Its original condition really spoke volumes. I began to think of its value as a display piece. What was weird to me about it was its size. It's tiny. Two feet from floor to seat. Was it a salesman's sample? I'm used to full-sized bikes in that great utilitarian black and white color scheme but, being a dad, I'm conditioned to expect children's bikes to appeal explicately to little kids. Pink with My Little Pony decals, or whatever.
This was an EXACT replica of an Edwardian bike, down to the 'dress guard' holes drilled into the rear fender that held lacy web-like things that kept women's long dresses from getting caught in the spokes of the rear wheel. This was a girl's bike (you can tell by the 'swan's neck' frame style) and everyone says that guys bikes are more desirable. But I don't care because I think that they look cooler and, if you're a guy over the age of 30, getting astride this style is a LOT more comfortable if you know what I mean.
My hopes were dashed (slightly) because it turns out that little, TINY kids did actually ride similar bikes in France in the early 20th Century so my bike was probably not a salesman's sample. But it's still really cool. Typically, children's bikes are fairly common but I suspect that ones this old are fairly rare, especially ones this small. Check out these great vintage photos of small children riding similar bikes long ago.
This antique bike's small size makes it ideal for display. I can envision a vintage bike enthusiast hanging this up on a wall to capture all of the nostalgia of early French cycling without the size of an adult model.
It's also fun to talk with the vendors about their wares. An increasingly big thing is locally grown eggs, cheese and meat. They talk passionately about the difference between their eggs and grocery store eggs, for example. One vendor seemed especially disdainful of the direction that Big Ag. was going. "Did you know that they can grow steak in the lab now?" Another vendor chimed in. "I've heard that the Japanese have developed a 'meat-like' vegetarian product that uses poop as an ingredient." I nodded somberly in agreement not wishing to point out that organically grown bean sprouts are the suspected source of E-coli poisoning in Germany.
Here are two recent good examples. I spend less and less time at thrift stores because they seem to be filled more and more with cheap, disposable clothes of the kind bought by guys who only buy new and don't understand quality. But I did find this terrific B-squared buttondown. Another advantage with buying vintage is items have already been laundered and have shrunk down to their real size. This yellow shirt is size 17 which would be too big new but is about right in its current state. I call these 'postage stamp' buttondowns and they are what everyone remembers when you talk about the greatness of Brooks Brothers buttondowns. Their label is small and simply states where it was made and not to bleach it.
Glad I did. THIS is what a yard sale should look like. Turns out that the homeowner collected quite a lot way back and she stuffed it back in the detached garage. Years of vines, idle cars and dust created that perfume of stagnant time, caught and permeating in a forgotten, overgrown eddy. Trapped for pickers, like me, to discover. 
I finally broke down and bought a bottle of Pinaud Clubman Lilac Vegetal aftershave from the barber supply place. The scent is fairly unique among aftershaves. Its basically French Lilac water and smells very old-fashioned, even anachronistic. Southern Gothic. The smell of black suited deacons in a Faulknerian church in July, their L.V. aftershave propelled through the congregation by frantically waving hand fans. -Or was that the aroma of flower arrangements from Saturday's funeral fading in the heat? Floral with a hint of something sinister beneath the surface.
I've been to some pretty fun yard sales lately. The one this weekend really captured some fun Raleigh memories because this particular house was locally famous for its huge Christmas displays that it held every year during the 1950s through the 1970s.
