Tag Archives: San Diego

by - 0 comments

ORIGINAL 1940’S NEON SIGN STORE METAL MARQUEE DISPLAY LETTER O

20140321_382

This is a wonderful vintage original letter from 1940’s neon store marquee display sign.   It is tin metal and measures 14 1/4″ x 9″ x 4 1/4″. These pieces make great decorative wall shelves for items or shadow boxes. Some of the letters still have neon glass in them, they do not work. They are rustic aged and look awesome!  I have total of 30+ letters.  The neon sign is an evolution of the earlier Geissler tube, which is an electrified glass tube containing a “rarefied” gas (the gas pressure in the tube is well below atmospheric pressure). When a voltage is applied to electrodes inserted through the glass, an electrical glow discharge results.

by - 0 comments

1901 WOLLENSAK ANSCO MODEL A CYKO CAMERA

20140320_233

VINTAGE WOLLENSAK ANSCO MODEL A CYKO AUTOMATIC CAMERA

This is a wonderful vintage large Wollensak Ansco Model A Automatic camera.   The company was founded in 1842 (pre-dating Kodak in the photography business) as E. Anthony & Co. (later E. and H.T. Anthony & Company, when Edward Anthony’s brother officially joined the business) and became the Anthony & Scovill Co. in 1901, after a merger with the Camera business of Scovill Manufacturing (Connecticut). That year the company headquarters relocated to Binghamton New York. This was already a site of one of Ansco’s  manufacturing facilities

by - 0 comments

1800’s BLACK AMERICANA GERMAN HUMIDOR JAR

20140302_282

This is a wonderful vintage 1800’s porcelain tobacco humidor jar made in Germany. It is early Black Americana. Most collectible black memorabilia was produced from the early 1900s through the 1950s, although some collectors seek items dating back to the Civil War era as well. Many of  Black memorabilia is collected for many different reasons and by people of all races and nationalities. Not all collections have a negative connotation nor are they amassed due to bigotry. Many uplifting aspects of African-American culture can be incorporated into a collection.

by - 0 comments

1910 GOLD GILLETTE RAZOR SHAVING KIT

Need a Shave

Need a Shave

 This is a wonderful vintage 1904 gold Gillette razor shaving compact kit.   The first safety razor using the new disposable blade went on sale in 1903. Gillette maintained a limited range of models of this new type razor until 1934 . This is one of their first models! The quest for a better way to remove facial hair or to shave has taken many twists and turns over the centuries. The years between 1800 and 1900 have been coined the “Golden Era” of the straight edge razor. Men went to barbers to have their mustaches and beards carefully trimmed. Interchangeable blade-razor sets and “seven-day” sets were popular in the 1800s.

by - 1 Comment

1960 IDEAL WIND-UP TOY ROBOT MR MACHINE

20140211_298 One of my favorite toys!  1960 Ideal Toy the Mr. Machine.   I played hours with this big guy.   Mr. Machine was a robot-like mechanical man wearing a top hat. His body has a giant windup key at the back. When the toy is wound up it walks, swinging its arms and repeatedly ringing a bell mounted on its front; and after every few steps emit a mechanical “Ah!”, as if it were speaking. The toy stood about 18 inches tall (roughly 46 cm).    The gimmick of Mr. Machine was that one could not only see all of his mechanical “innards” through his clear plastic body, but one could also take the toy apart and put it back together, over and over, like a Lego toy or a jigsaw puzzle.

by - 0 comments

1950s Frank Polk Western Bandit Mills Slot Machine

slot machine1950s Frank Polk Character slots came into being in the early 1950s when Frank Polk carved 92 life-size statues to hold slot machines.  As the price of an original Polk character slot machine rose beyond the reach of even the most ardent collector, a few other artists started to carve character slots in 1977.  There are only several hundred of the wood carved character slots in existence, and therefore, they are quite rare and hard to find.  He is solid wood stand over 6ft.