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Friday, June 29, 2012

A Spoonful of Treasure

Some sales I have visited recently were so full of collectables and so interested to clear them out that I begin to lose  perspective and just start buying things whether I want them or not.  This is dangerous ground...or as I prefer to call it the "Border of Hoarder."  I will never be a hoarder (I know..never say never) but I am in touch with perspective and ...and ...Oh! look at this!
 While I prefer old paper, these spoons from Connecticut seems worth a look.

The spoon on the left was created to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Connecticut. Though, I wished it was was from 1635, I will have to settle for 1935...


I then found some others that were similar to the top image on the right and likely represented a "Spoons of the States" collection
I liked the Charlie McCarthy spoon because it represents the age of radio program give-aways. Edgar Bergan and his puppet Charlie McCarthy were part of the Chase and Sanborn Radio hour and other sponsors from 1937 to 1956. This spoon was sent to anyone who clipped a coupon and sent it and 10 cents. Not rare, there are about 20 of these spoons currently for sale on E-bay.
This spoon featuring the USS Maine is a mystery. It looks to be similar to one described as being from 1890 to commemorate her launching  with no confirmation that it is silver.  The Maine was destroyed due to unknown circumstances in Havana harbor in 1898.

Well, I guess I now collect spoons, but really how far can a little collection like this go?

Oh.


Monday, June 25, 2012

Ad Quiz #18 Tit-Bits...Shot from what now? (SOLVED!)

Some ad copy just brings out the best in me. Then again, I would think any ad that using an image of a child and a reference to a gun...funny. See if you can guess the product.
Can you guess the product?

TO SEE THE SOLUTION...Click "Read More" Below

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

1937 Pan American Airlines Annual Report

The scan of this annual report from 1937 doesn't tell the story of how close this is to being dust. It was literally falling apart in my hands. But it is a nice old piece I picked up in Danbury last weekend. Click on any one of the images for a readable copy.



The graphic for the "growth" in Pan American personnel is comedy gold. They must have been flying some tiny planes in 1928. By the 1970s I am guessing the skyscraper Pan Am owned in New York City would have been to house a couple of  gargantuan pilots.


PAN AM was at its pinnacle in the 70's and then oil prices began to take their toll on all airlines. With a billion in cash on hand PAN AM should have been able to weather the storm, but apparently not. The skyscraper went in 1980 and by the end of that decade their routes were being sold off and in 1991 they were bought wholly by Delta.  The commercial below paints the brightest picture of what airline travel was as opposed to the strip search it has become.   

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

More From the "Mental Nuts"

A few posts back I promised to present more of the questions from a book of puzzles. Well, here goes:


See if you can crack a few...

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Random Canada

Seems like a nice hand painted card. If you can tell me more about it please leave a note in the comments.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

1875 tip: Stay out of deep water

I had amazing good luck this past weekend at a sale in Norwalk, CT. There is something to be said for getting to a sale late and staying to the end. That is what I did, and this box is what I got:
Ephemera
Many of these things I will be posting in the weeks to come. My favorite item at the moment is this post card from 1875:
Post card 1875
1875 post card
 The note reads: 
Appleton City Aug 4th 1875
Mr Mead

Dear sir:
In answer to yours of 2nd Inst (Instruction?). I will say I will take care in coming not drive into deep water. I will not be there to day. I could not get a team, will be the tomorrow or next day at farthest. Julia is well and perfectly contented. She says she wished Pa would move up here . I will take as good care of her as you would yourself.
Yours, Wm H. Stahl

I have tried to draw what conclusions of this I could, presuming that Julia was Mr Mead's daughter. I believe I have the locations correct, but the distance Mr Stahl needs to travel with a team of horses does not look like a day or 2 trip. Take a look:
Map
 That's close to 600 miles!

There is more to reveal from this box of goodies, not to mention the other 2 boxes of old newspapers and magazines. Coming soon....

Friday, June 8, 2012

L.L.Bean around a long time


 From Wikipedia:
The company L.L.Bean was founded in 1912 by its namesake, avid hunter and fisherman Leon Leonwood Bean in Greenwood, Maine. Bean had developed a waterproof boot (a combination of lightweight leather uppers and rubber bottoms) that he sold to hunters. He obtained a list of nonresident Maine hunting license holders, prepared a descriptive mail order circular, set up a shop in his brother's basement in Freeport, Maine, and started a nationwide mail order business. By 1912, he was selling the "Bean Boot", or Maine Hunting Shoe, through a four-page mail-order catalog, and the boot remains a staple of the company's outdoor image. Defects in the initial design led to 90% of the original production run being returned: Bean made good on his money-back guarantee, corrected the design, and continued selling them. Leon L. Bean died on February 5, 1967
 



 

Monday, June 4, 2012

Ad Quiz #17 What's wrong with this Ad? (Now with Solution!)

This should be pretty easy if:  A) You were a child. B) Your were ever fed cookies. If neither of these are true for you - Please go back to start. Otherwise, take a close look at this ad and find what's wrong:
Ad quiz 17
 If you guessed "Those aren't Oreo's?!" You're close, but it goes deeper than that.

Here is the solution!  (Click on READ MORE)

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Your Papers! Please!

Life wasn't all sunshine and chocolate if you lived in Germany in the 1920's. WWI left much of Europe's nations in dismay, but Germany was economically destroyed. Forced to make reparations for their role in WWI and a political deadlock caused serious hyper-inflation. This would eventually pave the way for the Third Reich to come to power. If you were able-bodied in your 40's you might do what Carl Rudl did - get out.

He may have been tired of paying dues to the Union of restaurant employees, or this may be a member book for taxes on employment. Care to translate?


 It seems Carl could only take 7 months of this and said, "You know, Cuba is where I should be." He may have moved down to Cuba to stay with family or friends and find work in his preferred profession of restaurant service. While there he might have thought that the USA was the place to find work.
A visit to the American consulate was the way to begin the emigration process to the US. and it must have been successful after a time because Carl appears to have been working at the famous Waldorf-Astoria in NYC.
Although it is hard to tell if Carl was a permanent employee at the Waldorf, or just an "extra" the papers I found in this collection allowed me to make an interesting connection that you can read in a previous post HERE. But I am not done with the history of Carl Rudl through his papers. In 1950 he moved maybe temporarily to Miami to work there. But in order to do this in the suspicious 50's, not being a naturalized American he was subjected to registering as a working foreigner.


 With as many years experience as he had, I would guess that the Bel-aire was happy to have him. He looks nothing but put-upon in his picture.
Well, there you have the brief synopsis of the life of Carl Rudl. If you have anything to add to it please share it in the comments.