Antiqua, the Goddess of Lost Vintage Items

I have been a terrible bloggerette this past week.  I just realized that my entire "vacation" has slipped away without a single post all week long. 

"Vacation" is in quotes because it hasn't exactly been a week of lounging on a sofa and eating bon-bons.  I've been sticking with my goal of getting all my antiques organized and my house back into company-ready shape.  And so for seven days straight I have been cleaning (& organizing) cleaning (& organizing) like a good little Suzy Homemaker!

While going through all of my vintage/antique things, I had some items in mind that had gone missing at some point and I was hopeful that I would find them in one of the boxes or piles.

When I was a little girl, whenever one of us lost something my mother would say, "Let's say a prayer to St. Anthony." 

If you grew up Catholic, you probably remember that St. Anthony of Padua is known as the Patron Saint of Lost Articles.  He was pretty good at finding things for me most of time.  But I have lost so many things lately, I decided I'd better summon assistance from another source...

Have you heard of Antiqua? 

She is the Goddess of Lost Vintage Items.
You don't believe me?  Well, just look at what she found this week...

For the longest time, I've been missing a pretty little gray button from this vintage 1940's wool jacket, but I discovered it earlier this week buried in a drawer full of coins.  I was so happy, I sewed it back on right away...

This jacket is one of my favorites because it has a label from a popular downtown St. Paul, Minn. department store that dates back to the 1920's...

Antiqua also helped me find Charmin' Chatty's shoe under my bedroom radiator...

It was missing from this 1963 Whitman puzzle...

Any other Charmin' Chatty or Chatty Cathy fans out there?  I always liked Charmin' Chatty best because me and Charmin' both had to wear nerdy glasses at a young age.

Antiqua came to my rescue again when she helped me find this Hood's Sarsaparilla 1889 Calendar top that disappeared shortly after I bought it on eBay earlier this summer...

She led me right to the Sear's catalog where it had been absent mindedly tucked inside.

Did you know that Hood's Sarsaparilla not only purifies the blood and helps invigorate the liver...but it also cures Scrofula, Rheumatism, Billiousness, Dyspepsia and just about any other disease that you can think of!

You don't believe these claims?  Oh, yea of little faith...

Let me share one final bit of evidence of the goddess Antiqua's powers.  Not only does she help find lost vintage items, but she is also a good luck charm at estate sales too!

On Friday I spotted this lovely antique ledger book at an estate/moving sale in my neighborhood. 

Now I love beautiful old books almost as much as I love beautful vintage clothing - but I'm also very frugal. And I just couldn't bring myself to pay $10.00 for the book. 

Since everything was going to be 50% off today, the second day, I decided to take my chances and plan to be one of the first in the door this morning when the sale opened and quickly grab it - if it hadn't already sold.

Oh, I didn't tell you the best part of the book.  Mr. Chas. D. Freeman was apparently a pharmacist (or doctor?) or was studying to be one - and the first 43 pages are filled with his handwritten notes. 

Here are a couple of "recipes" for Liquid Soap and Boeckmann's Eye Water...

...and here are his notes on Floating Bodies in the eye.

Last night I kept thinking about the book.  How foolish of me to easily spend $10 for a couple of drinks at a bar, yet pass up the opportunity to buy this ledger book which has historical value!

Well, I'll bet you've already figured out that this story has a happy ending.  This morning when I arrived at the sale, the book was still there waiting for me in the very same spot on the bedroom floor where I had found it the day before.  And I got it for $5.00!

Hail to Antiqua! 

She's a great gal to have on your side.