CHARITY ROW:
Like the Baldelli coin bank we had a few weeks ago this vintage cat-shaped bank is probably also derived from the design work of Lisa Larson and it is further embellished with flowers and leaves.
I suspect it was made in Japan. It is 6 1/2 inches long, 4 1/2 inches tall and 4 inches deep.
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In real life Big Bird is an “eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright primrose-yellow bird.”
Really, he is.
He’s known for being both easily confused and for being surprisingly talented. Among his many talents are skating, dancing drawing and riding a unicycle. This is a little incongruous since he is described as a six year old in the TV show’s writer’s guide. Luckily slight inconsistencies like this haven’t undermined his career.
He’s also know for saying wise phrases as “I guess it’s better to be who you are. Turns out people like you best that way, anyway” which seems equivocal and subject to revision at a later date. Maybe he’ll decide that people will like him more if he’s a cookie jar? Obviously, if this really were Big Bird’s favorite cookie jar it would be more than just a touch narcissistic.
What Big Bird is here, for us, now is a cookie jar.
He’s 12 1/2 inches tall. Although he looks like he is from about the same era as the E.T. lamp we just had the text along the edge of the base shows the design was copyrighted by the Muppets in 1971.
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This is a BCM/HL Registered Design which is a mark of high quality furniture. Well, I hope it is.
The BCM/HL label seems to be something of an enigma, with no one exactly sure what it stands for. I did a little looking around and it seems that BCM most likely stands for Bath Cabinet Makers.
Not the ‘rubba-dub-dub’ kind of bath, but Bath, England, which might be most familiar from reading Chaucer in high school.
The HL component of the name is unknown to me but it should be decipherable with access to the correct references (which I don’t have).
Bath Cabinet Maker’s was founded in 1895 and claimed to produce the highest quality furniture in England. At some point after the late 1960′s the company was absorbed into the Herman Miller empire, however the brand survived to some degree at least as late as 1984.
This armoire/wardrobe is about 40 inches wide, 77 inches tall and 17 inches deep. It is in great condition and has two clothes hanging bars in the upper section, with attached hooks. Below is a full width drawer.
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Mr. Froggy went a courtin‘ and since he was a bank he only paid 15% taxes on the income earned while he was doing it.
Meanwhile the hard working blue tailed fly was holding two jobs just to keep current on his mortgage for a little dung heap that was worth less than he paid for it. He paid 30% on his income.
Seething with the injustice of his exorbitant tax rate Mr. Froggy ate Mr. Blue Tail Fly as he was commuting to his second job one afternoon. Then he foreclosed on the fly family dung heap.
He was a model business-amphibian.
Vintage ceramic frog bank. He’s about 10 1/2 inches tall and in great condition. Like investment banks, retirment plans and ponzi schemes everywhere he does not have a hole by which one can remove one’s deposits. You can attempt to fish money out via the slot you put it in or you can smash the whole thing and start over.
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This is a smashing vintage silver-plate tea and coffee service in the Ascot pattern by Community Plate. The only thing missing is your own personal* Peter Vaughan (who played the old Mr. Stevens in Remains of the Day).
Included in this set are a coffee pot (9 inches tall), tea-pot (7 inches tall), cream pitcher (4 1/2 inches tall) and lidded sugar bowl (5 1/2 inches tall). The large rectangular tray is about 30 inches long (including the handles) and 17 1/2 inches wide.
All the pieces are in excellent condition. $150
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*Rest assured that the continued decline of the middle class, the slow painful death of the social safety net and the aging baby boomer population will combine to make sure there is a good supply of workers who will have to keep at it long after their ability to do so is gone.
Maybe having your own tea and coffee service will be the edge to get you in the downstairs employment door when it’s your turn?
The payoff for doing my job and working as part of this blog is that I get to learn new things and feed my research addiction*. For instance, until last Tuesday I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a Stilton scoop or server. That was the day that one of my whip-smart colleagues figured out that’s what these are.
I never thought of having a specialized tool just for a particular cheese. My kitchen seems so inadequate now that I know I don’t own even a single Stilton scoop, and I quail in horror at the missing Cheddar pincer, the lack of a Camembert épée and most regrettably the vacant space upon the counter where a Roquefort chisel should be.
In a city full of foodies (and wanna-be foodies) I imagine you must be at least somewhat sympathetic to this glaring inadequacy. And now, with this public confession, my credibility is shot.
However, there is still time to save your reputation (or that of one of a close friend) with this lovely set of six Scottish silver-plate Stilton scoops.
They’re each 7 1/2 inches long and come in a presentation style box. They were made and sold by Wilson & Sharp Ltd, Goldsmiths Silver Smiths & Watchmakers, 139 Princess Street Edinburgh and Dundee.
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*For example I learned that in the flatware family tree cheese scoops are closely related to marrow scoops and that Wilson & Sharp was a partnership between Robert Wilson and Andrew Sharp which was established in 1880′s. The firm made a wide variety of items including condiment sets, menu holders, hollow-ware, flatware, candle sticks and watches. Sometime in the 1970′s they were absorbed into the English firm Mappin & Webb. This then is a terminus ante quem for when these were originally purchased.
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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School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule days
‘Reading and ‘riting and ‘rithmetic
Taught to the tune of the hick’ry stick
You were my queen in calico
I was your bashful, barefoot beau
And you wrote on my slate, “I Love You So”
When we were a couple o’ kids
A nice pair of antique cast iron and wood school desks. Each has a shelf for books, a hole for an inkwell, a pen groove and the seats fold. Both are in pretty good shape and are roughly 28 inches deep, 21 1/2 inches wide and a maximum of 26 inches tall.
We’re selling them separately.
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Telephone tables are sign number 437 that things have changed and kids have it too easy.
“Back in my day we had to have special furniture for our phones. It wasn’t some easy thing where you carried around more computing power in your pocket than the Strategic Air Command and could do internet searches for even the simplest stuff, like how to breathe. No, we had to remember phone numbers or look it up in a book. Ever hear of a book kid? It’s not some E-lek-tronik doo-dad, no sirree, its analog and uses paper and you had to know how to spell to use it. Bah you kids!
Wanna play Words With Friends?”
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This is a Fenton, hobnail, milk glass, crimped-edge epergne. That’s a very high falutin’ name for a centerpiece, but that seems to be what they’re called.
It is 8 1/2 inches in diameter and 6 1/2 inches tall. There are four pieces, namely the base and three flower-like “horns”. All the pieces are in perfect condition and it may have never been used at all.
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Valentines Day is coming and what better way to say to that not quite special someone “You’re so something but it’s not special” than to get them this thing?
This vaguely heart-shaped dish is made of glass pieces and held together with large amounts of lead. The coded message is that you’re subtly saying “I don’t give a rat’s derriere about your central nervous system” at the same time.
Perfect!
It is about 7 inches by 6 inches and weighs nearly 1 1/2 pounds.
I look at this leather upholstered bar stool and think, “If this were at my drafting table I could sketch cities, build Important Edifices or design untold futures.”
Instead I have an old cast iron and oak stool that’s just a bit too short, the mark of a plonker, a dilettante, someone who’s not, note the capital s- Serious.
But I’ve had that old stool too long to casually toss it aside for a flashy new brunette. I spent a lot of night sitting on it with only a purloined milk-crate for a footrest and a wall to lean against and it suits me pretty well.
This new bar stool is about 48 inches tall with a seat height of 30 inches. It is 23 inches deep and 21 3/4 inches wide, unfortunately we have only one.
If you don’t have a drafting table it’d class up a home bar much better than tossing an olive in your PBR and calling it a martini.
Moriage is a Japanese ceramic decoration technique where ceramic items are decorated with the application of raised slip lines and dots. This gives the pieces a wonderful textural quality although they are prone to being easily damaged.
There is a lovely coffee or large tea-pot, a smaller pot that could be used as a tea-pot or overly generous cream pitcher, a lidded jar that’d work for sugar, tea storage or biscuits, six plates, five teacups and six saucers.
So, it is a nearly complete set for six except for one teacup.
The main scene features Kannon (a.k.a. Guanyin) a Bodhisattva of kindness surrounded by four rakan. Above her head is the traditional heraldic symbol or crest of the Shimazu clan.
According to our source (see item #1230) these ware were produced for export from about 1915. The end date of production of these is less clear but it is seemingly ends during the early Showa Period (i.e., the reign of Emperor Hirohito). Given this uncertainty these pieces could date from the 1930′s to the 1950′s (my guess is the 1950′s).
The tea cups have a lithophane geisha on the bottom much like the ones in the Kutani golden dragon set we had last August which makes sense since I think they bear the same makers mark, which consists of the words “Made In Japan” and a view of Mt. Fuji.
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Smurf spoons make everything better.
When you’re sick soup tastes better; when healthy a smurf spoon will brighten up your morning kibble and they’ll even add that fine note of distinction to a cup of boardroom coffee.
He’s not wearing pants. . . .wait, that’s not right.
Let’s try it again.
He’s not wearing pants, but who’s going to counsel a bear with fashion advice?
That’s the nice thing about being a bear. No one is going to tell you that denim is passé, or that you shouldn’t spend a soggy winter day sleeping in.
Really though this is about the piano.
We don’t take pianos. They’re not really that useful for our clients and we know nothing about them. This one snuck in when the gatekeeper was asleep, so here it is and here we are looking to find it a new home.
It’s an Edward B. Healy labeled upright piano that was actually made by Gulbransen Pianos. We’ve been told that it was recently tuned and the musically inclined punk rockers who work in the warehouse think it is still pretty much in tune, but since it’s not a guitar they’re not totally sure.
I’ve got a rough idea of what I think an older piano that’s in good condition is worth but I’d like to hear some offers to see if it is in the ball park. Please email, call or stop in with offers and I’ll let you know if it is a winner.
Delivery is not available at this time.
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Each one of the decorations on Polish pottery is applied by hand. Can you believe it?
Frankly I’m surprised that there’s as much of this out there as there is AND that it’s relatively affordable.
Approximately 10 1/2 inches tall and 8 inches in maximum diameter. It is signed by the decorator, Paulina Sobierajska.
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Low miles.
Sanctity not guaranteed, also suitable for secular use.
6 1/2 inches tall and 6 1/2 inches in diameter, made in Israel.
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L’Europe divisée suivant l’estendue de ses principaux Estats subdivisés en leurs principales provinces.
A recent reproduction of a map of Europe originally published by Alexis-Hubert Jaillot (1632-1712)*, who drew on the earlier work of Nicholas Sanson**. The title roughly translates as “Europe divided along the expanse of its main states subdivided into their major provinces.”
This would be really cool if it were real, but unfortunately this is not and it is a good example of why you should never buy an antique map without removing it from the frame. When removed from the frame one can see that the paper is wrong, the margin around the edge of the engraved plate mark and the paper is far too wide, it’s obviously not copper plate engraved, etc.
The most interesting part of its fakeness is that it looks like it was removed from an atlas and then framed. There is a cut and match line down the center of the map, like one would find at the folds of a book.
It still has some redeeming qualities as a decorator piece or conversation starter since the map shows a wonderful view of Europe in the late 17th Century. There are great details to be unearthed including notable the location of the prime meridian intersecting Iceland (the modern site of the prime meridian wasn’t settled as running through Greenwich until 1884), the various measurement scales in use at the time and numerous archaic political divisions (Prussia and Petite Tartarie for example).
The map is about 40 1/2 inches wide by 28 1/2 inches tall in the frame.
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Sanson and his sons (Guillaume and Adrien) were important French cartographers. Nicholas’s work was taken over by his sons after his death however before he died he also partnered with Jaillot on a variety of maps and after his death Jaillot continued to publish and update Sanson’s maps.
After the death of Sanson, Jaillot collected his maps and published a great compendium, the Atlas Nouveau. It was originally published in Paris in 1689 (though other sources have dates as early as 1674 and 1680). Later editions were issued in 1691 and 1695. Interestingly even more editions were published in Amsterdam in 1692, 1696 and 1698 by Pierre Mortier. The legitimacy of these editions is debated, but all bear proper attribution to Sanson and Jaillot.
If by some chance you have an interest in the peculiarities of Sanson and Jaillot’s careers or the general history of maps in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries a perusal of Sir Herbert George Fordham’s 1929 work on the subject is highly recommended.
*Alexis Jaillot:
“Alexis Hubert Jaillot (c. 1632- 1712) followed Nicholas Sanson (1600 – 1667) and his descendents in ushering in the great age of French Cartography in the late 17th and 18th century.
Hubert Jaillot was born in [Avignon] Franche-Comte and trained as a sculptor. When he married the daughter [Jeanne] of the enlumineur de la Reine, Nicholas Berey, he found himself positioned to inherit a lucrative map and print publishing firm. When Nicholas Sanson, the premier French cartographer of the day died Jaillot negotiated with his heirs to republish much of Sanson’s work.
Though not a cartographer himself, Jaillot’s access to the Sanson plates enabled him to publish numerous maps and atlases with only slight modifications and updates to the originals. As a sculptor and an artist, Jaillot’s maps were particularly admired for their elaborate and meaningful allegorical title cartouches and other decorative elements. Jaillot used his allegorical cartouche work to extol the virtues of the Sun King Louis IV, and his military and political triumphs. These earned him the patronage of the French crown who used his maps in the tutoring of the young Dauphin (and continued long after youth passed since at time of the publication of this map he was 35).
In 1686 [or 1675] he was awarded the title of Geographe du Roi and with it significant prestige and the coveted yearly stipend of 600 Livres. Jaillot was one of the last of a generation of French map makers to acquire this title. Louis XV, after taking the throne, replaced the position with the more prestigious and singular title of Premier Geographe du Roi. Jaillot died in Paris in 1712.”
-Biography courtesy of Geographicus.com, notes in brackets are taken from Fordham, those in parentheses from other sources.
**Sanson started his career as a historian and used cartography as a way to illustrate his historical studies. Some of his maps came to the attention of Cardinal Richelieu who in turn introduced them to the king, Louis XIII. The king appointed Sanson Geographe Ordinaire du Roi. Sanson’s duties included advising the King on matters of Geography and compiling the royal map archive. In time he built a legacy of roughly three hundred maps and is largely responsible for initiating the ”golden age of French Cartography”. After his death, Sanson’s cartographic work was carried on by his sons, Guillaume and Adrien Sanson by A. H. Jaillot and Pierre Duval, with whom the partnered.
Admittedly this isn’t in the same class as Johnny Rotten’s words at the Winterland Ballroom, but I sure feel fooled.
I thought that this was some sort of print block or ornamental swag or something but really, it’s a block of tea. Which is kind of cool and something I’d never thought of before.
Purportedly it is a brick of Hunan mǐ zhūan chá (roughly translated as Brick Tea). It is 7 1/2 inches wide, 9 1/2 inches tall and about 1 inch thick.
As you can see in the pictures it was pressed in a mold that left lettering and decorative embossed marks. Given that we don’t know how this was stored and that it came covered in a fine layer of dust we make no assumption that this is safe for human consumption.
It is a nice little decorative piece that doubles as a conversation starter. Who knows, maybe it’ll be good to have on a shelf for when the end of the world comes and everyone else runs out of caffeine.
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By the 1970′s the little yellow pill wasn’t mother’s only little helper thanks to Bisquick. It seems to me that it must be hard to make pancakes while tripping, but maybe with the help of the recipes on the side it was easier than I’d guess.
Regardless it would be a more colorful experience.
The tin is 6 1/ 4 inches tall and 7 1/2 inches in diameter.
A place for everything and everything in it’s place.
With 15 drawers this makes that quite a bit easier.
Alternatively one could use it to make getting dressed easier in the morning. Just put one days worth of socks, underwear and a T-shirt in each drawer. After two weeks it’s time to do laundry again.
It is 34 inches wide, 41 inches tall and about 13 inches deep. One of the drawer pulls has been replaced but it is in good shape overall.
This vintage two drawer cigar box originally contained cigars made by the J.T. Swann & Co of Tampa Florida. They were “manufactured to retail at more than Five Cents each and not more than Eight cents each and are so tax paid.”
Which I take to mean it is fairly old. It’s hard to say exactly, but a five to eight cent cigar seems like a good price for one in the late 1940′s.
Swann cigars were made by a company named after James T. Swann. Swann was a realtor, investor and general bigwig who happened to own a cigar factory and citrus groves. He died in 1953 and was succeeded by his son James Jr. who died in 1955. Much of their business was conducted via mail order, leading to some strenuous complaining when the postal service increased rates.
The box is 9 1/4 inches wide, 5 1/2 inches tall and 6 1/4 inches deep. It is in excellent condition and has classic box or finger joints on the back two corners. It is stamped on the bottom with the maker’s mark, the seal of the City of Tampa Florida and pertinent tax info.
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Seriously.
Without you we’d have no business doing what we’re doing. We’d have nothing to sell, no one to sell it to and the families we help would have just as much nothing as they have now.
And they already have a whole lot of it.
So, thanks for reading, donating, supporting us and telling others what we do.
Thank you, we really appreciate it.
This prop’s for you*.
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*Metaphorically speaking that is. In the event your feeling literal and you need an actual propeller or you’ve become tired of waiting for your ship to come in and instead you’re assembling your own, one piece at a time we do have one available.
It is about 13 inches in diameter and is designed to fit on a shaft 3/4 of an inch in diameter and about 2 5/8 inches long. It weighs roughly 7 1/2 pounds.
This blue and white tile is about 6 inches wide and 3 inches tall.
It is marked WC which means you could use it to denote the location of your guest bathroom, pending the re-incarnation of Mr. Fields, in which case you’ll need to relocate it to your home bar.
This cute vintage sewing stand has good ‘bones’ but could use some care. The top was stripped and never refinished and the rest of the original finish is a bit rough too. Fortunately all the parts are solidly attached and it is otherwise OK.
My guess is that this fell prey to an organizer who likes to start projects but has trouble actually completing them.
Maybe you know someone who can finish it?
The lid lifts to reveal a tray with notches and spindles for thread. You can remove the tray to access the lower storage compartment, or you can pull the front out since the compartment is also a drawer.
It is 26 inches tall, 12 1/2 inches deep and 16 1/4 inches wide.
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