Reunited After All These Years

(Sorry for the blurry photos in post)

(A Thrifty Monday find give or take 15 years)

So, other than complaining about work (truly I am a lucky girl to have the job I have) and the cold (it is December in the South North so why am I bugging about it?) and the fact the holidays snuck up on us (ah, finally bought the last, crooked tree on the lot), I have found some time for thrifting. What I seem to be struggling with is updating this blog!

Although the extreme travel I have been doing (again with the work complaints!) is getting really old, I find time after hours to shop new locales. Last week, I found myself in the hills of West Virginia and let me tell you the thrifting is good!

I want to show you one of my favorite finds from last week, but first I have to tell you about a find from years ago (I believe 15+ years ago!) because I had one of those thrifting deja vu episodes and my heart nearly leaped out when I found a relative of the first find. The original one I found has a green lid and is stamped "Unipet Upjohn" (pictured above) on the bottom. It has these great pet graphics all around the bottom. Inside the lid is a bell ringer. When I found the first one back in the '90's, Ebay was a relatively new thing (funny, Google probably was too and Etsy was just a seed in someone's head). I could not find anything about it. I loved it anyway and moved it across many states where it currently sits in a china cabinet in Indiana.

Fast forward...I am walking the aisles of a new thrift last week when lo and behold my mystery jar's cousin (amber top instead of green) sits princely upon a dresser. I did the look-around and then gingerly picked up the jar. I turned it over and sure enough the familiar "Unipet Upjohn" was on the bottom. Price: $1.99!

(Found... again!)

I have to say that, having forgotten about my other one a bit, I hadn't researched the jar in modern times. Through the magic of Google I have learned these jars were once a promotional item for pet vitamins in the 1960's. After the vitamins were gone, pet treats could be stocked in the jar and the you could even summon the pet for a treat using the ringer in the lid. Wow. The manufacturer of the promo item: McCoy!

Don't you wish items still came in (purposely manufactured) reusable and fun containers? Talk about being green before green was, well, green!