Royal Museums Greenwich

Thursday, January 17, 2013
      (Post # 2 of the Day)

Wednesday, February, 13, 2013

Royal Museums Greenwich

   I had waited and sent several e-mails, but hadn't heard from the museum. So I returned today to the site, and checked out the copyright page below.

http://collections.rmg.co.uk/page/7d7ded6fb50d6031e2884961a200be58.html

    I don't make any income from this blog, and provide the blog more for the public's interest, and the pleasure that I get form writing and learning about the subject of old toys. So I decided that I'd take the initiative and post. I'll also send a third e-mail and see if I get a reply.

  Looking for old toys photos and information on the Net is like that famous expression from the movie Forest Gump - " Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get". And so it is! Last Sunday, I was searching out Paya toys, when I accidently came upon 

Royal Museums Greenwich. The sight didn't seem to have many toys initially,but for the Paya toys that I had found. 

    I had written on  Sunday ( 5 weeks ago) to the Royal to ask for permission to use some of their photos for a post, and early Monday morning I had an answer from  Sarah Beighton, the E-Commerce and Print Executive for the Museum. I was slightly, but mildly taken aback, when she asked which photos I might be using and in what context. I say slightly, as I woke up at 4:00 A.M. However, I like a challenge, and as the expression goes "times does not for for no man (or woman)". 

   So I quickly perused the site, found my Paya toys, and some other images, and captured them for after my regular coffee at Dunkin Donuts.

   I waited,  but I knew that I'd hear from Sarah Breighton eventually.  I figured that she was very busy, and eventually I'd here from her. And so I did today. I already had written the blog a while back, so all I had to do for today is write this small paragraph, re-set the posting date,and here it is the beautiful toys from the Royal Museums Greenwich.

   So below is my blog for today. Not all of the photos are of toys, but I'll certainly bet that if someone had that nice montage of the 4 images of the barge, they certainly didn't let it sit on their mantle place - looking. At least, I would have taken it for a tryout in the park! I'd be playing with that fine item, even if it was a model for a large-sized shipping company!  

   Now that I have the "OK", I'd like to return to the Museum and look at more of their beautifully photographed toys, and probably writ another post.

http://collections.rmg.co.uk

(please press on the above address to be redirected to the Royal Museums Grenwich site.

Like the USA, Great Britain was famous for their piers. Piers were huge attractions from the 1870's-1950's,and in some places they still are. I remember going to Atlantic City in the 1950's with my brothers and sister and parents and going on the piers. There was the diving horse that jumped into the water with a rider. There was a giant net that lifted up every 24 hours to show you the fish that were caught in it. And of course, there were hotdog stands, popcorn, and most-famously - salt water taffy!

Now we're talking! What a beautiful model.

I wonder if model builders tested their boats in water to see if their watertight?

Thanks for dropping by,

and as usual, 

have a great morning, afternoon, or evening

wherever you may be.

Stacey

The Victoria and Albert Museum

Friday, January 18, 2013

The Victoria and Albert Museum

    Yesterday, I had just finished my post for the day, when I checked my e-mail. I had received permission to use the fine toys and great photography from the Victoria and Albert Museum (England, Great Britain). Roxanne Peters, the Project Manager: Rights Management Review, had replied to my request and  given me the OK.  I had sent the letter a while ago, and so I initially thought that it was from another museum. I had to do a double-check, and this was great! I'll have to send another note toi the other museum, but Roxanne Peters came to my rescue for today - thanks Roxanne!

    I've never been to the Museum, but from their website, I would have to say that it must be an exceptional place to visit. If I get to do some travelling, I know that I'll be visiting a lot of contacts to who have allowed me to use their photographs and write about them. The website is a very broad-based site of all kinds of content and subjects. THe front page of the site describes the Museum as 

"the world's greatest museum of arts and design".

    One of the exceptional things about museums and the Victoria and Albert Museum is that  all items are carefully catalogued and written up as much as can be done in terms of content. And of course, the photography is excellent!

   I checked on Wikipedia, and found some exceptional statistics to confirm what I said before. The Museum was established in 1852, and has 145 galleries occupying 12.5 acres (51,000 square meters). There are 4,500,000 objects in the permanent collection.  The closet museum to rival that was The Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. (USA).  I spent 3 days years ago with my wife, and I probably only saw 1/10 of what there was to see!  Years later, and museum over time collect even more items, so one never even is ever able to "catch up" and see everything!

   There are 1000's of toys on the website so I decided to focus on the rarer, older and more-different items. 

http://www.vam.ac.uk/contentapi/search/?q=search+the+collections&search-submit=Go

(Please click on the above address to be redirected to the Victoria and Albert Search Page)

I always wanted to add this toy to a blog, and finally I got the opportunity.

     It's interesting to see that some museum benefactors (donors) let their names be added to the toy descriptions, and so I decided to add them here as well. If I had any toys that were of value, I might think of donating them too.I know people my age and younger whose parents have recently passed away, and the children and grandchildren have no interest in collections such as stamps, coins, or other collectibles. It's a nice thought for people to have donate to a museum. This is especially more true for me, because I like to browse museums to get a glimpse of history through objects, as well as reading.

I've been busy writing, that I missed noticing the  300th post that I wrote  this week. Today's is the 305th. If someone would have said 18 months ago that I'd get tired and stop, I might have got a bid hot under the collar. And there was a period where I did stop, since the readership was low. However, I stuck it out, and continued to write, and the readership is up - thank you everyone!

So thanks again for dropping by,

And have a great weekend wherever you may be.

Stacey