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.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): © 2002
MADE FROM: acrylic
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Sea World Property Trust
DIMENSIONS: 6cm high , 7cm long
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
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
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
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
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
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;
PLACE REPRESENTED: Paris , France
ITEM: Ornamental miniature
NOTES: The Eiffel Tower – in steel, what else.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: ?
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 19.5cm high , 8cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Budapest , Hungary
ITEM: Mini Stein
NOTES: A stein? This is very Austrian but perhaps not surprising given was one of the twin capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1998
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: ?
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 7cm high , 6cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Ireland
ITEM: Ornament
NOTES: A mini Irish cottage. Very mini despite the beauties of digital photography.
Do these cottages still exist? Yes, but mainly in re-runs of “The Quiet Man”. Still when you do see them they are special.
This is handmade, apparently. Well, handmade in a sweatshop, perhaps.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: Resin
MADE IN: ?
MANUFACTURER: Elgate
DIMENSIONS: 7cm long , 4cm wide
