Finds from our Paso Robles trip

If you have been reading then you know that I've been searching for corkscrews on my week long vacation to Paso Robles, CA. As of my last post, all that I had bought were 2 lots of bottle openers which I had decided to wait until I returned home to open since they were wrapped like a couple kilos of cocaine being smuggled from Colombia.

Anyway, it has been a grueling and discouraging search, but I'm finally home and ready to share the results. We visited around 25 antique stores/malls in total during the trip. While we did find a good number of corkscrews, few were worth buying and even fewer were reasonable priced.  Below you will find some of the overpriced corkscrews that we found in the antique stores as well as the massive bucket of bottle openers that I dug through to no avail.

Finally some decent corkscrews, but unfortunately still overpriced.

And then I spot what at first glance looks to be a Syroco scotty dog corkscrew; an excellent find if it's priced reasonably. My excitement quickly subsides as I realise that this corkscrew is not a Syroco, but I'm still intrigued and since the label wasn't visible, we asked to have the case opened. The corkscrew, marked on the underbelly "ITALY",  was made of an unknown material; not quite plastic, but not quite wood and was fairly light. As I try to decipher the writing on the tag, I ask the employee if the number written is the price or the dealer number. She explains that the number is the price ($195) and I quickly toss it back as if it was a lobster which hasn't yet reached its maturity.

The employee proceeds to explain that there is a discount in this booth. 50%, quite a large discount. She starts to read the flyer and stops dead in her tracks and looks back with an awkward sigh. 

We persist and find an antique mall in a very rural part of California. Finally, we make a purchase! Its an American direct pull corkscrew marked H & B MFG CO with brush.

And don't forget the 2 bottle opener lots. There were a total of 5 corkscrews.

I also had 2 corkscrews waiting for me at home that were purchased from online sources. On the left is a Williamson stag handled corkscrew. The one on the right appears to be made from a walrus tusk and is very heavy.