Auction Bounty

Cooper has such diverse hobbies. There's the hunting, of course, and the trucks and jeeps.

The video games. And then there are the auctions.

He goes to auctions with his mom, who's been in and out of the antiques business for years.

From her, Cooper's developed a pretty good eye.

They hit an auction yesterday afternoon, and Cooper brought me a gift.

Red glass crab imperial dishes! A whole set of six - and they're in great shape:

And amazingly, they came in the original box:

Thanks to the box, I discovered they were made by the McKee Glass Company from

Jeannette, Pennsylvania, a small town in southwest PA that was actually founded by the

McKee family (and named after an early Mrs. McKee).

The company was purchased by the Thatcher Glass Company in the 1940s,

o these dishes must predate the '40s.

No matter how old they are, they're pretty cool. And I've been thinking a lot about crab imperial lately,

so I may use them for their intended purpose. I might also use them as little nut or olive dishes -

they're the perfect size and so perfectly cute.

Auctions are great, aren't they?