PLACE REPRESENTED: Colombia
ITEM: Small Display Plate
NOTES: The Republic of Colombia – in elegant style.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 10cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Durban , South Africa
ITEM: Spoon Rest
NOTES: The shield of the port city of Durban.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: plastic
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 24cm long
ITEM: A Viking boat in steel.
NOTES: “Norge” equals Norway in Norwegian.
Norway and Vikings ….what else? This should have been a Viking boat in wood but it’s a nice little steel trinket that could double up as a small paperweight.
It won’t float, that’s for sure.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: steel (pewter tin I think)
MADE IN: Norway
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 7.5cm long x 6.5cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Taree, New South Wales, Australia
ITEM: Nic Nac Bowl
NOTES: Victoria Street, the main drag in Taree which is located on the Manning River on the mid north coast of New South Wales … well actually, from the picture, Victoria Street circa 1930.
It looked nicer then … less cars.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1930s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Czechoslovakia
MANUFACTURER: ‘Victoria’ Schmidt & Company
DIMENSIONS: 13.5cm x 13.5cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Pula , Croatia
ITEM: Religious Ornament
NOTES: The Blessed Virgin amongst shells with the town name written in (read: insert any town name). Actually, Pula is quite a spectacular mid-size Catholic Croatian coastal town.
Well, that explains the shells and the Blessed Virgin.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2004
MADE FROM: shells
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 10cm high, 10cm across
PLACE REPRESENTED: Ireland
ITEM: Religious Ornament
NOTES: St Brigid’s cross specific to Ireland.
It is traditionally made from rushes or straw and it is believed that a Brigid’s Cross protects the house from fire and evil. Accordingly, it is hung in many Irish and Irish-American kitchens for this purpose.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigid’s_cross
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2004
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Ireland
MANUFACTURER: Knock Pottery
DIMENSIONS: 17cm by 17cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Pisa , Italy
ITEM: Ornament
NOTES: The leaning tower of Pisa is the most well known of the buildings in the piazza dei miracoli in Pisa but there are four great religious edifices: the Duomo (cathedral), the Campanile (the cathedral’s free standing bell tower), the Baptistry and the Camposanto.
Here they are captured in something 7cm long.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980s
MADE FROM: hard plastic resin
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 6cm high , 7cm long
PLACE REPRESENTED: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , USA
ITEM: Ornamental Dinner Bell
NOTES: The Liberty Bell becomes a dinner bell. It makes sense sort of but the thought of a revolutionary call to arms for freedom, liberty and independence being reduced to a call to come and get your sausage and eggs is a truly kitsch moment. And, the Liberty Bell isn’t red in colour. Maybe the glass maker was left leaning or he was fond of Red Bell beer from Pennsylvania (which postdates this trinket).
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 9.5cm high x 6.5cm diameter
PLACE REPRESENTED: Paris , France
ITEM: Purse
NOTES: A small, cute, girls purse…just like a Frenchman. Think about it. Just kidding!
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 2001
MADE FROM: material , soft vinyl
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: Monsoon Accessorize, London
DIMENSIONS: 12cm x 8.5cm
PLACE REPRESENTED: Rockhampton, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Souvenir Boomerang Ornament
NOTES: I’m not sure if this boomerang will come back. It’s machine shopped but it is made in Australia (in Melbourne) and made from mulga wood. Mulga is a shrub or small tree native to arid outback areas. It has adapted to its environment and makes sure it captures all rain and moisture. Accordingly, sheep and cattle love it, as do bees for its flowers. Humans, also, use it as a good source of firewood as well as a wood to make implements and … boomerangs. There is a kangaroo decal at the center just in case you didn’t know where it came from. Rockhampton has been etched into the boomerang off-center, and, perhaps, as an afterthought.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s
MADE FROM: wood
MADE IN: Australia
MANUFACTURER: Australian Mulga
DIMENSIONS: 26cm long (the boomerang) x 5cm wide at its widest
