Thrift Recap: January 31

This morning I needed to run out to do some banking, which was a good excuse to make one short stop at a thrift shop over my lunch hour. I didn't come home with much, but I saw some interesting things that I decided to leave behind for other lucky thrifters. Here are a few of the pieces I saw ...

My first sighting was an interesting piece of 1940s aluminum designed by Lurelle Guild for Kensington. I hadn't seen this pattern before, but there seems to be a bit of a lull in interest regarding Guild's work, so I left it behind.

Directly above the Kesington piece was this little tumbler. The shape is from Eva Zeisel's "Stockholm" line for Federal Glass, and it was decorated with advertising for Sweet & Low sweetener. Interesting, but of limited appeal so it got left behind too.

I also spotted this pair of "Stoneage Modern" pots from the Zanesville Stoneware Company. Since I'm really only interested in large pieces, unusual shapes, and better glazes I passed these by too.

This set of Ben Seibel's "Duplex" dinnerware included service for about 6. It was decorated in Seibel's "Trellis" decoration ... which will look great on someone's table. Just not mine. A bit to high on the kitsch scale for my taste.

This set of George Briard enamelware would have been nice, but it was overpriced and damaged. I passed it up too.

All would have been lost if I hadn't taken a stroll down to the floor with all the hardware at the thrift, where I found this pair of Tap-Light switch plates designed by Henry Dreyfuss. Not long ago I read an article by Alexandra Lange that extolled the virtues of Dreyfus's 1953 Round thermostat for Honeywell. Dreyfuss designed these switches just 4 short years later, and they're very much in keeping with his simple & functional aesthetic. This article stuck with me (as did my memories of the Dreyfuss thermostat in my childhood home), so after a couple quick tweets from the thrift shop basement I wound up bringing these two little goodies home with me. They'll be in the mail tomorrow ... and hopefully installed in Alexandra's home very soon thereafter.

• 01.31.12