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Showing posts from August, 2021

Top Of The Hill Figurine

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I just bought this pretty lady from our local thrift store for 60 cents.  She is perfect, not a chip or flaw.  She was fired before 1959.  She was designed by Leslie Harradine.  She was made by Royal Doulton. https://antique-marks.com/doultons-leslie-harradine.html  That store is very foolish with their pricing, usually they overprice junk and no one there has an eye for obscure treasures.  They also think nothing of writing prices on comic books with ink.  Too bad for them, I love a great find.  This is why I watched the Antiques Roadshow religiously, one never knows what will turn up.  When I find something like this it is opportunity knocking with a baseball bat.  Gloat : To contemplate or dwell on one's own success or another's misfortune with smugness or malignant pleasure.

Teddy's Bear

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Holt Collier by Thomas Jay Warren. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-african-american-hunter-behind-roosevelts-teddys-bear  November 14th, 1902. https://www.nps.gov/thrb/learn/historyculture/storyofteddybear.htm Berryman self portrait, 1904.  The popularity of the bear led to the highly successful Ideal Novelty and Toy Company in New York, founded by Michtom around 1903. Benjamin Michton, son of Ideal's founder, gave this bear to Roosevelt's grandson Kermit, his wife and their children, in late 1963. The toy was in the family's possession for just one month before curator Herb Collins accepted it for the museum in January, 1964. The bear dates to 1903 and is in perfect condition.  This is one of the first made. Kim Deitch.  Arcade #5, 1976. https://youtu.be/dZANKFxrcKU Prescient. Bully!    Ha ha ha!  Well said. Oh, and after all Mr. Roosevelt's magnanimity Holt killed the bear later that day.   https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-history-of-the-teddy-bear-

Fancybell And Scout (With A Frog)

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Scout on Fancybell.  Get along, little doggy! Black and white and red all over, step by step they got to Dover. Harmony. Consensus. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. Why, man, she doth bestride the narrow world - like a Colossus.     https://youtu.be/0MCnnfXPSHw?t=151    Cartoon animals do feel pain.  This cruel exploitation must stop!     It was Henry David Thoreau who noted that the "bluebird carries the sky on his back."   I very much doubt anyone asked him.    Drink up, guys, you've earned it! https://www.instagram.com/sdavis.howdy/

The Wolf Who Looked Like A Man

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Lieutenant General Baron Roman Fyodorvitch Von Ungern-Sternberg, the Mad Baron. As a boy, Ungern-Sternberg was noted for being such a ferocious bully that even the other bullies feared him and several parents forbade their children from playing with him as he was a "terror". Ungern was well known for his love of torturing animals, and at the age of 12 he tried to strangle to death his cousin's pet owl for no particularly good reason other than his cruelty toward animals.  Ungern-Sternberg had extreme pride in his ancient, aristocratic family and later wrote that his family had over the centuries "never taken orders from the working classes" and it was outrageous that "dirty workers who've never had any servants of their own, but still think they can command" should have any say in the ruling of the vast Russian Empire.  A highly decorated soldier, the baron was extremely brave but regarded as unstable, whatever that meant in the context o

Virginio Livraghi

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   Br'er Rabbit   Br'er Donkey Takes The Load No title but I don't see this working out for Br'er Fox. Someone will be outwitted. The rabbit clan prepares a monster. Rabbit's have the best taste in footwear. Whistle for it, bub. A pack of lies, I'm sure. A team effort. Dirty work afoot. A heartless ruse. The little dog laughed to see such sport... This fox just doesn't seem to get it. Br'er Rabbit And The Hard Water. Tricked again! After a small grey rabbit there chased a big red fox; he tried to reach and grab it and put it in his box but hopping down a rabbit hole, the rabbit got away.

A Fortunate Fox

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 Billy hasn't seen his friend Fontane Fox for years.  Today they went out to the Bob Hall fishing pier in Port Aransas, but as soon as they got set up Fontane said he forgot something and went back to the parking lot.  A few minutes later he returned and said he knew of a better place to fish than the pier.  Billy was surprised when they drove to a very out of the way old wharf.  It seems that Fontane found a bunch of watches and wallets just laying around! As slow as Billy is, he is only now wondering about where the fox has been all this time.

A Sunday Mélange

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 Baby's First Steps, Molly Brett.   Woodland Garage. Going Shopping. Barnyard Circus. Harvest Time. The Forgotten Bear. Buffle the Teddy Bear runs away from the attic where he has been put away and forgotten. Victorian print, artist unknown. Fab Funky https://www.fabfunky.com/?v=7516fd43adaa    Arthur Thiele, bizarre Bavarian cat with dragonfly wings and archery equipment.  I suspect this is a Cupid. Louis Wain. Seaside Fun. The Gathering.   Virginio Livraghi, Leo The Friendly Lion At The Pool.  Playhour magazine, 1961.   Crown For The Lion King, Bert Felstead.  1982.      Ginger Nutt.   https://youtu.be/f4APx-3oRB0    See you guys later! Y'all be careful.   http://www.toonhound.com/animaland.htm