another one of those dirty bag finds...

i'm still in the process of sorting through all of my finds from my recent antiquing adventures.  my once a year trip to Behind the Iron Gates in Syracuse, NY.  if you are ever there, you have to go.  i have never found another store like it.  i would actually like to live there.  a picture for you - a large, victorian mansion, complete with cool paint job, wrap around porch and victorian details set behind iron gates (hence the name).  inside, beautiful woodwork and a dreamy, winding staircase and lots and lots of rooms.  all stuffed full of all sorts of treasures.  i really like this shop because of the sheer amount of stuff.  the best are the boxes and baskets set under the tables.  and the drawers.  there are some nice dressers for sale, but while they are waiting for their new owner, the drawers are used to hold more stuff.  if you have the patience to sift through these, treasures abound here.

but anyway, on to the dirty bag part.  one time on this blog, i wrote about a dirty bag of buttons that i found at a shop and purchased.  so dirty, i couldn't really see what was in the bag, but i bought it anyway and was rewarded with a really gorgeous bunch of buttons.  well, this is another one of those dirty bag finds.  the above little album was wrapped up in a dirty plastic bag and taped.  and taped.  and taped some more.  there was no peeking in this little parcel.  and no description on the tag.  all i could see was the top page, which was a really nice Italian stamp.  and a $9 price tag.  which frankly, is over my limit to spend on something which you cannot see.  but i really liked that Italian stamp so i carried it around for a while, thinking about it, almost put it back, but in the end i decided, what the heck.  and when i opened it the other day, i had a "dirty bag happy moment".  it looks like someone started a little stamp collection.  it started off nicely, with the stamps neatly attached to index cards and labeled where they were from and tucked into the little plastic pockets and then it looks like they lost steam and stuffed between the pages are the real treasures.  stamps torn off of envelopes with paper still attached and whole envelopes (my favorite) with stamps.  stamps from Italy, France, Denmark, U.S., Switzerland, countries in South America, Japan, Mexico...from 1900 up to about 1980.  around 200 in all.  a real treasure.  an awesome dirty bag find.  so, i'm going to tell you again - don't pass up those dirty bags.  you never know what you'll find.  and now, time to think up some "stamp art"...