One of my favorite pastimes, especially during the colder months, is to go to the flea market and the antique shops. I say the flea market, because there is only one locally that I have ever visited. It’s the Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, IL and it’s enormous. There are so many vendors under tents, and inside re-purposed long barns, that you can’t see everything unless you spend an entire day, and even then you still won’t see everything.

Last time, I had a blast digging through tables of old cookware from one vendor. You know what I’ve noticed? When women spy a pile of junk, and there are a whole bunch of other ladies around that table of junk, they’ll hurry over to see what the fuss is about. Before you know it, there are 20 ladies getting a little pushy over the junk. They get competitive about who’ll find the best junk deal first! He-he! I love it! I am guilty! I’ll dig in the junk with you gals any time! I came home with more vintage jars, ceramic and glass cookware than was necessary on that particular outing. I don’t think my boyfriend knew what to say when I showed him all that I brought home….as I grinned like a crazed flea market monster with her treasures.

Though there are lots of things I like to look at on these outings (cookware, vintage pearl jewelry, antique books, embroidered handkerchiefs, historic photographs and albums, etc.), I wanted to share these two lovely little compacts. All I know is that they were produced in what was then West Germany in the 1950s & 60s. They used a variety of prints from 18th century paintings. You can see a great many more on etsy and ebay, but I personally love to hunt for them at the antique shops! I adore these two!

Interestingly, though these are your average compact size, they also come in a larger size (about like a softball). I found one once in a teeny-tiny antique shop and bought it for a steal! But then, I accidently threw away the bag it was in with other empty bags and it was lost forever. I still sniffle when I think about it.