Category Archives: amusements

amusements

Not so much an auction …

… more a way of life!

More amusements from the catalogue of our local auctioneers.

An unusual Walt Disney Mickey Mouse ring, in 10ct gold, dated 24.9.56

A crude porcelain figure of a crouching man with naked bottom …
Just what I need for the mantelpiece!

A shelf of decorative ornaments and toys including … a figure of a lady seated with her dog in a crinoline …
How do you get the dog into the crinoline?

An interesting lot of old tennis rackets with presses, old golf clubs, lacrosse sticks, old radio valves and radios, a garden spray, old light bulbs, a tie press, an early photograph of a rugby team, and two fur coats, one faux

A set of 4 Royal Doulton Brambly Hedge seasons beakers, a set of 4 Royal Doulton Brambly Hedge seasons plates, 5 Royal Doulton Brambly Hedge figures: Primrose Woodmouse, Mr Apple, Poppy Eyebright, Wilfred Toadflax and Mr Saltapple; a Beswick figure of Mrs Rabbit and 3 Royal Doulton Bunnykins figures: Birthday Girl, Emperor and Mermaid Bunnykins
Oh dearie, dearie me!

A biscuit tin full of Robertsons Golliwogs paraded like the terracotta army …
Like one does!

A Victorian Aesthetic Movement brass wall sconce for three lights of leaf shape, applied with a lizard and butterfly
So hold on. You’re telling me that to use this I have to find leaf-shaped bulbs, and then a lizard and a butterfly to be able to fit them? Que?

An impressive radio-controlled liquid fuel model U-Boot Class XXI, with U.2511 transfer, in fibreglass painted grey, 64 ins. long …

A good old stuffed black-throated diver in a glass case
Hmmm …

A Burlington Wade Long John Silver musical Toby jug …

A Royal Copenhagen fawn on a column …
Takes a lot of skill does fawning on a column.

A Coalport neo-rococo milk jug enamelled with flowers and in grey and gold …
OMG!

A mounted fallow deer’s head with tail

A set of three mahogany salon chairs of gondola shape, each with an inlaid floral pattern above a pierced splat, each raised on cabriole legs

A modern cane chair of Sombrero design …

amusements

You're Selling What?

Even our more up-market local-ish auction house have their moments of amusement …

An unusual silver plated four branch epergne on hairy paw feet, lack glass bowls.

Two boxes of early 20th century British made, medical, chemist and surgical instruments, some military, including dental elevators, atropine injection, First Field dressing, various tube and glass ointments, circa 1945, etc.

An unusual yellow metal coiled snake, with blue cabochon eyes and a gold quartz ring.
[A species new to science?]

An early 20th century Chinese embroidered silk rope [sic], cream ground with embroidered floral vase arrangements, blue sleeve and neck trimming.

A ‘Milliners Joy’, German 1870s, tucks combs dressed as Millers … (one lacks right leg), a grotto diorama of small houses, a windmill and farm animals, painted and carved wood, including horses, deer, dog and cat … (loose small parts, windmill needs two blades repaired, sits in old wooden box with no front).
[Yes, it’s a box of toot!]

An old North-West Persian runner, with co-joined complex medallions …
[Pity his cleft stick isn’t included!]

A 19th century Chinese hardwood carving of an athlete with glass eyes.
[How do we know the original athlete model had glass eyes?]

A 19th century unusual brass syringe with ivory nipple.

A modern concrete statue of David (weathered).

And for the pedants amongst you, I spotted “a candelabra” and “a pair of candelabrums“.

amusements, arts, links, medical, science

In Case You Missed …

The usual links to things which have amused me and which you may have missed …

First of all … politics. Never short of an Idiot, and interesting cynical take on James Murdoch vs David Cameron.

And secondly … politics. The politicians are about to remove some of the interest in our lives by having “a bonfire of dead wood statutes” and abolishing some 800 outdated and obsolete laws. Have they really nothing better to do? Oh, sorry, it’s their job to make our lives boring.

So to alleviate that boredom here are a few seriously amazing items …

How long would it take to travel to the moon at the speed of whale? One Minute Physics has the answer.

[Not safe for the faint-hearted!] Turning to biology, entomologists have recently found and described an enormous Warrior Wasp, aka. Waspzilla. Talk about awesome! Yes, I really would love to meet one.

Still on the biological, I discovered The Tiny Aviary, the website of illustrator Diana Sudyka. Gorgeous drawings like the one above.

And finally more stunning art, this time from Dalton Ghetti who carves sculptures in pencil lead. How you even start doing that makes my head hurt!

Enjoy!

amusements, sexuality

Bird Watching : The Tits

Spring is sprung. The birdies are singing. Once again the British birdwatcher can enjoy their pleasure without having their nuts frozen off. So we are starting a new occasional series to introduce those unfamiliar with British birds to species identification in the field. First …

The Tit Family
There are seven (or maybe eight) species of tits seen in Britain (most commonly seen first).

Blue (or Tiny) Tit
 Great Tit
Coal Tit
 Long-Tailed Tit
Marsh or Willow Tit
May be two separate species but impossible to tell apart except hand. Named after the weeping willow tree.
 Crested Tit
Bearded Tit
amusements, food+drink

Pork Pie Conservation

We’ve noticed that recently delicatessens and like establishments are proudly proclaiming availability of “hand-raised pork pies”. Although we’ve not yet definitively identified the establishment promoting this development, the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association are chief suspects. But whoever is responsible we are delighted that there is a movement to conserve the wild pork pie population.

amusements, quotes

Quotes : On Intelligence

Another in our occasional series of apposite aphorisms.

The time it would take a gang of geriatric virgins [the Roman Catholic hierarchy] to understand and define marriage is longer than the projected lifespan of the universe. It would be a shock if they did have anything coherent to say on the subject after only 2000 years of uninformed speculation from their armchairs.
[WoollyMindedLiberal in a comment on Heresy Corner]

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
[F Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up]

There is no such thing as an underestimate of average intelligence.
[Henry Adams]

Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.
[Henrik Tikkanen]

I’m designed intelligently? As far as I can see, I was designed by an idiot. My parts are neither interchangeable nor replaceable. I could use a new ankle right now, and almost everything I do injures my back. Some of my internal organs are useless, and can even kill me. My risk calculation engine is useless. I am afraid to eat beef, but have no problem catapulting myself down tree-lined roads on my motorcycle. My judgement is so bad I can be convinced to send my life savings to a complete stranger with just one phone call. The final stake in the heart of intelligent design is that there are people we might otherwise consider intelligent, who, in the face of all this, maintain we are functioning as intended.
[Eric Dietiker]

amusements, sexuality

A certain truth …

There is indeed a certain amount of truth in today’s XKCD cartoon!


Click the image for a larger version

And here’s an interesting thing. How is it that one can find a stick figure, which is female only from the length of the hair, sexy? I don’t know. None of the other characters in XKCD cartoons do this to me, but that’s how I react to Megan! It is something visual and not related to the language/words. Very weird. Must say something awfully odd/worrying about me. But then you knew I was deranged. 🙁

amusements

What? More?

So our other local auction house has a sale coming up this week. It contains the usual eclectic and eccentric mix of le bon dieu c’est quoi. Here are some of the “highlights”.

A cartoon by Rudolk Pick, signed and dated 98, showing an African gentleman in smart attire and smoking a pipe, riding a zebra alongside a muzzled lion cub, watercolour, framed

A carved bone erotic couple, an erotic bone bottle and a four section bone erotic inro

A paperweight in the form of a flag pole with the Swastika at full mast

A small carton of plated items including a cheese dish with goat finial

An American sterling centrepiece bowl on tall loaded foot, a Greek 925 bowl, and a pair of loaded 925 dwarf candlesticks
[Loaded with 12-bore cartridges, presumably?]

A stuffed snowy owl in a glazed case, and a stuffed grouse
[I never cease to be surprised at the amount of taxidermy that’s around]

Six flying ducks wall plaques and two seagulls, a quantity of character salt and peppers including chickens, mice, farmer, postman, etc., sauce pots …

A pair of impressive decorative ewers, the bowls supported by two cherub figurines, and garlands of flowers

A splendid large Victorian glass dome enclosing a display of stuffed jay and parakeet, with outstretched wings, in grass surroundings

A large Chinese tilework guardian lion with paw on brocade ball

A mixed lot incl. an old Shell petrol can, miniature straw boater, silver banded walking stick …

An unusual mannequin decorated with vintage fabrics, flowers, beads and glitter fairy wings

An attractive French clock garniture in gilt-metal and bronze, of Louis XVI design, the bell-striking movement by Vincenti, with painted enamel dial, in drum case on gazebo support, with two-light candelabra side pieces … c.1900

A bronze figure of Christ crucified by Rossini
[Have we been being mis-sold all these years, or has Herod had a name-change?]

A taxidermy specimen of a red squirrel, with grasses, in glazed case, c.1900
[Yes, and there’s more!]

Two decorative halberds.

The ultimate in ironing boards by Lauraster, the frame combining a constant steam action with integrated iron, including two covers.
[Which sound more like an instrument of torture!]

A carton of good reference books incl. cokkery [sic], gardening …

A rare 1950s orange-painted basketwork globular linen basket, probably by Lloyd Loom, on a metal stand
[Another instrument of torture? Or is it a cat basket?]

And finally …
… an Imari chamber pot …

I think we’re just going to have to go and have a look at this collection!