Monday, March 4, 2013

Out With The (Really, Really) Old...

With the way the weather here in Portland can get, it's sometimes difficult to tell whether you're going to have a good shooting day or a bad shooting day. Today was one of those days where you just couldn't be 100% sure.

So, considering that, it seemed like a prudent plan to find something to do indoors. Unfortunately, indoor shoots are rarely dripping with "WOW!" factor, so I wasn't holding out much hope of just about anything. But, on a whim, the decision was made to go to the antique & collectables show down at the Portland Expo Center.

I know; I can hear you. "Steve", you're saying, "What gives?"

Well, the reality is that, if you don't know what you're looking for, you'll have no idea what you can find. There were some really cool things and some really quirky things, and most of it was for sale.
So, no more narrative. Here's a smattering of what I found yesterday:

Remember when airlines would give these out?

Some old, and not so old, 45 rpm's...

One of the old ones: Alvin & The Chipmunks, circa 1950's...



Yes, you're reading that correctly. It's a midget washer...

I don't know about you, but I'm questioning how I made it to 50 without owning a redneck mannequin...

My brother and I had G.I. Joe's when we were kids, and we had a lot of uniforms and equipment for them. I think, however, that we missed the whole "South Beach G.I. Joe in a Speedo" part of it all...

A WWII tank site. Mount it to your Subaru and hit the highway...

I always wanted one of these... When I was nine...

Yes, indeedy. Nothing says "indoor family fun time" more than indoor gun-play...

And nothing says "Happy Holidays" quite like a bag of marbles... From Texaco...

You know the definition of "perfect pitch"? Throwing an accordion into a dumpster and hitting a tuba...

Hey, lookathat!

I'd never seen a Beetle Bailey stuffed animal before...

For the man who has everything, a chrome dial pay phone...

Well, it looked good from a distance...

My brother Greg and I had a couple of these when we were kids. The price tag on this one was $30.00...

One of the cooler old toys I saw. This is an American Flyer "City of Denver" train set, and it came complete with tracks, transformer and whistle. It's from the 1930's, and it was in really good condition...

Part of the "100 Years Of Pop-Up Books" display. None were for sale...

A complete set of Wizard Of Oz masks from the 1950's...

This is just disturbing...

Apparently, this was a real thing at the World's Fair in Seattle in April of 1962...

A Col. Harland Sanders weather vane...

I'm gonna' go out on a limb and guess "probably not"...

This was a total restoration from the 1940's...

Nothin' made you more badass than having a Charlie Tuna radio on your bicycle...

And for those of you who need a fire truck pedal car driven by a monkey, you would not have been disappointed...

Yeah... I dunno'...

Hey, you never know. You could need one of these one day...

These were part of the most ridiculous collection on display. Some sample prices: 1) small yellow truck - $250.00, 2) green airplane - $350.00, 3) yellow airplane - $595.00, 4) red airplane - $350.00, 5) green airplane - $350.00. The most amazing part is that this guy had thousands of these toys...



 


Some very cool, old radios from the 1930's, 40's and 50's. Prices were from around $200.00 to over $700.00. AM radio never sounded so good...

 
I wasn't planning on buying anything, but I bought this. It's a bank that A&P produced. My brother had one when we were kids, so I thought I'd drop five bucks on the nostalgia. I'm glad I did, and I'm glad I attended this show...

 

The Final Hours...

The final hours in Seattle were fun, low voltage and relaxing. Jess and I have learned not to plan minute by minute and having everything la...