A South of the Border Beauty

One of my favorite thrift stores is a place with limited hours. I'm usually waiting outside along with a couple of antique dealers when the doors open, so it's essential to move fast. One day I headed straight for my favorite area, the linens, and saw this little pincushion senorita sitting on a shelf. With an involuntary gasp of delight (this drives my kids crazy when they shop with me), I pounced. I immediately knew she was old and some chips on the back of her head revealed vintage newspaper underneath. A name and the word Mexico were painted on the bottom. Sticker shock? She was only seventy-five cents! In truth, I think she's a bit homely. The glaze is very heavy-handed and shiny-- so shiny, it's hard to get a good photo of her. Those big eyes should be her stand-out feature, but her nose is much paler than the rest of her face and draws too much attention, but it was love at first sight for me. A couple of weeks later, in one of our nicest antique malls, I was surprised to run into her sister. Her coloring was slightly different, but I recognized her right away. She'd obviously done a little better in life. She was locked in a glass display case and her tag read: Vintage Mexican papier mache pincushion head $65.