LifeFuel Anyone else tried coping with vintage luxury items?

[bob-loblaw]

Ever since I was a kid, I've been enamored with vintage items and antiques, especially obsolete luxury products like fountain pens and mechanical watches.

Now that I've finally got some pocket change due to a certain stock that I like a lot, I've been using the current state of affairs to purchase all kinds of wonderful antiques. These things are generally priced low simply since they are out of fashion or require a simple repair. I've started living like a king with luxuries that have fallen out of style -- despite remote work, I dress up in a proper suit and tie (they don't get dirty since I don't sweat or go anywhere) and listening to loads of older music i.e. Sinatra. I eat midcentury foods, like eggs and bacon for breakfast, cheap cuts of beef, spam, white bread, jello, full-sugar coke etc, and once I turn 21 in a few months I can start smoking cigars again (I could legally smoke 2 years ago, but now I am underage since they raised it to 21. Thanks government!) The only thing I'm missing is a car -- am eyeing a few used lexuses from the 90s that beat the pants off of the cheap botnet ecoshite coming out these days.

Maybe this is a stupid cope, but the optimism of 20th century America almost seems to channel itself through the products of its time. Makes me feel a whole lot more hopeful about the world than the cheap crap that's over-engineered rather than over-built (i.e. planned obsolescence vs. built for life).

Anyone else cope with vintage luxuries?

 

[Deleted member 33716]

I like vintage style watches and shoes.

 

[AmIjustDreaming]

i like watches. my favorite is my vintage rolex my uncle left me

 

[Deleted member 33716]

i like watches. my favorite is my vintage rolex my uncle left me

Pretty cool.
I have an Oyster from my grandfather.

 

[AmIjustDreaming]

Pretty cool.
I have an Oyster from my grandfather.

those are very nice.

 

[bob-loblaw]

i like watches. my favorite is my vintage rolex my uncle left me

Pretty cool.
I have an Oyster from my grandfather.

Am slightly jealous of you two -- my grandfather had a few Orient watches & an automatic Citizen that ended up with my dad after he passed away. My mom convinced him to get rid of them during one of her decluttering tantrums. Of course, these aren't as expensive as something like a rolex, but still nicer than the $10 casio I have. I should look into a nice watch...

 

[Deleted member 33716]

Am slightly jealous of you two -- my grandfather had a few Orient watches & an automatic Citizen that ended up with my dad after he passed away. My mom convinced him to get rid of them during one of her decluttering tantrums.

oh noz!

After I landed a proper job, my first luxury item I bought for myself was a Chronoswiss - the onion bezel ones that are now discontinued. They have a real mid-century flavour.

What other vintage goods have you collected?

 

[AmIjustDreaming]

casio

not bad watches. i do like older Timex's

 

[childhoodmemories]

It is also a good time to furnituremaxx in some areas of the US (especially in states like NY where people are gtfo'ing from). I looked into some estate auctions at some point and there's a lot of nice shit there, often for cheap. You can get nice china dish sets for like $20, silverware for a similar amount and eat like people used to eat in mid-20th century.

Btw, I like your music choice. I always liked Nat King Cole a lot as well since I was a little kid. Movies of that era is cool too.

Get some nice big car like Lincoln Towncar or even something more exciting if you can find it. American made, of course.

Yet another confirmation that many of us just were born at a wrong time. I sometimes wish I lived in 1960s

 

[bob-loblaw]

oh noz!

After I landed a proper job, my first luxury item I bought for myself was a Chronoswiss - the onion bezel ones that are now discontinued. They have a real mid-century flavour.

What other vintage goods have you collected?

I've got a beautiful hand-blown glass paperweight from New York state. Got it for $3 at a flea market (compared to ~$60 min mkt value), but I could stare at it all day. Similar to this but green.

Have a commemorative gold-rimmed glass with a duck stamp from 1992 on it that I drink out of regularly. Not sure why, but even though this isn't that old or fancy, I really enjoy it quite a bit.

I regularly write with an old 1940's Sheaffer Crest that I got from an estate sale for a dollar. It's well used, to say the least, but writes superbly and shines like nothing else.

I have one of these Kinesis Maxim ergonomic keyboards coming in this week from an Ebay auction. Need something nicer on the wrists after using a laptop keyboard all day, and I don't really care for mechanical keyboards much.

Lifestyle stuff - I use a proper teacup and saucer set from Goodwill and boil my water with a whistling kettle on the stove. Coffee tastes great, don't get me wrong, but sometimes it's a bit too much of a punch. A great everyday tea is a bag of Lipton with sliced ginger, a clove, and a dash of ground cinnamon.

 

[Deleted member 33716]

I've got a beautiful hand-blown glass paperweight from New York state. Got it for $3 at a flea market (compared to ~$60 min mkt value), but I could stare at it all day. Similar to this but green.

Have a commemorative gold-rimmed glass with a duck stamp from 1992 on it that I drink out of regularly. Not sure why, but even though this isn't that old or fancy, I really enjoy it quite a bit.

I regularly write with an old 1940's Sheaffer Crest that I got from an estate sale for a dollar. It's well used, to say the least, but writes superbly and shines like nothing else.

I like that you are building a coherent lifestyle. It's pretty good cope.

 

[Deleted member 33556]

Pretty cool.
I have an Oyster from my grandfather.

pretty good i have nothing left from my grandfather

 

[bob-loblaw]

It is also a good time to furnituremaxx in some areas of the US (especially in states like NY where people are gtfo'ing from). I looked into some estate auctions at some point and there's a lot of nice shit there, often for cheap. You can get nice china dish sets for like $20, silverware for a similar amount and eat like people used to eat in mid-20th century.

Btw, I like your music choice. I always liked Nat King Cole a lot as well since I was a little kid. Movies of that era is cool too.

Get some nice big car like Lincoln Towncar or even something more exciting if you can find it. American made, of course.

Yet another confirmation that many of us just were born at a wrong time. I sometimes wish I lived in 1960s

Once I get my own place, would love to pick up solid old-growth furniture. It's a shame that normies are getting into MCM stuff -- though high-quality office (i.e. Steelcase) furniture from early 2k is at its lowest point right now. Am also hoping to pick up old audiophile stuff. As people move to just using headphones for everything, I'd really like a nice, older stereo set. I've got some top-notch JVC stuff from the 80s in my family. Out of boredom my dad and I set it up one day and it sounds superb -- perhaps I'll take it off of their hands lol.

Unfortunately I live in one of the places that's the receiving end of a lot of transplants, so there isn't too much luck in estate sales right now, though I'm hoping that based covid will open up a few more once people get comfortable again.

If I truly make it off of crypto or something in the next few years, Lincoln is at the top of my list for new cars. The Navigator looks extraordinarily comfy, and the Continental which has been out for some time now still looks really high-class on the road.

I realize that stuff was very different in the 1960's -- people from that time have their fair share of complaints i.e. jock/nerd culture. But as a (future) engineer, a lot of the innovation and work during that time seemed to propel the human race forward and improve our quality of life. Nowadays, engineering all seems like "how weak can we make this part before customers start to care?" Today's crown jewel, Software, is all about sheep farming and squeezing ads into everything, as proven by the net worth of companies like Facebook whose products are utterly useless at best and dehumanizing at worst. Call it a general shift in priorities -- everyone seems too selfish and wrapped up in their own spheres to want to build a world that will outlast them.

I like that you are building a coherent lifestyle. It's pretty good cope.

Lol I'm a time traveller

 

[Deleted member 33716]

pretty good i have nothing left from my grandfather

Lol I'm a time traveller

 

[Ellsworth]

I want an antique Coke or Pepsi machine. Does that count?

 

[TaciturnCel]

I like vintage style watches and shoes.

I like vintage porn

 

[childhoodmemories]

I want an antique Coke or Pepsi machine. Does that count?

I believe I've actually seen one in a very nice condition at the estate auction last year. It was one of their signature items that day and the starting bid was around $1k, yet there were still several folks interested in it. I am a poorcel, so I haven't even bothered lol

Edit: looks like it may have been cheaper in the end!

 

[bob-loblaw]

I want an antique Coke or Pepsi machine. Does that count?

I believe I've actually seen one in a very nice condition at the estate auction last year. It was one of their signature items that day and the starting bid was around $1k, yet there were still several folks interested in it. I am a poorcel, so I haven't even bothered lol

Edit: looks like it may have been cheaper in the end!

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Always wondered what it would be like to have a soda fountain (not necessarily vintage) in my own house -- carbonated beverages to my heart's delight, restaurants be damned!

 

[Over_this_Life]

I am far too poor for such copes

 

[bob-loblaw]

I am far too poor for such copes

Nonsense! Old stuff is far cheaper than new things, esp if you go to estate sales and flea markets. Like I mentioned in an earlier post -- I bought stuff for a few dollars in-person that is worth at least tenfold online.

 

[Emba]

I buy antique tools.

 

[Deleted member 140]

I would like some vintage Rolex tbh.