Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[KILO NOVEMBER]

I don't know if it's been mentioned before and I'm not going to go over 349 pages to see, but it occurred to me that I haven't seen a paperweight in use in ages. In summer people used to leave windows open for ventilation. Paperweights were often decorative items and people collect them now. I had a relative who used a massive brass artillery shell fuze he'd picked up in WWII to keep papers from flying off his desk.

I have one that belonged to my great-grandfather. It's a round glass thing. Embedded in the middle is an Odd Fellows logo, his name, and a date. My guess is that date is when he joined the lodge. He was a shoemaker. I expect that most of his papers were receipts that got stuck onto one of those spike gizmos.

P I C K E L H A U B E !!!

 

[Trenchfriend]

I have one that belonged to my great-grandfather. It's a round glass thing. Embedded in the middle is an Odd Fellows logo, his name, and a date. My guess is that date is when he joined the lodge. He was a shoemaker. I expect that most of his papers were receipts that got stuck onto one of those spike gizmos.

P I C K E L H A U B E !!!

S T R E I C H H O L Z S C H A C H T E L !! (matchbox)

But matchboxes are still there, as far as I saw last time. At least the basic quality ones. Or the special ones for camping.

 

[Turnip]

What for sure disappeared has been the Swedish Match Monopoly in several countries around the world, in West-Germany in 1983.

 

[tonyb]

On that note …

I can’t recall when I last saw a wall-mounted kitchen match dispenser. The ones in my memory were made of sheet metal and carried advertising. I assume they were distributed free, the refrigerator magnets of their day.

 

[LostInTyme]

With blue-tip matches. You could light them on anything, including your zipper.

 

[Who?]

The Ford Trimotor, chain-drive trucks with solid rubber tires, real steam shovels, ice boxes, and so on.

 

[tonyb]

With blue-tip matches. You could light them on anything, including your zipper.

I recall striking those “strike anywhere” matches on my blue jeans.

I had a Zippo or two, but if they were overfilled the fluid gave me a rash on my right upper thigh, where my front pocket made contact.

Once the disposable Bic lighter became ubiquitous, it was goodbye to matches and Zippos.

I haven’t had regular need for such things since I gave up the smokes, 16-plus years ago.

 

[Brandywine76]

The telegram

Mercury Methialade- I have no idea if I spelled that right. It was an antiseptic that my Mom used to use on particularly bad cuts and such. It stung something awful, but the mercury in it would kill anything. (Probably including me!)

Currently in the medicine chest in my hall closet… I got into it when I was a kid and painted everything that pink/orange color. Nothing takes that stuff out!

 

[Trenchfriend]

The Ford Trimotor

These no-bullshit working horse machines were and still are amazing. Imagine to travel or transport something with travel speed of 185 kpH!
How fast you can have a job done with these machines, if necessary. So great.

 

[LizzieMaine]

On that note …

I can’t recall when I last saw a wall-mounted kitchen match dispenser. The ones in my memory were made of sheet metal and carried advertising. I assume they were distributed free, the refrigerator magnets of their day.

Still have the one that hung in my grandparents' kitchen. They used to light the kerosene stove, I use it to store the matches that I break in half to fix the stripped-out hinge screw holes in the bathroom door.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ice boxes? There was one in my mother's house when we moved in in 1967. It's still in her kitchen today. There's a microwave sitting on top of it, and she uses the compartments to store old bills.

 

[tonyb]

Still have the one that hung in my grandparents' kitchen. They used to light the kerosene stove, I use it to store the matches that I break in half to fix the stripped-out hinge screw holes in the bathroom door.

I’m guessing it either has advertising or it’s decorated with a floral design.

Just a few minutes ago I washed my glass sugar dispenser. They’re easy enough to find online, but you won’t likely find one in a restaurant anymore. Those little paper packets spelled the end of that.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Still have the one that hung in my grandparents' kitchen. They used to light the kerosene stove, I use it to store the matches that I break in half to fix the stripped-out hinge screw holes in the bathroom door.

My wife just did a fix-it job on a bathroom door using toothpicks in a similar manner. Evidently a carpenter friend of mine had given her that tip years ago.

 

[BobHufford]

I’m guessing it either has advertising or it’s decorated with a floral design.

Yes…

 

[LizzieMaine]

MIne's stamped tin with MATCHES in big letters, but there's an embossed floral vine around the edges! They put MATCHES on it so you wouldn't make a mistake and try to clean out your ear with one.

 

[tonyb]

Yes…

View attachment 485155

View attachment 485153

How far back does the Hufford line extend around there?

 

[The one from the North]

Home-made one that came with our 1940's house.

 

[BobHufford]

How far back does the Hufford line extend around there?

Just to my Dad and Grandparents as far as I know. Dad moved here (and brought his parents) from Chicago around 1951. The Hufford Food Market match dispenser was from the (more successful) line of Huffords in Indiana.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Sorry, my loungers, I can't stop this, it's just too good...


Another good german one:

The good old B E H E L F S W E R K Z E U G K A S T E N ! Emergency toolbox

4:54

 

[tonyb]

Ice boxes? There was one in my mother's house when we moved in in 1967. It's still in her kitchen today. There's a microwave sitting on top of it, and she uses the compartments to store old bills.

The Old Man, who went the way of all things in 2015, referred to the refrigerator as “the icebox,” as did his parents and siblings.

He didn’t predate the household electric refrigerator, but his folks did, and I imagine he had some firsthand experience of true iceboxes.