~Farmhouse Cupboard Vignette, Part Three~

Today, we finish up our little tour of my farmhouse cupboard.  I hope you've enjoyed reading about all my finds so far.  I get so excited if I know a little bit of the history about the things I collect.  It makes for a much more interesting collection and so I thought I'd share with you a bit of history behind each of one of these items.  Maybe it will inspire you to learn more about what you have on your shelves and in your cabinets or, better yet, it will inspire you to start your own antique collections.

Before we get started with my cleaning and medicine cabinet supplies, let's start with the items behind them.  I love the yellow ironstone pitcher.  It has no markings on it so I have no idea where it came from or how old it is.  I chose it mainly because it is yellow and it goes well with my kitchen colors.  The end.  Now the knives inside the pitcher are worth mentioning.

Those well worn and somewhat rusty knives belonged to my grandmother.  Wicked looking aren't they?  I won't ever use them but I might try to take the rust off to preserve them a bit better.  How do you take rust off of metal knives anyway?

The Shinebrite Polishing Cloth container is made out of a type of fiberboard.  I tried to find out when this product may have first been produced but no luck.  The aging plus wear and tear tells me it is somewhat old.  With the design on the can, and parts of the directions telling you how to correctly polish your automobile, I'm thinking maybe 1920s to 1940s?  I love it because the polishing cloth is still inside and, yes, it has been used.  

The Black Silk stove polish bottle is empty but can you imagine all the old cooking stoves it was used on?  I found an advertisement dating 1906 in a hardware dealers' magazine for the canned variety and a newspaper advertisement dating 1919 for what looks like the bottle variety.

You can see there is still a tad amount of the powerful potion in the Blair's Hi-Power Liniment bottle.  I don't dare open it.  I'm afraid it will be so potent that it'll knock me off my chair!  LOL.  "A rubbing compound for muscular soreness due to exertion or exposure.  Aids nature in healing cuts, sprains and bruises."  Again, I am batting zero on finding out more about when this product was manufactured and sold. :/   One of these days I need to get a catalog or book about vintage cleaning products and medicines so that I can learn more.

Somebody ate all the mints in the Peerless Maid peppermint tin.  The company, Peerless Confection Company, was started in 1914 and then closed its doors in 2007.  The trademark for "Peermints" was obtained in 1963.  With the "wear and tear" of the candy tin, one would think that it is rather old but it isn't.  Still, I like the way it looks.

The Bag Balm antiseptic cream still has some cream in it and it don't smell so great.  You can still find this product today.  "For minor congestion of the udder due to calving, high feeding, bruising or chilling."  In other words, it is used to keep a cow's teats from getting dry and chapped.  Yep, you read right.  Alot of men, who work outside in the elements or have seriously chapped hands, use bag balm.  Including my two sons-in-law and Mr. Bill.

The white jar without the label says Musterole Cleveland on the top of it.  The mustard ointment was sold starting in 1905 as a convenient substitute for mustard plaster and used in the same manner to relieve chest congestion, coughs, minor throat irritation and muscle aches.

I have most of my cookbooks housed on the rest of the shelf.  I hope to buy some more collectibles to fill this space and will move the cookbooks elsewhere.  Two of the cookbooks are from the early years of my marriage and one belonged to my mother.  The only cookbook she ever owned and used mainly for the holidays.  Maybe that's why I collect so many cookbooks.  Anyhow, I'll share those at another time. :)

I have had this cupboard hanging in my kitchen for over four years adding a few collectibles here and there. Not until I started rearranging and taking pictures did it really dawn on me how dark and dreary those shelves were!  You know, it's kinda like how you don't notice the cobwebs up in the corner of the ceiling until you have guests?  Please tell me you've had that happen to you, too.  Okay, maybe not.

After seeing how dark and drab my shelves were, I decided they needed a little lighting to brighten things up a bit.  So I purchased a couple of 25-light strands.  I know, I need to get another one for the bottom shelf.  I'm going shopping tomorrow.

I've got the lights on a timer so that they shine during the evening hours.  I love not only how it brightens up my cupboard vignettes but also how the soft lights make the area look so warm and inviting.  So what do you think?  About the vignettes and the added lighting.

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." ~