Archive for ‘Plastic’

February 19, 2012

Going To HE-Double-Hockey-Sticks In A Handbag?

Here at the House-Of-Ugly we have standards. Admittedly they’re kind of loose standards since we’re not terribly fond of rules. The practical result is someplace there’s a point where ugly is too ugly, where something isn’t cool even if aesthetically questionable.

Welcome to the border.

I can’t decide which side of that line between ugly/cool and ugly/ugly this lies on. It’s best if you do.

This lamp features an old handbag with some lovely accoutrements attached. It still works OK and stands about 19 inches tall.

My understanding is that this was a white elephant gift at a long ago holiday party. It’s unclear to me how it all went down but apparently there was some sort of big conflict over this lamp that nearly resulted in a fist fight. The ‘proud’ owner of the lamp at the end of the night hasn’t been to a white elephant exchange since and I think that was some 20 years ago.

Now’s your chance to light a dark corner, own a spectacular piece of vernacular assemblage art and/or sew discord amongst your peers.

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January 30, 2012

The Elusive Red Breasted Toothpick Bird

So I was showing off this awesome toothpick pecking bird and she said “I’m so glad you don’t bring more of the stuff you find home.”

Foiled again.

This plastic bird is about 4 1/2 inches tall. When you press down on the bird’s head a little drawer slides out and it picks up a toothpick in its beak.

Retro cool!

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January 27, 2012

Rupert The Giraffe

Rupert knew he was special, not just because his mother told his so, but because the light of the world emanated from his hind-end.

Approximately 20 inches tall by 14 inches wide and features a plastic giraffe 3/4 mounted on a brushed copper plate with savannah scene.  The photo doesn’t do it justice as it’s not quite as red as the picture above,  yet not as pale as the picture below and the strange effect of the light is best viewed in person.

The Watercloset Gallery will be open from 10 am to 4 pm.

January 4, 2012

Vintage Faux Antler Carving Set, In Box

Vintage stainless steel carving set in presentation box. The handles are actually Bakelite in the form of antlers. We had another set like this just over two years. That one was by E. Parker & Sons of Sheffield, England.

This set is by Crown Crest, also of Sheffield.

Sheffield was the center of the internationally famous British steel industry especially in the 19th and early 2oth centuries. The roots of metal working in Sheffield extend back to at least the 14th century. As Chaucer wrote of the Miller in The Reeve’s Tale (lines 3933-3936):

A Sheffield thwitel bore he in his hose. 
Round was his face, and camus was his nose;
As piled as an ape was his skull.
He was a market-beater at the full.

Thwitel is an archaic word for knife, apparently camus means short, stubby or pug like, not that he had a Nobel Prize winning French author for a nose, though that would be a pretty neat thing to see.

The box is 15 1/2 inches by 5 1/2 inches by 2 inches tall and features a woodland scene. As shown in the detail pictures there is a crack running across the center of the box. The cutlery is in excellent condition  and the knife is the biggest piece at 13 3/4 inches long.

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December 30, 2011

Call Me, Valley Girl. Clear Plastic & Fluorescent 1980′s Telephone

Duh, like totally 1980′s dude.

Problems? As if!

This gnarly, killer, rad ‘fone works sweet, you know what-ever. . .

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December 30, 2011

Big A** Television

One of our volunteers saw this and said, “F-bomb! If I put this in my living room I’d have to sit in the dining room to watch it!”

It’s that big.

This LG 50PX4DR Plasma Television was made in 2005. It is rated for 60,000 viewing hours or roughly 6 years 10 months 4 days 3 hours 29 minute and 18 seconds of use.

Roughly.

Of course this is an average so some will last significantly less time and others much longer.

In any case this particular TV still works properly to the best of our testing ability. The original specs are in the long list below, hopefully it will answer any questions you might have.

Oh yes, we have the remote control for the TV too.

LG 50PX4DR specifications:

General

  • Product type Plasma TV
  • Diagonal size 50.0 in
  • Viewing angle 160 degrees

Video

  • Technology Plasma (PDP)
  • Resolution 1366 x 768
  • Display format 720p
  • Image aspect ratio 16:9
  • Progressive Scan Progressive scanning (line doubling)
  • Widescreen Widescreen
  • Image contrast ratio 5000:1
  • Brightness 1000.0 cd/m2
  • Comb filter 3D-Y/C digital
  • Color temperature control Yes
  • Supported DTV resolutions 720p (via Component sockets) , 480p (via Component sockets) , 480i (via Component sockets) , 1080i (via Component sockets)

TV Tuner

  • TV tuner presence Yes
  • HDTV Tuner Yes
  • Digital TV tuner ATSC , QAM
  • Analog TV tuner NTSC
  • Secondary audio program (SAP) Yes

Audio

  • Speaker(s) 2.0 x Right/left channel speaker – Built-in – 15.0 Watt
  • Surround mode Yes
  • Sound effects Virtual Surround Mode , SRS TruSurround XT , BBE
  • Total output power 30.0 Watt

Convenience Features

  • Additional features 3:2 pull down compensation , XD Engine technology , Channel labeling
  • Closed captioning Yes
  • Parental channel lock Yes
  • V-chip control Yes

Connectivity

  • Video interface S-Video , Component , HDMI , Composite
  • HDMI ports qty 2.0
  • PC interface VGA (HD-15)
  • Remote Control
  • Type Universal remote control – Infrared

Power

  • Power device Power supply – Internal
  • Dimensions & Weight
  • Dimensions (WxDxH) 57.5 in x 4.0 in x 30.7 in
  • Weight 110.7 lbs
December 27, 2011

When You Have A Dime Store Matrix

You get a dime store hero.

He may not be Neo but he can act as well and he won’t offer you the choice of two pills.  The painful truth of reality is all he offers (unless it’s actually the blissful ignorance of illusion in disguise).  Truth and fiction are mirages contained within illusions and only he knows the difference; but he’s not saying.

Maybe the machines will tell you instead or maybe he’s one of the machines or maybe . . .

Two cubic inches of lucite or similar clear plastic resin containing 10 pennies dated 1972.

December 26, 2011

Got Hot Dish? You Betcha’: Vintage ITT Wall Phone

Vintage brown plastic wall phone that’s a lot like the one we had in my house when I was a kid, except ours was black. It was made by ITT, it works well and has adjustable ringer volume.  and imported from area code 218, the northern part of Minnesota.

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December 23, 2011

A Small Violin Playing Just For You

And it’s playing both kinds of music, Country and Western.  The Country Music Instant Fiddle plays a variety of classic country tunes by artists including Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, and Willie Nelson.

I believe the songs it plays include:

1. Hey, Good Lookin’
2. Crazy
3. All My Exes Live in Texas
4. Oh Susanna
5. Jambalaya
6. Beautiful Dreamer
7. Abilene
8. Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys

The duration of the notes seems to be linked to how fast you play. So, you could perform “Mamas…” as a dirge, or “Hey, Good Lookin’” as the next post-punk speed-metal hit.

it stands about 11 inches tall and works, although the volume level is not impressive. If your crafty it would be a good candidate for modification! Just add a microphone and an arena size speaker stack.

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December 23, 2011

The Perfect Gift For Uncles In New Jersey

Suppose you’re looking for something for a relative we’ll call ‘Uncle George’.

George lives out of town and you won’t have to face him when he gets his present.

You’re also running out of time.

We’ve got your back.

Just get this inflatable fruitcake.

If you send it airmail it should get to Uncle George in Hoboken in plenty of time. Unless they notice that the return address city and zip code don’t match, in which case you’ll be sending next years present from Guantanamo.

Air mail, inflatable fruitcake, Hoboken, Guantanamo. Air mail, inflatable fruitcake, Hoboken, Guantanamo.

It’s like a mantra for modern America: Air mail, inflatable fruitcake, Hoboken, Guantanamo, Om.

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December 22, 2011

Eco-Friendly Little Lighted Tree

An interesting little table top tree which is made out of ceramic and was decorated by Margie. It is 12 1/2 inches tall and lit from the inside by a single night-light bulb. The light is transmitted through little holes with plastic bulb shaped pieces. It is in good shape except for one chipped branch (see picture below).

This tree is carbon neutral (mostly) and you don’t have to pick up errant needles for the next six months.

Even the Grinch would be proud of you. Then he’d steal it just because.

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December 17, 2011

Two Kings & A Shepherd Walk Into A Deversorium VI

Two kings and a shepherd walk into a Deversorium VI* , there is a bored night-clerk behind the counter.

The first king looks around with incredulity, “When I made my reservation on-line it didn’t look like this!” “You’re not kidding, what a dump!” the second king said. “I demand to see the manger!”

The clerk looks at them with the practiced disdain of the service industry professional, “What are you two? A couple of wiseguys?”

“See you later guys, I’m gettin’ the flock outta’ here . . .” said the shepherd as he ducked out the door, “and don’t call me for bail when the centurions come.”

Stray nativity scene figures, at the Estate Store for a limited time.

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*Deversorium VI -We’ll leave the star of Bethlehem on for ya

December 15, 2011

Vintage Framed Print Of Frightened Horses

The entities that would later be reincarnated as Larry, Moe & Curly realize too late that they got on the wrong tour bus; instead of going to Alcoa plant they went to the Alpo factory.

However Trigger, Topper and Silver King learned a lot about aluminum that day, which they later put to good use as industrial capitalists making lightweight tack, harness and jewelry for Shetland Ponies.

Vintage print of three frightened or high-strung horses, in an old frame. In frame they are 23 1/2 inches by 19 1/2 inches. As you can see in the picture, the frame has some damage.

December 1, 2011

Stephen Hawking, Interior Decorator

 

It’s more than just a clock, it’s a little piece of infinity.

Just after getting his B.A. at Oxford and before going to Cambridge for his advanced degree Stephen Hawking worked one summer for an interior decorator. While doing this he decided to give design a shot on his own and found great inspiration in combining his studies with his vocation.

Thus the infinity clock was born.

It is 31 1/2 inches in diameter and seems to work properly. When the clock is moved the hour hand comes loose and dangles uselessly at the 6 o’clock position. This is easily remedied by pushing it gently back onto the shaft.

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November 12, 2011

Get Twice As Juiced At The Estate Store

The juicer you choose to juice with may change your life. Or it may not.

I don’t know if it actually matters what juicer you use. Regardless, we have two very nice juicers today.

First we have the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. It has a non-drip spout, 3600rpm motor and stainless steel blade. It aslo boasts “patented extraction technology” to yield 30% more juice. 30% more than what is not stated. Our runs well but I didn’t sacrifice my lunch to see if it would juice an omelet. GONE!

Secondly we have an Olympic model 1000 juicer. At first glance this looked stunningly similar to one we had back in January.  Even though the names are different it turns out there is a good reason for this, since Olympic was taken over by Omega. Like the LaLanne juicer this too has a 3600 rpm motor and stainless blade. The juice catchment system is somewhat different and we don’t know how it compares in terms of percentage more or less juice extracted. Like the other juicer it runs well but again, I didn’t test it with actual foodstuffs.

We’re asking $45 each for these.

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October 22, 2011

Vintage Panton Chair Set

We have two of these iconic chairs. They were designed in the late 1950′s by Verner Panton and were the first commercial single-material, single-form injection-molded chair.

Commercial production didn’t start until 1960 since it took some time for manufacturing techniques to catch up with the demand of the design. The materials and manufacturing processes were revised several times over the course of production and they’re still being made.

From what I can tell this set probably dates from 1971 to 1979.

According to the online archive established and maintained by Marianne Panton (the wife of Verner Panton)

. . .the third series model [was] made of coloured thermoplastic polystyrene (Luran S). The chairs made of this material can be identified by the ridges below the bend between the seating area and the base.
Manufacturer: Vitra; in the USA until 1975 Herman Miller. 

Unfortunately these don’t have a label that clearly specifies that they are actually authorized copies. They do have reinforcing ridges underneath the seat and a devotee could tell at a glance if these are the same as the ones on the 1970′s chairs.

There is an  H with two arms logo embossed on the base (see picture below) that could provide a clue. Many of the Herman Miller chairs were made by other suppliers (for example these 1972 chairs by Fehlbaum of Switzerland), so they might have only had a paper label or no impressed mark at all.

Basically I’m not sure who the molded mark belongs to which in turn means I’m unsure if these are legitimate or unauthorized vintage copies.

The are approximately 33 inches tall, 19 1/2 inches wide and 22 inches deep.

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They are dense painted plastic and the painting is a high quality job using a very nice glossy metal flake black. Both chairs are in good condition with some minor wear.

October 8, 2011

Middle Class Sterling Rattle & Teething Ring

Though not quite of the class that one would expect to give to a baby that will someday run for president this is still a pretty decent teething ring and rattle.  As a vintage item this does not modern standards for teething rings (as summarized in CPSC Document # 202 The Safe Nursery, p.8) so it is a decorative item rather than a practical gift.

In any case it is much nicer than what we had where I grew up. In fact, we used to give the kids old car tires and stove length pieces of wood to chew on, except for the real tough babies who we’d set down along the abandoned rail road tracks. They didn’t have much of an impact on the old rails, but they were never anemic either.

Thankfully we didn’t live in the tough part of town.

This vintage Lunt sterling rattle with teething ring is about 3 1/2 inches from tip to tail (you decide which is which). The teething ring is commonly advertised as  “mother-of-pearl” but a multitude of tiny trapped air bubbles indicates that this is actually opalescent plastic. . . which bears an uncanny resemblance to the current field of presidential candidates.

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October 6, 2011

Space Age Hand Mixer

This hand mixer with space-age styling was made somewhere in the mid 1960′s by General Electric. It is model 30M47 and features three speeds, a detachable cord and an ejection lever for the beaters. It works well and is 9 inches long (about 10 inches tall when fully assembled).

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October 4, 2011

This Is What Happens When Gretchen & Gunter Get Corked

At first the disembodied heads on this novelty cork seem conventional and normal, but get them near wine, pull the lever on the back and . . . they turn towards each other and kiss.

For no real reason I’ve given them faux Germanic names, but feel free to rename them as you will. The whole thing is about 5 inches tall.

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September 27, 2011

This IS Your (Great) Grand-Mother’s Plastic: Antique Hand Mirror

Mr. McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. 
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics

The Graduate (1967)

This is not exactly the kind of plastics Mr. McGuire had in mind.

For quite sometime I thought this was an example of a really weird plastic called Bois Durci*. But then I looked at the patent date. June 19, 1866 was a Tuesday and the vast majority of US Patents since 1848 were issued on Tuesdays**.

This led to a little more research and I found I had just wasted an hour reading about Bois Durci. Rather than Bois Durci, this is a product of one of the stubby early branches of modern plastics, a concoction called shellac molding compound.

Shellac is produced from a resin secreted by the female Lac bug and when refined and processed make a decent finish for furniture and flooring. It was the dominant finish for furniture in the late 19th century. Unfortunately it is readily dissolved by alcohol and so it’s not uncommon to see vintage vanity or dresser tops that bear a mark outlining the shape of a long-lost perfume bottle. As a furniture finish it was superceded by nitrocellulose lacquer in the early 20th century.

Shellac molding compound presumably is a mixture of shellac and other products (perhaps sawdust) and was invented by Alfred Critchlow who was an early partner of a company that was renamed in 1866 as the Florence Manufacturing Company. Originally they made protective cases for Daguerreotype photographs which were rendered obsolete by the innovation of the Ambrotype photo in the 1860′s. They then transitioned to making consumer goods, especially dresser sets such which included mirrors like this one.

Our mirror is 10 3/4 inches long and 4 3/8 inches wide. It is in good condition except for a transverse fracture at the base of the handle which seems to be a common flaw on these pieces.

The back of the mirror is embossed with birds and naturalistic forms with a classically inspired center image. Except for the crack in the handle it is in very good condition.

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*Bois Durci is one of the earliest man-made plastics. Officially the first was a material called Parkesine (patented in England in 1856) and it used the interaction of wood cellulose and nitric acid to create a moldable material that would come to be commonly known as cellulose. Bois Durci drew on this foundation (although given the vagaries of patent processes in different countries it was actually patented earlier, in 1855, in France).

At the most simple level Bois Durci was made of a mixture of blood, powdered wood and a coloring agent. It was heated until the cellulose broke down enough to be moldable (but not too much) and was poured into a hot mold. The top half of the mold was then added and subjected to great pressure from a steam operated press and ‘cured’ by gradually reducing the heat. The resultant product was hard, glossy and bore the imprint of the decorative mold. 

Sometimes other materials (like eggs) were used as a binding agent in place of blood and the coloring could be influenced by the choice of wood used. Rosewood and ebony were the most common ones, which I find rather astounding. There’s something that seems intrinsically wrong about cutting down tropical hardwoods to make plastic consumer goods but I guess it’s a sign of how culture has changed in the last 150 years.

Bois Durci was commercially successful if somewhat expensive to produce and found great favor in desk sets, picture frames, medallions caskets and all sorts of other stuff (see here for some examples).

Mirrors of various sizes were also one of the products, including hand mirrors like ours, but not actually the same as this one.

**It’s a good geek party trick. Find something with a patent date and see if anyone will bet against you for $5 that the patent date on the item was a Tuesday.  After you make $10 or $20 your friends will think you’re a crazy poly math.

September 24, 2011

Vintage Rollers Skates & Case From Our Own Oaks Rink

Cool old vintage roller skate case from Portland’s own, world famous and still operational Oaks Park.

Like many older amusement parks Oaks Park was originally (1905) built as the anchor for the end of a suburban trolley line. This was not an uncommon practice at the time since having an amusement park on the line helped build ridership during off-peak commuting hours, like nights and weekends. Elsewhere in the Portland area this same model was applied to a much shorter lived park on Council Crest.

Oaks Park is still running and the iconic roller skating rink is alive and well. The rink was originally installed sometime before 1944 and was (and is) one of the largest in the northwest.  In 1955 a pipe organ, formerly located at the Broadway Theater (installed there in 1926) was relocated to the park where it remains in operation.

Our skate case contains a pair of size 8 Chicago Custom GM II skates from the great roller skating revival of  the 1970′s (as indicated by the official 1973 American Roller Dance Skating handbook). They’re in good condition and we have various wrenches for them too.

The case is in excellent condition. It is about 15 inches long by 12 inches tall by 6 1/2 inches thick. Of all unexpected miracles we have the key.

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September 22, 2011

The Return Of Tranquil Beaver

We sold tranquil beaver last December. He was going to be a beacon of safety. He was going to light the way to the washing machine of cleanliness (located next to the bubble-gum machine of godliness in the dark basement of an 8-unit apartment building).

Instead of leading to the realization of the divine in all of us or showing the path to awakening (or at least where things are that you don’t want to walk into),  his enlightened countenance and contented inner glow made him a target for thieves.

Several times  his bulb was taken although he remained. As a result he was reduced to contemplating the worldly sorrows of transient mortality, of bulbs gone before their time.

Since suffering ends when craving ends our donor has decided to ends her craving for light (and suffering in darkness when it’s missing) by returning this so it can go to another home, where one in seven of your neighbors aren’t thieves*.

Approximately 5 inches tall.

*Apparently one can improvise drug smoking paraphernalia from light bulbs (things you learn on the internet!). While it seems unlikely it is possible that someone is breaking into laundry rooms and stealing nightlight sized bulbs to make miniature crack/meth pipes.

Instead perhaps there is a species of drug addicted lilliputians living in an unexplored corner of the basement?

September 19, 2011

Caliculus’s Collapsible Camping Cups

The Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus earned the nickname little boots (Caligula) while accompanying his father’s legions as a child.

Less well-known is his illegitimate half cousin Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit Amet. As a child Lorem Ipsum wasn’t the shiniest dupoodius in Rome. As an adult he was no better and was particularly intolerant to even watered wine as a result eventually he was given the nickname Caliculus (small goblet).

From what few references we know of in the dusty tomes that inhabit library basements it seems Caliculus did exactly one useful thing in his life. During the heady days of the blood feud between Agrippina and Tiberius he (for reasons no historian can fathom) feared for his life as well. Concerned that he would have to leave Rome in a hurry he commissioned custom traveling table ware.

This is how the collapsible cup was invented.

Our cup are just under two millennia more recent. They stand 3 inches tall and are made of some sort of plastic. We’ve tested them and they didn’t leak.

Your results may vary.

September 10, 2011

More Stuff From My Desk: Part Two


It seems this is going to be a longer process than I’d hoped, so here’s another sample of the jetsam I’ve been unearthing.

In the lower left of the detail picture is a key imprinted A E Dietz possibly for a padlock (which we don’t have). 

Above that and to the right is a tiny little scale of the sort one would use to weigh small but valuable things, like gold dust or opium or the actual goodness in good intentions that have paved the road to hell. 

In the upper left is a small brass object.

It is 1 1/2 inches in diameter and about 1/2 inch tall and it is hollow like a cap. Around the lower margins it is stamped with four lines reading Gott Mit Uns (God With Us). On the top of it it is stamped with the German Imperial Eagle and lettering reading Deutsches Reich 1889 Funf Mark.  The goldmark  was the standard coinage of the German Empire from 1873 to 1914. The 1889 five mark coin was silver, weighed 27.78 grams and had a front face with a variety of images depending upon the state it was minted in.

Our piece is brass, isn’t a coin and has a very small hole suggesting it was nailed to something as a decorative element.

We have another vintage bottle opener, with hole for attachment to a key chain. I’m not sure why this was on my desk, but it was.

Into vintage air travel?  We have luggage tag for the United Airlines 100,000 mile club. If you’ve any plan to use it you’d better bring your fake ID as the former owners name is stamped into the back.

Finally we have a slide plate for an old sewing machine.  By reading the imprinted lettering we know it fits a Domestic sewing machine. By doing a little research on the serial number and patent dates we were able to tell that it likely belongs to an 1880′s or 1890′s Domestic high arm, fiddle base and hand cranked (type A or B) machine.  

September 9, 2011

Bright Yellow & Chrome Ice-O-Mat Bucketeer

Vintage Ice crusher with built-in bucket. This is the Bucketeer model and was made by Rival as part of the Ice-O-Mat product line. It is in excellent condition and one can create coarse or fine ice chips depending on the direction you turn the handle.

Unfortunately we don’t have the stand for this. Which raises the question, why is it that the stands almost always go missing? I was checking out some other great ice crushers just last weekend (the bomb/rocket shaped ones by Dazey) and they had the same problem, so I’m sure it’s not just an artifact of our sample size.

The ice bucket is held in place by a nifty little spring mechanism that uses the pins that hold the bucket handle in place. I had to look it up to figure it out and I’m glad I didn’t just resort to the usual ‘get a bigger hammer’ approach.

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