Show us your most precious vintage item .

[Warbaby]

[QUOTE="Skeet" McD]Just to say something you already know : this is some pretty serious "amateur" art of its period....if it is, in fact, amateur. Professionals, or just quite talented?

Great stuff under any circumstances! Thanks for showing it to us.

"Skeet"[/QUOTE]

Neither were professionals - my grandfather was a reporter all his life and painted purely for his own pleasure (he told me once that he painted because he wanted nice pictures on his walls). He exhibited his work now and then but always marked them NFS. He also made violins - he completed 14, mostly done in the 30s and 40s - with the same attitude. He just made them for himself.

My grandmother did china painting between 1905 and 1920 and, like my grandfather, did it purely to decorate the house with beautiful things.

My grandfather was also a photographer, again non-professionally - and again, his work was nothing to sneeze at. Here's one of his photos of my grandmother:

Needless to say, they are high among my role models. I was very close to them (prolly closer than to my parents) and lived with them off and on when I was a kid. I'm very fortunate to have ended up with most of my grandfather's paintings and a half-dozen of the surviving pieces of my grandmother's china painting.

 

[Michaelshane]

Warbaby.....Wonderful stuff!

 

[PistolPete1969]

My most treasured item is my grandfather's Borsalino. He purchased it in the early 1960's and hardly wore it. Because it is VERY thin felt. it unfortunately tore. I have worn it on numerous occasions myself; its a perfect fit. Being so light, its also a wonderful summer hat.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

So lovely!

So is your new avatar.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

That is a beautiful watch, Marc!


Lee

 

[J.J. Gittes]

Those are REALLY great pieces.

Thanks!

 

[Chas]

My saxophones.

1929 Nickel-plated Conn New Wonder Series Tenor - the "Chu Berry" Model.

My 1932 Conn Series 6M "Naked Lady" Alto.

 

[Chasseur]

My 1940s-50s French shotgun made by a small maker Seytre. Actually, best I can determine it was orginally a barreled action made in Belgium, Seytre finished it in St. Etienne, France and then a rather infamous gunshop in Paris, La Croix sold it under their name.

Here with a vintage box of Manufrance cartridges from the 1950-60s and a classic Opinel knife.

 

[barra063]

This is my most treasured vintage item. It is a Jones harness stitcher and would be well and truly over 100 years old. When I got it, it was covered in gunk and rust. I have restored it and it now forms perfect stitches again. The base is an old singer boot patcher treadle. I use the original Jones treadle with lovely wrought iron scroll work for something else.

Followed closely behind are my saddlers tools. This pic is just a few in the collection. All with dark handles are also over 100 years old. The old guy I bought them from retired at 94 and lived to 106

 

[Fletch]

Not to one-up Chas, but my most precious thing is also a Conn sax.
Behold the vanishingly rare 14M bass sax with range to high F (most stop at Eb).

Any bass sax is rare, but those made after the 1920s especially so. I know of less than a dozen 14Ms worldwide.
Mine is vintage 1940 and still roaring on its original pad job.
To the left is my 1939 10M tenor, since sold. (Don't worry, I have plenty more )

1938 catalog ad

 

[Nick D]

Not to one-up Chas, but my most precious thing is also a Conn sax.
Behold the vanishingly rare 14M bass sax with range to high F (most stop at Eb).

Any bass sax is rare, but those made after the 1920s especially so. I know of less than a dozen 14Ms worldwide.
Mine is vintage 1940 and still roaring on its original pad job.
To the left is my 1939 10M tenor, since sold. (Don't worry, I have plenty more )

1938 catalog ad

That's a lot of saxophone. I remember hearing one of these on the radio, the host said the reed was made out of a 2x4.

 

[Chas]

Not to one-up Chas, but my most precious thing is also a Conn sax.
Behold the vanishingly rare 14M bass sax with range to high F (most stop at Eb).

Any bass sax is rare, but those made after the 1920s especially so. I know of less than a dozen 14Ms worldwide.
Mine is vintage 1940 and still roaring on its original pad job.
To the left is my 1939 10M tenor, since sold. (Don't worry, I have plenty more )

1938 catalog ad

That's a nice horn. I saw a '32 Bari that I lusted after, but it wasn't for sale. Silver plated....uuuughhhhthhhh (Homer Simpson's trademark hunger/lust noise)

 

[NyteFire]

Hello

This is my first post on here, but I wanted to contribute my most precious vintage item:

My 1904 Elgin pocket watch

You can see the gold worn off from the bottom of the watch as it was probably heavily used in the last 100 years.

Sorry for the size of the pictures, but also on a related note, does anyone know where I can get my watch cleaned. Its been running for 10+ years now without being looked at. I know sometime in the 90's or 80's my grandmother had it fixed when she found it, and its been running great since then.

- Joe

 

[Shangas]

15-jewel, 1904 Elgin open-faced pocket watch, full plate movement.

If the watch is used REGULARLY (ie - it's wound up and used on a daily or at least weekly basis), it should be serviced every FIVE YEARS (that's the general rule these days).

I could suggest:

www.pocketwatcher.org or www.pocketwatchsite.com, perhaps they can service your watch for you.

And that is an absolutely charming watch! I love pocket watches...which is why I have two. Only mine are Walthams.

 

[NyteFire]

Its a great watch, keeps perfect time when I wind it. I need to get it looked at then soon because I don't want to damage it. But its in perfect working order. Its an 18 size. So about 1.8" across the face to give an idea of size. Its got a great weight to it too.

Thanks for the info, I'll look into having them clean it for me.

- Joe

15-jewel, 1904 Elgin open-faced pocket watch, full plate movement.

If the watch is used REGULARLY (ie - it's wound up and used on a daily or at least weekly basis), it should be serviced every FIVE YEARS (that's the general rule these days).

I could suggest:

www.pocketwatcher.org or www.pocketwatchsite.com, perhaps they can service your watch for you.

And that is an absolutely charming watch! I love pocket watches...which is why I have two. Only mine are Walthams.

 

[Shangas]

Photos are horribly decieving! Looking at it I thought it was smaller than 18! My two watches are 14 & 16 size.

 

[NyteFire]

Here's another with a bit of perspective, the lighting is bad, but you can see the blue hands in the pic.

- Joe

 

[JennyLou]

Nice saxes Fletch and Chas.

 

[Laura Chase]

This is quite extraordinary, very pictorialism/Alfred Stieglitz, and also right up there in quality and expressivity.