PLACE REPRESENTED: Cairns, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Key Chain
NOTES: The Volkswagen Camper Van is hardly Australian. But, with a surf board on top, and a couple of blokes inside looking for the perfect wave in the endless summer it becomes Australian … and you do see them around Cairns (no surf there though)
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2014
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 4cm across x 4cm high (van)(7cm including chain)
PLACE REPRESENTED: Sarajevo , Bosnia and Herzegovina
ITEM: Wall Ornament ]
NOTES: Sarajevo in Bosnia celebrated in wood craft (by pyrography – the art of decorating wood or leather by burning a design on the surface with a heated metallic point ) typical of Yugoslav folk tourist art of the 70s. Depicted here is the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque and Tower clock damaged in the war of the 1990s but repaired. Oddly, perhaps intentionally, one of the verticals in the Mosque’s dome roof leading to the roof spire looks quite like a cross. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazi_Husrev-beg_Mosque
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Bosnia and Herzegovina probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 16.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Spain
ITEM: Bottle
NOTES: Well, not a bottle but a bottle bag. A Spanish Bota Bag which is their tradition canteen and was normally used to carry wine, their traditional beverage of choice. The “Rdo De Espana” is a “Remembrance of Spain”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bota_bag
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: leather , plastic
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 24cm tall x 14cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Paris , France
ITEM: Coasters
NOTES: Four vivid picture coasters depicting various familiar Paris sights.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: wood perhaps
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9.5cm x 9.5cm each
PLACE REPRESENTED: Fes , Morocco
ITEM: Wall Plate
NOTES: Fes, the “Mecca of the West”, the “Athens of Africa”. A nicely detailed plate depicting Fes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fez,_Morocco
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Morocco
MANUFACTURER: Cocema Fes Maroc
DIMENSIONS: 17cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Mackay, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Pin Cushion
NOTES: A most unusual pin cushion and quite a good one. I’m not sure is this locally made as I’m not sure Mackay is famous for its shells given it’s located on a river (the Pioneer river) though it is a jumping off point for the nearby Great Barrier Reef, and the Whitsunday Islands. Still, I would be happy to put my pin in this cushion.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: shell
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 7.5cm long x 5cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: New Orleans, Louisiana , USA
ITEM: Cap
NOTES: New Orleans and jazz – naturally enough.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: cotton
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Sun Products
DIMENSIONS: adult Adjustable size.
PLACE REPRESENTED: Venice , Italy
ITEM: Wall Plate
NOTES: A elaborate, detailed (and very Italian) wall plate depicting some of the famous sites of Venice, the city of 117 small islands, separated by canals and linked by bridges.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 24cm diameter.
PLACE REPRESENTED: Great Barrier Reef, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Ashtray
NOTES: The Great Barrier Reef as an ashtray?
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Japan
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 16cm x , 16cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Uluru, Northern Territory , Australia
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: The famous Uluru … though probably still called Ayres Rock at the time of this travel trinket (as it was until 1993). Usually referred to as the largest rock in the world, it’s not. Mount Augustus in outback Western Australia is. Still this is pretty and, unusually, it is a night time or dusk scene of the rock as opposed to the more common daylight one.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Australia probably
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 28cm long x 11cm wide x 1.5cm thick. .