What is it? Auction Finds

34°f, about 1.5°C. Mostly clear all day with a few clouds, and light wind drying up some of the mud. Snow still lingers in shaded and north-facing areas.

Today was a sorting and cleaning day as we unloaded the van and sorted out our auction buys.

I worked on this cool old box first, cleaning off paint splatters. That is always a challenge, trying to get the paint off without destroying the finish. It took a while, and then careful retouching with a dark oil to get it to look decent again.

This trunk also had paint splatters and a couple places where it has been hit with spray paint. 

The lock is pretty cool, but we don't have a key, unfortunately. 

This took more careful work to get it cleaned up and retouched. My hands and nails are a mess, but I think the trunk came out pretty nice. This one is probably early 1900's, judging by the style and hardware.

I won a bucket full of miscellaneous kitchen utensils, some of which (cheap knives and plastic stuff) will go directly to the thrift. There were a lot of good vintage things, though, and these 3 that have me scratching my head.

Any ideas what they might be used for? I haven't searched them yet on Google Lens, so I hope I can find answers there---unless one of you can te me their use.

Any guesses as to what this is?

Inside, these paddles are turned by cranking on the handle. 

If you guessed tabletop butter churn, you'd be right! The handle has lost its wood part, and the churn needs one board repaired, so we have a little work to do here too.

Those were the best finds, except for a dresser that is still in the van. We did get a few things for ourselves at this auction: a used air conditioner that works great, to replace the very old one in the workroom, an electric pole chainsaw for pruning our fruit trees, and a box full of extension cords and surge protectors. Because who ever has enough of those?

I experimented with banana bread today. I had 2 overripe bananas and some strawberry yogurt that needed to be used up, so I dumped that in with the bananas, used a little less oil, and no milk. I also added some chocolate chips. The bread came out great, but I can't taste the strawberries. It's mighty delicious though. 

Tomorrow we will take the ornamental windmill that Larry assembled to one of our booths, and 2 end tables I finished sealing with polyurethane today to the other location. So it will be an easier day, and that's fine with me. 

Until next time, friends.

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