My Holland Dolls

These dolls were purchased as souvenirs in Noord Holland and the costumes are stylised and simplified. The fabrics and decorations are selected to make the dolls aesthetically pleasing. The Dutch girl has a beautiful face– rosy cheeks, and pretty blue eyes that open and close. Her face is hard plastic but looks like bisque. The male dolls wear black harem pants (broek) with two buttons at his waistband, shirts, vests (borsik) and hats. His feet are sitting in wooden shoes (klompen). These dolls were made in the late 1970s.

Atelier de poupées – 1950

Dutch Costume

Dutch clothing and costumes originated in the country now called the Netherlands, which has 14 provinces. Every province has its own traditional costumes. The most well-known type of dress, considered the national costume, came from Volendam.

Traditional dress for women includes long skirts, blouses, aprons and shawls or other shoulder decorations.

In almost all provinces, Dutch ladies wore some type of head covering made of fabric or lace. Some of them wore small lacy caps tied under the chin.

The men also wore hats, or fishermen’s caps.

The Marken men wear a blue and white or gray and white. A double-breasted red vest is worn on top, which shows below the shirt. The costume is finished off with gold buttons.

The dutch men are still proud to wear the baggy woolen trousers.

Meisje ik ben een zeeman (Girl I am a sailor)

by De Havenzangers

Read Full Post »

My old handkerchiefs

“The City of Dreadful Night”

by James Thomson, (1834-1882)

O melancholy Brothers, dark, dark, dark!

O battling in black floods without an ark!

O spectral wanderers of unholy Night!

My soul hath bled for you these sunless years,

With bitter blood-drops running down like tears:

Oh dark, dark, dark, withdrawn from joy and light!

My heart is sick with anguish for your bale;

Your woe hath been my anguish; yea, I quail

And perish in your perishing unblest.

And I have searched the highths and depths, the scope

Of all our universe, with desperate hope

To find some solace for your wild unrest.

And now at last authentic word I bring,

Witnessed by every dead and living thing;

Good tidings of great joy for you, for all:

There is no God; no Fiend with names divine

Made us and tortures us; if we must pine,

It is to satiate no Being’s gall.

It was the dark delusion of a dream,

That living Person conscious and supreme,

Whom we must curse for cursing us with life;

Whom we must curse because the life he gave

Could not be buried in the quiet grave,

Could not be killed by poison or the knife.

This little life is all we must endure,

The grave’s most holy peace is ever sure,

We fall asleep and never wake again;

Nothing is of us but the mouldering flesh,

Whose elements dissolve and merge afresh

In earth, air, water, plants, and other men.

Picasso & Weeping Women

Read Full Post »

My Disney Donald Duck Handkerchief 1950s

This is a wonderful vintage cotton hanky with Donald Duck and his three nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie on a nautical adventure. This little piece of Disney history would look wonderful framed in a vintage frame. It is signed C.Walt Disney Productions in the lower left, and measures about 8.5″ square. Aside from a single hole, the condition is very good.

Other Examples

These images are used to show examples of Donald Duck handkerchiefs:

Interesting Facts about Donald Duck

– Hake’s Americana & Collectibles has sold the first Donald Duck model sheet, created in 1934 for the Disney cartoon The Wise Little Hen, for a record-breaking $75,000.

– Donald Duck’s middle name is Fauntleroy.

– Donald Duck comics were never banned in Finland, because the character doesn’t wear pants. That is just an urban legend. In a meeting held in Helsinki regarding youth affairs a candidate for Finland’s liberal party, Markku Holopainen, proposed that the country save money and promote fitness by replacing the Donald Duck comics it was providing to youth with sports magazines, which were cheaper at the time. The proposition was heartily approved by all of those in attendance.

– Donald Duck is the mascot of the University of Oregon.

– Donald has a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.

– It has been said that Mickey Mouse represents what we should be, while Donald Duck represents what we are.

– Donald’s temperament is the one thing that stands between Donald and Daisy.

– He usually wears a sailor shirt, cap, and a red or black bow tie, but no trousers (except when he goes swimming).

– Huey, Dewey and Louie Duck are the sons of Della Duck (Donald Duck’s sister) and of her husband (who remains unknown). As identical triplets, Huey, Dewey and Louie are impossible to tell apart.

– Today, Donald Duck is recognized by people of all ages, the world over. His face appears on lunch boxes, T-shirts, and thousands of other products.

Donald Duck’s name in…

Arabic: بطوط (Buttoot)

Bulgarian:  Доналд Дък

Chinese: 唐老鴨 (Tang Lao Ya)

Czech: Kačer Donald

Danish: Anders And

Dutch: Donald Duck

Estonian: Piilupart Donald

Faeroese: Dunnaldur Dunna

Finnish: Aku Ankka

French: Donald Duck

German: Donald Duck

Greek: Ntonalt Ntak – Ντόναλντ Ντακ

Indonesian: Donal Bebek

Italian: Paolino Paperino

Japanese: ドナルドダック (Donarudo Dakku)

Korean: 도널드 덕

Latin: Donaldus Anas

Polish: Kacer Donald – Kaczor Donald

Portuguese: Pato Donald

Russian: Donald Dak – Дональд Дак

Sámi: Vulle Vuojaš

Serbo-Croatian: Paja Patak (Serbia); Pajo Patak (Bosnia/Croatia in ex-YU); Patak Pasko (Croatia today)

Slovene: Jaka Racman

Spanish: El Pato Donald

Swedish: Kalle Anka

Turkish: Vakvak Amca – Donald Amca

Vietnam: Vịt donald

Carl Barks

(27/03/1901 – 25/08/2000, EE.UU.)

Carl Barks is the foremost Duck artist of them all, and many consider him as the best comics creator of all time.

Ode to the Disney Ducks

by Carl Barks

They ride tall ships to the far away,

and see the long ago.

They walk where fabled people trod,

and Yetis trod the snow.

They meet the folks who live on stars,

and find them much like us,

With food and love and happiness

the things they most discuss.

The world is full of clans and cults

abuzz as angry bees,

And Junior Woodchucks snapping jeers

at Littlest Chickadees.

The ducks show us that part of life

is to forgive a slight.

That black eyes given in revenge

keep hatred burning bright.

So when our walks in sun or shade

pass graveyards filled by wars,

It’s nice to stop and read of ducks

whose battles leave no scars.

To read of ducks who parody

our vain attempts at glory,

They don’t exist, but somehow leave

us glad we bought their story.

Read Full Post »

My old salt box

This blue and white pottery lidded salt box can be placed on a counter or mounted on the wall. The wooden lid is held in place by small pins. The base is marked with a star and the letters “SB”. The salt box measures approximately 5.9 inches wide by 3.9 inches tall in front and 5.9 inches tall at the back.

Salt Box

With a culinary history centuries old in England, Germany and France, the traditional salt box holds about one pound of salt and can sit on a counter or hang on the wall. The protective flip-top wooden lid provides easy access to the covered salt. The dry heat coming off the stove helped keep the salt granular instead of lumpy.

Salt-Box House

A salt-box house is a type of frame house which is distinguished by having two stories in the front, one story in the back and a huge chimney in the middle. The second floor used to overhang the first floor and the windows were very small. The entrance is situated exactly in the middle of the house.

This architectural style emerged in New England around 1630, and salt-box homes were built well through the mid-1800s.

The name of this style of architecture refers to the containers in which salt was once kept. Salt was at that time a very valuable commodity, and it was carefully stored in containers which often looked much like miniature versions of a salt-box house.

“The “Salt-Box House” was built in 1738, and the history of its century and more of usefulness give an opportunity to record many an old order that has changed and custom that has passed away. The name “Salt-Box House” was a colloquial title springing from the resemblance borne by the building to the wooden salt box that hung in the kitchen chimney. The house was set upon a hill near the lovely village of Stratford, Conn., where it may still be seen, in a state of semi-ruin among woodbines and raspberry bushes.

It was built a “plank house”, like others of its periods, the sides being made entirely of wide planks two inches thick, standing upright side by side. “Raising bees” were then in fashion, and the neighbors gathered to help put together the framework of the new building “to the wagging of the fiddlesticks”. Some of the planks were 30 feet long, however, and there was much more work than play to a “raising bee”. The shape of the house, with its deep sloping roof, was according to a fashion established in Queen Anne’s time, when a tax was imposed upon houses of more than one story. The salt-box style gave a one story front and ample space for additional rooms under the roof behind. In this way the tax was eluded, and a very picturesque and individual example of architecture gained “. “Books of the Season” – The New York Times – Published: December 22, 1900.

Read Full Post »

My Pierre Cardin/Jaeger wrist watch – 1971

This Pierre Cardin from 1971 is one of my favorites of all time. A mechanical wrist watch fitted with handwound Jaeger FE-68 movements, the white circular dial with black hands, and plain bezel off-set to a translucent dark blue acrylic circular surround, fitted to a blue strap.

Width of watch head: 1.8 inch / 4.5cm.

Pierre Cardin Space Age

Pierre Cardin gave fashion a constructive and futuristic look, geometric seams and hemlines reminded of robots. His clothes had the trappings of science-fiction and space travel. His fashion was similar to modern sculptures including asymmetries, sometimes it had big necks.

In many clothes there are openings in contrasting colours. His collection was decorated with big zippers and belts. He made dresses out of vinyl, hammered metal rings, broaches of carpenters nails, and diamonds. Knitted catsuits, tight leather trousers, close-fitting helmets and batwing jumpsuits were all in his collections.

After designing collarless suits for the Beatles in 1963 and Nasa Spacesuits in 1970, Pierre Cardin launched his very brief Espace watch line in 1971. He was inspired by space travel in 1961, the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. Made of metal blocks, lucite cubes, layered disks, contouring arcs, smoky crystals, bold stripes or flying saucer-shaped Futuro domes, most are very rare and all are mechanical watches fitted with handwound Jaeger FE-68 movements.

Pierre Cardin/Jaeger Marks

Pierre Cardin

Read Full Post »

My vintage sunglasses

Made by Régé – 1950
Lunettes Régé & Associés is a subsidiary of L’Amy group, leader of the french eyewear industry and one of the world largest manufacturer.
Country of Manufacture: France
Color: tortoise shell plastic cat eye with rhinestone accents.

1950
Country of Manufacture: Argentina
Color: silver and black plastic cat eye

1970
Made by Jordache
By the 1970’s, Jordache negotiated licensing deals for the name for products ranging from sunglasses to women’s sportswear.
Country of Manufacture: Italy
Color: White with Black with rhinestone accents.

1970
Country of Manufacture: Italy
Color: Tortoise Shell Plastic Frames.

1970
Color: Tortoise Shell Plastic Frames.

Vintage Sunglasses

Some Examples…

Sunglasses History

The history of sunglasses can be traced back to ancient Rome around the year AD 60, where the Emperor Nero is said to have watched gladiator fights whilst holding up polished emerald-green gems to his eyes, thus reducing the effect of the sun’s glare.
Pliny says about the Emerald Smaragdus: “In form these are mostly concave, so as to reunite the rays of light and the powers of vision. When the surface of the smaragdus is flat, it reflects the image of objects in the same manner as a mirror. The emperor Nero used to view the combats of gladiators upon (with, or by means of) a smaragdus”.
The name emerald is a derivative of an ancient Persian word, coming to us through the corruption of the Latin “Smaragdus “.

Sunglasses were invented in China in 1430 using smoke tinting glass technology. Early Chinese eyeglasses were kept in place with weights that hung down behind the ears. Among the first people to wear tinted glasses were Chinese judges who wore smoke-tinted quartz lenses to conceal their eye expressions during court proceedings.

The first pair of sunglasses was introduced by designer James Ayscough in 1752. He developed blue and green corrective lenses, beginning the use of sunglasses for correcting optical impairments.

Yellow/Amber and brown-tinted spectacles were also a commonly-prescribed item for people with syphilis in the 19th and early 20th centuries because of the sensitivity to light that was one of the symptoms of the disease.
In the early 20th Century, some people wear sunglasses to compensate for the brightness of sunlight. The use of sunglasses started to become more widespread, especially among the pioneering stars of silent movies.

In 1929 Sam Foster’s “Foster Grants” became the first mass-produced sunglasses and they began the trend of marketing sunglasses for fashion.

Sunglasses would not become polarized, however, until 1936, when Edwin H. Land began experimenting with making lenses with his patented Polaroid filter.

Edwin H. Land

The 1950’s saw the birth of rock and roll and the first wave of teenage uber-fans, who popularized the poodle skirts, saddle shoes, white bobby socks and cat eye glasses.
The Classic Cat Eye is the most common in women’s sunglasses; lenses which are wider in the middle than on either side; with a greater curve on the bottom than the top, and often encrusted with rhinestones or other jewels in the pointed corners.
Pop singer Lisa Loeb has made cat eye glasses a big part of her signature look, and she is often credited with the modern comeback of these stylish 1950s frames.

By the 1970’s Hollywood stars and fashion designers made a huge impact on the sunglasses market. Clothing designers and stars put their names on glasses.

Today, sunglasses continue to have advances. There are protective treatments available for eyeglass lenses that need it which will give better protection.

Ava Gardner and Dominguin

Sofia Loren

Brigitte Bardot

Catherine Deneuve

Drawing by Kofkof

Illustration by Toko Ohmori

Read Full Post »

My two Compact – Carryall Evening Purses

Beautifully vanity compact carry-all purse with a nice handle, made from gold tone metal and black suede. The interior is lined with satin and features a rectangular mirror, plus three individual compartments for loose powder, lipstick and a powder puff. The metal and the clasp are in perfect condition, c.1930.

This is another very pretty black silk purse is a bit like a carry all of vanity type purse. I believe it is from the 50’s and is French in origin. It is lined with caramel suede. The clasp is nice and secure, and the mirror is in mint condition. If the purse was used, it would have been rarely and gently.

Some other examples…

Purses, pouches or bags have been used since humans have needed to carry precious items. The purse, which came in many shapes and sizes, was a common accessory for both men and women.

coca bags - Bolivia

History of Handbags & Purses

The pouch is a form that has existed since prehistoric times. Made from vegetable fibers twisted together or animal skins, the bags appear to have held many functions, ranging from seed storage to burial containers.

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs show men wearing purses around the waist, and the Bible specifically identifies Judas Iscariot as a purse carrier.
The aegis refers to several different things in Greek mythology. Robert Ranke Graves in “The Greek Myths” (1955) asserts that the aegis in its Libyan sense had been a shamanic pouch, filled with powerful ritual objects belonging to Athena.
Handbags were used by the Babylonians and Assyrians from 1500 BCE to 550 BCE. They were richly embroidered and used for religious ceremonies.

Ecclesiastical purses were highly significant and were used to hold relics.
San Eloi (Limoges 590-659) once preached an excellent sermon, still preserved, against superstition. He denounced particularly the use of charms and incantations. But he had his own little streak of superstition. When he had committed some fault, after confession, he used to hang bags of relics in his room, and watch them for a sign of forgiveness.
Included in the treasury of an ancient cathedral in Sion, Switzerland, are five purses or bags that had been designed to withhold the revered relics of saints. The pouches are dated to the fourteenth-century but are of unknown origin.

The first evidence of a handbag with any role as a fashion accessory came in medieval times, when wealthy women would embellish the simple bag they wore on their belts to carry their necessities, with lavish embroidery and even jewels, to reflect their status.
From the 14th to 16th centuries the city of Caen, France, was noted for its embroidered bags and purses, which had the local name of tasques (tasque, tasche or tasse), whence the street inhabited by the embroiderers was called the Rue Tasquiere.

Et de passer devant l’huys ne se lasse,
Et met à point ou sa robe ou sa tasse.
Le Debat de deux fortunes d’amours
by Alain Chartier (1390-c.1440)

The handbags that have been verified historically were small sacks carried by gentlemen containing pomanders (scented spices and oranges), flint and money. These were called “pockets” and were hung by thongs from the back of the girdle.
From the 17th century to the late 19th century, most women had at least one pair of pockets, which served a similar purpose as a handbag does today.

Lucy Locket lost her pocket,
Kitty Fisher found it;
Not a penny was there in it,
Only ribbon round it.
Lucy Locket
English nursery rhyme.

In the 1790s women began to use reticules, decorative bags designed be carried over the arm in the manner of our contemporary handbag.

The term ‘handbag’ first came in to use at the beginning of the twentieth century and was used for leather bags then carried by men. It was the 1920’s that saw the first emergence of the modern handbag carried by women.

This exciting accessory can be divided in many categories depending on their age, quality, style and design: Pouch Bags, Reticule-Miniature purses, Beaded Bags, Clutches, Black Bags, Pocket books, Evening Bags, Purses.
It can be made in different materials: embroidery stitches, gilt-trimmed velvets, soft leathers, crocheting, silk tapestries, metals, precious stones and sparkly beads
The handbag was a symbol of their new independence women could now go forth into the world carrying all they needed themselves.

Valentino Handbag

Read Full Post »

My Plasco doll house furniture

This is a great old hard plastic doll house kitchen furniture set, in white with the blue bottom, dates from the 1950’s. Set includes a fridge and stove. They are marked “A Plasco Toy Co, Made in USA”.

Plastic became the choice material for American doll house furniture manufacturers, in the 1940’s during World War II. Wood and metal were necessary materials in the war effort and therefore the new process of plastic moulding became more widely integrated into the domestic marketplace. The hard plastic items could be intricately detailed including the maker’s name. Plastic is still being used today because of its durability and its low labor cost of production. Renwal, Ideal, Plasco, and Marx made hard plastic doll house furniture in the 1950s and, as the pieces are usually marked, can be easily identified by the collector.

There have been several standard scales in dolls houses over the years. Children’s toy houses during most of the 20th century were three quarter scale (where 1 foot is represented by 3/4 of an inch), also known as 1:18 (1′ equals 18″), 3/4-scale furniture was most often made from plastic.

For the last century, dolls houses have primarily been the domain of children but their collection and crafting have also fascinated a large number of adults.

Some Examples of Plasco toys

Plasco Toy Co. marks

1950s American Kitchen

Read Full Post »

My old Christmas ornaments

These antique ornaments were used for my Christmas tree: five wonderful miniatures glass with beautiful detailed molding, twenty-five electric light bulbs in milk glass hand painted (1), many glass balls, one cardboard bell with mica, and the little red horse in hard plastic.

(1) In the 1920s and 1930s Japan began offering these figural milk glass bulbs after switching from the clear glass bulbs in an effort to control the problems with paint peeling on the clear glass.

Japanese milk glass Christmas light bulbs

The bulbs made in Japan were milk glass, which showed less flaws than the earlier clear glass. Japanese bulb production ended in the 1940s and resumed again briefly in the 1950s. Most of the bulbs of this era are clearly marked, although not generally dated.

Glass Christmas Ornaments

Glass Miniatures

Mistletoe & Wine

by Cliff Richard

The child is a King, the Carollers sing,
The old has passed, there’s a new beginning.
Dreams of Santa, dreams of snow,
Fingers numb, faces aglow.

Christmas time, Mistletoe and Wine
Children singing Christian rhyme
With logs on the fire and gifts on the tree
A time to rejoice in the good that we see

A time for living, a time for believing
A time for trusting, not deceiving,
Love and laughter and joy ever after,
Ours for the taking, just follow the master.

Christmas time, Mistletoe and Wine
Children singing Christian rhyme
With logs on the fire and gifts on the tree
A time to rejoice in the good that we see

Silent night, holy night

It’s a time for giving, a time for getting,
A time for forgiving and for forgetting.
Christmas is love, Christmas is peace,
A time for hating and fighting to cease.

Christmas time, Mistletoe and Wine
Children singing Christian rhyme
With logs on the fire and gifts on the tree
A time to rejoice in the good that we see.

Read Full Post »

My art deco compact by Houbigant

This compact box is pure art deco. The interior is fitted with a pair of rouge pots, two original puffs, the mirror and one lipstick case.

Period 1900-20

Marked HOUBIGANT

Houbigant – Collectibles

Houbigant mark

Jean-Francois Houbigant opened his first shop at 19 Faubourg Saint-Honore, Paris, in 1775. Named “The Flower Basket” (1), the shop originally sold wig powder, perfume, fans, pomade and gloves.

An early client was Queen Marie Antoinette, and patronage by various royal families continued throughout the nineteenth century (Joséphine, Napoleon, King Louis XV, Madame du Barry, Queen Marie of Romania, Queen Victoria). The legend has it that when Marie Antoinette was fleeing to Varennes to escape the French revolutionaries she was recognised as royalty because of her Houbigant perfume, which only royalty could afford. By the late 1920s, Houbigant had a base in the United States (New York) and was selling its fine face powders in compacts. Compacts featuring Houbigant’s flower basket logo and vanities with abstract Deco designs are highly collectible.

(1) “A la Corbeille de Fleurs”

Marie-Antoinette by Jean-Baptiste Gautier Dagoty

Copy of Napoleon's order

Houbigant Prints

Houbigant purse - 1931

Read Full Post »