Today was my hubby's day off so we decided to spend the afternoon antiquing at our city's downtown historic district. There is a HUGE antique store there that is so large that is has three stories! Everything in it is sold on consignment and each of the sellers does a fantastic job of presenting shoppers with gorgeous vignettes of their item for sale.

As soon as we entered the store my husband took off in one direction in search of antique railroad lanterns that he collects. He works for Union Pacific Railroad and he just loves to find these lanterns. He was so excited because the last time we were in this store he found a lantern for sale that only cost $60.00 and when we went to pay he was acting very strangely. As soon as we got out of the store he told me that the owner of that particular booth must not have done his homework because he happened to know for a fact that this particular lantern was worth well over $200.00! Later we went online and sure enough it was appraised at that price.

This time he didn't find any lanterns but I came across this beautiful set of Italian salt and pepper shakers. I knew they were authentic as they were engraved "Made In Italy" on the bottom with the makers official seal. I loved the fact that the pepper shaker was not just a shaker but a peppercorn grinder. Freshly ground pepper just tastes so much better. I plan to go to get a lead test kit at the home improvement store to test them for lead before I actually use them to hold salt and pepper. If they come back positive for lead they will just be a beautiful decoration.

When we went to pay for our items the consignment director just happened to be the one ringing up our purchases. When he saw the shakers he said with a smile, "Hey, I saw those and was going to buy them myself!" I replied "Then I wouldn't be able to buy them", with a smile. I hated to disappoint the man but they were all mine!