saints + wunderkammern.

i went to my first ever live auction the other night. it was loud, smokey, and made my heart go thumpety-thump. when the bidding began i was sure everyone in the room could see my heartbeat through my hoodie. i don't know why it was so nerve-wracking....maybe because the bidding just moves so quickly. it's much faster than what you see on tv and in the movies! at any rate, i can home with this fantastikal beauty:

it's an 1870s mahogany secretary with secret compartments.

i've been drooling over a similar one at an antique store in new braunfels but couldn't cough up the money for it. when i saw the auction preview photos and spotted this behemoth i knew i had to have her. she's almost 8 feet tall and probably weighs 100 pounds for every foot. i've had a mid-century metal dentist's cabinet in this spot forever but its short stature of less than 6 feet made its presence in a room with 11 foot ceilings seem out of scale. i've loved that cabinet dearly for over a decade; there was even a little write up in the austin chronicle about it and how much i loved it years and years ago. when i purchased it at the city wide garage sale before i was married, people were following me out of the building asking to buy it off me. but my love for mid-century deco has slowly but surely been fading since we left savannah all those years ago and i'm definitely entrenched in all that is gothic-victorian with all my heart. i always have been....my whole life, it's true; but there was definitely a mid-century phase and that deco style will always hold a little spot in my heart no matter what.

anyway, the next morning i quickly set myself to the task of filling up my new cabinet with my favorite collections:

i collect vintage virgin mary statues....mostly in shades of white. there's a blue one in there because i saw her at goodwill many years ago and couldn't pass her up. i love how there are three of the same mary, just in different colors:

also, these two slay me with their fluttery eyelashes, tousled hair, and vamp-ish lipstick:

this one has such a human look to her face. most of them have sort of a dreamy, ethereal style....but there's something almost staunch about her:

this mary seems to embody all that is retro, tiki-madness, space-age 1960s, i think. there's something very south pacific about her...

settled in their new home:

all together now:

so the bottom of the cabinet was empty...and as i had been carting in my mary's from the piano in the parlor i decided to empty off the top of the other piano (yes, we have two). i created a wunderkammer of sorts with all my found bones, nests, and bits and bobs we've found while digging around our yard.

please be aware that i never kill animals for the sake of harvesting bones, fur, etc. all of my bones, skeletons, and taxidermy have been strictly found in the woods, on the road, or in antique stores. many of these bones i've been carting around with me for nearly 15 years now...i care for them dearly.

the rose water pharmacy bottle, above, came from my granny's medicine cabinet. who knows how long it had been there. the 2 smaller bottles we unearthed in the backyard.

most of these arrow heads and scrapers were found out at our farm in staples...a couple came from the yard here at the homestead.

antlers are some of my favorite-est things to happen upon. it's a real treat when i find them!

on that note, i leave you with two new treats from le shop:

katherine, a vintage carved shell cameo on a chain of freshwater pearls and tiny sapphires.

and tresor, an antique french religious medal on a chain of petite pearls and oxidized sterling silver.