PLACE REPRESENTED: Austria
ITEM: Bottle Opener
NOTES: A bottle opener fridge magnet set in a minature frothy beer mug. I don’t know if it is made in Austria but it does sum up their ingenuity and practicality.
A nice touch is including the national flower of Austria, the edelweiss.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: plastic , steel
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 11cm high , 4cm wide
PLACE REPRESENTED: Noosa Heads, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Mugs
NOTES: Noosa Heads on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland is a town popular with beach types, especially discerning ones. This pair of vividly coloured mugs with the first “o” in Noosa depicting the sun sums up sunny, happy Noosa days. Sunshine is so central that there is even a sun on the inside of the cup.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 7cm diameter x 10.5cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Saint Petersburg , Russia
ITEM: Jewellery Box
NOTES: Small Glass ring box, nicely detailed with faux gold to give it that old Imperial Russian look.
Nyen, originally settled by Swedes around 1600 came under the control of the Russians around 1700 and became St Petersburg. In 1914 the name of the city was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad and in 1991, back to Saint Petersburg. So this trinket is either pre-1914 (which it clearly isn’t) or post-1991 (which it clearly is). It depicts Saint Isaac’s Cathedral built in the mid 1800s and dedicated to dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 6cm x 6cm x 3cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Tasmania , Australia
ITEM: Fridge Magnet
NOTES: Abstract Tasmania (and its ever famous apple) in green, red and black. I like this.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: resin plastic
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 5cm x 5cm (at its widest)
PLACE REPRESENTED: Cairns, Queensland , Australia
ITEM: Wall Ornament
NOTES: Simple and effective. Barramundi fish plus Australia equals Cairns. Cairns is, rightly so, famous for its barramundi fishing but this trinket could also have had “Darwin” substituted for Cairns (who knows maybe it was in the Darwin market) which also has its fair share of barramundi. In Australia, barramundi is an iconic eating fish revered as a quintessential Australian brand. But, far from being only native to Australia, barramundi are found in the Indo-West Pacific region from the Arabian Gulf to China, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: wood , steel
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 20cm diameter across x 16cm top to bottom (at its longest)
PLACE REPRESENTED: Barcelona (specifically Park Güell garden complex) , Spain.
ITEM: A small decorative box
NOTES: A souvenir of the Park Güell garden (and architectual) complex designed by Antoni Gaudi at the start of the last century in Barcelona. Gaudí’s multicolored mosaic salamander, “el drac” (the dragon) sits at the main entrance as well as atop this small box. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_G%C3%BCell
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: wood , hard plastic resin
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 10cm long x 7cm wide x 7cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Mt Robson, British Columbia , Canada
ITEM: Mug
NOTES: A very large beer stein of a mug though I doubt you would be drinking beer on top of Mount Robson. It looks cold. Even the moose on the mug looks cold. Mount Robson is part of North America’s Rocky Mountain range and is the highest point in the Canadian Rockies.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Korea but “Decorated in Canada”!
MANUFACTURER: Prestige Ceramics
DIMENSIONS: 9cm diameter x 12cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Broome, Western Australia , Australia
ITEM: Mug
NOTES: The mug proudly states “Broome the Pearl Coast Western Australia” and it should. Broome is a coastal and pearling (and tourist town) in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, 2200 km north of Perth. It is remote. According to wikipedia, “The permanent population is estimated at 14,436, growing to over 45,000 per month during the tourist season”.
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: glass
MADE IN: unknown
MANUFACTURER: unknown
DIMENSIONS: 11.5cm high x 7cm diameter x 11cm across (including handle)
PLACE REPRESENTED: Talbingo, New South Wales , Australia
ITEM: Steel Cup
NOTES: Talbingo is a small town in south east country New South Wales at the edge of the Snowy Mountains, on the Tumut River and the Jounama Dam.
As the cup indicates they love their freshwater fishing and even have a Talbingo Fishing Club and an annual fishing competition, the Yamaha Jounama Classic.
This cup has seen quite a few camp fires and is made of the finest Chinese steel, made from ore imported from Australia no doubt. Ahhhh, where would we be without primary industries. Where will we be without them in the near future?
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: steel
MADE IN: China
MANUFACTURER: TS
DIMENSIONS: 8.5cm diameter x 8cm high
PLACE REPRESENTED: Vancouver , Canada
ITEM: Ceramic Mug
NOTES: A mug depicting Vancouver.
I know a lot of mugs who have visited Vancouver. Boom Boom!
YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1990s
MADE FROM: ceramic material
MADE IN: Canada
MANUFACTURER: Capilano Glass
DIMENSIONS: 7cm diameter , 10.5cm high