Salt Petre

This stuff is mentioned in quite a few old stories, mostly for making gunpowder and causing impotence.

Gunpowder & Impotence would be a good name for a country album.

You can really taste the mole asses.

Instant Postum magazine ad found on the back cover of the October 1920 issue of Delineator.
Instant Postum magazine ad found on the back cover of the October 1920 issue of Delineator.

Three ingredients: roasted wheat bran, wheat and molasses.

Postum was developed by C. W. Post, the Grape-Nuts guy. 

It’s baaaack! 

Owl fun facts!

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Please don’t slug the excavator. 

1948 magazine ad (not full page) for Wheaties cereal
1948 magazine ad (not full page) for Wheaties cereal

How Wheaties Became the ‘Breakfast of Champions

Art by Irwin Caplan (“Cap”), illustrator/painter/designer/cartoonist. Wanna see his house?

Johnny Mize was a left-handed Hall of Famer. At last check, some of Johnny Mize’s baseball cards go for over $7,700 on eBay.

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Would you like to buy a monkey?

Back-of-the-magazine ad for mail order monkeys found in the August 1965 issue of Sports Afield
Back-of-the-magazine ad for mail order monkeys found in the August 1965 issue of Sports Afield

What was it like to get a monkey in the mail? Find out here!

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Don’t forget to burp’m.

Magazine ad for Tupperware found in the August 1965 issue of Sports Afield
Magazine ad for Tupperware found in the August 1965 issue of Sports Afield

A little bit on Fairman Wallace “Wally” Taber here and here. Dude studied photography with Ansel Adams.

The history of Tupperware parties. Did you know about Earl Tupper and his savior, Brownie Wise?

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A nice little surprise from the agitator of men

A bit of correspondence from Enzo Ferrari
A bit of correspondence from Enzo Ferrari

A month or so back, I bought several old issues of La Domenica del Corriere, a weekly with cool front and back cover illustrations, on eBay from a guy in Italy who seemed to specialize in racing/auto stuff. Well, they finally arrived rolled up in a poster tube, and when I took them out, I found this nice little surprise sticking out between some of the pages — a card of typed correspondence from Enzo Ferrari signed in his signature* purple ink. Groovy.

*I just saw what I did there.

The life of Enzo Ferrari in the UK’s GQ

A nice bit on Enzo Ferrari’s choice of purple ink.

These Suds Ain’t Duds

Midcentury-ish boxes of soap of the following brands: Oxydol, Ivory Snow, Nola, Vel and Duz
Midcentury-ish boxes of soap of the following brands: Oxydol, Ivory Snow, Nola, Vel and Duz

This last Saturday was laundry day at the North Star Auction in Mandan, North Dakota.

Also, back in the day, laundry soap and dish soap were often the same soap.

Check out the sweet package art.

The Art of Cooking

A copy of this was in a box of books I was outbid on several Saturdays ago at auction, but I found an affordable and good one (w/o dust jacket) online. Seller packaged it in 5 layers, which was nice.

Esquire Cook-Book, 1955, illustrated by Charmatz.

Nicely done, Esquire.

Bill Charmatz obit.

Obnoxious Advertising

Obnoxious Advertising — Published Under Direction of Thomas Hall Secretary of State — 1917
Obnoxious Advertising — Published Under Direction of Thomas Hall Secretary of State — 1917

Thank you, Ann and Bismarck Antique Mall, for thinking of me when you found this gem.

Johnny Gasparini would’ve gotten his two dollars on one of these.

Found in an October 1968 issue of Outdoor Life
Found in an October 1968 issue of Outdoor Life

Snow Bikes have been around in one form or another for 100 years or so.

The conversion kits cost a little bit more these days.

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