A few weeks ago, Eva Mendes was spotted with a skull in her Kiki de Montparnasse lingerie bag — which sent the celeb-stalking world into a 50-Shades of kink gossip cliche tailspin. But as it turns out, the antique papier-mâché skull, a ceremonial prop from an Odd Fellows lodge, was purchased at Obscura of Oddities fame. More about Mendes and “her favorite home-décor store” in this article.
When you think about Beanie Babies do you think cute, sweet, playful, disappointing, clutter, or does anyone still think they are collectible? I bet there are people still collecting them. Still, running on the Beanie Baby high, sure that Beanie Babies will rise (in value) again.
The first Beanie Baby was marketed twenty years ago, 1993. Some young people won’t know what a Beanie Baby is. The Beanie Baby fervour died down in about 2000.
I only bought one Beanie Baby during the rush to collect them. I bought Maple, the Canadian Beanie Baby when they were offered at McDonald’s restaurants. Does anyone remember that? I was in the US, living on and off with Todd. It was before we were married in 2000. I remember Todd’s Aunts asking me to bring them Beanie Babies from Canada, when I went home again and was coming back. (I was doing a lot of border crossing in those days). I hadn’t caught the Beanie Baby craze so finding time to get them and space to pack them was not a priority for me. But, his Aunt was a big collector.
Funny how I have bought two Beanie Babies since the days of the Beanie Baby crash but only that one during the rush to collect them. The two I bought since then were found in a thrift shop. I paid a quarter for one and the other came in a bag of toys sold for a dollar, just trying to get rid of excess toys in the shop.
The Beanie Baby has been brought low since the days of it’s huge popularity and the rush to collect them all. People collected hoards of Beanie Babies and now still have to deal with a hoard of Beanie Babies worth far less than they paid for them. Not quite worthless, they are still cute after all. They are still what they always were, a cute toy for children and adults who like something to cuddle. The Beanie Baby never changed, just our concept of them. It would be nice if collectors took this as a lesson. If people used more caution with their collecting, keeping it exclusive rather than hoarding and collecting ALL of them. But, people still get caught up too easily in the marketing, the need to have them all and the idea that they will make a lot of money when they sell them.
I do still have Maple, somewhere. The other one I bought was the St. Patrick’s Day Beanie Baby and it is somewhere too. Put away, not with the idea of selling them for big bucks later, just something nice to have around even though I don’t have the space to display them right now.
I’ve been shopping for “lots” on eBay lately: sellers box up a bunch of low-end things, like cameras or 8mm movies, and then sells them as a set. I’ve found I can get some pretty cheap fun stuff — plus, the mixed-bags aren’t always described very well, so sometimes you get a surprise. In a lot of three movie cameras, I got this strange little beast:
It looks about the same size and vintage of Super8 cameras, and upon opening it up I can see it required a film cartridge. However, the cartridge is too long and too thin to be Super8, or even a cartridge-loading 8mm roll-film camera. The Polaroid logo on the front should have been my first clue — In the land of Land, Polaroids weren’t the kind of camera that used over-the-counter film formats. This is a Polavision camera: Polaroid’s first and only foray into self-developing movie film.
Yes, that’s the part that blew my mind: the magical Polaroid 600 film that everyone shakes like a Polaroid picture is awe-inspiring enough, so doing that at 20 or 30 frames a second blows my mind. The film was, technically, 8mm film, but it wasn’t the same beast. The film was pre-loaded in a cartridge, along with a reservoir of developing fluid. The movie was filmed in a Polaroid camera, like any other normal home movie. The specialized player did most of the work: the first time a cartridge was played, the player released the developing fluid, and in 20 seconds the whole movie was ready to be watched.
Polaroid devoted enormous amounts of money and resources into producing these instant-watch films — compared to regular 8mm home movies, which could take days to get back — and when they released it to the market they expected these Polavision cameras to take off like hotcakes.
In 1950, maybe: color silent movies were the standard of the day, and quick developing would be a big advantage.
In the 1960s, Super8 film, with a larger frame and better sensitivity, was beginning to take over the market — but Polaroid might have still been able to hold their own.
The Polavision home movie system, unfortunately, debuted in 1977 — the same year the VHS tape broke into the United States market. Betamax had been around since 1975. Even Super8 got sound recording in the early 1970s. The self-developing technology was an enormous breakthrough, but as a personal movie-maker it was about twenty years too late.
The image quality was too poor, even by the low-quality bar that VHS lived with well into the 1990s. It could only shoot for two minutes at a time, and being locked in a cartridge means no splicing film together into longer movies. The Polavision film had a very low ISO, so it only worked well in outdoor bright daylight. The Polavision viewer that was crucial to the development of the film was inadequate for shared viewing, and wasn’t able to project on a large screen. Pretty much the only advantage the Polavision system had was that magical quick developing, which made it only useful for speed, and not for, you know, enjoyment or artistic creativity.
The Polaroid company was already beginning to implode, even without this huge financial failure; Land left the company in 1980, and the business struggled to hold on until 2001 when it was sold off to investors, and stopped producing instant film shortly thereafter. The quick-developing technology didn’t die, though, at least not right away: Polaroid upscaled the process and loaded into standard 35mm rolls, releasing it as the quick-developing Polachrome instant 35mm slide film.
Once upon a time, brightly-colored graphics on pressed layers of cardboard in the shape of characters from nursery rhymes, Mother Goose stories, and other childhood tales covered the walls in baby nurseries and children’s bedrooms.
Once the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States joined World War II, Japanese imports disappeared from store shelves and American companies began to take over the toy and other markets once previously held by importers. At the end of the war, Phil Riley of the Dolly Toy Company in Tipp City, Ohio, designed this new kind of wall decoration. They were dubbed “Pin-Ups” and promptly patented.
The Pin-Ups hit stores in 1948, marking the entrance of Dolly Toy Co. into the “Baby Business”, and quickly spawning knock-offs. Dolly Toy would defend their patent in court — and win, thus cornering the paper Pin-Ups market. With such success behind them, Dolly Toy sought to increase their line. By the the 1950s, the company had created other matching décor items for baby’s room. Along with Tidee-Ups (a decorative wall hangers with pegs for clothing), there were lamps and even the company’s first Disney designs. By the early 1960s, crib mobiles would be sold too.
The following photos are of the Dolly Toy Co. items I have listed at Etsy. (You can also search eBay for deals too.)
I personally adore the vintage Western cowboy designs. I soooo wanted to do my son’s room in a vintage cowboy theme, but I didn’t have these then. I mentioned that to my son when he was about six years-old and he put his hand on my arm and said, “You can still do that it you want, Mom.” It just about broke my heart it was so sweet! Of course, now that he’s 11, all I get is an eyeball-roll. *sigh*
If some of these seem vaguely familiar or faintly nostalgic, even if you never had them in your family’s home, you may recall seeing them on reruns of at least one classic TV show.
According to the long-gone Dolly Toy website, Dolly Toy Co. products were featured on one of the most popular shows, I Love Lucy, thus making Pin-Ups part of The World’s Most Famous Nursery. While Dolly Toy Co. was not featured in the 1953 ad, you can spot the Pin-Ups in Desi Jr’s nursery — there’s Jack Jumping Over The Candlestick and what appears to be Mary & her Little Lamb.
A more complete Dolly Toy history (or corporate obituary, as the company ceased in 2008) can be found here.
Today’s scrapbooks are filled with photographs of family & friends, complimented by decorative papers and supplies purchased for the sole act of creating fantastic looking photo albums. But once upon a time, scrapbooks bore more resemblance to their name: they were books full of “scraps” of paper.
Some of these vintage scrapbooks did chronicle personal events or lifetimes, of course; but many were just compilations of neat things people found in newspapers and magazines. Some people were quite dedicated, focusing their efforts on specific themes. At least each scrapbook had its own theme. And some of the most popular themes were scrapbooks dedicated to movie stars. Like this old Mae West scrapbook.
It’s filled with carefully clipped images of the film star from various newspapers and magazines of the time. Looks like there are a few publicity photos sent to fans as well.
I know some people will balk at the seller’s price tag of $450. But when you consider how much it would cost to find and purchase enough vintage publications and the like to attempt to recreate this nearly-antique scrapbook, it seems a pretty small price to pay in comparison. Plus, even if you could manage to locate all the same scraps, would it be the same as knowing someone dedicated themselves to the selection and organization of this old book? I don’t think so.
When you think about it, scrapbooking isn’t much different than blogging is today. But as ephemeral as old paper is, there’s something more lasting about it… Perhaps because none of us knows what will become of blogs and websites in the next 80 years. Even in that unknown future, I can’t imagine someone not enjoying holding an old book like this and carefully turning the pages to see what someone created.
Image Credits: All images from empressjadeoftheuniverse.
In this vintage photo, two children play with water and a tin lithographed pail. You can see Swee’Pea and Olive Oyl from Popeye The Sailor Man.
This is the vintage pail in color, along with some other vintage Popeye sand toys.
The photo was found in a 1956 magazine from Sweden, confirming that this was likely a European-made tin litho sand or water toy.
In the December 1972 issue of Films in Review, in the regular Films on 8 & 16 column, Samuel A. Peeples laments what is available on film.
I am struck by the current lack of public acceptance of certain kinds of screen entertainment, most notably short subjects, newsreels, and child and animal stars. Television is blamed for the decline in the first two, and the greater sophistication of today’s young people for the last two.
Very few of the old films featuring animal stars have survived. The private film collector can purchase a few 8mm prints starring Rin Tin Tin, and a couple of Westerns featuring his marvelous pony, Fritz, and even a complete print of Rex, King of Wild Horses; occasionally the collector can find prints of 16mm sound features starring various cowboys and “their” horse and/or dog co-stars. But that’s about all, and even the currently popular “retrospective” programs of films of the past have yet to bring back any of the fondly remembered great animal stars.
Like every other kid who was around during the last years of the silents, I loved animal pictures.
I think you can see where Peeples is going. Similar feeling film fans can click to read the larger scans.
Images sent in by Jaynie of Here’s Looking Like You, Kid. Jaynie has shared more from this issue; see The Lovely Nazimova.
One of the things I like best about vintage Valentine’s Day cards, especially the children’s cards, are the puns. (It bears repeating!) The other thing I like about vintage Valentines are the graphics. So much nicer to look at than today’s pop culture Valentines, I think. …Then again, today’s stars and fads will become the nostalgia of the future. But then that just means I still have time to change my feelings about them.
This vintage Valentine combines both puns and great graphics — with a few other goodies we don’t see today. This vintage Valentine greeting card featuring a little boy sailing as the captain of his ship is slightly embossed, die cut, and has a stand on the back so it can be displayed.
The best thing about it though is that both the bottom of the card and the stand are rounded, so when the card is standing up, it rocks and rolls, like the motion of the sea!
I can’t keep all the lovely vintage Valentine’s Day cards (or anything else I get my hands on), so I’ve listed it and others for sale. Sometimes, scanning and blogging about things is enough time to cherish something before letting it go to another collector. Hopefully one who won’t have to keep things stored, but can display it and let it be adored.
Many people I know who collect letters and other ephemera bemoan the lost art of letter writing, so I thought they (and you!) might like to see this History of Handwritten Letters infographic and see what other related lost arts there are. *wink* (You can click the image to more easily read the information on the image.)
If I weren’t reading vintage magazines, I might have continued my ignorance of the Tater-Baker. I would have seen the (probably aluminum) dome and thought it was a cake saver, missing it’s platter.
Vintage Everedy ad, found in Good Housekeeping (May 1961).
A full page of Gong Bell Toys from a Billy & Ruth catalog from 1930.
In my own way, I am a shark collector.
I don’t keep stuffed sharks, whether real sharks or cotton stuffed. I don’t really have much at all to show for my shark collection. Not any more at least.
It still bugs me that my brother threw away the shark book I had been given for a long ago birthday. The book was published in 1976, full of paintings of sharks done by Richard Ellis.
I’d been thinking about the book this week, but I couldn’t remember the name of the book or the painter/ author. So I began digging online. I found it.
My Mother thought it was weird to have an interest in sharks, a predatory animal from the ocean. She tried to talk to me about it and talk me out of it. I knew I didn’t have a weird interest. I’m not planning to swimming with sharks, I don’t think about trying to make friends or pet sharks or hunt them or anything else really. I like to look at the sharks, in the photographs and paintings.
I think I like their sleek lines against the backdrop of the ocean. The ocean Richard Ellis paints is quiet, sparkling and bouncing with light hitting the water and the smooth looking shark coasting through the water. I also like the photos of sharks in the waves and crashing ocean. Yes, we know they are dangerous, but there’s more to them. They are a quiet, skilled predator, at home in their universe.
Have you had a book which sticks in your mind due to the loss of the book? Is it worthwhile buying the book again, even if it isn’t about collecting it as much as being able to see and read it again?
I thought about getting another copy of the book. But, it seems unfair when I did have one. So, I decided to leave it. A book unopened, sort of. However, if I see the book somewhere else, like a thrift store, I might get it. This is an emotional decision rather than anything base on logic. Don’t judge me, as they say when they know they have given the appearance of being loopy.
So, at the moment, my shark collection is all online. Available to be shared with anyone who follows the link on Snip.it. (Note: Snip.it closed their service).
Don’t you just wish you could find this old collection? I do! Via.
When hubby and I were selling at the Elkhorn Antique Flea Market, we had brought a large collection of vintage colored aluminum pieces to sell. While the display was incredibly vibrant, shining in the sun, what was even more striking were the reactions to it.
Groups of people were drawn to it, often grabbing a person they were shopping with and dragging them over to the display. Of course, these people were usually of a certain age… For while aluminum was considered a rare metal in the 19th century — and costly by the ounce than silver or even gold — once the mining processes improved, aluminum became all the rage and by the 20th century it was used from everything from kitchenware to Christmas trees. By the 1960s, however, plastics were on their way to replacing pretty much everything, including colorful aluminum ware. But many younger people also recognized the vintage colored aluminum ware as much of the fancy colorful aluminum pieces lived second lives as part of camping gear and in cupboards in summer cottages.
Nearly each person who passed by had their own stories and memories about vintage colored aluminum ware. Clutching a piece in their hand, they’d shared their stories — making a collective experience as they stories drew even more people over.
“My grandma had these glasses — I remember fighting with my sister over who got the purple one!”
“I remember these! Everyone had a set of these. …I wonder where I put my set? Oh, I know, I gave them to the kids for camping. I wonder if they still have them?”
“My aunt had these glasses! I remember how cold our hands would get holding them!”
I too recall my aunt having a set of the vintage colored aluminum tumblers — but my memories are more fear-filled. For my aunt used to save money by making Kool-Aid with only half the directed amount of sugar. Ack! Now the sight of these vintage aluminum tumblers makes my taste buds suspicious. *wink*
Another woman shopping at the flea market also was suspicious. When her friend was regaling her with fond childhood memories of drinking the leftover milk from a colored aluminum cereal bowl, the woman shuddered and said the idea of the aluminum near her mouth made her teeth ache. Her friend knit her brow and said, “You use a spoon and fork to eat, right? And aren’t you drinking that Coke out of an aluminum can right now?”
But my favorite story came from a man about my age who said, “I remember how cold the cups stayed — and how they would sweat. And I’d always leave one sitting put on the furniture and when my dad would find it he’d call me over. He’d tell me to pick the cup up and bring it to him. And when I brought it to him, my dad would ‘ding’ it on the side of my head.”
As a mom, I have to wonder just how many times this had to happen before the kid would learn to put his dishes away. *wink*
There were a number of collectors there that day too, out shopping exactly for more pieces to add to their collections — and a number of collectors who were delighted to discover that there really was a pitcher or a coffee pot to go with their tumblers and trays, butter dishes to go with their salt and pepper shakers, measuring spoons to match their measuring cups, and tongs to go with beverage sets. There even are advertising pieces, such as scoops for lard!
Some pieces have (usually black) plastic handles. Some pieces have embossed, etched, or even hammered designs. And the range of colors and brands are impressive!
We sold a lot of vintage aluminum ware that day. What didn’t sell has been split-up, with half going to our case at Antiques On Broadway and the other half going to our booth at Exit 55 Antiques.
My favorite piece of those left is this red and gold aluminum coffee pot — look at the clear mod percolator top! (It’s available at Exit 55, and it can ship from there!)
After reviewing her book, Hello, Cutie!: Adventures in Cute Culture, I had the chance to interview the collector and author, Pamela Klaffke. In her book, she mentions that her young daughter is also a collector. Since I’m a big fan of children who collect, I wanted to speak with Pamela specifically about her daughter’s collecting.
Hello again, Pamela. Let’s talk a little bit about your daughter and what she collects.
Her name is Emma, she is 11-and-a-half and is in sixth grade. She primarily collects Blythe and Dal dolls, anime figurines, Pokémon plush toys and game cards, plus stuffed animals in general.
When and at what age did she begin collecting?
She’s been collecting since she was a toddler — first with Care Bears, then My Little Pony, and big-eyed Lil Peepers plush toys. Her interest in each collection lasted about 2-3 years and she was really focused. She would usually just buy items for her collections, rather than just a bunch of random toys.
Did you have to encourage her to collect?
It’s not something we really discussed, but being a collector myself I certainly didn’t dissuade her, except maybe when the stuffies started to edge her out of her bed! We had to start keeping them in bins. But collecting has always interested her and come quite naturally.
As a parent and a collector, I feel that the act of collecting is a great thing for children. It helps with practical things such as handling money, negotiating, making decisions, etc. While regular shopping has some of these things, collecting is different and even better than just going to a toy store. Even without the vintage aspect of learning about history, there’s far more involved… It’s not as easy because there’s more to sift through, no catalog pages to circle, etc. A child learns to value imperfect things — while perhaps learning to take better care of the things she collects (because “older” can mean “more fragile”). And I do believe that the role of collector is rather like the role of artist. What things do you think your daughter has learned or gained from collecting?
She’s definitely learned how to save money for an item she wants — she saved for four months earlier this year to pay for a special, limited edition Blythe doll. She’s also learned how to research the best price for items online and can spot a good deal. Many of the things she collects have to be ordered from Asia, so she’s become pretty savvy at ferreting out the bargains. She also combs every nook and cranny of a thrift shop in search of a genuine 1970s vintage Kenner Blythe doll. She’s heard the stories of people finding them in unlikely places and hopes one day it will happen to her!
Here’s hoping Emma finds her big score!
If you or child collect dolls, toys, and other cute things, you’ll love Pamela’s book.
Last winter, on the seventh episode of Season 1 of Grimm, we saw Monroe‘s vintage train set.
Image via the Grimm Wikia
Vintage squeaky toys are one of my kitschy little collections. They are scattered all over the house, but I am slowly adding photos of them to my Collectors Quest collection, so over time they will at least digitally appear together in one place.
I don’t have childhood memories of these things; no warm fuzzy moments when I spot them. I must confess, I got into collecting these little guys for really odd reasons.
One of the first big sales I made online was a vintage made in Taiwan cat squeaky toy. I paid 50 cents at a rummage sale for it, and when it sold for nearly $30, I began scouring rummage sales and thrift stores looking to make another score. Sometimes, even when they weren’t in good shape, I’d buy them — just to save them from the ladies who were going to buy them to give them to children or their dogs.
Such actions aren’t just good for the vintage toys either; I’m saving dogs and babies! For these old rubber toys are not a good idea to give to young children or pets. The rubber either has deteriorated or is in the process of deteriorating and as such tears easily, allowing bits of the old plastic to lodge in the throats and airways of those chewing on it. Often, the little screens or covers on the “breathing” holes which allow the toys to squeak are damaged or give way easily to a tooth too. Plus, these things are old and dirty and heavens knows where they’ve been! Boiling them to sanitize them isn’t a good idea either as this just further breaks down the elasticity of the old plastic, rubber, or vinyl.
Once I found myself with a number of these vintage kitschy rubber toys, able to squeak or not, I found myself falling in love with their cute and comical faces. A collection had amassed itself and I was unable to sell pieces of it anymore. Other than the usual practice of a collector, selling what I have doubles of, I now keep my little kitschy deers and other dears.
Most collectors only want those which still squeak, are void of teeth prints, and with the paint still intact. But if it’s cheap enough — and I don’t already have it (and sometimes if I do!), I will sneak an extra one onto a shelf somewhere. Hubby won’t ever notice. *wink*
There will always be something special about a hard cover book. I mean, a real hard cover, not what passes for them now in the world of publishing and retail outlets. Those big sized soft cover books will never be hard covers, just cheap stand-ins. It bugs me each time I see them called ‘hard cover’ because there is nothing hard at all about those covers.
I don’t know when I was given my first hard cover book any more. Likely it was from my Grandmother, she was a book person. My Dad’s Mother, people on my Mother’s side of the family aren’t much into reading. They’ve been known for cooking, baking and stealing horses somewhere in the distant past. My Dad’s side were the educated, reading, law abiding sort of people. My Grandmother wrote and self published a few books of her own.
Not surprisingly, the first hard cover books I had were story books, fairy tales and fantasy. I can remember books by Enid Blyton and the series of Katy Did books by Susan Coolidge. Later I would read Nancy Drew. They were only out in hard cover editions then.
I miss holding a real book – the way the spine wouldn’t bend and the pages would fall open differently than any paperback book. Bookmarks suit a hard cover book. They never look so elegant and romantic in a paperback.
Depending on your age, you may remember fixing hard covers, adding a bit of tape to the bookbinding. Or, recovering your hard cover book with a soft cover of some kind which would keep the hard cover from getting messy. Some hard covers were shiny or real leather on the older books. They would show fingerprints if you didn’t give them a temporary paper kind of cover. Now there are only paperback books, the hard covers are gone. Just the word and a few elderly books are all that remain.
This photograph was taken in the 1960s at an outdoor flea market in Brimfield, MA.
This is an interior shot of a Springfield, MA, antique shop. It’s also from the 1960s.
The photos are available from Lynnstudios.
What a sweet vintage photograph of a woman and her bear friend! The photo is dated May 1940.
Image via Lynnstudios.
