Here’s a truly unique modification: the Victorian Hearse Aquarium. It was up for auction (and has since ended), but is worth showing for the craftsmanship.
Large Victorian Ebonized Aquarium Cabinet, 19th century and later. Fashioned from the rear glazed doors of a New Orleans style horse drawn hearse, adapted on modern stand to accommodate tank, filter and lighting, all included, 80.5″ x 57″ x 41″ – 204.5 x 144.8 x 104.1 cm.
What do you think of this item? Too goth? Completely awesome?
The Deck of the Bastard is a hybrid tarot deck that draws from a number of antique/vintage decks.
The creator says:
I always wanted a vintage deck. But they were so expensive. I saw them on eBay (over $500) and even then, the old decks did not have the same cards we use today (no Hanged Man, & with odd cards like “Birds & Animals” & such). As an artist, over the years I tried to design a vintage – looking deck…but, I could never make anything I was happy with.
In frustration, I finally bastardized several vintage decks, including the Egyptiens Fortune Telling Cards by Delarue France in the 1890’s, the Dames deck and the Rider Waite deck for most of the pips. I added vintage edges in the borders and photo-shopped antiquing onto each individual card (NOT dropped into a single TEMPLATE! ), and unified them with similar colorings. For the back, I used an antique book cover that I edited.
The cards look beautiful and are “aged” quite well for an authentic appearance. While $70 is too steep for me at the moment, I do think these cards would be a great collector’s item.
Welcome to this edition of desktop goodies!
Would you buy Kellog’s corn flakes after seeing a child in the ad who looks like he’s be propped and posed postmortem?
Antique “eye massager,” for when your eyes need a little therapeutic squishin’!
AXOLOTL in a portrait! (See some axolotl info here, and an artistic interpretation here)
Don’t mind him…he’s really into that “sitting in a wall” thing.
The most complete system ever? Really?
I’m going to give you a great life tip here, folks. So listen up: be sure to set the iron to medium heat so as not to burn your crocodile.
The world’s most wistful butter substitute:
You can conveniently sell your sister by placing a check mark in the appropriate box.
Don’t say it, Dana…don’t say this piece of kitsch is…”corny.” D’OH!
Why did calling cards ever go out of fashion? Sure, we have hundreds of ways to bombard each other with introductions online (or in person…do people still meet that way?), but calling cards had style.
From The Art of Manliness (wow, what a great blog name!):
In the 19th century, gentlemen used calling cards to formally introduce themselves to new acquaintances and to call upon friends and relatives in a dignified way. But there was another type of card used when a gentleman wanted to get the ball rolling with a lovely lady in a more casual way: the acquaintance card.
The cards were designed as a comical way for a gentleman to break the ice, start a conversation, and flirt with the opposite sex. Sometimes the humor was overt, and sometimes it derived from the way the messages parodied the formal rules of etiquette — it wasn’t actually considered appropriate to ask for your calling card back or volunteer your escorting services so directly, as some of these cards do.
Now THIS man is willing to risk his gun, his dog and his shoes to be acquainted with a lady.
Source
Also, check out this Acquaintance Card Flikr Set!
In 1871 came one of the first automata to appear in the toy scene, patented by Robert J. Clay. You can find more about it here.
My favorite paragraph about the piece is the following:
Despite Clay’s belief that his toy would be very amusing, it had limited appeal for its target audience of little girls. It looks scary, weighs a lot and isn’t particularly interactive. It’s more of an exhibition piece than a cuddly toy, and once the mechanism broke (which happened often with the earlier models), its heaviness and hardness made it a dead weight rather than a doll that could be integrated into regular play.
I wonder how many of these clumsily creeping wonders were mass produced. Two decades later, the world was graced with Edison’s Talking Doll.
I’m thrilled that little curio cabinets of merchandise have been springing up all over the country in the past decade. Shows like Oddities have helped spur an increasing widespread interest in the strange and unusual (my longstanding loves!).
Woolly Mammoth Antiques and Oddities looks like a great place to browse.
Have any of you Chicago natives/travelers been there?
Scientific Illustration posted a gorgeous collection of antique color wheels.
Click images to slightly enlarge
I love the variety of geometric shapes in this collection; beautiful way to show color relationships.
I will definitely be using some of these in jewelry design (avert your eyes, my artist/designer friends! You may see these images turn up in gifts on your next birthday!)
This is an incredible piece located in The House on the Rock; a…shall we say, quite unique…coin operated tableau made in 1870.
Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
There is something special about seeing a classic piece of literature exactly as is came from the hand of its creator. Now you can view Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s own original manuscript.
See the story of how she came to write the novel here if you’re not familiar. She said this about her inspiration:
When I placed my head on my pillow, I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think. My imagination, unbidden, possessed and guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie. I saw — with shut eyes, but acute mental vision, — I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy, half vital motion.
She was only 19 when she wrote this classic piece. Wow…what were WE all doing at 19?…not this!
Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
Neato Coolville posted a wonderful roundup of coffin patents, dated 1848 to 1914.
Device to prop up the dead for postmortem photography?
See more here.
Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
SheWalksSoftly 