Saturday, October 10, 2009

On the Quest for Early Christmas Finds!

I have found myself hitting the Coptic Cairo market several times this past week, as the lure of exotic treasures for "special prices" have tripped the lights fandango for my early Christmas shopping quest. This avenue of outdoor vendors, antiques, and retail therapy shops have become my purse string's new found friend.




I found the full length simulated mummy case below interesting. It was marked down to $6,000 from the lofty sum of $8K. It opened up and in my opinion had a plethora of uses - coffin, trunk, coffee table, plant holder... LoL. Anything!



I especially liked these Egyptian instruments. The one below is called an "ood".



These mother of pearl tables and octagonal jewelry boxes were especially worthy of a second look.



As were these chandeliers....


And these lamps were to die for!



What do you think of this embroidered coverlet? I haven't decided yet if I should go back and get this, but it definitely caught my eye when I entered the room!


I left both times with several bags of hard earned haggling bargains. Will be sure to head back closer to the holidays. What I purchased will have to remain a secret until Christmas, but here are some past purchases that I thought were noteworthy to post.

This lovely Egyptian tea pot....

And this delightful antique copper pot over 100 yrs old! Don't you just love the Arabic lettering on the outside?

And last but not least, my very own Aladdin's lamp... I sure do wish Aladdin's genie was still accessible though! :(