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Monday, May 31, 2010

Dig Report: May 29th, 2010 - The Road not not Taken

If you know me, then you know that there's only one reason why I'm headed down a driveway that looks like this. That reason could be:
  • A) "Deliverance" was my favorite movie. (No, but the book is one fast, exciting read and Ned Beatty's ass is no where near it.)
  • B) "The Long and Winding Road" is my favorite Beatles song. (Nope. Abbey Road - Side 2) 
  • C) I saw this on the side of the road:
If you answered C (without out looking at the parenthesis), then you know me.  However, both "A" and "B" did come to mind (especially "A") as the image only shows a third of the actual length of the road.  While expecting to find a selection of rusty cars and cracked claw-foot tubs, I was mildly relieved when the final turn revealed a simple cinder-block construction ranch, which was deceivingly small on the outside yet large and somewhat odd on the inside.  The lot was obviously chosen for the view 3/4s up Second Hill in New Milford CT, or maybe it was a hideout for an eccentric. The interior was made up of a large number of tiny rooms, all furnished to appear like little living rooms, and a couple of bedrooms.  The furniture didn't match the house , which gave it a theater-set quality. The owner was a man not native to this country who said only that the house had to be cleared by the end of the week.  The only thing I found of interest were several computers (2 desk top and 2 laptops) which were not for sale.  My photographer, whom I usually leave out of the photos I take (when she lets me have the camera) found something that was fortunately easy to say "No." to:

Actually, I would have like that as well, but at $700 it was easy to say "No." to my other child - the inner one.

Coming Soon! Post #100!!!  One of my greatest finds ever! (Well, I think it's great.)

Friday, May 28, 2010

My view of the economy


This is as deep as I'll get regarding my opinion of the current state of the US economy.  The "Goofy" part is, these early issue Disney dollars are going for more than $5 on E-bay right now.  Why?

No, this didn't come from a sale. It was actually the gift of a family friend, who intended it for my daughter.  Don't worry, she'll get it, though I don't know what $5 will get you at Disney these days.  Maybe I will teach her how to use E-bay.

Gee, I hope it's OK for me to make a scanned copy of legal tender...Or is that "beagle-tender" well, what the hell is goofy anyway? If you have an insight please place it in the comments.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Florida is a dish best served old

No one is ever going to find this post...other than accidentally, thanks to the poor pun above.  It does relate to the post, however:


While visiting my family on vacation, I convinced myself that I had bought this 5" x 3" coin/souvenier tray years ago and presented it as a gift. Whether I actually did, or not, is beside the point because this is the exact kind of thing I look for. Going to as many sales as I do and seeing as much kitsch as I see, it is hard not to see things that have a coincidental connection to the people around you.  Nostalgic items like these make good gifts because of their view of the past and the irony for what some of these images mean to Floridians now.  This tray in peticular, became an interesting exercise in dating souveniers and is a good conversation piece.
Can you guess it's age?  Other than the fact that it is pitted and stained (though some might refer to this as "petina") and with no mention of Disney or the space coast it is easy to say the early 50's, but further inspection-

-has me thinking the 40's. The mention of Daytona beach and the racing cars above have me split.  The first Daytona 500 was in 1959, but they were racing on the beach years before that.  But those cars don't look like any I've seen. The design is a much older car (earlier 20th century) but not with a closed cockpit. I am lost. My search for a match has come up empty. The tray which was probably a dime-a-dozen at the drugstore, doesn't show up anywhere in this cyber-souvenir museum that is the internet.

 This is probably more than enough of this forensic look at a simple zinc-tin-? plated copper tray. The only information on the reverse is of course-
I have been away from blogging for so long I find it is like exercising.  My muscle (the one between my ears) is weak and finding my groove is difficult.  I need a good DIG to get me back in shape. I will be on the hunt this weekend and my goal is to make it to 100 posts with some good material.