springfield antique market extravaganza haul

what a weekend for markets! there were so many good ones going on! if you are not on my flea market email alerts list you can join here. we are all sharing our current weekend flea market hauls in my flea market insiders group. join the conversation here. the springfield antique extravaganza has been on my list for a few years but have always had something come up where I couldn’t make the trip out there. this saturday was not the most convenient (ooo just had 20 people coming to my house the next day) but i wanted to go so badly so i woke up at 4am and was on the lot about 9am shopping. i gave myself a time limit to be home on time to get things ready for the next day so i left the market at 2pm. i never even shopped the barns. this might have been the first antique market i ever left without shopping the entire thing. but it was almost 90 degrees and i was exhausted. i didn’t find a ton but i did find some awesome things for the shop as well as a treasure or two for myself.

i had a great time shopping a new market. it was fun to see vendors i’ve never seen before and fun to see a lot of ohio specific pieces (scales, pottery etc). there were two things i was a bit disappointed in. the first was the amount of new product being sold as old. it is everywhere now and it’s frustrating. it’s fine if people are selling it for what it is but a lot of people can’t tell the difference and it drives me crazy when vendors try to pass it off as old. just be honest for what it is. the second was the prices on some (not all) things. anything that is considered “hot” right now was priced pretty much over what you would find in a retail setting (like a boutique or an antique store). pyrex and jadeite were outrageous and i didn’t buy a single piece. i did manage to find some ironstone plates and bowls for a good deal but nothing like what it used to be. i also thought furniture was priced fairly high for what work needed to go into it (mostly repairs and cleaning etc). that being said the entire market was not like that, it’s too big for it all to be the same haha. i did find though that i had to hunt hard for the deals.

i don’t think it’s fair to judge a market by attending once so i should probably go back and check it out again. but based on my first time visiting i found that this market was full of; furniture, plants, farm vintage, rustic vintage, primitive finds, pyrex, and “junk hunting” (tables priced at $1, $2, $3), and fabric. what i didn’t see a lot of here was victorian, paintings and other forms of art, iron stone and glassware. i think it i would have had joe help me to carry some of these furniture pieces out i would have invested in one or two but it was just me and there was no way i was going to haul a mint velvet sofa to the truck by myself.

i also brought my new wagon to the antique market and it was amazing! i bought it for $50 at costco and i wish i would have bought one years ago. it pulled through rocks and mud and carried all of my treasures all day long. usually i would have had to stop at the truck a few times. big time (and back) saver. if you don’t have a costco membership amazon has them too but they are a bit more expensive. but i would argue still worth every penny.

here are a few pics of my haul from springfield. not a trailer load but enough treasure to take to the shop and a few things to keep for me. above is a stack of leather field journals from the early 20’s. why did everyone in the 00′-20’s have such beautiful handwriting. even out in the workplace the cursive is just gorgeous. i thought they would be such a great conversation piece on someones coffee table.

for now, the giant plaster bust is a keep for me. i was essentially looking for a garden one but this one was too cool to leave behind. also the lady selling him offered 50% off. then she said if it didn’t sell she was going to glue shells all over him like she saw on pinterest. i promptly rescued him. i picked up a few interesting clocks and yet another 1800’s family photo album. this one had handwritten names on the bottoms of the photos and things like “my sister” my great aunt etc on them. naturally i had to take that home with me too.

for now as well the iron stone tea pot and plates are going to my collection but the cool old cash register tags and the american flags are eventually heading to the shop. don’t tell otto though he is in love with these flags and keeps walking around the house waving them saying “merica wooooaaah” as he waves them. i think he is going to really be into parades this year.

i found a few other antique knick knacks but i think one of the cooler collections i found was this box of old tape measures. they are scribed by the maker and have these beautiful fabric tapes on them. plus the colors are stunning. i don’t know what i am going to do with them but i thought they were way too cool to leave behind.

and that pretty much sums up what i took home with me. what did everyone else find this weekend?

see more of my antique hauls from kane and allegan