Adventures in Vintage – My Vintage Story 4

Everyone has a story about how vintage pieces from the past have shaped their lives. Maybe you grew up in a household where your parents inherited furniture, dishware, and heirlooms from their parents, who inherited those same pieces from their parents, and so on. Or maybe you fell in love with vintage pieces while decorating your first apartment or home, and appreciated the quality of these items versus buying something new. Maybe you have a completely different story. For me, my story began in January 2011…

I was paging through a magazine and I noticed a photo of a table that was decorated for the upcoming Valentine’s Day holiday. I love to entertain friends and family at home, and was drawn to the pitcher and glasses that were shown on that table. They were clear glasses with bumps on them – they reminded me of bubble wrap. I knew I had to find a set like that for our Valentine’s Day party. I was on a quest! The magazine didn’t mention what kind of glasses they were, or who the manufacturer was, so I spent time on the Internet searching. To no avail. I wasn’t coming up with anything that matched that pitcher and glasses! I was mainly searching stores I thought might have a set like the ones I saw. I ended up showing the photo to my Mom to see if she had ever seen a set like this in the mail-order catalogs she got or in stores she’s shopped. As soon as I showed her the photo, she said “they look like hobnail to me”. Having never heard the word “hobnail” before, it made me laugh and I asked her “What in the world is hobnail??”. She went on to tell me. This was my first introduction to “vintage”. Mom recommended I ask friends and family if they had a set like this, because she was sure this was a set from the 1950s or 1960s, and that hobnail like this wasn’t being made any more. I REALLY wanted a set like this, so I started asking everyone I knew if they had a similar set in their family, or if they knew anyone that might. They asked their friends, and their friends asked their friends. The word was out – but no one had a set like the one I was looking for. Once again, I turned to the Internet – this time I searched for “1950s clear hobnail glassware” and I started finding lots of hobnail out there. After lots of searching, I finally found THE set I was looking for! I followed the link and landed on a website called Etsy.

I had never heard of Etsy before and explored it a little bit before making a purchase. I was shocked and surprised to see so many COOL old things for sale! Who knew?!  I had never paid any attention to anything “vintage” before. I had never been to a garage or yard sale, nor had I ever been to a flea market, thrift store, auction, or antique store. This was all new to me, and I found it SO exciting! The things I was finding were so unique. It was then that I fell in love with all things vintage.  I spent a couple of hours on the Etsy website, just exploring!

Before I could buy that vintage hobnail pitcher and glasses, Etsy required me to create an account. By now, I was hooked on vintage and thought to myself that being a seller is something I would really love to do. So when I created my Etsy account, I created it as a seller account using the name ThirdShift.

Why the name ThirdShift? Well, at the time, I owned (and was running) two businesses. I knew if I were going to start yet another business, I would have to work the “third shift” to get it up and running – so the name “ThirdShift” seemed to fit perfectly.

I bought that hobnail set in February 2011. Here is a photo from the Etsy listing – isn’t it a beauty?!

Vintage Hobnail Pitcher and Glasses purchased from HavenVintage.etsy.com

From February through June of 2011, I quickly researched vintage – trying to learn as much as I could. I discovered flea markets, auctions, antique stores, thrift stores, and even attended my first ever garage sale. I was having a blast! Every buying trip was (and still is) like a treasure hunt – I never knew what I would find! I decided right away that I was only going to buy things for my vintage shop that I truly loved – things that I personally would want in my home. By June of 2011, I was ready to start selling and my ThirdShift vintage shop was online and ready to go! Since I opened my vintage shop, I have shipped over 13,000 items to homes all over the world – and to keep up with demand – created my own website at ThirdShiftVintage.com! I find it so exciting when the vintage pieces I find move on to their new owners; people who love and appreciate vintage as much as I do.

I am very passionate about my job, and my vintage shop – so much so, that I sold my other businesses to run my vintage shop full-time. I feel like I have the best job in the world, and am so thankful for that magazine photo and for my Mom who taught me what hobnail was (thanks, Mom!).

Oh, and that hobnail pitcher and glass set? It was a HUGE hit at our Valentine’s Day Party, and we still use (and love) that set! It is definitely a set that I will keep forever and pass down to my kids one day.

So there you have it – my vintage story.

I would love to hear your vintage story, too!

Submit Your Vintage Story!

If you have a story about how you discovered vintage, or how vintage items have been a part of your life – please fill out the form below and send me your story. I’ll feature your story (with you as the author) right here on my blog. I look forward to hearing your stories!

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Where can you find ThirdShift?

My Website: https://www.ThirdShiftVintage.com
My Etsy Shop: http://ThirdShift.etsy.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ThirdShift3
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ThirdShift3
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/ThirdShift3
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ThirdShift3
Tumblr: http://thirdshift3.tumblr.com/
Google+: http://plus.google.com/+ThirdShiftVintage