Junk Hunting and a Dazey Churn

A Dazey churn wasn’t what I was looking for when I went on this junk hunting outing. When you want to go junk hunting, where do you start? How do you know what to look for? What is it worth? How long will this take? It is really just junk or is it a treasure?

It can happen like this. Thus was a friend’s post on social media. “This exact 4-quart butter churn that belonged to my grandma, randomly fell from the top of my cabinet last week and literally exploded into a million slivers, chunks and granules of glass. I’m pretty sick about it. It was the only thing my mom asked about when I was moving here from Ohio. She said if I was getting rid of it, she would take it back. No way. I would keep it forever. The top is still in perfect condition, I just, simply, need the glass crock.”

If you’re out-and-about on your “junkin’ adventures” keep an eye out for one and I’ll thank You sincerely!!!!!

She attached a photo so “we” would know what to look for since the beloved glass Dazey churn was shattered. She made the request in December of 2019.

Let me back up a year, in October of 2018 a group of 20 plus Godly Girlfriends made a trip to Ohio, to her hometown. We were hosting our annual retreat. We take a day before the retreat to see the sights and go junk hunting. On this trip, we went to Lehman’s Hardware Store in Dalton, Ohio.

I love that this image of my friend was captured. She is asking a demonstrator about a butter churn. This was before her churn shattered.

Fast forward! Well, maybe not too fast. It is 2020 and there has been very little junk hunting going on in my little world. But, we do have a good junk store located in our “middle of nowhere” or “middle of everything” town.

Red Door Antiques is a cross between junk and antiques. The prices are very reasonable and I have found a few really awesome deals.

On this particular trip, I spotted these brown bottles but I really didn’t want to buy them. I just wanted to photograph them for a possible watercolor painting.

If you have been around My Hall Closet for a bit you know I love old bottles but not expensive ones. I try to incorporate them into ARRANGEMENTS.

or group them as into a COLLECTION.

Let me just say, “Don’t be afraid of the dirt!”. I glanced into the back room at the junk store and up on the shelf, partially wrapped in a plastic grocery bag was this very dirty treasure. To my delight it was a Dazey churn! That churn wasn’t what I was after but when you go junk hunting you always have those items in mind. I asked the clerk, “How much?” He quoted a great, almost junk price. It was definitely not an antique price. The lid was not a fit for the jar. It was too wide and the wooden churn part was too tall. Would it work for my friend? Was it the right size? Had she already found a replacement jar?

Was buying the churn a risky purchase? And the brown bottles begged to come home with me. So, I decided to take a chance and buy the churn and the brown bottles. I even found a few old bottles with that wonderful purple color of aged glass.

My friend had not found a replacement and she was excited at the possibility of a new/old glass bottom. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post titled “Do More of What Makes You Happy”. You know what? When I saw my friend’s FB post I was HAPPY!!!

“Shout out to Nathalie for this amazing find. On her junkin’ adventures she found THE replacement jar for my mom’s butter churn that broke months ago. Perfect Fit I am so pleased. Thank You Friend!

This is what junk hunting is all about. This was just a very dirty jar but “the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.” Matthew 13:45

I hope you find the treasures that you are looking for.

But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. Psalm 68:3

’til next time,

Nathalie