PLACE REPRESENTED: Croatia
ITEM: Key Chain
NOTES: Croat colours and coat of arms. “Hrvatska” being Croatian for Croatia.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2004
MADE FROM: steel , material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9cm long , 3cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: New Zealand
ITEM: Key Chain
NOTES: A Maori Tiki for a key ring.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: New Zealand
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 5cm tall x 2.5cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Nicaragua
ITEM: Whistle
NOTES: A beautifully detailed ornament that doubles as a two hole whistle. You blow air in through the tail and change pitch by opening and closing holes on the birds back. The bird depicted is a Nicaraguan keel-billed Toucan I think. Nifty though my mastery of the instrument is limited. There is a story behind the “Nicaraguan Bird Whistle” rise to tourist trinket: they are locally made and they help feed local underprivileged children. They are made around the Granada town area by Heliberto & Family Handcrafted Ceramics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPZgdtoFqIE
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2016
MADE FROM: clay
MADE IN: Nicaragua
MANUFACTURER: Heliberto & Family Handcrafted Ceramics
DIMENSIONS: 9cm long , 8cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Niagara Falls, Canada
ITEM: Cap
NOTES: Niagra Falls, Canada in orange and not, for a change, in the red and white national colours of Canada.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: cotton
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: adult Adjustable size.
PLACE REPRESENTED: Noosa Heads, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Calendar
NOTES: Beaches, rest and relaxation. Who needs a calendar? Time is suspended in Noosa? Perhaps. But development isn’t. Noosa doesn’t look like that anymore.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 11cm x 11cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Gold Coast, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Ashtray
NOTES: Tourist mecca, the Gold Coast as an ashtray. Some would say that’s apt. That’s harsh perhaps.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Taiwan
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 13cm x , 13cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Croatia
ITEM: Bottle
NOTES: A modern version of the traditional Croatian spirit bottle. There is actually a bottle encased in the carved wood. A good idea, especially if you drop it after, err, a few shots. No doubt it is meant to hold slivovitz (plum brandy) given the fruit carved into one of the faces (which look to be plums). This is wonderfully detailed with the Croatian emblem and colours. A bonus would be if it came with slivovitz. Wait, I think it did … but it is all gone now. Evaporation?
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2000s
MADE FROM: wood , glass
MADE IN: Croatia probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 17cm wide , 23.5cm tall
PLACE REPRESENTED: Mt Tambourine, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Fridge Magnet
NOTES: Beautifully detailed, hand painted and crafted fridge magnet from Mt Tambourine in the Gold Coast Hinterland. Someone has hand painted a nut, which seem to be gumnuts from a eucalypt tree which are prolific on Tambourine. The mountain has had a long history of arts and crafts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamborine_Mountain
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: wood , magnet
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 5cm long , 3cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Australia
ITEM: Fridge Magnet
NOTES: The “Aussie Sheila” fridge magnet with all the phrases used by the Aussie sheila. A “sheila” is a girl.
This is a nice piece of kitsch that sends up the speech of a past Australia, not that the current vernacular, in many sections, is any better. Her outfit, down to the Ug boots, isn’t uncommon either.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2014
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: ?
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 5cm x 6cm
NEW YORK CITY, USA – Nic Nac Plate
PLACE REPRESENTED: New York City , USA
ITEM: Nic Nac Plate
NOTES: A tourist trinket with a specific agenda: “Meet me Under the Clock” and on the back, at the Renaissance Hotel in NYC on New Years Eve 1996. “Meet Me Under the Clock” is a place where many people meet, a clock being in times past a not common item, so everyone would know where it was. The phrase, apparently, can be traced to J. D. Salinger who would meet William Shawn, the editor of The New Yorker, with that phrases, under the New York Biltmore Hotel’s lobby clock. The New York Biltmore Hotel ceased operation when the building was gutted in August 1981. The Renaissance is now a Marriott hotel on New York Times Square.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1996
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 13cm diameter
