When shopping vintage accessories (this goes for both home furnishings and clothing), I find that the best way to navigate the land-mine of junk is to look for specific materials. A great leather jacket or skirt, for instance, will never go out of style. Silk blouses can still look modern decades later. And with home accessories, you can’t really go wrong with lucite and brass.

Brass is such a luxe material and I think it’s pretty sexy. It lends a little bit of sophistication to a room. I found a couple of great pieces of brass at an estate sale in Potomac, Maryland last weekend.

The swan was marked at $35, but everything was 25 percent off, so I got her for around $26. That’s a great piece for a beautiful brass animal and this one is pretty heavy. I’m trying to find a home for her at the moment, but I think she’d look great on a bookshelf or as a centerpiece. Above, you can see my boyfriend holding it for scale. Please excuse his outfit.

This brass pineapple is almost too perfect. First of all, brass pineapples are HUGE right now. But this one actually serves a purpose (which is rare for the things I usually buy!) — the spikes on top are actually little appetizer forks. I wouldn’t normally gravitate toward something so precious, but this little guy is wonderful.