Yard Sale

Today we took a golf car ride up the road to a place that frequently has a yard sale. There is nothing at all fancy here but the fellow enjoys "collecting and reselling" as he puts it. Once in a while I find something that I just have to own - like today.

The first thing I picked up was a small grid to put under my rooster planter so it would be able to drain better on the front porch table. 50¢

Then I saw a new in-package heavy duty pair of scissors and needed to replace a broken pair for kitchen use. $1.50.

A glass maple leaf-shaped container grabbed my eye and I thought it might make a nice gift for my brother who makes and shares his maple syrup each year. $3.00.

The thing that got me excited - silly me - was a vintage shabby Bromwell three cup flour sifter with the wooden handled crank. It had great patina and I was fussing a while back about not having one like my mother always used. Had to have it. $3.00.

In case you don't know, in 1819 The Jacob Bromwell company invented the world's first flour sifter and the company is STILL in business! This is important to me because it is the oldest housewares company in America and one of only a handful of kitchenware companies that still manufacture all their products in the US.  This All-American Flour Sifter is still being made!

It was patented in 1930 by a descendant of Jacob Bromwell, Thomas G. Melish. 
Bromwell's Service metal Sifter, Pat. No. 1.753.995
“A sifter comprising a body having perforations in the opposite sides thereof, a screen in the body through which to sift the contents thereof, and an agitator in the body adjacent to and adapted to pass over the surface of the screen to promote passage of the body contents through the screen, said agitator consisting of a single piece of wire bent upon itself at approximately the middle of its length to form a journal to occupy one of the body perforations, each branch of the wire adjacent the journal being shaped to the screen and lying in the plane of its cooperating branch, the ends of the branches being bent to lie together loosely and to occupy the opposite body perforation, one of said ends terminating just beyond the perforation and the second end bent beyond the perforation to provide a crank whereby to rotate the agitator. 

This big spender is a happy lady today.

Looking down into the container

Bottom side up

please click on image to view larger

Source of some of my information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Bromwell_(company)