Thimble, Thimble Whose Got the Thimble???

When I was a little girl we liked to play this game.

Well....































One of the things Norman and I enjoy doing together is going to Estate Sales. We love visiting some of the old homes of Atlanta and stepping back in time. I always want to know who lived there, what did they do, what happened to them, etc. Sometimes if you listen (you know I am good at that) you can find the answers to some of these questions. Its amazing what you can learn about a person just by rummaging through their stuff.

Saturday was the perfect day for estate saling. The air was crisp and the leaves were in all of their fall glory!!!! We plugged in our addresses and off we went. Just to clarify the difference in a yard sale and an estate sale...The words "estate sale" can mean different things depending on the quality of the person's "junk" or to coin an old phrase -"one man's junk is another man's treasure". But what we have found to be true is if you replace the word "yard" with the word "estate" the price immediately jumps up at least 50%. You have to be careful.(You could end up with an organ no one needs-inside family joke that is still sitting in our living room).

On this particular day we hit some of both. I found 4 Mardi Gras mask, 4 boas and 3 Disney videos for the kids. We saw an exercise machine like the one my Aunt Aubrey use to have. (Just had to have a picture of that!) And a Coleman stove the size of my first microwave. Can we say - Where is the dumpster????

We visited a very old house out by the Governor's Mansion with beautiful trees, terrace landscaping, an elevator, lots of old dishes and books. I found a prayer book entitled A Diary of Private Prayer copyright 1949. It has a morning and evening prayer and lots of handwritten notes. Inside was folded a piece of paper with this prayer - "For Those We Love" - "Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen." I thought that was very well said. I also found a copy of C.S.Lewis' Mere Christianity .(I have always heard of this book but have never read it. I look forward to doing so). Tucked inside of this book was a bookmark that said, "My Grace is Sufficent for Thee". Another lady found a "Leaves of Gold" poetry book which had been a gift from Governor Carl E. Sanders (Governor of Georgia in 1963).

Our final stop of the day brought Norman's "find"... Let me preface this by saying, I have never been a collector of anything but dust, which by the way is easy to collect but not very profitable. However, someone was and now I am a collector of thimbles. I am now the proud owner of over 200 of them!!! We actually detached the display case from the wall with the thimbles still inside. They threw in many of the original boxes at no extra charge. You know Norman, he is quite the negotiator. When we got home we were like two kids on Christmas morning looking at all the different thimbles. Some of them are just sourvenir types from over 50 different US cities, more than 60 are from places all over the world and some are just very unique. It also included a complete set of 25 Country Store Collection Thimbles with papers for each.

I have taken pictures of a few of my favorites. So if you are looking for the perfect gift for Christmas for someone who collects thimbles, we are looking to turn a profit and can fix you up!!! Otherwise, these thimbles will one day be a "find" for someone at our estate sale. Enjoy.