| Author |
Message |
    
Ellen
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2003 - 03:37 pm: | |
OK. As some of you know I love going to strange towns and cities to check out the various local weird things for sale at yardsales, antique stores, and fleamarkets.
I've gotten some terrific stuff at them. Today, Joan Gordon and I went to the 25th and 26th street outdoor fleamarkets in NYC and we had a ball. The weather was sunny and chilly but perfect for strolling and hunting. I've never gone with Joan before but we are perfect companions for this sort of shopping as we're looking for different things, and we take the same approximate amount of time to search for them.
So, today I found a one inch tall metallic head of Lenin and a small (an inch or so long) brass lizard at a Russian booth, a very odd doll with a chicken head and pearls around her neck, carrying a purse, and a decent, cheap (I bargained from $10 to $3 for a doll's head. Oh yeah, and an Andrew Marc possum vest to replace the wonderful rabbit one I had for years that finally wore out.
I know there are other shoppers out there and here on the BBs --Leslie What, for example. And I've gone many times with Jack Womack and Liz Hand and tortured poor Lucius once. |
Lucius
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2003 - 03:57 pm: | |
"we take the same approximate time to search for them...."
Like, you mean, forever?
From what I understand, Ellen, that may be Lenin's actual head.
|
Ellen
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2003 - 04:17 pm: | |
Ha ha !! Actually, I know you'd never believe it, but I'm a quick shopper. It takes very little time to know if a store/booth/garage/yard, whatever will have something I might like.
It's very shrunken--I'd hate to think so (LOL).
Btw, did you try calling me several hours ago?
The phone rang just I was answering the door and I couldn't get to it (phone) in time. |
lucius
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2003 - 05:00 pm: | |
Quick, huh?
Everything is relative, I guess...
Here's my Ellen Datlow contest question:
Ellen is a quick shopper compared to:
1) The Ice Age
2) Kali Yuga
3) the half life of cobalt 90
4) none of the above
Wasn't me who called. Been working steady all day.
take care,
Lucius |
Ellen
| | Posted on Sunday, April 06, 2003 - 05:53 pm: | |
Who or what is Kali Yuga?
It's supposed to snow heavily here tomorrow!! And leave maybe 4 inches. What happened to spring? It came and went. Usually it comes for a few days then goes right into summer. |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 06:09 am: | |
Gee Ellen, I used to sell at that very flea market. Are you really the kind of buyer who forces a poor,hardworking, honest outdoor antique dealer down from $10 to $3? How much
was the doll with the chicken's head (sounds great)? |
Ellen
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 07:30 am: | |
Of course I am! That's part of the hunt. To get what you want--cheap--guess who got the price down on Jack Womack's Roman the stuffed dog (a photo of whom is on my website somewhere)? We bought that at the free flea market that is now a block of condos, on 25th street.
The doll with the chicken head was another one that I think went from $10 to about half that (or less--I can't keep track:-))
If I remember, I'll bring her to the next KGB so you can se her. I just realized that her little cap matches her purse. Someone took a lot of trouble to make her. |
Robert Wexler
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 07:51 am: | |
Have you ever been to the Grand Street market? At Grand and Broadway. It's best on Sundays (Saturdays they only get half the parking lot). And it's free.
Robert |
Jack Haringa
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 03:34 pm: | |
I remember the heyday of yard-sailing, when people lived on multi-acre lots and the country was a more innocent, trusting place. Clever sportsmen would only need fear an unfriendly dog or the occasional cantankerous farmer with a shotgun full of salt. And even the crankiest ones would only take aim at your sail, knowing the cost of masts and hulls and never daring to send you spilling across their lawns with a shattered rudder.
As a child the snap of canvas would often draw me to my window on summer's Saturday morning to admire a regatta of yard-sailors parting the amber waves of the wheat field out back, a sussurus of heavy stalks snapping upright in their wake. The more serious hobbyists in our town would decorate their sheets with imaginary numbers in tinsel and crepe and name their skiffs from the pages of a tattered medieval bestiary on display in the public library next to the fire station. Mr. Gerrick, the fire chief, only took The Salamander across the yards of Main Street on public holidays, but his son sometimes snuck it out in the July moonlight to impress the girls.
We moved to the city before I ever got to yard-sail on my own, but by the time I was old enough the lots were getting smaller and the neighbors more distant anyway. I always wondered though, after the horror of the crash of The Alerion, if my father would have allowed me to yard-sail at all.
~Jack~ |
Jack Haringa
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 03:37 pm: | |
Oh, wait, yard-saling? Yes, lots of that 'round here, and flea-markets, too--most of which are free. Curiously, in Japan, "flea market" is often spelled "free market", though they rarely are.
Please disregard the previous message. Homophones are not my friends.
~Jack~ |
Gwenda Bond
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 04:14 pm: | |
Hey Ellen,
Sounds like great shopping.
I found a 50 cent comic book over the weekend at a book rummage sale called "The Trouble With Girls." Sadly, I could only get part 3 of 3, but at least the lucky recipient will not have to worry how the story ends. (There's a mini "I (heart) Lucy" comic in the middle of the book, but it has big monster fighting on the front. Wonderful.)
There is a cigar shop with lots of stuff that doesn't look very much like cigars not far from our house that we haven't been to yet. I will report back.
And, btw, we bought a present for you the other day--bargain-shopping related even.
I remember the shops of Asheville. That was a good day. Happy sigh. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 04:16 pm: | |
Robert,
I haven't been to the one on Grand street for a long time--I hadn't even realized it was still there. I'll check it out this spring/summer.
Also, I like the one in the schoolyard Sundays on Columbus Avenue and 80th street or so (kitty corner from the Museum of Natural History). The outside market is mostly new things but inside the school there are often some interesting things. |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Monday, April 07, 2003 - 05:26 pm: | |
Ellen
Because the Sixth Avenue Market is slowly being shut down by development, Alan Boss, the guy who runs most of lots, was supposed to open
a market on Eighth Avenue and 39th Street this
last weekend. Have heard nothing about how
that turned out. Have you?
|
Marianne Jablon
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 06:38 am: | |
Ellen,
Jonathan (Strahan) thinks it's all a bunch o' junk, but he knows my penchant for flea markets so he told me about this thread. If you ever come to Perth again I'd be happy to take you around the swap marts here.
I love weird stuff too, but what do you do with it all? |
John Klima
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 06:41 am: | |
On the way to the Boston area from here, there is EAT BOOK, a diner/bookstores/thrift store just at the border of CT and MA. You get a free book with your meal. Sometimes you can even find a book worth taking. The bookstore itself is decent and the thrift store has interesting things.
JK |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 07:53 am: | |
Rick,
I'm not familiar with that one--I'll certainly check it out if it's there... Or you first :-) and report back.
Hi Marianne,
I try to get relatively small things as my apartment is rather small and filled (with too many books). I'll take you up on the swap mart--I do plan to come to Australia again once I either save up enough frequent flyer mileage to get there or am invited by a convention, which pays my way (or part of it).
John,
I go there with Gordon and whoever else is in the car coming back from Readercon every year. I've never found a free book worth taking there. I've found the "antique/vintage store" across the way interesting on occasion. I think I bought a good doll there a few years ago. I don't think much of their bookstore downstairs but hey, it's always worth at least a look.
Ellen |
Marianne Jablon
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 08:43 am: | |
Also, Ellen, just wondering what you consider a good doll. And what kind of doll's head you bought. Are these antique porcelain types, or other? I tend to look for popular vinyl dolls from the '60s and '70s -- Barbie, Tammy, Sindy, Blythe, etc. |
LeslieWhat
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 02:51 pm: | |
This is sort of off-topic but yesterday I was doing my thrift store run and the clerk had an arthritic finger joint and was in terrible pain each time she hit the cash register. I wanted to help so I searched around and found a vintage bakelite shoehorn and some padded wrist bands and applied a perfectly fitting and comfy splint that cost 78 cents (my treat).
|
Keith Ferrell
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 02:57 pm: | |
Years and years ago, a decade and a half or so before I came to OMNI and Ellen taught me how to shop, my wife had a serious hospitalization (without benefit of health insurance: a trend I've not yet outgrown.)
But I sucked it up, accepted my responsibilities, and prepared in my mid-twenties to cover the bill with a yard sale at which I would dispose of 15 years of collecting of sf, horror, mysteries, etc. About four thousand books and magazines spanning much of the century. Placed ads in the Greensboro paper, put signs on telephone poles, crossed my fingers for good weather, set up tables, the whole bit.
Came the beautiful Saturday morning and our front yard became the Strand.
Must have had ninety people stop during the course of the day and all but three of them said the same thing: "Don't you have anything but books?
The other three said: "Ain't you got nothin but books?"
Nobody bought anything. Not for nothing had I missed the lesson that most yard sales have half a dozen books to a dozen books, generally under a table in a battered cardboard box. Generally the same half dozen to dozen titles. Not counting Reader's Digest Condensed.
I ended up dumping much of the collection to a local fan for a dime apiece, and writing a porno novel in 34 hours to help cover the bills.
Someday, though, that porno novel will be worth real money.
But not at yard sales.
Keith
PS -- The answer to Lucius's contest question is 2) Kali Yuga |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 03:23 pm: | |
Marianne,
You can see some of my dollheads and my voodoo doll collection at my website
http://www.datlow.com/gallery/dolls/photos01.html
I have two three-faced dolls right now --one I just picked up in Florida--but my mother is making a dress for her. The other one is on the page above.
Some of the doll heads a bodies are plastic, rubber, compositie, porcelain. I really like the ceramic (I think that's what they're made of) ones.
The voodoo dolls are at:
http://www.datlow.com/gallery/voodoo/photos01.html
I'll have to photograph some more of the newer ones (including the chicken-headed lady I just bought.
Leslie to the rescue!!!
Poor Keith. Sad tale that no one wanted books --of course, I'm always looking for book treasures. My best buy was paying 50 cents at a street fair for a signed copy of the nf book called <i>Monster Midway</> by William Lindsay Gresham, the author Nightmare Alley. He was the first husband of the woman who married... was it C.S. Lewis? (the book and movie Shadowland was about them--she died). |
Keith Ferrell
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 04:43 pm: | |
Ellen --
My best was a copy of the Regency edition of Harlan's Memos From Purgatory for a nickel (!!) in the back of a backwoods service station.
Good condition, too.
Keith |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 05:07 pm: | |
Good for you Keith!
I've acquired a large post-civil war photograph of veterans in uniform for about $25 in Maine at a yard sale. Liz Hand and I check out the weekend paper for the best garage and yard sales and the best route to each one. We get up very early to be out there by 9am and drive from one to the other.
Oh yeah, in Connecticut a couple of years ago my friend Helen and I went out yard-saling and we found a bunch of bakelite make-up trays and a couple of little boxes for a song (they were so cheap I bought them all and gave most of them away as gifts).
|
liz hand
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 05:07 pm: | |
My best was the brand-new electric stove to replace the one at Tooley Cottage that went bust -- remember that, Ellen? I found it at the Swap Shop at the dump, for free, and a nice German man helped me get it into the back of the Volvo. Our entire house is furnished with wonderful stuff from the dump.
It's the beginning of yard sale season here in Maine. John & I went to the Episcopal Church Rummage Sale -- the start of the season -- but didn't find anything. But Saturday is only a few days off...
We've eaten at that EAT BOOK place, too. Not bad food and entertaining at least for the diners. I got a copy (not a first) of Woody Allen's WITHOUT FEATHERS, now in the bathroom.
I have recurring dreams of tag sales where I find beautiful, strange objects that are nearly always snatched from my hands by dealers. Sort of like that scene in ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS where she visits the sheep's shop and wants to buy an egg, but it keeps floating away. |
Marianne Jablon
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 10:44 pm: | |
Wow, I thought the doll heads were spooky till I saw the voodoo dolls. They're amazing. |
lucius
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 06:28 am: | |
I have a collection of bakelite make-up trays that I prize above all else! And dolls, too...so many! All of them with editor's faces!
 |
Ellen
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 08:01 am: | |
LOL-- And what do you do with those dolls, Lucius, hmmm?
The interesting thing about the voodoo dolls is that every year I'd go back to New Orleans I'd notice that there were different styles being made. I haven't been there for about 10 years and would love to see what the voodoo dolls look like now.
Yes, Liz, I remember the old stove--and I love going to the swap shop--although I've never found anything all that interesting there. I guess you've got to be a regular :-)
|
LeslieWhat
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 10:48 am: | |
I rarely see doll parts around here and suspect there are collectors who snatch them up before I have the chance to look at them. My best thrift store buy was probably that Civil War Union Case. Made several hundred dollars. Got to learn about Union Cases. Got story ideas. Sold one of those stories to Sci Fiction.
My fave yard sale buy was Skippy, our bearskin rug. He cost $15.00 and Nina and I used him for photo ops at conventions. After a coupld of years, when his knuckles disintegrated, I traded him to a native storyteller who needed bear claws but no knuckles.
The bad part about ebaying is that now I hardly ever buy anything for keeps. It's all negotiable. Also, my house is looking junkyardatetic. |
Richard Parks
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 11:20 am: | |
My best junkstore buy was a Hiroshi Yoshida woodblock print for 15 bucks. At the time I didn't even know what it was; I just liked the picture. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 07:52 pm: | |
Richard,
Very nice --I'm impressed.
You gotta love the stuff you're buying or there's no point. You can't buy "as an investment" unless you really know what you're doing. |
LeslieWhat
| | Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 12:14 pm: | |
I keep watching the looting in Bahgdad and thinking it is an Ebay vendor's paradise. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 02:45 pm: | |
You bad! Leslie :-) |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 06:39 pm: | |
Yes! Look for plenty of Saddamiana up on
the 'Bay in the next couple of weeks.
What catagory would you put it in? |
Ellen
| | Posted on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 08:53 pm: | |
Former Dictators?
Saddamiana sounds good :-)
Souvenirs from Iraq? |
HeyTrey
| | Posted on Friday, April 11, 2003 - 09:24 am: | |
EBay was the first thing that came to mind when I heard about the Iraqi war criminal playing cards during the Centcom briefing this morning. |
LeslieWhat
| | Posted on Friday, April 11, 2003 - 10:45 am: | |
Saddamania would be a good story title, too. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Friday, April 11, 2003 - 12:20 pm: | |
I'd love a set of those playing cards.
I have some trading card sets that came out a few years ago--they were very popular. I have one on serial killers, and I think one set of famous dictators. |
ben peek
| | Posted on Friday, April 11, 2003 - 05:34 pm: | |
a friend of mine has a pocket watch with saddam's face on it. got it from iraq, apparently. it's a freaky little thing, but i wanted one. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Friday, April 11, 2003 - 05:42 pm: | |
Well, you may find it on ebay, Ben. Although pretty expensive, I'll wager. :-)
Where did your friend get it? |
ben peek
| | Posted on Saturday, April 12, 2003 - 09:45 pm: | |
i'm thinking i'll be able to buy some presidential furniture off ebay soon enough. i'd like one of those chandaliers that i saw some fellow driving away with four.
anyhow, my friend got her saddam watch from a stall in iraq, i believe. apparently they were a big tourist thing. |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2003 - 05:26 pm: | |
Today, somebody showed me a Saddam Pez dispenser. Quite obviously a forgery/conversion. I think whoever did it had doctored a Speedy Gonzales. Still, a nice thought. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2003 - 05:35 pm: | |
Now that's imaginative. If I didn't know better I'd say Leslie What did it :-) |
LeslieWhat
| | Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2003 - 09:54 pm: | |
I don't do Pez Fantasy after that unfortunate oven bake clay incident with Yoda.
|
Ellen
| | Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2003 - 10:08 pm: | |
LOL. Hmm Leslie. I hadn't heard about that.
My little chicken-headed doll (who I WILL photograph for my website presently) sits on my so-called "desk" as I work.
|
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2003 - 11:39 pm: | |
Is Saddam already a fantasy figure?
also:
Are you bringing the chicken-headed doll
to KGB?
|
Luís Rodrigues
| | Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2003 - 11:57 pm: | |
Yes, please! I'm intrigued by your chicken-headed doll and would very much like to see that photo.
The world has gone so mad, I'm surprised there isn't a Saddam action figure already! . . . Saddam Hussein [TM] has to come with his Super Weapons of Mass Destruction [TM], though. Don't forget Leader of the Free World President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld (includes Shock & Awe [TM] gun), the bionic Dick Cheney, etc. The Iraqi Minister of Information you cannot miss -- pull the string and he says "There are no Americans in Iraq, never!"
Buy now, for only $49.95 each or three months in prison.
Best,
Luís |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2003 - 01:03 am: | |
I would want to own all of those, even without the threat of jail.
Ellen, the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market doesn't open until next month. It was in the Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/14/nyregion/14FLEA.html |
Ellen
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2003 - 07:52 am: | |
Rick,
I'll bring my chicken-headed doll with me if I remember and yes Luis I'll definitely put her photo up when I have a chance.
Oh cool. I'll check out the article. Thanks.
|
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2003 - 08:44 am: | |
In the article they wonder who the original "Paddy" in "Paddy's Market"
was. The neighborhood was in those days an Irih slum. The term "Paddy" was a fighting
word/racial slur (It survives in 'Paddy Wagon' was a term for the police vehicle that would
take the Irish off to jail). It's nice to see that words like that can die out to the extent that people really don't know them at all. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Monday, April 14, 2003 - 11:44 am: | |
That's fascinating Rick. You're right.
There are other expressions that are used entirely innocently that might still offensive to those they're used on.
A few examples:
When I started college, back in 1967, one of the guys in the crowd I hung around with was called Guinea. ("Ginny" with a hard "g" as far as I was concerned since I never saw it written). It was a while before I realized that it was "Guinea" and that it was a slur on Italians. I have no idea how he (his real name was Frank) felt about it but I've always felt a little guilty for not knowing at the time what it meant.
In 1971 traveling in Europe, I became friendly with a guy from California and we were talking one day and he used the expression "jew him down." My first reaction (and in fact, I think it was the first time I'd even heard the expression but instinctively realized it was a slur)was "don't you EVER use that expression in front of me again. He was shocked that it was a slur.
Another weird example that I've told a few times is that down in New Orleans I used to hit the eateries in the French quarter and with Pat Cadigan and Melinda Snodgrass would consume oysters until we couldn't stand any more. So here we are in the mid-afternoon sitting the three of us (no one else in there) at the oyster bar and the African-American oyster shucker is asking what he can do for us. I immediately quip "keep shucking" and he had this second of reaction until he realized I meant nothing by it and I simultaneously realized that for that second he thought I was being racist. That the expression "shuck and jive" came from the innocent act of shucking oysters (or corn)and was corrupted so that it evolved into becoming an insult. |
Lou Antonelli - East Texas, USA
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 06:49 am: | |
Back in 1985, I used the word "niggardly" with an employee at the newspaper where I worked here in Texas. She complained to the boss that I had called her a name (she was white, BTW). That's the last time I used that word.
Willliam F. Buckley maybe can still use the word in National Review, or it may appear in similar erudite publications, but it's dead in everyday speech now.
Soon after I got married, my wife was sitting at the kitchen table and started bouncing around; one of the legs on her chair seemed to be a little short and the chair was unstable. She said, "I'm having trouble here, my chair's a little wop-sided."
I know as a fifth generation Texas she didn't know what wop meant, but I asked her never to use the term again. She understood.
"Wop-sided" as opposed to "lop-sided" must be some kind of regional variation. |
JeremyT
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 09:25 am: | |
When I was doing my study-abroad program in Kenya, I got suckered pretty bad on a little wooden flute. Remarking to a fellow student, I said "Man, I got gypped." She flew off the handle at me, and I had no idea why. In retrospect, it makes sense that it's a slur against gypsies, but growing up in Kansas, I'd never even seen a gypsy, let alone make the connection. I'm terrifed to use the phrase "ripped off" just in case there's some ethnicity known as Rippas or something...
|
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 09:53 am: | |
I was criticized for using the word "gypped" once.
That one seems to have become common usage without most people having any idea where it came from and I suspect there aren't enough gypsies around to make too much of a stink. |
Lou Antonelli - East Texas, USA
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 12:22 pm: | |
Yeah, you can't use the term "pissed off" without getting in trouble with the Pishaswego indian tribe in Wisconsin. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 01:08 pm: | |
LOL |
Lou Antonelli - East Texas, USA
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 05:31 pm: | |
Actually, I just made that up, but it sounds suitably PC, I guess.
Here in East Texas, PC stands for "Possum Cakes", as in "Ah'll hav sum PC with ma grits and pig scrapin's (bacon)." |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 08:06 pm: | |
Lou, I figured you had. So how are Possum cakes?
I've been eating turkey sausage from the local greenmarket and it tastes the same as pig sausage.
No one's offered possum yet. |
Lou Antonelli - East Texas, USA
| | Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 10:14 pm: | |
Possum cakes are tasty served with fricassed jackalope on the side. Down at the Cedar Creek Cafe, TB (Texas Bigfoot) is the night cook. Looks like a normal bigfoot but he has a long beard like those guys in ZZ Top (distant cousins, I hear). I just stopped by to pick up a coffee and saw Elvis, Bubba Ho-Tep and Jack Daniels playing dominoes in the corner. We howdied all around. |
JeremyT
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 05:57 am: | |
Don't Texans refer to their bigfoot as "Skunk Ape?" Or is that somewhere else? Because I don't believe I'd want my PCs and grits cooked by the skunk ape. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 10:16 pm: | |
So Rick Bowes saw the chicken headed doll tonight. Rick? Do you want to report on her?
I downloaded the digital photos I took of her in my apt and they came out much better than when we looked at them through the camera at KGB tonight. |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 05:46 am: | |
Yes. The chicken headed doll was indeed remarkable. Beautifully made. Clothing quite elaborate and created for the doll. Chicken head nicely designed. Some things are kind of disturbing. The figure wears a small mojo bag. And what seem at first to be shells on the shoulders are, on closer inspection, human finger nails. Don't be surprised if there are accounts of more people than usual running around like headless chiekens at the Nebula ceremonies this weekend. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 07:01 am: | |
See Rick? You see mojo bag, I see big purse --and it goes with her hat.
I'll be putting her up on my website's gallery when I get back from the weekend (well, when my webmaster gets to it). |
Luís Rodrigues
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 07:05 am: | |
You big teases. Can't wait to see that photo.
Have fun at the Nebulas!
Cheers, Luís |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 08:53 am: | |
Ellen
I didn't say it wasn't a fashion-conscious chicken-headed doll. Just that it was a
tiny tad 'unusual'.
Rick |
Luís Rodrigues
| | Posted on Saturday, April 26, 2003 - 11:17 pm: | |
Quoth Rick Bowes: "I would want to own all of those, even without the threat of jail."
Well, Rick, you can start buying:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/18/offbeat.iraq.dolls.reut/index.html
Best,
Luís |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 01:06 pm: | |
Went up to the 39th Street Flea Market, the 'New Paddy's Market'. What a bust! A lot of the same artsy-craftsy stuff one can find at any Manhattan street fair. No stalls crammed with frightening/ facinating stuff from the past as in a flea market. Almost no booths selling delightful, unhealthy ethnic food as in a street fair. Not even any worthwhile cruising. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Sunday, May 04, 2003 - 04:53 pm: | |
Oh no! I was going to check it out next Sunday. Maybe it'll get better. One can only hope.
I'm also hoping my webmaster will update my doll photos. He has added three NYC photos (one by me, the others old and by unknown photographers). Since they're digitals of photographs they aren't great. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - 07:46 am: | |
Just got back from Kansas City. I did get one of the concom to drive me around antiquing. Unfortunately, most of the shops were closed Sundays and Mondays (which seems a little weird considering Sunday would seem to be THE shopping day--I guess not in Kansas).
Anyway, we did find a Japanese shop that was going out of business, where I bought a couple of small colorful woodcuts-I know nothing about them other than that I like how they look. I'm giving one as a birthday gift to a friend and the other I'll keep. Next time Eileen Gunn's around she might be able to tell me something about it.
I also bought a pair of Nippon salt shakers for my mom's birthday.
We did find a flea market open and I bought an old mickey mouse doll head (rubber) and another three faced doll--this one a little eskimo girl in rubber.
Next time I'm in KC I'll have to go around during the week or on a Saturday. It's definitely got potential.
|
Lou Antonelli -East Texas, USA
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - 03:42 pm: | |
Some day you need to go antiquing on the back roads of Texas. You'd be amazed at the stuff that washes up into the backwaters of East Texas. Just recently someone told me they found a gas Dearborn-type heater in a man's barn. It was a very nice model, though, and covered in ceramic tiles - which all happened to have nice big fat swastikas on them.
The person who found the heater asked where it came from. Seems the father of the present owner stole it from the den of Hitler's bunker in Berlin during World War II. How he got it back to Texas, nobody knows.... |
Luís Rodrigues
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - 08:04 pm: | |
I'm reminded: how much more will we have to wait before we see photos of the famous chicken-headed doll? At least I can't see any in the doll galleries (though they're all very cool/creepy!)
I may have developed an obsession, sorry.
Best,
Luís |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 - 10:06 pm: | |
Sorry Luis,
It has to wait until my webmaster gets to it--I'll let him know that people are chomping at the bit !!
Lou,
Hmmm. I don't supposed there's any good antiquing near Austin? That's the only place in texas I'll be for awhile.
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Lou Antonelli -East Texas, USA
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2003 - 01:02 am: | |
There is some very good antiquing if you get into some of the smaller towns just west of Austin, the Texas German Hill Country. I know some of the newspaper owners around there. If you want, I can get some recommendations for you - the straight local dope. If you are willing to drive maybe 40 or 60 miles away, you'll really find great stuff. The places in Austin proper are for touristas.
There are some towns where, because of declining populations, estate sales bring really neat stuff on the market. You can find stuff there you'll find no where else in the country - especially if its something that has finally travelled so far from home that no one recognizes it.
I once was asked to identify an antique that someone bought but didn't know what it was. They correctly assumed that because I grew up in New England I might have a clue - and I did. It was a colonial bed warmer. How it ended up in Texas, again, is a mystery, but turned out the thing was worth a fortune. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 28, 2003 - 11:10 am: | |
Sounds fascinating. I doubt I'll have the opportunity this time around though as I don't have the time and don't drive.
Maybe next time I'm in the area. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Thursday, May 29, 2003 - 03:18 pm: | |
Guess, what? The chicken headed doll photos are up on my site in the doll gallery....check em out!! |
Luís Rodrigues
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 12:28 pm: | |
Looks great, better than I imagined it to be!
By the way, I just came across a site with lots of creepy dolls, I think you'll love it:
http://www.bastet2329.com/DOLLGALL1.html
http://www.bastet2329.com/DOLLGALL2.html
http://www.bastet2329.com/DOLLGALL3.html
http://www.bastet2329.com/DOLLGALL4.html |
Luís Rodrigues
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 12:30 pm: | |
Oops, the last three links are wrong. But you can access the pages from the first link. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2003 - 08:09 pm: | |
Lou, thank you for sending me the Austin info. I got it the other day and will bring it with me, just in case I've got time and transportation.
Luis,
I'll check out the doll pages.
My mother reports that she's made an outfit for the three-faced doll I got down in Florida in March. I should be seeing my folks in a couple of weeks so will see what she's done. :-) |
Lou Antonelli -East Texas, USA
| | Posted on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 01:32 pm: | |
You're welcome. I think you might like some of the shops. But like you said, it always a matter of time and opportunity. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Who knows, you might find a Howard Waldrop mask!!! |
Ellen
| | Posted on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 01:51 pm: | |
But but... I already have one and I think one' s enough. |
Rick Bowes
| | Posted on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 02:05 pm: | |
Maybe we could all wear them at Readercon. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Friday, June 13, 2003 - 03:20 pm: | |
Only if you can find one your own in time --also, mine's heavy to carry--even with a ride to Readercon. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 05:59 pm: | |
Having spent almost a week in Maine I've found a few interesting items:
Today we went to Captain Tinkham's in Searsport, one of my favorite stories. It specializes in antique tools. I bought an old voltameter and an amperemeter (whatever the thing is that measures amps), a very odd fork, and a small old box previously used for tools. The best thing about Capt T is that it's cheap and you never know what you'll find.
In Rockland we went to the antique mall and I got a couple of two inch bisque doll/figurines.
Also went to the best consignment shop I've been to--Ravishing Recalls. I always find great stuff there. This time I scored a couple of very interesting little jackets--one tweedy and the other with geometric B&W&red shapes on it, plus a black alpaca sweater. Liz found a nice-looking brown sweater coat.
We went to Wiscassett yesterday specifically to check out an antique store Jim Baker recommended to me but it was closed temporarily. The sign said the owner would be back but not when. We may --if we have time--head back tomorrow. I gather it has interestingly dark things and looking in the window we could see some puppets and masks. |
Nicholas Liu
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - 06:02 am: | |
If I'm not wrong, it's called an ammeter. |
Ellen
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 - 07:09 am: | |
Thank you. I was wondering. I also got a very odd, old looking hammer. I must remember to pack in my luggage or it'll be confiscated from my carry on :-) |
Ellen Datlow
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - 08:27 pm: | |
While in Tempe I went to a few antique malls with Eileen Gunn, Ellen Klages, and my friend Donni (if I remember correctly)--boy how fast that memory goes.
I found a foot high rusted (intentionally) metal teddy bear. When I figure out where to put it I will take a lovely photo of it for the site. |
Libling
| | Posted on Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 08:04 am: | |
Were you bold enough to pack the teddy bear in your carry-on? I might've paid money to see that. |
Ellen Datlow
| | Posted on Thursday, November 11, 2004 - 08:42 am: | |
There was no room for it. I had two cameras (Nikon SLR with zoom lens) and a small digital, plus some breakable native am. pots.
It's also a bit long to fit in there, even without the other stuff.
But don't forget they could have searched my regular luggage because of the big metallic object :-) |
rick bowes
| | Posted on Thursday, August 11, 2005 - 08:37 am: | |
The famed "Dollar Lot" the main lot of the long running Sixth Avenue Flea Market is now shut down and awaiting development. Many of the dealers have moved to 39th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues which is in business every Saturday and Sunday from before dawn until evening. We were there last Sunday and it looked pretty good. |
Ellen Datlow
| | Posted on Monday, August 15, 2005 - 01:03 pm: | |
Oh no!!!! I'm devasted. That was a good one. The one tmie I went to the new 39th street spot it was awful--glad it's getting those dealers. I'll have to start trying it again.
Still in London till tomorrow--went to Covent Garden and Jubilee markets today and found a few nice pieces of antique cutlery and a poison bottle, and a few other odds and ends. |
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