The answer to a maiden’s prayer.
Wanna see the Blue Swan Mills factory? Just scroll at bit at the link.
Continue readingSay goodbye to girdles!
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Tag Archives: antique
Don’t hate the player piano; hate the game.
Alas, my summer home is also my fall, winter and spring home.
Aeolian is defined as “relating to or arising from the action of the wind”. If only I had known this word as a child.
The Aeolian Company was once the world’s largest piano supplier, later going out of business in 1985.
A brief history of the pianola, or player piano.
Continue readingI feel the need for seed. Wait…
I thought I had a chance at this Northrup King Northern Grown Tested Seeds box at Saturday’s North Star Auction, but I’ll skip the middle part of the story and say it ended at $775 and I didn’t even get my hand up. One of the best vintage illustrations and designs I’ve seen, and also one of the best preserved. Magnificent!
Did the Swedish Nightingale sing like the Swedish Chef? We’ll never know.
The True Story of P.T. Barnum and Jenny Lind
The hidden history behind Nipper, one of the most famous dogs in the world
Continue readingWard Off Evil
A little bit Wonder Woman with a little bit 1980’s hard rock band. Nice.
This is why we can’t have nice things. Oh, wait…
I’m assuming this company wasn’t named after Dutch Reformed clergyman Albertus van Raalte, but maybe?
Nope. It’s was Emanuel van Raalte. Oh well.
I tried, but can’t quite make out the artist’s signature. Probably not Walt Disney.
Continue readingBefore there was Netflix and Chill, there was Bartlett’s and Boink.
“Do… or do not. There is no try.” — Winston Churchill
John Bartlett’s “Familiar Quotations” was first printed in 1855. It’s still in print (many versions later), but it has also made the leap into the app world.
Continue readingFee-fi-fo-fum bear meat’s always yummy-yum!
Dandy, Handy and Candy were later replaced by Sugar Bear.
Sugar Crisp is now known as Golden Crisp, because that’s much healthier.
Continue readingNothing sucks like Electrolux.
Seen at an auction, an Electrolux Users Manual, the front and back cover seen here.
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.