This and That: A Blog

 Moving on from the alphabet, this week Sunday Stamps ' theme is Lighthouses.  Algeria 1937 Admiralty Building and  t he Algiers Admiralty, or   Peñon, Light  in Algiers. There was a lighthouse at this site as early as 1680. Germany 2004 The Greifswalder Oie lighthouse on the island of Greifswalder Oie in the Baltic Sea. USA 1981 From Sea to Shining Sea showing the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Next week will be stamps relating to Children's Stories. 

This little bronze figure had been in the locked case at St. Vincent de Paul for a few months.  Finally it moved to an end cap and I could see it was only $1.50.  It's something quite interesting and unexpected!  It's a reptile, a protective amulet from Burkina Faso made in the lost-wax casting tradition in the 1960s-1970s.  Not made specifically for the tourist market, although they do show up as souvenirs, these were sold for local use and regional markets.  They were worn as pendants sewn onto cloths, hung in doorways, or attached to ritual bundles for protection from harm and home protection.  It's quite a bit smaller than in this photo!  I went to a few garage sales a few weekends ago.  When things aren't priced I get concerned they will be over-priced, but in the case of these two prints I was wrong, they were well under-priced! Fragrance in Bloom by  Jean-Baptiste Robie (Belgium 1821-1910)   The publisher information is cut o...

 Welcome to Sunday Stamps and the week's theme of L .  L yrebird  Australia first issued in 1937 L ynx (Eurasian) USSR 1988, Zoo Relief Fund Ll ama mother and young (a cria) L iberia 1971, UNICEF 25th anniversary series "Animals with Their Young" What's up next week?   M of course!

🎄 MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎄 Fittingly, the theme for this week's Thursday Postcard Hunt is Christmas!   1911 c.1930s - 1940s when bright colors, " Golly, " and humorous winks at " curses " would have been popular.  c.1905 c.1910 - 1915 1911 This one is interesting due to its cancellation advertising the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. One of my favorite postcards of all of my postcards!   c.1908 - 1910 printed in Germany A traditional nativty combined with figures from European folk customs. There's a hunter in his traditional dress with his German dachshund and several dead animals. A boy has brought a live animal of some sort in a cage.  Then, a mother with three children are wearing 1880s - early 1900s clothing, and have brought a tree for Jesus' first Christmas.   It may be Joseph hiding in the shadows, or a shepherd.   It just all makes such a strange nativity!   Hope you have a very Merry ...

 Yellow is the Autumn Color this week for Thursday Postcard Hunt .  Yellow Calla , by Georgia O'Keeffe, 1926 Two autumn scenes (the second has less yellow, but I wanted to share both since they are so pretty and autumnal) published by Stehil Freres in the 1930s. Often mistaken for watercolors, Stehil Freres, Zurich, Switzerland, was a publishing house that produced high quality chromolithographs on textured paper.     They really do look like paintings, not postcards! The Meeting Place , postmark 1909 Red is the color for next week. 

 I took a very quick trip to the Goodwill Outlet store, aka The Bins.  I spend 75¢ and rounded it up to $1.00.  25¢ of that was for a book, the rest was breakables at 10¢ a pound. Transfer trinket dish from W. R. Midwinter Ltd., " Rural England " pattern in brown multicolor (it was made in other colors too), made between 1932 and 1946.   Midwinter Pottery became one of England's biggest potteries in the 1930s. A 3" x 4" brass frame doesn't seem so special.  However, if you take a look at the glass you can see it's convex.  Based on that, and the fact the back is a fuzzy material, it dates from the 1910s - 1940s.   Convex glass wasn't just to give a more 3D appearance to artwork, but provided airspace to protect it.  Also, in the Victorian era it signified opulence. Another picture frame, this one most likely Mexican " hojalata ," meaning " tinplate ," or tinwork.  It's a bit over 8" square, with a 3 1/4" opening.  I ...

 To continue the St. Vincent de Paul finds from two weeks ago (the flea market threw off my posts), here are the items other than ephemera.  Locked in the glass case where they keep collectibles, valuables, and little baggies of tiny things, were these three items. c1930s celluloid fox terrier and her two pups. Fox terriers were very popular in the 1930s.  In 1935 the big dog show in the U.S., Westminster, had 170 of them entered!  A wired haired fox terrier played Asta (real name Skippy) in dozens of movies in the '30s. Magnetic Scotties were also popular in the late '30s into the '40s.  Although, a white "Scottie" is really a West Highland White terrier.    Egyptian Cavalry Lancer, part of set no. 115 from the Britains Soldiers: Regiments of All Nations.  Britains is the name of the maker, not Britain and a missing apostrophe, although it was made in England. I'm being careful to wash after handing it, it's lead. I don't collect ashtrays anymo...