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Pink: A Collectible Color
Some collectors are passionate about pink. In fact, one could argue it’s the most collectible color. Pink became a color marketing brand in the late 1940s; that’s when designer Elsa Schiaparelli introduced “hot pink” to western fashion. By the 1950s and 60s thousand of products were offered in pink like this Bell telephone. Join a [...]
Also posted in Household items Tagged collecting pink telephones, pink collectibles, using color in marketing Leave a comment
1940s Dress Patterns
The United States was at war for the first half of the 1940s. Much of the clothing from this time reflects the way Americans lived: Practical, frugal and hardworking. This pattern is a great example of what working women during World War II may have worn. Many of these women would have worked in factories [...]
Mermaid Collection
I took the following pictures of my mom’s mermaid collection. I thought it would be nice to post this time of year.
Milford, NH Drive-In
We kicked off the 4th of July weekend by going to one of the few remaining drive-in theaters in the country: the Milford Drive-In in southern New Hampshire. In 1958, at the height of their popularity, there were about 5,000 drive-ins; today, less than 500 exist. Visit Drive-Ins.com or Driveintheater.com to see if there’s a [...]
Also posted in People/Places Tagged Drive-In theaters in the US, history of drive-in theaters, things to do in New Hampshire Leave a comment
1975 Bell Motorcycle Helmet
There’s a collectible market for vintage helmets and the market is — HUGE! Not only do racers collect them, but so do lovers of modern design. In fact, several Bell Helmets are in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The helmet pictured here is from 1975, but the Bell company manufactured protective headgear long before [...]
1939 Collier’s World Atlas and Gazetteer
Old maps and atlases offer a glimpse into the geographical and/or poltical history of a country or city. Take these four examples from the 1939 Collier’s World Atlas and Gazetteer. 1: Germany’s borders before World War Two 2: Hawaii before it became the 50th state 3: A detail of Los Angeles 4: Airway routes before [...]
Also posted in Transportation Tagged historic maps, vintage world atlas, world maps of 1939 Leave a comment
Electric Belts Booklet
Can electric currents cure disease and relieve pain? That’s a question some scientists have been asking since Ben Franklin’s kite experiment in 1752. In the late 1800s a medical fad began — the selling of electric belts. Each belt sold promised to cure a specific ailment. There were belts to cure rheumatism, sexual dysfunction, liver, [...]
Patches from the 1970s
Patch or badge collecting is called scutelliphily. In Latin ‘scutellus’ means ‘little shield.’ ‘Phileein’ in Greek means ‘to love.’ Scutelliphily is a hobby world-wide and goes back hundreds of years. In fact, Geoffrey Chaucer mentions pilgrims and the various badges they acquired in his classic work Canterbury Tales. The patches in this posting were aquired [...]
