This and That: A Blog

 Well, the Tuesday is here when I have no newly purchased "treasures" to share!   St. Vincent de Paul hasn't provided anything but a handful of 5¢ postcards.  While the former manager had her good and bad days, she knew what she was doing.  The shelves are becoming bare after losing a lot of volunteers.  I've had my best luck in the Goodwill Bins, but still nothing exciting.   So, here are some of my more unusual antique postcards.  While not strictly "thrifted" items, they are all second-hand purchases, which is sort of the same.  I consider them "treasures" too.  Some of them are so like new, it was hard to believe they weren't reprints. I got them all from my favorite eBay seller, who has cut back his inventory considerably.  I still order his lots of 10 or 20 now and again. c. 1900 - 1910 Postmark 1908 Postmark 1905 Just what is this supposed to mean?   c. 1908 -1912 This has glitter details, as was popular in the...

 The last of the Travelling theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt is Buses and/or Cars. BUSES A Haitian tap tap , a share taxi .  The Greyhound Sceniccruiser bus, manufactured between 1954 and 1956, but used into the mid-1970s.  The postcard is from the 1960s, the same years my father rode a Greyhound from the top of our street's hill to and from his job in San Francisco.  My parents had a red VW bus when I was young (they also had a few of the beetles, or bugs).  It didn't have the sunroof though.  On several vacations I was short enough to sleep widthwise on the floor, while they slept in the back with the seat down.  This one is older, a 1960 Samba, the high-end version.  I have loads of old car advertising postcards, especially 1970s Opels! CARS 1950 Meyra 35 The Meyra was a lightweight German microcar made in the 1930s into the 1950s.  It was originally designed as an "invalid carriage," or wheelchair accessible vehicle for disabled war vete...

 This week for Thursday Postcard Hunt 's Travelling theme is Animals. It's not just people that can travel by animal, these postcards show not only people, but gold prospecting equipment, wine, water, and milk "traveling" by animal!  Dog-Cart Ride  And sometimes we'll stop by the road side, where the little brook babbles along, And there from your lips love's nectar I'll sip, as it sings us its  evening song. c.1900-1910 A dog-cart is a small two-wheeled horse-drawn (sometimes dog-drawn) carriage. Gold Fever Early Days in the Black Hills, 1940s  Carro da Vino (Wine Cart) in Italy, c.1905 A Mexican Water Carrier c.1910-1920 Milk Vendors with a dog-drawn dog-cart in Belgium  Postmark 1908 Next week finishes up the Travelling theme with Buses and/or Cars.

Giving you a break this week from the ephemera!  Here are some items found a various spots around town. Japanese earthenware from 1955-1965 from St. Vincent de Paul.  Not a big bargain at $5.  (So much glare from the windows...) A cast concrete froggy who looks like he's enrapturedly praying to his froggy god (or he sees his beloved passing by).   He's from the Goodwill Bins. Salt cellar with cobalt blue glass insert and period-appropriate spoon (not original to the cellar) from St. Vincent de Paul for $4.  The garland motif, ball feet, and openwork design were popular around 1880-1910.  The liner is possibly German or Austrian.  Its deep blue protected the silver from corrosion caused by the salt.  The spoon is marked “850 S" which is Continental silver, 85% silver.  Sterling silver is 92.5% and marked 925. The spoon is also most likely German or Austrian from the same date period.   The frame is not marked, it might be s...

  Thursday Postcard Hunt for this week is Architecture: Stations  Car Station, Swan Point, Providence, Rhode Island, USA postcard c.1908-1915   A car station was a trolley depot or streetcar shelter. The theater and tramway station in Laon, France  postcard c.1910-1914  The railway station in Vincey, France postcard c.1905-1910 Shelters is next week, the last of the Architecture theme.  

Thursday Postcard Hunt has us hunting for Forests this week.  California Redwood Highway in Autumn. The Congress Group , The Giant Forest, Sequoia National Park, California View of Feldsee Lake in the Black Forest region of Germany, c1915. Quinault Rain Forest , Olympic National Park, Washington State, is a temperate rain forest. This is where you'll find banana slugs, typically 8" long!  They are not only banana shaped and yellow, they often have brown spots. Next week is June, and the theme is Shapes.  First up will be Letters.  

 For this last week of Thursday Postcard Hunt 's theme Color of Spring we're hunting for the color  Blue .  From the Porcelains Collection in the Hebert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, Iowa  Lake George , Georgia O'Keefe, 1922 Blue Forget-Me-Nots  To My Sweetheart , postmark 1910 Next week is May, and the new theme will be Parks and Gardens. Up first will be National Parks. 

 Happy Easter! Here are some of my favorite Easter postcards. Worried chicks on a teeter-totter!  postmark 1907 postmark 1908 c. 1910-1913  Angry chicks with a beetle. private mailing card postmark 1903   postmark 1916 A nervous girl with a strange message! postmark 1915

 Happy Valentine's Day!   Valentine's Day, as with many of our holidays, began in ancient times.  I'm not going to go back that far, just into the late 19th century.  Did you know that for much of the 19th and early 20th century Valentine's Day wasn't strictly a lover's holiday?   It was a general occasion for giving cards of greeting, light humor or teasing, and social compliments.  It was common for women to send them to women friends, and men to send them to men friends.  Neighbors and co-workers would exchange Valentines.  It was the polite thing to do.  Postmarked 1909, to Stanley from his "Pal-o." In the Victorian (1837-1901) and Edwardian (1901-1910) eras there were several categories of Valentine's Day cards.   Those for friendship were sentimental, often with flowers, doves, lace, and messages such as " With kind regards this St. Valentine's Day ."   c. 1908-1912 " Vinegar Valentines " were teasing, chee...