Longines Symphonette Turntable

My neighbor, knowing I'm a garage sale fanatic, approached me about a month ago looking for a turntable for his teenage daughter.  I didn't have anything, but told him I'd keep an eye out.  It was only a few weeks before I came across this Longines Symphonette turntable at an estate sale.  They wanted $15 for it, but the volume was spotty.  I knew it was most likely just a dirty potentiometer and easily fixed, but I played it up for a $5 discount.  A little squirt of DeoxIt and it worked great.

It's a neat little system, but certainly not state of the art, even for the late 1960's when it came out. This would have been your basic teenage starter system which fit in perfectly for the scenario I was filling.  It's strictly a turntable, no built-in tuner. It was cool looking enough to make me second guess giving it away, but in the end I did and my neighbor's daughter was ecstatic.

Brother, What a Repair

One of the aspects of garage saling I enjoy is the opportunity to bring new use or life back to castoff objects.  That may mean refinishing abused furniture or a little tinkering on mechanical or electrical items to get them back to 100% (or close) operation.

The Brother stereo I bought last year fell into that category.  

A Very Cool Midcentury Estate Sale

Today was the annual Canterbury Place Subdivision sale in Affton.  It's been a tradition to attend it for at least the past 10 years.  While it isn't a grandiose as it once once, it still delivers great finds and today was no exception.  Now to be fair, this estate sale was actually in the subdivision next to Canterbury Place, Saxon Manor.  At one time, Saxon Manor also held it's subdivision-wide sale on the same day and you could spend the entire day roaming the joined neighborhoods.

At one time, garage sales were a good source for midcentury items, but as that generation ages, sadly the best source has become estate sales.  This sale was private, so the prices were reasonable and the crowd was low.  Here are a few of the finds I made (and a few I had to let go).

First up is this fun Danish Modern barware set. Labeled E60 St Park Ave, it features a mixing spoon, a garnish fork, bottle opener and ice tongs.  Oh, and a fine gentleman complete with top hat and cane dru...ahem...sleeping in a rubbish basket.  He was priced at $1.

A New Vista

I went to an estate sale in Affton with a specific piece in mind.  I've been looking for a Midcentury Modern piece which I could convert into an audio/video component cabinet.  I saw this picture on estatesales.net 

Groovy Baby or Brother, What a Stereo!

On my way home from work Friday while driving on Mueller Road in South County, I barely caught sight of a garage sale sign on a side road.  I almost dismissed it as an old sign until I saw the word "Today" on it.  Occasionally, people will have a Friday evening pre-sale, so I knew it was a possibility.  In the time it took to process all of that, I had already passed the street so I had to turn around and head back.

I found the address and saw the garage door was up, but saw no signs of life.  I walked up the driveway and into the garage, but still couldn't find anybody.  It was clearly being staged for a garage sale with items laid out on tables, but I began to wonder if I was a day early.  I saw a large white object and could see the label "Brother" on it.  Knowing Brother from the old days of dot matrix printers and word processors, I assumed that's what it was until I got a closer look.  Once I realized it was this, I wasn't leaving until I found someone.

Music to My Ears

Here's another item that blurs the line of garage sale.  Okay, it's completely out of focus.  I didn't get it from a garage sale.  A co-worker gave it to me because he knows I like vintage electronics -- and more importantly, he knows I like "free".  This came from his father-in-law who recently moved to a residential care facility.  It's a Magnavox:

The needle was broken, but while cleaning it up, I found a spare, brand new, still in the packaging.

It works great.  I'm not quite sure of the era, although I would guess late 60's to early 70's.   I reminds me a lot of my mother's (which she still has), but hers was clearly a '70's piece with a lot of plastic faux wood and scarlet red speaker grills. 

I've been enjoying listening to Herb Alpert, Perry Como, Nat King Cole and Dean Martin.  I try to keep the records in the same era as the player.  Just wouldn't seem right listening to Huey Lewis on this. 

It's current residence is my basement as I already have a 1940's console radio in the living room.  I'm looking forward to playing some of my Christmas albums while setting up my aluminum Christmas tree next month.