I started collecting umbrellas about 12 years ago. Hubby and I took a trip out east, to Maine. While there, we visited the L.L. Bean store and I bought one with the little ducky for a handle. Actually bought two of them, one for a souvenir for our oldest granddaughter. These are actually put to good use. A while later, I found several at a sale and they had bakelite handles. I decided to put them into a stand by the door.

The next one I found had a clear plastic handle, and the rest is history.

A few years back my hubby came home with a very unusual find. It was a cane with some type of bone and he still had the tag from the estate sale. It was “shark’s vertebrae.” He asked what I thought it might be worth. And my rather sassy response was “what do you think, we can just go to an antiques book, look inside and find a price for a cane made of shark’s vertebrae?” He chuckled and got out a few books and ‘voila’, there it was, exactly as stated! It was valued at about $120, which was about $100 more than he paid for it. We re-tagged it and put it in our case at the antique mall. It sold in just 5 days. After that, I did more searching for them and while I have never found another one quite like that, have been able to locate a few unique ones.

My latest was this carved wooden cane, featuring the head of a dog and with glass eyes. More than I usually spend, but it was so charming that I had to buy it.

I really like the handle on this umbrella, nicely carved with the talons of a bird, holding a ball. If you look closely at the carving, you’ll see a number ‘7.’ Not sure what that signifies, perhaps just good luck to the user.

And as my luck would have it, another estate sale netted me this lovely antique cane, quite fancy with gold plated detailing. You know it is an old one because it reads “A.R. 1894.”

Another one, with gold and mother of pearl, reads “A Merry Christmas.”

This one with the ‘bone’ is nicely shaped too.

My grandkids call this the ’snake’ and it sure does look like that with its curvy style and silver detailing.

I could have told Maddie that canes were originally a symbol of status and that walking sticks or canes have been part of the human lifestyle since we stood upright. Or that these began being popular in the late 19th century as an important piece of fashion. But that might have overwhelmed her. For now, she just likes looking them over and carefully handling them. And that’s alright with me.

Serious collectors know where to look; antique stores and auctions, even the internet. They display them proudly as do I and are always on the look-out for other treasures.

I’m usually a stingy buyer; price has a heavy weight when deciding whether I should pick an item up. Sure, it results in me getting a lot of junk because it’s cheap, but it’s my junk, and I wouldn’t have bought it unless it was cool. Then there’s items like this one, where I see it from across the way, make my beeline to it, and hold on to it until I reach the checkout. This, below, is a toy printing press.

I’ve got a soft spot for books, and printed material in general. I can tell a letterpress product versus a lithograph (note: the flyers in the hem box are, surprisingly, lithographic), and I’ve got boxes of letterpress blocks in my basement. The only thing is, I had yet to own a printing press. Full-sized presses are rather spendy, so, for now, I’ll have to stick with my toy printing press.

If it weren’t for toy printing presses, The Simpsons’ Springfield would never know that Todd Flanders smells, although later in the same episode the toy printing press is used to send an important message. For being a relatively functional manufacturing piece, it’s akin to a masculine Easy-Bake Oven; a symbol of future drudgery and industrial servitude, but in childhood it’s “Playing Daddy At Work”. Thousands of budding news editors released special editions of local news — so enormously local as to encompass the livingroom, kitchen, and the part of the back yard where the little sister and her friends are playing. There’s no doubt that the drive to own a tiny printing press springs from the same place that blogging does; however, writers had toy typewriters — the kid with a printing press is another entity altogether. I may be reading into it a bit, but as a freelance writer and blogger who typesets books from time to time, I think the subject may strike me a bit deep.

My new printing press was made by Superior Marking Company (SMECo), of Chicago, sometime in the 1950s. Superior was known for manufacturing rubber stamps and other commercial marking equipment, but they also produced a number of toy rummer stamp kits, with the printing presses at the higher end of the toy line. SMECo produced several sizes of presses, but all worked on pretty much the same mechanical process. The large barrel in the center has rows of metal clips, into which custom rubber ‘cuts’ are inserted. the barrel is about seven inches around, setting the maximum length of the printed page. My press, unfortunately, has lost all but the top three inches of text and clips, which limits what can be printed, unless I track down replacements. A slip of paper about three inches wide is inserted into the front of the press, and the crank is turned. This process is actually simple and ingenious; as the barrel rolls, it turns an ‘inker’ roller to place a layer of ink on the raised letters, and when it reaches the lowest point it engages a rotating platen underneath that forces the paper against the raised letters, producing text. Once the letters are set, a little press like this could operate constantly until it ran out of ink or wore down the raised rubber surfaces. While mine (see also, also) has very simple text, other examples online show a wide variety of possible fonts, headers, and layout possible with a little press like these.

Superior wasn’t the only manufacturer of little printing presses. The designs varied from simple rotary presses like mine to miniaturized moving platen presses that operated like their full-sized commercial counterparts. Superior, it seems, was the most prolific of the toy printing press companies, although others have tried their hand at it over time, from Fisher Price in the 60s to Crayola in the 21st century. While this wasn’t a common toy, tin printers like mine show up quite often on eBay and other online stores at reasonable prices.

True to Hollywood marketing form, every superhero-adventure-summer-blockbuster film has been accompanied by a line of collectible action figures. Mattel produced 2 lines of figures and vehicles to coincide with The Dark Knight (which were exceptionally hot due to the untimely death of Heath Ledger), and Hasbro gave us an array of Iron Man and Hulk toys for the selfsame movie.

While Hasbro’s Hulk movie figures were met with derision due to their substandard quality and ad nauseum repetition the Hulk himself (all with different action features), Hasbro also took the opportunity to ride the Hulk hype and produce an entirely different, comic-based line of Hulk figures - which are selling with wild success, even at the unusually high $15 price tag.

This line of eight Hulk-related figures has been a holy grail for me since I first saw them back at Toy Fair. While I have a causal collection of Hulk toys (because really, the guy’s gone through about a million changes and ‘costumes’, and he’s iconic), I was more interested in the enormous figure that you can build if you collect all eight - Fin Fang Foom. While the name might be ridiculous, the character is a shining example of the wacky energy that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby pumped into their comics in the 1960s. As a semi-rabid Kirby devotee, this was a thing that I needed to have around. Plus, he’s a giant space dragon - a combination of three of the greatest words in the English language. You know, aside from ‘naked sandwich robot’.

Other great Jack Kirby names : Arnim Zola, Flippa Dippa, Agnar the Fierce, Baron Zemo, Bombu, Devil Dinosaur, Galactus, Annihilus, MODOK, and Giant Man. Interestingly, nearly every ‘build-a-figure’ that’s been made in the Marvel lines is a Jack Kirby / Stan Lee creation, from X-Men’s Sentinels to The Blob, excluding Onslaught, Apocalypse, and The Brood Queen. Kirby’s just that epic. You need to buy eight figures just to build one of his.

Whenever a new line of figures comes out, I hit the message boards and browse for sightings. Toys generally start out in California, and over the next three weeks, slowly make the crawl to New York. The original plan for this Hulk line was to release the first four figures in July, and release the second quartet in August. There would be a two-month long interim in which you’d only have half of a space dragon built. It was a strange plan for Hasbro to make, especially when collectors feel very unsettled about half-completed things, but it was Foom. My love affair with space dragons could endure.

I hit Toys ‘R’ Us one morning and found the first five figures, and immediately loaded them into my arms and ran to the checkout counter. I was so excited (and possibly sweaty) that I didn’t even bother checking deeper into the pegs, since the back of the package now revealed a change in Hasbro’s plans. These first five would ship now, and the remaining three would ship in August. Because these were being touted as ‘limited edition’, reports were also coming in that if your local Toys ‘R’ Us (my only real buying option, due to my remote location) was going to get any at all, they were pretty much limited to one case - and that these were all shipping at once. My Foom was legless, and even after returning to the store about 4 times each week, my search turned up nothing. When the pegs were finally taken down and replaced with Batman stuff, I resorted to eBay. Again, for the unrequited love of a space dragon.

But for a while, I was on the hunt again. The toy collector climate in my area isn’t all that heated, since I’m friends with one other serious collector, and the only other collector that I know of is the ‘greasy hat’ guy that I’ve caustically written of before. I’m not the kind of guy who’ll wait outside of the store, breathing heavily on the windows until I’m let in. My dedication isn’t worth the cost of my soul or dignity, or a healthy breakfast. I’m of the mindset that if I’m meant to find something, it will present itself to me, and that stress-less (and somewhat Zen) attitude towards collecting has served me well enough. But somehow - I was really serious about Foom. I was hunting hard, just short of wearing a snazzy camo getup and carrying a compound bow through the toy aisles. I had something to look for - but it was never about ‘having’. Somehow, it was more about Jack Kirby, and having something of his around to inspire me creatively. When it comes to creativity, I’m relentless, remorseless, and have no budget.

Today, I finished my Fin Fang Foom, legs and all, and he’s a towering monument to the heart of comic culture - and by far the best ‘build-a-figure’ made since Hasbro’s taken over the ‘Marvel’ lines from ToyBiz. Sure, Foom has no formal relation to The Incredible Hulk, as he’s more of an Iron Man villain than anything else, but I’ll take him where I can get him. While the classic Marvel Legends line seems to be either fading out or spinning into less ‘Legendary’ characters since Hasbro rook over, the Hulk line keeps true to both recent and classic comics.

Stay tuned for a detailed review of the eight Hulk figures!

We had a double-birthday in the family last week. Our son-in-law Garth celebrates his special day with his one year old son, Nicholas! They had a huge party in their yard and the weather cooperated. My daughter and her husband are blessed with a large group of friends and being near the same age, they have quite a ‘gaggle’ of kids.

They arrived at 3:00 and as they filtered in we counted 20 children, 6 of them under the age of one, the others between one and three years old! I took my daughter aside and teased her about the ‘child per age’ rule, meaning if the birthday kid was four, you’d have four guests. That worked fine when she and her sister were growing up. It was manageable and not too overwhelming. But in spite of the large group of kiddies, things went very smoothly. There were no formal games, but they have a large, inflated pool and some enjoyed that. Others played in the sandbox or a water table and they have an impressive swing set, so everyone had something to do. They also have a large dog so some kids just threw the slobbery ball or frisbee. A few kept busy running away every time the dog came near. It worked out just fine.

We did not stay to witness the gift-giving, but from the size of the packages, all neatly wrapped, we are sure they were awesome. Back when we were kids, we’d usually get a ball and jack set, perhaps a bag of marbles, (wish I’d have saved all of those), a coloring book and crayons, perhaps a book of cut-out dolls, or similar dime-store treasures.

On the way home, I commented to hubby how very different things were ‘back in the day.’ Besides the difference in prices of the gifts, the games were customary; we’d play the same games at each party. There was a round of pin the tail on the donkey, or red rover, tiddly winks or perhaps a board game.

One of my favorites was drop the clothespin in the milk bottle! A rather simple game requiring minimal dexterity, but we’d all laugh when missing a simple shot. Back then, you’d get milk delivered in gallon jugs, glass ones, right to your door. One time my mom opened the cap and was shocked to find a bunch of mushrooms inside. She promptly called Doc, our milkman, who made a ‘house call’ to see what her concern was. He peered inside and saw the ‘bobbing brown blobs’ that did indeed look like toadstool tops. But upon further examination, he chuckled, pulled one out, and you guessed it, these were wooden clothespins. What a hoot! Someone had left a few in the bottom and the bottle cleaning system could not get them out because they ‘clogged’ at the top. We laughed about that every time a birthday came around.

I have another ‘vintage’ birthday memory. My mom went to the door to find a young lad named Gary calling out for Vicki, my younger sister. (That’s another thing, we did not use phones or door bells, you would just yelled out “Oh, For….and the person’s name”) Gary came by quite often but this time he was very neatly dressed, hair slicked back, a nice shirt and long pants, even though it was summer. He held a package with a bow on it and asked if he was late for Vicki’s birthday party.

My mom was surprised since this was June and her birthday was in November. She called Vicki down and once she turned the corner, a big smile lit up her face. She grabbed Gary’s arm and invited him inside. She asked him “did you get it, did you get it?” I was downstairs by this time and mom and I were really curious. What was going on? And how was it I did not know what was happening?

In any case, it turns out that Vicki had been to a friend’s party a few weeks back and Gary had bought a copper horse figure as a gift. Vicki had been enthralled with it and asked if he would get her one for her birthday. He said “sure” and asked when it was. She said “next week Saturday.” And you get the rest. Now Vicki was only 6 at the time so it is somewhat understandable, but of course, mom made Gary take it back, explaining it was a little early for gift-giving and to keep it until November. Vicki was a bit sad and she was also punished for lying, being sent to her room and not allowed to go out and play for the entire day.

Looking at our vast paper supply downstairs, I pulled out a few old greeting cards and found they were as ’simple as the times.’ Sweet graphics and charming messages. No super-heroes or scary monsters on the front or stars such as Hannah Montana singing a song when they opened up. The cards also came in boxes of 20 – called “Occasional Cards” and with messages of get well, best wishes for a happy wedding, anniversary or just friendship. Instead of the $3.95 price tag on today’s single cards, the boxful would be $1.00!

Many of the cards had a cut-out or a surprise inside like a “captain’s hat” the birthday boy could punch out and wear.

Many people collect older greeting cards today. The favorites are from holidays, especially Christmas and Halloween, and of course, the always-treasured Valentines. Some collect for the theme, maybe wanting Scottie dogs, or horses. Others collect foil backings and some just like whatever oldie they can find. They can be found at antiques stores and auctions and are often not very expensive. Nostalgia is evidently not too costly, and it sure helps to bring back memories of special times and events in our lives.

A quick stop — a dash, really — into an estate sale with the kids, and I grabbed this box of “junk” for $2.

All the kids ask what it is, and pressed for a quick get-away, I say, “A puzzle for momma.”

I’m not lying; it really is a puzzle for me.

But I do know what these 8 pieces are, what they make, even though I’ve never had one; it’s a fancy hem making gauge.

However, explaining hemming to children whose close are purchased off-the-rack and mended at night (not by elves, but by bleary-eyed parents who only dare use the needle at night when the house is calm & quiet) will take some time. And time could be my enemy here, where the seller, having more time to eye-ball the box, might just start to really notice the old pieces of paper in the box & decide that the price tag doesn’t include the papers (or some other potential problem).

So the lengthy explanation for my purchase will have to wait — wait for me to work my puzzle.

First, like any puzzle, I must take all the pieces out of the box. Then I must look over all parts of the box, cover & sides, inside & out, for a better idea of what I’m piecing together here. This box has no pictures, and, in fact, doesn’t even seem to be the original container for the pieces.

Second, separate the pieces — in this case, the papers from the metal pieces.

As none of the papers belongs to the metal pieces, I set the papers off to the side and begin to toy with the 8 pieces. I’m not the most mechanically inclined person, but even I can figure out square pegs don’t go in round holes, and so I can easily match triangle male parts to triangle female parts.

I do the same with the half-rounds. The large golden screw easily threads into the heavy metal base, holding firmly any of the aluminum triangle-based “poles” to the base. The curved pieces are for standard hemming at 2.5, 4, and 6 inches.

I have built a Chapin hem gauge.

With one piece left over. I don’t know what this straight ‘t-bar’ is for. Do you?

One part of the puzzle is done; but there is more to do.

Next, I research the device. The only name or markings are on the chromed iron base: Chapin (PAT APLD). I found nothing on the company. Though there was a tool-making Chapin company, which made some gages, I’ve seen nothing to indicate this sort of measuring device and so can’t confirm it’s the same company. (Perhaps these folks would know more.)

:sigh: Another unfinished puzzle. Ah, well, it’s something for another rainy day, right?

As I said, this hem making tool has little to do with the papers found in the box. There are 30 promotional fliers for The Butterfield Hem Finder.

This hem gauge is so grand, it’s called a “machine”. A lady, in this shown version, stands on the platform, and her skirts are draped over the ring, which is then raised to the desired length, allowing for the fitter to very easily mark a chalk circle all the way around the skirt, right on the fabric. (My Chapin only does an arch or part, meaning the fitter or seamstress would need to measure all the way around by hand, checking and rechecking for accuracy.)

But again, I found no information on Butterfield Mfg. Co, Fostoria, Ohio.

Poo.

However, from the illustration of the woman on the Butterfield ephemera, I am able to guess the time period. The skirting, hem length and silhouette of the woman is very Gibson Girl, making this hem finder machine part of La Belle Époque, or circa 1890’s to 1910’s. The similarity of hem length and design, leads me to believe the same of the Chapin hem gauge.

While this makes the Chapin a turn-of-the-century antique, it also is very practical. Should I ever have the time to put to use all my sewing materials — vintage & collectible, or not — I could make a lovely Gibson Girl dress with a proper hem with ease.

Don’t laugh. I just might yet.

Having a better idea of time frame makes it easier to search for possible patent information. While I had absolutely no luck with Chapin (even with its patent applied for notation), I was able to find the patent information for the Hem Finder — including when it was assigned to a Jesse D. Butterfield.

You’d think this would help me find out more about Butterfield Manufacturing Company; but no.

But I still have more puzzle pieces from this box found at an estate sale:Two pieces of paper from The Hollenden, Cleveland.

The Hollenden opened in 1885, and with the images of horse-drawn carriages, not cars, they appear to be from the hotel’s early days — which fits the same time period as the hem measuring devices.

But maybe the grand hotel didn’t update its stationery very often?

The sheets boast of The Hollenden’s 800 rooms, as well as mentioning James H. Thompson, Manager, and Adam W. Kuechle, Treasurer (making me think this is official hotel letterhead, not stationery for the guests). I research their names and confirm they both worked at the hotel in the 1910’s.

I’m not sure what sort of value these sheets of old paper would have for collectors of items from the Hollenden as they have creases, soiling, and been written on with a fountain pen. Researchers and ephemera collectors, such as myself, will find the sold script interesting. It could be Kuechle’s handwriting, jotting down some quick calculations. I do my best to read all the names and numbers… I can’t quite make out all the names/words on them, but then on the second sheet, on the back, I spot the (by now) familiar names… Chapin and Butterfield!

Of course, that also could be an “O”, making it Chopin — but with Butterfield? The odds seem too high for that to be a coincidence. And while items found in the same box at an estate sale do not necessarily come from the same time period, place, or person, these seem to be from the same time period. And they have many things in common…

Could these items be from a salesman? That would explain 30 copies of the same promotional flier. And the quick sales notes with figures (to be typed up back at the office).

I may never know.

But that’s part of the fun I have with my “puzzle boxes”.