Greyhound Finds on a Lazy Sunday

I am so excited!  This morning started out as a lazy Sunday...lounging in bed, checking out Etsy on my iPhone, relisting some expired listings and searching for new vintage greyhound items.  And then I saw them.  Mint vintage greyhound drinking glasses.  I had to have them.  Now!  I leaped from the bed, ran downstairs, and immediately contacted the seller, Ruff by Margo, to find out how much shipping was going to set me back for a set of 6.  Within just a few minutes, we had a reserved listing set up and I was checking out.  I'm now the proud owner of a set of 6 of these babies (photo courtesy of Margo!):

The glasses originally came in sets of 8- each greyhound wore a different color silk and was numbered 1 through 8.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a set of mint glasses though!  Maybe over time I'll add the rest of the numbers and phase out the rest- who knows!  Right now, I am just thrilled to have them.  I did come to the realization that I think I am officially collecting vintage glasses now...I have quite a few sets that I am just in love with, and I can't seem to pass them up when I find them at flea markets (or online!).

The other thing that really just made my day is that I FINALLY found the origin of a vintage greyhound brooch that Kenney gave me for our 4th wedding anniversary earlier this month.  This is the brooch, as worn by me:

Kenney purchased it after I fell in love with it during a quick trip to Richmond a couple of months ago.  I saw it at one of our favorite shops in Carytown, Bygones, and desperately wanted it, but it was too expensive for an impulse purchase that we had no knowledge of it's real value.  We were told that it was priced at $80 because it was sterling silver and enamel, but that didn't really mean much to me then.  After we returned to Illinois, Kenney called the store and asked if they could hold it until our friend, Melissa, made it there to buy it for him- they remembered him (and probably how much I fawned all over it) and were happy to hold it.  Then, on our anniversary, I came home to a lovely presentation of the pin nestled in a birds nest (from our sister's recent wedding) and roses- I was beside myself!  Since I had the pin in hand, I started researching it to find out more about it.  What was it's origin?  How old is it?  Is it rare?  Did we get a good deal, or was it one of those "but you'll never find it again, so it's worth the extra money" purchases?  No such luck...I couldn't find ANYTHING about it.  Until today!  As I was researching my newly purchases greyhound glasses above, I came across this:

Just this one listing alone gave me so much information!  The pin is made by Uncas Manufacturing.  The U with arrow is their marking.  They are selling their pin for $155, a total of $75 more than Kenney paid for mine! So exciting!  I can't find anything else still about the pin, but this is a great start!