Wednesday. March 13, 2013
Old Lithographed Tin Motorcycles
Some Information about Montreal
Spring is coming! Today was a rainy day but with the temperature at about 43 F (6 C). So what better topic to talk about that motorcycles. Montreal is renowned as the "world capital of potholes".
A suburb of Montreal called Dorval used to have a contest to see who could find the largest pothole, and the mayor of Dorval used to promise that by the end of April, he challenged anyone to find a pothole. Sadly, the province of Quebec, at the insistence of the Mayor of Montreal, decided to amalgamate the whole island ofMontreal and all of its suburbs into one. There was plenty of agitation, and I even went to a demonstration downtown with about another 20,000 citizens. In the end, some suburbs de-amalgamated, but the "dastardly deed" was done! So now, my city (a suburb) pays 43% of its taxes to the big city, the quality of services is down, and the potholes are the worst ever. 2 people fell into a pothole and have not been found yet (just kidding)! The city of Montreal also passed a law so nobody could sue them for broken car axles, struts, burst tires, and everything else.
However, as I said, spring is coming. I'm sure, this Saturday, on a street near me called Saint-Jacques, the largest motorcycle dealership near me will buzz with all those motorcyclists eager to see what the latest models are. Oh, and I forgot to mention 1 more "great tax grab" by the province - they increased the cost of a motorcyclist's driving license by 100% a few years ago, even though our motorcycle season is about 7 months. The blame was on too many motorcyclists having accidents. However, and there's always a "however" here in this province, we have no fault insurance. That means that whether you're a motorcyclist or a car driver, a poor or rich person, a doctor, or a grocery clerk, you will not get any more in insurance benefits if (heavens forbid) you have an accident.
Tin Motorcycles
I've written in the past about motorcycles, but mostly about cast iron and American motorcycles. Cast iron toys are one of my favourite toys! However, I decided to check out motorcycles on Live Auctioneers and came across a plethora (a vast amount) of motorcycles, and especially tin motorcycles. Unlike the cast iron USA motorcycles that are faithfully reproduced to the motorcycles of the day (1920's-1930's), tin motorcycle manufacturers liked to take "poetic license" (make their own design) with their motorcycles. So what you're going to see is lots of creativity and interesting colours, some exaggerations, and detail. I was surprised that in some cases there was lots of detail that was hand-painted!
I usually create different-sized images for display on a blog. However, I started out that way, but all of these images and motorcycles were so good, I decided to present them at their original size. All of these images here were at the high end of price at their respective auctions. I think I'm going to look at the lower end of bidding. The lesser reason for this is because I could never afford the higher-priced items. The other reason is like my taste in art or wine. If I like either, the price does not matter. I've found plenty of wines that I like (the taste) , and I've spent a lot at certain times for special occasions, and found the more expensive wine did not always make for the better taste. If you are wondering about the art - I let my wife buy that - hey she's my wife, and as far as art goes, she has the better taste and knowledge- she's an interior designer, by the way!
Thanks for dropping by,
and I hope you enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Have a great part of the day, wherever you may be.
Stacey
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