Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[MisterCairo]

The thimble, and soon others, from Monopoly:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/monopoly-thimble-1.3985796

Booo, hisssss....

 

[2jakes]

Probably will be replaced by:

The thimble, and soon others, from Monopoly:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/monopoly-thimble-1.3985796

Booo, hisssss....

If not already, it might be replaced by this and future generations will lament when
that too will have disappeared.....not!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The original thimble had "FOR A GOOD GIRL" embossed on the side. That disappeared by the 1960s. I don't remember anyone actually wanting to be the thimble.

Another "lost" token is the lantern, which was included in the $3 "White Box" Monopoly sets of the 1930s, and is rarely found with the original green celluloid insert intact. It was dropped by the end of the 1940s, and seems to have been completely unmourned.

The earliest Monopoly sets, those sold by Charles B. Darrow before Parker Brothers bought him out, included no tokens at all. The game players were expected to furnish their own from random small objects found around the house, which is the origin of the odd "random" designs of the playing pieces included in the Parker sets. Many old sets are found with old buttons for tokens.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Candle-stick phones.

The old days, when basic daily things were more or less real craftmanship.

Like making copies:
As teacher had to make a whole class-set of copies with these old-fashion manuel copy-devices with crank and these colour-liquids.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The Ditto machine, in other words -- which is what "purple" smells like.

 

[2jakes]

Candle-stick phones.

The old days, when basic daily things were more or less real craftmanship.

Like making copies:
As teacher had to make a whole class-set of copies with these old-fashion manuel copy-devices with crank and these colour-liquids.

Chalkboard in classrooms.

 

[Trenchfriend]

The Ditto machine, in other words -- which is what "purple" smells like.

Ah, right, "spirit-duplicator" is the term, I meaned.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Chalkboard in classrooms.

Right, my time of old-fashion german school from 1991 to 2001.

 

[BlueTrain]

Where I grew up, it was the people on the other side of town that had everyday things made with real craftsmanship. We just had ordinary things that were old when I was born. Old but not antique by any stretch of the imagination. Our floors were covered with roll lineoleum, which I doubt is even available any more.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yup, a lot of our stuff was cheap Sears and Roebuck furniture, mixed in with random items that were new when Grover Cleveland was president. They might be considered "fine antiques" now, but it was just junky old used furniture then.

I don't think I've ever bought a "new" piece of furniture in my life. Why would I when there's so much perfectly usable stuff out there to be scavenged?

 

[tonyb]

Yup, a lot of our stuff was cheap Sears and Roebuck furniture, mixed in with random items that were new when Grover Cleveland was president. They might be considered "fine antiques" now, but it was just junky old used furniture then.

I don't think I've ever bought a "new" piece of furniture in my life. Why would I when there's so much perfectly usable stuff out there to be scavenged?

You all are talking ordinary working class America. It pretty well describes the furnishings in the homes of my people.

I have a fondness for what I call (to the irritation of some people) "junktiques." It might be 20 years old, or it might 120 years old. And the "antique malls" are given over to it almost exclusively these days.

It's the sort of stuff that might have been found in my people's houses, but they would have acquired it as hand-me-downs or found it in the classified ads in the daily paper. Its vintage or provenance, whatever it may have been, might have interested them momentarily, but they wouldn't have paid extra for it.

 

[2jakes]

There's two shops that cater to antiques.
One has original old stuff and the other shop has mostly modern repos (reproductions made overseas).
One thing these "repo" shops have that reminded me of my grandmother was hand-soap.
The soap is not made by large or well known brand companies.
The scent of these soaps reminded me of the times when my grandmother would have a large pot
in the back yard where she made her own soap.
Another thing was my mother would use the material from flour sacks to make dresses for my sisters.

When I read about Lizzie using clothes line to dry her clothes, I recall when not only my folks,
but everyone did this in the neighborhood. I don't see this today in my neighborhood.
Although I still do it sometimes on some jeans.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Everybody in my part of town has a clothesline. It's just the way things are done.

 

[tonyb]

Everybody in my part of town has a clothesline. It's just the way things are done.

There are places where clothesline are prohibited by neighborhood covenants and the like. I made it plain to a real estate agent that we had zero interest in any properties in such neighborhoods.

 

[LizzieMaine]

There are places where clothesline are prohibited by neighborhood covenants and the like. I made it plain to a real estate agent that we had zero interest in any properties in such neighborhoods.

The kind of people who would enact such a covenant are the kind of people I have no interest in living among.

 

[lolly_loisides]

Everybody in my part of town has a clothesline. It's just the way things are done.

Almost every home in Australia has a rotary clothes line (this is my backyard). I don't understand why anyone would turn their nose up at them (apart from snobbery). As my father in law says, "There's nothing shameful about clean clothes"

 

[tonyb]

View attachment 67852
Almost every home in Australia has a rotary clothes line (this is my backyard). I don't understand why anyone would turn their nose down at them (apart from classism). As my father in law says, "There's nothing shameful about clean clothes"

There's a metaphorical expression about "airing one's dirty laundry," the meaning of which is pretty straightforward.

Clothing hanging on the line isn't dirty, but I fear that too many people take it as a sign of poverty rather than thrift. So yeah, classism seems the likeliest culprit.

Clothes dryers are more convenient, and can be had cheaply enough. And many are the not-poor people in this increasingly specialized society who send out their laundry.

Maybe if we found a way of turning line-drying laundry "artisanal" or something, we'd see hipsters and the Whole Foods crowd take it up. Hell, there would be magazines devoted to that very topic. We'd see handcrafted clothespins made from certifiably sustainable materials, with a portion of the proceeds donated to charities.

 

[basbol13]

View attachment 67852
Almost every home in Australia has a rotary clothes line (this is my backyard). I don't understand why anyone would turn their nose up at them (apart from snobbery). As my father in law says, "There's nothing shameful about clean clothes"

All I know is when I was a youngster, when my mom would "do" the laundry and hang the clothes out to dry, when the wind would pick up and being down wind of the clothes line the smell coming off the newly cleaned clothes was indescribable. How can you define the word "clean" it's like trying to define "honor" you can't. The only way to describe it is to take a whiff as they say one whiff is worth a thousand words. Keep using the clothes line.

 

[ChiTownScion]

All I know is when I was a youngster, when my mom would "do" the laundry and hang the clothes out to dry, when the wind would pick up and being down wind of the clothes line the smell coming off the newly cleaned clothes was indescribable. How can you define the word "clean" it's like trying to define "honor" you can't. The only way to describe it is to take a whiff as they say one whiff is worth a thousand words. Keep using the clothes line.

I fondly remember that freshness as well... but pity the poor housewife back in the Era in a place like, say, Altoona, PA: division point on the Pennsylvania Railroad and home of their Juniata Shops, where they manufactured and repaired their steam locomotive fleet and had several roumdhouses, back shops, and large freight classification yards. That bituminous coal created soot and cinders by the ton in that city, and I am certain that hanging out the laundry had to be a nightmare.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

In the mid-50s my father had a Dictaphone Dictabelt Recorder in his office. It recorded on a red plastic belt that was almost rectangular when folded flat. The belt slipped over two fat spindles in the device that spun it as you recorded. It was strictly a business device, with poor sound quality and only a few minutes of recording time. Its advantage besides simplicity was that unlike tape or vinyl, you could just slip the belt off the spindles, put it in an envelope and mail it. Perfect for business purposes. My brother and I had great fun recording obscene messages on it.