Torque Computer SS306B

Found last week at the bottom of an old tool box. This is a Snap on Torque computer. It has a catalogue number of SS-306B.

Sasek Matchbox booklet for Liberty's London 1964

Much excitement in the Mendelsson household last week, when this dropped through the post! I hadn't checked ebay for a while for Sasek, as its become rather tedious trawling through all the modern reissues of his, This is series!

However a couple of weeks ago, I hit the search button, and was delighted to discover this rather battered matchbox booklet by the man himself. The booklet has some rather scratchy pen and ink drawings, depicting various modes of transport in London.
















The booklet measures 320 x 65mm, was made in Finland in 1964 for Liberty's of London, it has a brilliant red interior and once contained 150 Crown matches.

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Two Britains, plastic animals from 1978, that I picked up last month. You can see a whole load more over at the toybox, where he has some fantastic boxed elephants!

Who are you?

Amongst the many discarded photos I have, some of my favourites are polyphotos! Taken by a photographer and not in a photo-me booth, the photographer would take 48 different photographs, for you to choose from. You would be given a fantastic contact sheet, with small postage stamp images to choose from.

I have some of my dad, and my father in law, but the three above, have always intrigued me! Who is this man? I always hoped he would be a typesetter, or perhaps an architect. Was he European (Dutch maybe?) or was he just an office manager from Manchester?

I guess we'll never know!

2011 Cup Final post

Its that time of year again. Its Cup Final day here in England! Here to celebrate are two corner kickers from an unknown football game, maybe from the Sixties. They show a striking resemblance to the fairground game I listed back in 2009.

Im bitterly disappointed that the FA, and the Premier league couldnt work out a way for the FA Cup to be the last game of the season, and that it was the only game played in Britain today. Its criminal so many traditions and rituals are being undermined! I guess Im just a silly romantic!

Young Penguin seeks new friends!

Hot on the heels of the two lovely rabbits that turned up a while back, are these three little delightful wooden birds, with dainty wire legs.

I cant tell you a thing about them, except the stork and the red bird dont seem to be too enamoured, with their young penguin friend! It looks as if hes asked a question and they're not prepared to give him an answer. Oh dear! I wonder what the question was?

Royal footman

It seems somewhat appropriate to post this super little lead figure, what with all the fervour over the Royal wedding, today. Created by John Hill & co. in 1953 as a commemorative for the current Queens coronation. Its a bit classier than some of the tat thats being marketed for todays royal occasion. However I did see this, which I quite liked!

Butlin's Barry Island- John Hinde

A super haul of five John Hinde postcards from the car boot this Sunday. All featuring The Butlins holiday camp at Barry Island. Ive not seen any of these before, so a real technicolour treat!

One can only imagine what the holiday was like in the late sixties, but on the reverse of the card, Mrs Bradly does say the weather was not too warm, and she had met a friend (female) of her own age and they both like dancing at the Old Tyme Ballroom!

















As Ive mentioned before on here, I cant get enough of these glorious holiday souvenirs. Hinde team of photographers produced some pretty astonishing images. The series here are all taken by Edmund Nägele, you can read more about him and his time with the John Hinde, here.
















Below, Mrs Brady's favourite spot,the indoor heated pool. The card has a catalogue number of 3BY1.















On the back of 3BY13- The Lounge Grotto (below) Mrs Brady writes

"My friends husband is to ill to dance too much, so we are meeting up in the ballroom quite often. Hope the dogs are behaving themselves. The train leaves Barry at 6.15 on Saturday. So will be in Newport about 7.30. We'll wait at station entrance. "

Composite beer bottle stoppers

Following last weeks Antiques Roadshow, at The British Museum. I was reminded of my mudlarking days! The chap on TV had 1000s of items from The Thames including coins and clay pipes as well as some old bottle stoppers!

My small collection of bottle stoppers also came from The Thames, from just beneath Tower Bridge, each stopper carries a different Brewery logo. Its fun to imagine the identity of the previous owner, who opened his bottle of beer and threw the stopper into the Thames.

Häschenschule wooden Rabbits from East Germany

These rather fetching, wooden rabbits turned up at the car boot, a while back, but despite having their bases stamped, I knew nothing about them except they were East German.

However after stumbling across Spielzeugladen, a toy shop in Freiburg, South West Germany, I'm a little bit wiser. It appears the characters, Hans & Gretchen, come from the classic German tale, Die Häschenschule. The Rabbit School was written by Albert Sixtus, and first published in 1924.