Gnome Bowling Game

Vintage games are some of my favorite toys to collect. This one, circa the 1950s, features a 16 inch wide tin litho playing board with wooden balls. The object is to roll the balls into the corresponding colored cups. (It is much harder than it looks!) Delightful little gnomes point the way to high scores.

The little gnomes are adorable:

It's Only a Paper Moon Postcard

Old postcards and photographs comprise some of the Other Stuff I collect besides toys. This is a real photo postcard from 1912, sent by a woman named Fannie to her younger sister on September 5. It's one of a type known as "Paper Moon Photo Postcards." These were real photos taken of people using a paper moon backdrop, usually done at fairs or carnivals and sold as souvenirs.

Some fabulous examples of paper moon postcards as well as the lyrics and music to the contemporary song, "It's Only a Paper Moon," can be found at the Daily Postcard site, here.

For some reason, the sender felt it was important to write this woman's weight across the top of the card: 158 1/2 pounds. At least, I'm assuming that's her weight, and not that of her little dog.

Antique Cracker Jack Prizes

At a recent antique show, one of the dealers had a little box full of tiny charms and Cracker Jack prizes dating from the late 1900s through the early 1930s. I selected several, including a teeny tiny cup and saucer, a wee little frozen charlotte doll, a miniature horse pulling a wagon, and a little figure of a comical photographer. Whenever I find things like this, I'm always amazed at their survival. Imagine how many similar items were lost over the past 100 years to vacuums or cracks in the floorboards!

The tiny cup is just .5 inches across, and the doll is 1 inch tall.

This funny photographer was my favorite prize in the bunch.

A little soldier on horseback still retained some of his original color.

Torpeauto Tin Toy Car

I found this funny little toy car at an antique show recently, still with its original box. The 3.5 inch long car is made of pressed tin and has a friction motor. When you push down on the little driver's head and then let go, the car zips away. It was made in Hungary and came in lots of different paint designs, but always with the same goofy little driver.

Close up of the driver, with his handlebar mustache.

The Torpeauto box.

How to make it go.

Benjamin Blue

Benjamin Blue is a wee little 4 inch ted made by one of my favorite artists, Peng Peng. She even made his teeny tiny outfit and dashing red scarf!

BB is so small, he can fit in the palm of your hand or slip easily into a pocket. I frequently sneak him with me into meetings that way, as it's just comforting having him along.