PLACE REPRESENTED: San Francisco, California , USA
ITEM: Coasters NOTES: The famous San Francisco cable car on four colourful coasters and, in their own holder. Perfect for your retro tiki bar.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: Hong Kong
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: Each coaster 8.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Tirol , Austria
ITEM: Small wooden wall ornament display plate. NOTES: The region of Tirol (or Tyrol) exists in both Italy (Tirolo) and Austria (Tirol). The spelling indicates this is from the Austrian side but the wooden plate and rustic feel of it reminds me of Italian trinkets. I have another similar ornament and wondered if the flowers depicted are region specific or just random? Those there are similar to the ones here so they could be regionally specific. Small but stylish with pyrography and vivid colours.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 8.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Victoria , Australia
ITEM: Ashtray
NOTES: Colourful and shiny …err, before use. Just like Victoria?
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Japan
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 10cm x , 10cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Ballina, New South Wales , Australia
ITEM: Cup NOTES: A plastic cup, ubiquitous amongst 1970s Australian souvenirs. Here a serene picture of the waterfront at Ballina, on New South Wales far north coast, offers you “greetings” The other photo is either testament to the fact that there isn’t much to photograph in Ballina, or, perhaps, Ballina by night.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: plastic MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: Patina
DIMENSIONS: 7.5cm diameter at top x 11cm tall FOR: Use CONDITION: Very Good.
PLACE REPRESENTED: Caloundra, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Humorous Ornament
NOTES: Old school Australian humour. The wheel rotates to display many humorous quotes on “The Sport of Kings”, which is not horseracing but rather betting on horseracing. Have you ever noticed that, inevitably, everything humorous about horse racing seems to revolve about bad luck with the horses? And yet we still gamble. Clearly the “Caloundra” is an afterthought to this tourist trinket. There wasn’t, even, a race track at Caloundra (well not till after this trinket, in the mid 80s). Still, it’s a nice bit of 1960s kitsch.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 14.5cm x 22cm
REPRESENTED: Malaysia
ITEM: Coasters
NOTES: A quite intricate set of six coasters in bamboo depicting the Malaysian coat of arms and the thirteen state coat of arms.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: bamboo , glass
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 8.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Bathurst (specifically the Soldier’s Memorial on King’s Parade), Victoria , Australia
ITEM: Dish
NOTES: The Soldiers’ Memorial (built 1909) at King’s Parade, Bathurst to remember those who fought in the Boer War. It’s still there as most Australian memorials are … one of the benefits of not being over run by other countries every few decades.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1930s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: England
MANUFACTURER: E. Webb & Co (made by Grimwade’s)
DIMENSIONS: 15.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Mentawai Islands , Indonesia
ITEM: Box
NOTES: The Mentawai Islands are a chain of about seventy islands and islets off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. They are famous for, amongst other things, their surf and surfing. Which, perhaps, explains how this ended up back in Australia ie: a lot of Australians love to surf. This is a nice rustic piece which doesn’t hold much … perhaps some dried parsley or something like that.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Indonesia no doubt
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 14.5cm x 7.5cm x 6cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Goa , India
ITEM: Wall Plate
NOTES: A cartoonish plate depicting a not very Indian looking scene. Goa was a Portuguese territory for 450 years (it was annexed by India in 1961) which explains all the Catholic churches and western architecture and the acoustic guitar.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 20.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Tokyo (specifically Tokyo Tower) , Japan
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: Tokyo Tower specifically celebrated on this wall ornament. Tokyo Tower is a communications and observation tower and the second-tallest structure in Japan. I assume the mountain in the background is Mount Takao.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 16cm diameter