RSS Feed

Monthly Archives: May 2019

Radio Expo!

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

boston

This Cinderella stamp is from 1925.  KDKA radio in Pittsburgh went on the air in 1920 and WBZ in Boston came on soon after in 1921 – they did a remote broadcast from this expo.  Surprisingly, there were many radio stations on the air in ’25, enough to spur a lot of interest in receivers and tubes…and batteries.  As former DXer, I know the excitement of pulling in some exotic, far away station that faded in and out as the ionospheric waves bounced the signal.  The much later, much lauded Sony ICF 2010 receiver has circuitry to stabilize these signals.  One up on the old Hallicrafters…

This Cinderella is 1.875 x 2.375″ on flimsy paper.  The orange-y ink bleeds through to the reverse.

Leave a comment

Posted in Ephemera and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Same Thing, Big Difference

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

expo

This little (1 x 2.375″, no glue on reverse) Cinderella stamp has one thing going for it: it promotes an Exposition that was taking place the same summer as the seminal International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.  From its French title, we get the term Art Deco.

3, 698 miles apart, same thing, big difference in influence.  And we got Erté, which is not a bad thing (the name shows up frequently in the New York Times crossword puzzles).

Comments Off on Same Thing, Big Difference

Posted in Ephemera, Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

’56 Chevy Bel Air

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

chevyfront

chevyback

I grabbed this card as soon as I saw it.  It was $1.  That Chevy, in 1956, cost the princely sum of $3,500.

Leave a comment

Posted in Existing photo processed by Bob Lawrence, Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

North Central Pinback

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

northcentral

This scruffy, 2.25″ wide pinback is nearing 50 years old.

The history of North Central Air Lines is here.

Be sure to read about Herman the Duck.

Leave a comment

Posted in Existing photo processed by Bob Lawrence, Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Not Too Subtle…

Posted on May 19, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

smokefront

smokeback

I can’t make out where this was mailed from, but it’s a not-too-subtle message from your friends back in 1910.

  1. American Post Card Company in New York went out of business in 1910.
  2.  Blue Eye MO got its name, reportedly, from the eye color of the first postmaster.

Leave a comment

Posted in Existing photo processed by Bob Lawrence, Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Dog Show

Posted on May 13, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

dogshow

The original of this Cinderella stamp is 1.5″ x 2″, flimsy paper, blank on the back, no glue.

Btw, “Beaver Chocolate”, a Chesapeake Bay hunting dog, took Best in Show.

That courtesy of the Oakland Tribune, April 15, 1930.

Oh, and a dog accidentally swallowed a diamond from a lady’s ring at this show.  Um, everything came out all right…

Leave a comment

Posted in Existing photo processed by Bob Lawrence, Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Toy Roundup

Posted on May 12, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

stamp

This is a 2″ x 3″ advertising Cinderella stamp on paper that’s a little stiffer than copy paper.  The reverse is blank and has never had any glue applied to it.  This is one of a collection of trade stamps, mostly from the 20s and 30s that I bought around thirty years ago.  I’ve been unable to find out much of anything about them.

Leave a comment

Posted in Existing photo processed by Bob Lawrence, Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Magnet Compass Game

Posted on May 12, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

gamefrontAh, things were simpler then.  Here are the directions:

gamedir

Yeah, a real thigh-slapper for the under 5 set…

This is probably from the late 40s.  The magnet was missing when I bought it.  A friend found a magnet at a flea market, but it’s so strong it paralyzes the compass’ needle.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Beechcraft Wichita

Posted on May 11, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

a10front

a10back

Scruffy old postcard from Ellington Field.  Published during WWII. Between Beechcraft (whose headquarters are in Wichita KS) and Globe Aircraft, about 2,000 of these A-10s were manufactured.

Leave a comment

Posted in Existing photo processed by Bob Lawrence, Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

The Mighty DC-8

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Bob Lawrence

dc8front

dc8back

The postmark is 1973.  The Douglas or McDonald Douglas DC-8 was built from 1958 to 1972.  It was in competition with Boeing’s 707 in the new era of jet travel.  556 were made and a few are still in service.  In August, 1961, this was the first civilian jet liner to achieve (for 16 seconds) supersonic flight.

Remember the song lyric, “a big 707’s set to go.”  (Gordon Lightfoot,”Early Morning Rain”)  “Big DC-8’s set to go” doesn’t scan as well…

Leave a comment

Posted in Existing photo processed by Bob Lawrence, Uncle Bob's Pix and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.