I had such a long post for my last estate sale weekend that I decided to share this find separately...as I thought it more unusual.
It is an old metal egg mailer. The two windows on top are for the address and stamps.
It was in the garage and I had never seen anything like it before. I also have never thought about mailing eggs. There were four of them listed on Ebay last time I checked ranging from $9.99 to $139. I did not pay that much.
It has the original paper insert with directions for mailing. It also states that you could insure it for a nickle and the post office would pay for broken eggs (up to $5).
It has this neat little gridwork to place the eggs in for mailing.
I think it would be neat to use for a display at Easter. I also found this chicken and rooster at the sale and they seem to approve of the purchase.
Cluck, cluck..have a happy day!
The egg crate is wonderful. Imagine living somewhere where you couldn't raise chickens and then the mailman delivers two dozen fresh eggs. It must have been wonderful. Eggs for breakfast, yum. It doesn't look like you can read the label -- would be fun to know the "to" and "from".
I've never seen those two chickens before -- very cute.
Thanks for sharing
Posted by: janet | September 29, 2010 at 01:17 PM
Giggling here! I stood in line at the post office yesterday behind a man mailing tomatoes! He could have used something like this. They were just in a little shoebox! Priceless item you have found. Thanks for sharing! Elizabeth
Posted by: Elizabeth | September 29, 2010 at 04:18 PM
This is a great item for Easter - I haven't seen one of these in a long time!!
Posted by: Lynn | September 29, 2010 at 04:32 PM
I think it would be fun to test it -- mail some eggs to a friend and see what happens. Not sure if modern day postal workers would know what this is -- I sure didn't! :-)
PS I have friends who are orchardists and they send cherries to family -- loose in Priority Mail boxes. Sounds like it could get messy.
Posted by: Into Vintage | September 29, 2010 at 04:48 PM
I can imagine just how "egg-cited" you were to find this!
Leave it to you to find something most of the world has never seen!
Posted by: Melissa | September 29, 2010 at 06:43 PM
That's wild!! I'm telling you...fun just follows you around!
Posted by: angela | September 29, 2010 at 08:44 PM
Very cool! I too, have never thought to mail eggs! Fun find!
Hugs,
Jill
Posted by: Jill | September 29, 2010 at 08:47 PM
That egg mailer is AWESOME, I have never seen or heard of one. It was great to get a look. Can't wait to see what you have in mind for Easter.
Posted by: sandy | September 29, 2010 at 09:44 PM
I love it! That is the coolest find!
xo
Claudia
Posted by: Claudia | September 30, 2010 at 08:22 AM
Just when you think you've seen it all, along you come with an egg mailer!! Love the roosters too. By the way...your grandma must been a hoot. She's got that Star Wars hairdo going on!
Posted by: Gloria | September 30, 2010 at 09:27 AM
Hi Laurie,
I also have never heard of or seen
one until now!! I would not even
think you could mail eggs via
USPS but with this handy mailer...
you can! : ) Verrrry interesting...
and fun.
Hugs,
Janis
Posted by: Janis | September 30, 2010 at 10:04 AM
how charming...
Posted by: Carrie | September 30, 2010 at 09:42 PM
You always find the coolest things! Mimi
Posted by: Mimi Sue | October 01, 2010 at 03:33 PM
That egg mailer is a great find. I'm glad we don't live in the same town, otherwise there would be trouble!
Posted by: Mitzi Curi | October 02, 2010 at 06:02 PM
I love this, too! I found some old egg cartons this weekend that I absolutely love, but this beats all. (And those witch candy containers - wow!)
Posted by: barbara | October 03, 2010 at 05:02 PM
That's so neat! And what a unique display piece. I FINALLY got out to the thrift this weekend and found a few things (mostly fabric and some craft supplies) but I also picked up a neat old corkscrew for $1. I looked it up on Ebay and it sold for almost $200! Love those kind of finds though I'll probably keep my fun corkscrew. :)
Posted by: rebecca | October 04, 2010 at 03:20 AM
Wow what an amazing find! I've never seen one like it! And having grown up on a farm I could tell you that my best guess is that they didn't use that to mail just any old eggs (those you could buy at the store). I could be wrong, but they probably mailed fertilized eggs that you then incubated and hatched out so you could enlarge the gene pool of your flock or perhaps acquire different breeds of chickens.
Believe it or not people still use the US Postal Service to deliver fertilized eggs and even live baby chicks! You can buy baby chicks online and have them delivered to your door! Imagine how safe they'd be in your nifty container! :)
Posted by: Crystal | October 04, 2010 at 03:11 PM