We’ve not had any amusements and oddities from our local auction house for a while, largely because the last few sales haven’t thrown up anything really spectacular. Anyway here are the few highlights(?) of the recent sales. Any childish and inappropriate amusement is, of course, entirely in your brain!
Interesting old ivory including binoculars, a circular box, a bone card case with metal inlay, a desk clock, a glass paperweight, a Wills cigarette tin with a picture of the Queen, etc., and a tin containing miniature Nazi paper flags, etc.
A box of curiosities including a German cut-out 3D ‘theatre’ with actors, in original box, a pair of miniature shoes, an old purse, a chain-mail miser’s purse, two wartime handkerchiefs, a pin doll, an old notebook, military badges, an old lock, cigarette holder, etc., all in a fabric-covered box
Two miniature tortoiseshell guitars, a mandolin and a banjo
A 19th century portrait miniature of a child in a papier mache frame …
I wanted to know what the child was in a papier maché frame!
A vintage hand held fire extinguisher, a small box of vintage medicines in bottles and boxes and a Christmas fairy
Three modern large glass ornaments modelled as horns on metal stands
A replica ancient Greek helmet in steel and brass with black bristle cresting, on stand
A novelty metal garden seat in the form of a nodding dog
A large quantity of assorted fabrics, some on rolls, scraps, throws, cushion covers, needlework items, patterns, buttons, buckles, etc., also a small quantity of ladies accessories including a skin handbag, gloves, etc., two vintage costume dolls and a modern doll, a stuffed cat doorstop, etc.
A child’s rocking chair with stirrups …
An early 20th century instrument, possibly medical, an early photograph of a seated gentleman the frame marked, 58 Strand, a Victorian mahogany box of draughts and two large watermarks one of Darenth Mills Dartford and a portrait of Haile Selassie, etc.
Carved woodpecker inkwell …
A good shelf of African wooden tribal wares including bowls, spears, drums and benches
Which was followed by …
A good lot of wooden African tribal art including carved busts, figurines, bowls, jugs, paddles etc.
A Chinese late Qing Dynasty wood carving of three Buddhistic lions finished in red lacquer, with painted verso, in modern gilt frame, and a pair of native African throwing spears
A Timor horse skull mask incised with geometric decoration
An Eco 4 mobility scooter and battery which can be folded up into a car and transported
Ah yes, the patent folding battery.
Over 600 used golf balls
A decorative modern oil on board, of a Bible clutching a nun
A wooden boxed travelling chess set and board, a New Home sewing machine and two heated servers
A modern gilt framed flower fairies plaque marked spurious Minton on the back
A vintage oak wine barrel, a pair of vintage dog nut crackers and a decorative brass fish
Is cracking a dog’s nuts not classed as cruelty?
Seventeen vintage milk bottles including D Wilson & Sons and Lyndley Dairy, two vintage fire buckets and fire extinguisher, a Gordon wrench set in red metal case and other vintage tools …
Six boxes of terracotta plant pots in various graduating sizes
Yes, they really were used clay flowerpots.
A Celmac new ceramic toilet and seat
A charming Edwardian silver toasting fork with turned wood handle, with silver suspension loop, Sheffield 1908, together with a pair of late Victorian silver-plated and oak salad servers fashioned as gardening implements
More anon …

… from the current edition of The Oldie.

A Dilbert classic which says so much about modern life …

… this hot, sunny, BBQ Saturday.

So at last, here we are at the last of this ninth series of Five Questions.

★★★★★
Question 5: If you had to marry your “significant other” where you met where would the wedding be?
I’m not sure I can answer this question! No, not because I don’t want to but because I really don’t know exactly where (or when) Noreen and I first met.
Certainly it would have been somewhere on the campus of University of East Anglia in Norwich. But precisely where on campus is a mystery.
There is a good chance that we first met in the lounge bar of The Pub (the student bar) in the Student’s Union building, somewhere between Spring 1974 and early 1976. If not there then in the university residences known as Waveney Terrace, in late 1975/early 1976 when Noreen would have been visiting her then boyfriend for the weekend (she was by then working in London).

That’s when and where we first met, so according to the question that’s where any wedding would have to be. At least somewhere on the UEA campus.
After meeting a handful of times, we then more or less lost touch with each other. We didn’t start going out together until we met up again in Autumn 1978, by which time I was also in London. We actually married in September 1979 in Chiswick.
What about you? Do tell where you first met your significant other. It would be really interesting to know if there are any trends. I bet there are!
★★★★★
OK, so that’s the end of this series of Five Questions. I hope you’ve enjoyed it, maybe learnt something (if only about the oddness of my mind) and possibly even had a think yourself.
As before, if I can find enough good questions I may do another series, perhaps later in the year. So if you have a good question, or something you want to ask, then do please get in touch. And yes you can ask literally anything you like!
Meanwhile, in the words of the great Irish comedian, Dave Allen, “May your god go with you”.