It’s been a busy few weeks auction-wise. Instead of leaving my other half to do the weekday sales, a gap between jobs means that I’ve been able to attend all of them. Unfortunately, I haven’t quite got the dispassionate approach off pat yet and I still buy with my heart as well as my head.

This was probably not a good idea last week when I got carried away at a sale of the contents of a house in St Ives. By the time I’d finished, it was a struggle to fit everything I’d bought into the car:

Looking through the car window

You can see my haul of vintage shoes  – still in their original boxes!

The boot (trunk) was jammed full – this is with the seats down!

The eagle eyed among you will spot rugs, clothes, shoe boxes, material, and lots and lots of knitting wool.

I have to confess that I have always been a crafter, and I’m particularly fond of knitting and sewing. So when I found some of the auction lots were vintage wool and fabrics I went a bit over the top.

I’ll post more on my finds from the auction later, but I wanted to share what was sitting in the bottom of the box of knitting wool:

A ‘brand new’, vintage, never been worn velvet and mink hat!

I was so excited to find this hat, wrapped carefully in tissue paper amongst the packets of wool.

Front view, the fur is mink

The label is sewn in, so it clearly hasn’t been worn.

Side view – look at the lovely sweeping curve of the mink

Why would someone buy such (for the time) a lovely hat and then never wear it? I can’t help wondering if its original owner smuggled it home and hid it in her wool stash meaning to bring it out as ‘This old thing, I’ve had it for ages’.

I’ll never know, but at least now it’s out of hiding and will go to a new home where it will be seen and appreciated.