SWITZERLAND – Decorative Ornament

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Switzerland

ITEM: Decorative cow bell.

NOTES: This looks suspiciously similar to the Austrian decorative cowbell. My cynicism should be put to one side though because Switzerland and Austria are neighbours so there are bound to be similarities … in decorative cow bells at least.

The manufacturer has gone to the trouble of writing “Gruyeres” on the bell. Gruyères is in the west of Switzerland, hence the French sounding name. Of course the Swiss-German populace have a different name for the town, Greyerz.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s

MADE FROM: steel , leather , material

MADE IN: unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown.

DIMENSIONS: 14cm high (including strap) 6cm wide (bell)

AUSTRIA – Decorative Ornament

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Austria

ITEM: Decorative Cow Bell ornament.

NOTES: Austria and cow bells?

For sure.

Austria is Alpine and there is truckloads of grassland and pasture so cattle farming and dairy production are important agricultural production sectors.

There is something ye olde worlde and distinctly middle European about cow bells.

Isn’t there?

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s

MADE FROM: steel , material

MADE IN: unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 11cm top to bottom x 4.5cm across

GHANA – Ornament

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Ghana, Africa.

ITEM: Ornament

NOTES: Beautifully detailed and carved. Large, very evocative and quite striking.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s (but it could be earlier)

MADE FROM: wood

MADE IN: unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 25cm tall

GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Ornament

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Sea World, Gold Coast , Australia

ITEM: Ornament

NOTES: Yes indeed there are polar bears on Queenslands sunny Gold Coast … at Sea World. I’m assuming (and hoping) their enclosures are air conditioned.

MADE FROM: acrylic

MADE IN: China

MANUFACTURER: Sea World Property Trust

DIMENSIONS: 6cm high , 7cm long

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA – Ornament

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Dubrovnik , Croatia

ITEM: Ornament

NOTES: A small ceramic ornament which is nicely detailed … and a quite vivid remembrance of old town Dubrovnik.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2004

MADE FROM: ceramic material

MADE IN: Croatia

MANUFACTURER: Keramika Augustanec

DIMENSIONS: 6cm high

SPLIT, CROATIA – Ornament

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Split , Croatia

ITEM: Ornament

NOTES: A minature beer mug. Wine is more porpular in Split (in Dalmatia) and Croatia generally but beer is drunken (by mugs) though not normally from mugs. Regardless, most places seem to have their town depicted on these beer mug trinkets.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2004

MADE FROM: ceramic material

MADE IN: Croatia (probably)

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 6cm high , 5cm wide

COOMA, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – Ornament

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Cooma, New South Wales , Australia

ITEM: ornament

NOTES: A wooden statuette of a boat. This is a beautifully detailed travel trinket where the sails even move! But the trinket seems to have been made from left overs from other souvenirs. The boats hull is a Dutch clog (confirmed by the windmill depictions), the sails seem to resemble that of Spanish galleons, the flag on the main mast (I talk the salty sea dog talk) is Dutch and there is a little sticker that says Cooma, NSW.

Waste not , want not, huh?

Cooma is no where near the coast either so I’m not sure about the whole boat choice.

As far as I know neither the Dutch nor the Spanish colonised Cooma, but I wouldn’t put it past them.

Cooma, though, did become the headquarters of the Snowy Mountains Scheme (a hydroelectricity , irrigation, and dam complex that is the largest engineering project ever undertaken in Australia taking some 25 years to complete) during the 1950s and 1960s. The employment of workers was from 32 (mostly European) countries so, perhaps, this explains the cultural potpourri of this trinket.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: wood

MADE IN: unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 15cm high , 6cm long

COLOMBIA – Ornament

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Colombia

ITEM: Ornament

NOTES: A wonderful miniature ornamental depiction of a Colombian Chiva bus with its roof packed. There are vibrant colours (just like the real buses) and fantastic detail … there are even figures inside! This is great travelling kitsch.

More here on the iconic bus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiva_bus

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s

MADE FROM: pottery ceramic material

MADE IN: unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 12cm long, 8.5cm high, 5.5cm wide

OPATIJA, CROATIA – Ornament

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Opatija , Croatia.

ITEM: Ornament

NOTES: Croatians, like Italians, love their wine. This miniature bukaleta (a wine pitcher) and similar wine related trinkets are everywhere (especially around the Istrian peninsula of Croatia) and most towns have their name depicted on miniature bukaletas. In Italian the pitcher is called a boccaletta or boccale and Opatija is called Abbazia.

For more on bukaletas: http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=hr&u=http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukaleta&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dbukaleta%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D832

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1994

MADE FROM: ceramic material

MADE IN: Croatia (probably)

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 7cm high , 7cm wide

CROATIA – Ornament

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Frankie

PLACE REPRESENTED: Croatia

ITEM: Ornament

NOTES: Technically this is from Yugoslavia (1972) but it was purchased in Croatia and clearly looks like a Croatian donkey. Doesn’t it?

A well detailed wood carving of the traditional Croatian form of transport of years past, the “magarac” … donkey. The donkey is carrying the obligatory barrel of wine as well as a bucket on each side.

The donkey is central to Croatian culture. Poems, stories and songs have been written about the donkey. Though not that fashionable anymore these trinkets from the 1970s show a clear line to Croatia recent, agrarian past.

Will the mythology survive the shock of the new that is the world post EU?

These carvings were prolific and came in different sizes and shapes.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1972

MADE FROM: wood , steel.

MADE IN: Yugoslavia (as it then was).

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 18cm high , 17cm long.

And there are others . The same size but with slightly different markings.

And of course, together;

TRAVEL TRINKETS

Tourist souvenirs from around the world

Category Archives: Ornament

SWITZERLAND – Decorative Ornament

AUSTRIA – Decorative Ornament

GHANA – Ornament

GOLD COAST, QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – Ornament

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA – Ornament

SPLIT, CROATIA – Ornament

COOMA, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA – Ornament

COLOMBIA – Ornament

OPATIJA, CROATIA – Ornament

CROATIA – Ornament