This and That: A Blog

The letter S for S unday S tamps . S erow, a primitive member of the goat-antelope family.  There are four species, this is the Japanese s erow. Japan 1952 S able Mongolia 1959 S tarling, Rosy Mongolia 1962 T will be next week's letter. 

 

  Skywatch Friday , where you can see skies around the world.  Outside a local furniture store on a mostly clear spring afternoon. Have a nice weekend. 

 Letters is the first of the Shapes theme in June for Thursday Postcard Hunt . I have a book of replica postcards featuring the letters of the alphabet, c.1982 (the originals were published in the early 1900s). 26 are too many to share, so here are the letters for JUNE. Next week the Shape is Curves. 

 St. Vincent de Paul put out a lot of new donations!   As you can see, there were a lot of postcards, and some old photos. The red bag held the non-paper items.  Seven of which were dogs. The Rio Hondo (El Monte, CA 1939-1950s) hound, top, was a bargain at just $1.75. The middle pup is from Ceramic Arts Studio, one they made between 1951-1954.  The company was based in Wisconsin and closed in 1956.   The bottom dog is unmarked, probably a midcentury Japanese import. While reminiscent of Rio Hondo, these are Hagen-Renaker , another southern California pottery.  These are three of their "miniature early" figures, made between 1949 and 1952, when they were still in Monrovia. The company was started by John and Maxine Renaker in their garage in 1945, where John set up a kiln by running a garden house from the kitchen's gas stove. Their daughter now runs the company.  I'd heard of Hagen-Renaker before (their little figures are sold glued to paper ...

  Sunday Stamps brings us the letter R this week.  Nothing unusual about these first two R animals.  I just think they are particularly pretty stamps.    R ooster designed and engraved by Albert Decaris.  The Gallic r ooster is a long-standing symbol of France, representing pride, vigilance, national identity, and the dawn of a new day.  From the mid-1960s onwards the stamps were printed with phosphorescent bars for automatic sorting, and these show up under UV light.    France 1962  R hinoceros, Black R hino French Equatorial Africa 1947 R ufous Crowned R oller  Ghana c. 1967 R accoon Dog, of which there were seven species, but only two now exist, including this, the Japanese R accoon Dog.   Japan 2016 S  stamps are up next week.