for the upper middle classes. I suppose that the Great Depression and WWII dampened enthusiasm for these grandiose homes for many decades. -Until people had forgotten about housing booms and busts that saw many of those turn-of-the-century gorgeous mansions split up into tenement housing during the Depression. -Could that happen again, I wonder?
In an excellent neighborhood just two houses from 'CCC' (Carolina Country Club, founded 1910), the house was very nice but relatively modest by modern 'prominent family' standards. This is usually the case. It's funny how houses that were built for these types of families in the 1950s through the 1970s seemed so impressive at the time but would be swallowed up by recent decades' McMansions. In that sense, I guess the McMansion housing boom has more in common with the Early 20th Century which saw really large houses built with luxury details ranging from the tons of finely carved hardwood details in Victorian mansions to cutting-edge Mission style homes to charming, well-crafted Sears cottages for the upper middle classes. I suppose that the Great Depression and WWII dampened enthusiasm for these grandiose homes for many decades. -Until people had forgotten about housing booms and busts that saw many of those turn-of-the-century gorgeous mansions split up into tenement housing during the Depression. -Could that happen again, I wonder?
Anyway, check out this tank of a mixer. Please don't confuse this Kitchen Aid mixer with what you can get from William Sonoma or other retailers. This is a 1960s model back when they were made by industrial food prep manufacturer Hobart. This was manufactured in Troy, Ohio and its lines resemble a Boeing B-29 Super-fortress. All business.
Here's a tip. Really, really great design just seems to photograph well. Take a look at these vintage 1960s Gerber kitchen knives. No special lighting or camera and it looks like BBDO spent 50k on the photo shoot. 
Oh, I just picked a nice little Danish pan in brown. It's much cooler than it photographs. Tip: If you want Le Creuset cookware but can't afford it, keep on the lookout for less well-known ceramic cast iron beauties like vintage Dansk or Copco from Denmark. =Oh my god, I just found out that Crate and Barrel has reintroduced the line that I have been collecting. Oh well.
1 comment:
Mr. Winston,
Thanks for the kind words. Good luck in finding some of these kitchen treasures for yourself!
-tt
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