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A Cool Collection: Ice Cream Advertising and Collectibles

August 7, 2013 in Uncategorized by hdavis

A hand-crank floor model malted milk shaker mixer with two glass containers and copper lids.What’s a Saturday evening in summer without the sound of an ice cream maker churning away?  While ice and all the joys it brings have been popular for a long time, ice cream’s popularity really started to heat up at the end of the 19th century.  While ice cream as we know it has been around since the 18th century and hand-crank makers since the mid-1800s, ice cream really took off when the Industrial Revolution made making and storing ice cream so much easier.  Ice cream parlors and soda fountains sprang up everywhere, and they only became more popular during Prohibition.

And do we have the equipment to prove it!  In the database you’ll find early ice cream advertising from Borden’s, Breyer’s, Dove and Hershey’s.  My favorites are two serving trays, one for Dove and one for Pearl ice cream.  A savvy manufacturer was at work, because they’re pretty much identical, except for the company name!  We’ve also got a variety of ice cream dippers, including a nifty gadget that is designed for making ice cream sandwiches, but if it’s not ice cream sandwiches you like, you can have your ice cream molded into a variety of shapes, including a castle.  (Castles are for those with expensive tastes – the pewter mold here sold for over $2,000!)  In terms of sheer gadgetry, though, it’s hard to beat the item pictured above: a hand-crank malt/milkshake shaker.  I think you’d be ready for something frosty by the time you finished operating this.  So, go have some ice cream, sit in front of a fan, and be thankful for the joys of modern technology!

A Moveable Feast: Collectible Lunchboxes

August 5, 2013 in Boxes by hdavis

A Superman lunchbox and thermos in original box, manufactured by Adco in 1954.Seeing all the back-to-school sales makes me long for my old metal lunchbox.  Maybe it’s still out there somewhere, picked up by a Holly Hobbie collector.  (I hope they were able to get my name in Mom’s bright red nailpolish off the front.)  Of course, metal lunchboxes are probably classified as weapons in elementary schools today, but collectors are still snatching them up whenever they get the chance!

There probably aren’t any real surprises here – metal is more popular than vinyl, having the original thermos to accompany the lunchbox is important, and examples from the 1950s, 60s and 70s are the most popular.  And, of course, the more iconic the image captured, the better!  Dudley Do-Right will get you around $3500, but Superman, of course, can fetch over $11,000, especially early images like the 1954 one pictured above.  And, of course, it’s hard not to love the kitschy appeal of The Monkees, perhaps appropriately in vinyl.  From Roy Rogers to Star Wars, there is really something for everyone, so, if you’re getting bored with brown bags, get on eBay, track down your first-grade lunchbox and bring a little zip to your lunch hour!

Cycling Through the Ages: Cycles, Accessories & Collectible Ephemera

July 29, 2013 in Sports by hdavis

Outing magazine poster, June 1896 - fall colors with the Man In The Moon winking at this lovely lady on her bicycleRiding a bike is one of the simple pleasures in life, so basic and peaceful, but since the introduction of cycling in the early 1800s, the pastime has encountered any number of bumps in the road.  It may be hard to imagine today, but during the nineteenth century, cycling changed the world, encouraging the improvement of roads, developing technical skills and machines that later helped to produce cars, and even aiding in the emancipation of women and the suffrage movement!

As the bicycle evolved throughout the 1800s, each new development seem to spark a new cycling craze, and this passion left its mark on just about everything from the period.  Cycles and cyclists show up on everything from cigarette cases and pocket knives to watch fobs and inkwells.  (I particularly love the intricacy of the carving on this Meerschaum pipe.)  Riders posed for photographs with their machines, individually and as members of the myriad cycling clubs that sprung up in Europe and across America, and cycling magazines and posters, like one pictured above, began to appear everywhere.

And, of course, there are the bikes!  Tricycles, highwheels, and tandems, the classic Huffy and Schwinn, and all the accessories from lanterns to locks.  (Check out this ammonia pistol called the “Dog Scarer”!)  Early highwheels have fetched more than $45,000 at auction, while a restored Schwinn or Huffy can bring $4,000 to $6,000 at auction, so be sure to take a closer look before just walking by an old bike at a yardsale!

My Generation’s Collection: Collecting Concert Posters

July 24, 2013 in Uncategorized by hdavis

The summer concert season is in high gear just now, but that highly polished, prepackaged, choreographed lip syncing doesn’t generally appeal to me.  Somehow, I just don’t think that in two or three decades, people will be meeting up and asking if anyone saw Clay Aiken in Cleveland in 2006!  I love to look through the concert posters from the 1960s and 70s in the database, wondering what it would have been like to be at Woodstock or to be at the Fillmore in 1968 for Big Brother and the Holding Company – with Santana AND Chicago!  Just do a keyword search for concert poster to see what I mean….

These concerts defined a generation and created a style of fonts and artwork that has become inextricably linked with the time period.  Commemorating an event is a great reason to collect concert posters, but these posters also have amazing and colorful art that stretched the capabilities of color printing!  Flying eyeballs, roaring lions, giant mushrooms – images based in fantasy and myth and pure imagination.  But, of course, my personal favorite is the Led Zeppelin avocado poster.  That would have matched our old fridge perfectly!

Scraping Together a Collection: Figural Boot Scrapers

July 22, 2013 in Kitchen & Household, Uncategorized by hdavis

A cast iron boot scraper, unattributed, in the form of a cat with [long tail and] traces of black paint.Historically, boot scrapers are unassuming little things.  They were usually mounted out of the way, covered in mud and muck, and not objects to which one probably gave much thought.  But, the boot scraper’s day has come!  Lifted, quite literally, out of the mire, they are interesting enough to stand as artful silhouettes, like Shadow the cat, pictured here, but common enough that they’re quite affordable. You’ll find cocker spaniels and dachshunds, horses and doves, and animals much more suited to the damp and the mud, like frogs and ducks.  There are also “action” scenes like men sawing logs, with the serrated teeth of the saw serving as a perfect means of scraping shoes clean, and objects like a lyre with a form that also lends itself to the purpose.  And, as always, there are more fanciful options like boot scrapers with sphinxes or griffins!  These objects make a great collection, and because they are small, heavy and often appear rough or uncared for, deals aren’t hard to find!

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