Monday, April 11, 2011
Strange Easter Postcard
This very strange German made Easter postcard from the 1900s features all the holiday sights one would expect (chicks, colored eggs), but also a little boy chef who is smoking a cigar while balancing a tray with an apparently live chicken on his head. I do not know why. Perhaps this is some little known European spring time custom, or perhaps the German Easter Bunny also brings stogies.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Weirdest Board Game Ever Made: Remco's Pinhead
One of the oddest board games ever made must be Pinhead, released by Remco in 1959.
The first inkling of strangeness comes right away, as you peruse the cover. Why is a "game of hide and seek" called "Pinhead"? What does a deforming neurodevelopmental disorder have to do with a classic children's playtime activity? Why is the one boy so much bigger than the other children? Is it also about dwarfism and/or gigantism?
You might expect some answers to these baffling questions once you open the box, but no: the oddness just intensifies. There is, in fact, a pinhead on the house shaped game board, and he is "hiding" out in the open, in the middle of what appears to be a hallway. So...not hiding, then. I mean, wouldn't it have been more like hiding if he was tucked away in the attic clutter, or stuck behind one of the basement appliances??
The pinhead in question:
Remco games were notable for: 1. being strange, and 2. having unusual methods of rolling the dice. Remco's "Tumblebum Dice Games" included an hourglass shaped device with dice inside. Tipping the device over essentially rolled the dice. Pinhead features a different mechanism: a dice box, in which the dice are shaken while the lid is closed. These elaborate dice rolling devices seem to have been Remco's attempt to enliven games that were otherwise rather simple, straightforward "tracks", wherein players simply moved their markers along a course. Remco games are relatively scarce, and strange though they may be, are worth snapping up when found.
The first inkling of strangeness comes right away, as you peruse the cover. Why is a "game of hide and seek" called "Pinhead"? What does a deforming neurodevelopmental disorder have to do with a classic children's playtime activity? Why is the one boy so much bigger than the other children? Is it also about dwarfism and/or gigantism?
You might expect some answers to these baffling questions once you open the box, but no: the oddness just intensifies. There is, in fact, a pinhead on the house shaped game board, and he is "hiding" out in the open, in the middle of what appears to be a hallway. So...not hiding, then. I mean, wouldn't it have been more like hiding if he was tucked away in the attic clutter, or stuck behind one of the basement appliances??
Remco games were notable for: 1. being strange, and 2. having unusual methods of rolling the dice. Remco's "Tumblebum Dice Games" included an hourglass shaped device with dice inside. Tipping the device over essentially rolled the dice. Pinhead features a different mechanism: a dice box, in which the dice are shaken while the lid is closed. These elaborate dice rolling devices seem to have been Remco's attempt to enliven games that were otherwise rather simple, straightforward "tracks", wherein players simply moved their markers along a course. Remco games are relatively scarce, and strange though they may be, are worth snapping up when found.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Teddy Bear Buddies
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Antique Show Report: Tons of Tiny Treasures
The first antique show of the season arrived this past weekend with the stormy spring weather. I gathered up my pocket change and went to see what treasures I could find. My budget was very limited this time, due to an upcoming vacation, so I tried to look only at very small things. Fortunately, there were a lot of very small things! I found:
Some antique dollhouse "tobacco felt" rugs. These 5 inch rugs were given away as premiums with cigarettes and cigars in the early 1900s. In the same booth, I also got a nice old dollhouse plate rack, complete with its plates.
Next, I got a bunch of dollhouse grocery items, all made of wood with paper labels. The largest can is 1 1/4 inches tall, and they all date from the 1920s-30s.
Pigs in Clover, an absolutely impossible hand-held dexterity puzzle from the 1950s, was next:
And my favorite find of all was a little vintage 1960s troll, 3 1/2 inches high, wearing his original outfit and shoes, with very unusual rooted, variegated hair:
Some antique dollhouse "tobacco felt" rugs. These 5 inch rugs were given away as premiums with cigarettes and cigars in the early 1900s. In the same booth, I also got a nice old dollhouse plate rack, complete with its plates.
Next, I got a bunch of dollhouse grocery items, all made of wood with paper labels. The largest can is 1 1/4 inches tall, and they all date from the 1920s-30s.
Pigs in Clover, an absolutely impossible hand-held dexterity puzzle from the 1950s, was next:
And my favorite find of all was a little vintage 1960s troll, 3 1/2 inches high, wearing his original outfit and shoes, with very unusual rooted, variegated hair:
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