It Has To Be You™: Christmas In July + 2 Genies For The Price Of One

The July Brimfield Antiques Show was a pleasant success after May's dreary cold weather. This time it was sunny with temps in the low 80s – ideal for treasure hunting. My usual travel companions had other plans, so I spent the day solo, with, as always, an open mind to discovering new things and going for bargains that were too good to pass up.

I embraced Christmas In July wholeheartedly with the purchase of this pair of red lantern blowmolds, manufactured by the Empire Plastic Co. in the 1960s and 1970s.

I already have a pair of the popular candle flame blowmolds that say "NOEL" in green on the front. These are a bit rarer, and also designed for outdoor use, though I will display them at Christmastime in my living room or home office. Each takes up to a 25-watt bulb, but I'm using 15-watt bulbs, which I think are bright enough. These were a bargain at $30 for the pair.

Lantern close-up with flame and lattice design

The column features a holly leaf detail

Base is embossed with Empire Plastic Corp. 1969

I also found this quintet of boxed oval glass ornaments on a $5 table. I think the box is especially fun, and I like them because ovals are less common than round shapes.


The bottom of the box gives instructions on how to remove ornaments without breaking them, especially important when they were new, I imagine.

Cool "Coby" logo on original box

I also found a few large tri-tone ornaments ($1 each), which say "Shiny Brite, Made In USA" on the caps. These are easy to find, though this larger size, less so. I also have tri-tone ovals, bells and other shapes from previous antiques trips.

⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋⤋

My next bargain discovery was this Swank tie clip for $5. I mainly bought it for the cool faux crocodile box, but I do like the simple design of the tie clip with a mother-of-pearl rectangle in the center.

These next items were actually on my shopping list, and I went for them because it's particularly tough to find a matching pair: mid-century glass genie bottles with stoppers. These were a bargain at $25 for the pair. I see these on online auction sites for usually about $30 and up for just ONE. In addition to the really good price, I like the amber color, and the fruit motif. Most of the ones I've seen have an all-over hobnail pattern. These have no markings, but they might be Italian or Made in USA.

As you turn the bottle, you can see
it has three seams instead of two,
which seems unusual – it's
tripe sided instead of double sided.

These fit perfectly on the top tiers of my built-in shelves in the living room. I like the amber color against the turquoise shelf background.

I also think these work well with my wrought iron hanging lantern.

Here's a photo of a few of my new vintage treasures gathered together. The first thing I found on this day was the pink "Texas Pride!" badge, which I plan to give to my Austin friends. It says "Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon" in the small type.

All in all, it was an awesome summer day, and I hope to discover more cool items in September.

Here are a few unique items that prove you can truly find almost anything at Brimfield...