Vintage Family Scale

I love antiques and vintage finds. I also love a good deal… and I love treasure hunting for the two combined.

I’ve bought an occasional antique in an antique store, but for the most part I’ve depended on getting the real bargains at places like garage and tag sales, but that can mean getting up really early to be the 1st one in the sale to be able to get the treasure, and a lot of miles on my vehicle with not a lot of treasures to show for it.

But.. last year I discovered, a whole world of treasure hunting that I didn’t even know was right under my nose… and unlike garage sales that tend to only be during the warmer months, this is available all year through.

So what is it??

Did you know there are garage sale sites on Facebook? Up until last year, I had no idea they existed. My friend, Jamie pointed me to the way… and it’s been so much fun. Not all areas have good garage sale sites, but our area has several groups and this vintage family scale was a fun find for me.

The one thing about the Facebook garage sale sites, is unlike Craigslist, these are local people and it’s easier to see who you’re dealing with… just seems a little safer, but you still need to be smart and safe! Actually, a lot of times it turns out to be a friend or acquaintance of mine… we all like to buy, trade and sell, and it’s just a great venue to get stuff listed. I’ve had great experiences both finding and selling treasures through it. So be sure to check your local Facebook groups and see if there is a garage site… if not, maybe you could be the one to start it?! 🙂

So this vintage family scale is a treasure I found from a gal on Facebook…

I haven’t done any research on it, but it’s at least 80 years old, I’d guess from the 1920’s give or take a decade? I paid something like $25 for it… can’t remember exactly, but I’m not unhappy about that price. It has loads of character for that $25… and something new that was made to look old would easily cost 3 or 4 times that… (like the balance scale I have in the dining room… new, made to look old)

All the paint, in it’s chippy state is original. The lettering on the side is just so charming to me.

The face of the vintage family scale states that it will weigh up to 24 pounds… fairly standard for this type of scale.

I just can’t figure out what it was that people weighed with these… If it’s a ‘family scale’ then folks had them for home use, right? So did they weight ingredients for cooking? I mean 20 pounds of something would be an awfully large recipe… any thoughts???

I have it sitting on the open ‘window sill’ interior window above the kitchen sink, between the kitchen and breakfast room in our 100 year old house… and I usually have this vintage enamelware bowl sitting on it… and we usually keep the tomatoes in it. As you can see in the picture, I have less than a pound of tomatoes, time to go to the grocery store. (here’s a tip: never put tomatoes in the fridge! It takes away their flavor and makes them taste stale. Always keep tomatoes on the counter)

Ha… as I’m writing this, I just realized that the vintage enamel bowl sitting on the scale, I bought last fall from a friend selling on the Facebook garage sale site too! (thanks Bonnie! 😉 it’s perfect!)

Mixing vintage pieces into your decor is what gives it a depth of character that’s hard to fake… and shopping for those vintage pieces, like this vintage family scale is kind of fun too… like treasure hunting. 🙂

Happy hunting!! And share, share, share! Tell us what great treasures you’ve found and any secret places for vintage finds you’ve discovered…

Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by.

Want to read a little more?

Click here to see all the posts I’ve written about the breakfast room in our 100 year old house.

Click here to see all the posts I’ve written about the kitchen in our 100 year old house.

Click here to see the post featuring the repro balance scale in the dining room.

This post is linked at the following other sites:

Savvy Southern Style

From Evija with Love

A Pocketful of Posies

DIY Dreamer

My Repurposed Life