This and That: A Blog

I had some success at the Goodwill Bins last month.  Tucked into a plastic "Vera® Print Table Top Coordinates" bag were these two Chinese silk embroidery panels. They could be used as table top decor, but definitely not Vera. These are from the 1960s-1980s.  The blue is my favorite. Jiffy Bobbin - I'm not sure what sort of yarn craft these would be used for, the illustrations aren't like skeins of yarn as I know them, and what kind of knitting is going on?  Laws of Gravity , can you clear this up? I would have thought this was Mexican or Chile, where the three-legged pottery pigs that bring good luck are from.  No, this is Moroccan.  The clay figures were originally made as children's toys, and are now tourist items.  I would have still thought Mexico or Chile but I did see the same type of animal on Etsy, sold in a group of a dozen or so different animals collected in Morocco in the 1970s. They were said to be made in the 1960s.  They are painted in n...

 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...

  Sunday Stamps this week brings us to the letter T.  T as in  T iger and plenty of 'em! T iger Snake Kingdom of Cambodia 1999   T iger Barb (these are nice tropical freshwater community aquarium fish, get a few, they are schoolers) Hungary c.1962  T iger Swallowtail Butterfly Czechoslovakia 1966 T iger Beetle, Green Germany 1993 T iger, Bengal Hungary 1961 T iger Shark T anzania 1993 T asmanian T iger ( T hylacine) Australia 1981 If Australia can call it an " Endangered Species " rather than extinct on the stamp, I'll run with it!  I still hold out hope there are some in hidden pockets of T asmania.  Want a good book about the search for the Tasmanian tiger?  Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger , but you can get it on eBay used for a lot less.) Next week is the letter U , and I'll have fewer.  Promise. 

  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.

 I found what I think are some nice things to share this week!   First, from St. Vincent de Paul, my first salt and pepper shakers in the nodder form.  They're the cutest shakers I've ever seen!  I was happy to pay $8 for them.   They are older than I expected, made in Japan by the Takito Company (1880-1948) between 1935 and 1945. Moving on the a Goodwill store.  A Makonde, Tanzania, carving from mpingo (African blackwood). The dark wood isn't painted or stained, it's the heartwood, the pale is the sapwood, the live outer layer under the bark. It's about 6" high and probably made in the 1960s. In the 70s they began using power tools, and this shows chisel marks. There are several different types of these carvings, this is the Binadamu, realistic human figures representing everyday people.  I only paid $3.88!  Now to the Goodwill Outlet, or Bins. A fabulous birdhouse! It's folk art, most likely done in Connecticut or upstate New York, pa...

My Sunday Stamps for the letter H . H are, an Irish Mountain H are Ireland 1980 H ippopotamus, a Pygmy Liberia 1884  H yena, Striped Spanish Sahara (now called Western Sahara, a United Nations recognized self-governing territory) 1957 Come back next Sunday for I stamps!

My best, or favorite, thrifts from 2025.  There are two categories, Art and Other.  Not every month has both.   January Art St. Vincent de Paul  February  Art Goodwill  Other (which is actually art of a different kind) Goodwill March  Art (I consider postcards art) St. Vincent de Paul April Art  Goodwill  Other  Goodwill Bins May Art Goodwill  Other  yard sale  June Art Goodwill Bins Other  Goodwill July  Art  Goodwill (birthday gift from a son) Other  Goodwill August  Art   (three because they are by the same artist and were sold rubber banded together) Goodwill  Other   Goodwill Bins September Art   St. Vincent de Paul (Christmas gift from a son) Other yard sale  October Other   Goodwill  November Art   St. Vincent de Paul Other St. Vincent de Paul December Art Goodwill Bins There are only links to the Tuesday Treasures posts relating to the photos fro...