Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Blowing snow, very cold, even colder overnight
Blowing snow, very cold, even colder overnight
I Looked for Toys
and Found a Museum
Part I
I'm always searching for toys that I have never seen before. My "usual" haunts (places where I regularly visit) are Liveauctioneers, ebay, and the Net. I was visiting Liveauctioneers a few days ago,when I came across some very nice items that I had not seen before. I wrote to Fairfield Auction, LLC, and received a reply today giving me permission to write about them and their fine toys. Their upcoming auction is on January 18, 2015.
As I was looking through their auction, which has all kinds of interesting non-toys items, I looked and looked until I found the toys at the end. I had spent so much time looking at the non-toy items, I just had to write about them all. Moreover, they had most of the items that I like or are close to me. A fine set of brass dog andirons (for holding wood near fireplaces), photography and art, a cod fish weathervane, and a fine corrugated cardboard chair by the famous American designer Frank Gehry. I have a dog Buddy (my page photo is of him, I taught pro photography and still do photography, I like art, and anything interesting (the Gehry chair from 1970).
I decided to include this, then realized there was just too much to "compact" into one post. I would do 2 posts. Then I realized, 2 posts wouldn't be enough, so now I will add 3 posts. The non-toys, toys I have not seen before, and fine toys I have seen but well-photographed, and large-sized.
Fairfield Auction, LLC is located in Monroe, Connecticut (USA).The state was one of the original states and joined in 1788. When you realize that the first immigrant settlers came to the USA in 1620 on an aging ship called The Mayflower, you realize just how many antiques and old toys there could be in 400 years, plus! The company is owned by Jack and Rosie DeStories, who have lots of experience and years in the business.
That's Buddy from a few years ago. He had just come from his haircut appointment, and Heidi (my wife) says to me, "Let's take his picture". I forgot to reset the camera, and so the pictures that you see were heavily corrected with photo-editing software.Nevertheless, they came out great!
Great for any fireplace!
Frank Ghery is a Canadian-American (Canada got him first) architect. He's multi-talented in many
and has designed furniture, jewellery, and even computer software. I remember when I first saw his corrugated cardboard furniture in the NYTimes a while back. It was so cool!
Who would think to create furniture out of corrugated cardboard?
For those who don't know, Paul Strand
was a famous early-American photographer. For those who don't know, Paul Strand
was a famous early-American photographer, belonging to what became known
as a group called "modernists". When photography first was introduced
by French inventor Nicéphore Niépce in
1822. In the beginning, photography was more of an art form and wasn't accept
that readily into the art world. The art world snubbed their
noses at the new media, and it took almost 100 years before it came into it's
own, meaning that people recognized as a new art form.
Please Note:
I used photo-editing software to improve the images. However, it's important to see the actual colours that were taken by the photographers at Fairfield Auctions, LLC.
So if anyone is interested in any of the artwork, please go either to the Fairfield Auctions, LLC website or Liveauctioneers. Even on Liveauctioneers, the colours may be off, but this is an "official" website to view the items coming to auction.
The piece of art below is from the collection of the Paul Strand Archive. I think that Paul Strand would collect work for his archive in order to help new young and upcoming artists and photographer.
I canlt remember if I've seen this particular pice of art or a smiler style. However, I like this a lot. The depth, the style of brush or pencil strokes, the composition and the shadow all make this exceptional.
Of course, most Americans and international art "buffs" (aficionados) would know the name Grant Wood from the iconic portrait below titled "American Gothic".
I never heard of Martin Lewis, but but etching caught my eye. Just like the attributes of the Grand Wood "Approaching Storm" lithograph, you can see lighting and shadow, texture, composition, and of course - "Old". The derricks below are old,and overall the image is just great!
What's noteworthy in the image below is how the frame board is hung on to the backing.
The hinge (yellowish colour) and the white tape are specially made to have a neutral (acid free) content. If this is not done, then acids in the tape, hinge, or even the matt board will leech into the art over time, and damage it!
I had never seen such a chair before, but now that I think about it, they certainly existed.
What's interesting is that it was made for right-handed people. It would be good for myself, who is left-handed.
It's a beautiful chair, and what I like about it are several things. It's made of solid one-piece pieces of wood,not laminates. Also dovetails and mitres are used to to have different parts attach together (with of course glue).
This trio of photographs certainly makes you appreciate the design of the chair, and how it was assembled so many years ago.
Last is this beautiful weathervane cod fish. The detail is superb both with the textures and the details. But if you've read my post regularly, you'll know that I like to fish. My father was a fisherman (I don't like to use neutral-gender words if I don't have to) or in the modern lexicon of language - fisher.
My wife Heidi kept wondering all the years that we were married about my fishing. I actually only went twice while we've been married, and both times with my bother Michael.
I've asked if she would be be interested in going ice-fishing, and she said yes. I didn't tell her about the cracks in the ice when the weather gets very cold. It's nothing to worry about at the end of January or early February when the ice up here around Montreal is 18" - 24" " (.46 - .62 M_ thick. I will tell her though, because she gets nauseous when waves on a lake or ocean are higher than a foot!
I hope that you enjoyed this post. If my toy blog was more successful in terms of visitors, I'd try Google adsense, and try to make a few cents. However, it's not in the top 1,000,000,000 blogs out there. I would also write about antiques and art. However, I still enjoy writing about toys, and "it keeps me out of trouble for 1-2 hours, almost every day.
Thanks for dropping by and as always,
have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be,
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com
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