Unsung

While out estate saling last Friday, I stopped at a sale in Mehlville.  While I was browsing, I heard people talking about the owner of the home being a local coach.  His name was Coach Raymond Cliffe and after doing a little research found he was well known and fondly remembered in the high school level sports scene, having taught over 40 years from 1948 through 1992.  In fact, he was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame.  He was also a locally exhibited artist, helping design the scenery for the first holiday lights show at Tilles Park in Ladue.  The Post-Dispatch wrote a nice article on him when he passed.

But with all due respect, this blog is not about Coach Clifffe.  It's about his wife.

While rummaging through a box of photos and various ephemera, I came across what appeared to be publicity photos for a Miss Shirley White.

Blowing Smoke

I found this toy muzzleloader pistol at a sale a while back.  I bought one just like it from K-Mart when I was about 9 years old.  This was at the height of Bicentennial-mania when everything olde tymey was in style.  My dad had taken up black powder hunting and so I had a fascination with the toy version.  I was surprised to find this in it's original cardboard packaging.

Rockin' the Mid Century

It's been a month since my last post.  Sometimes life is like that.  Sales have been very slow and what sales there have been just didn't work out with my schedule.  But that changed this past Friday.  I was actually off work and my wife and I made a morning of hitting some sales.  The first sale we hit was on Meramec in South City.  We arrived about an hour after opening and I was surprised to see there were very few people there.  Of course, I hit the basement first.  Remember, the good stuff is always in the basement.  I noticed a couple of outdoor rockers in the corner, but after giving a cursory glance, I went on to other things.   It was my wife who brought my attention back to them.  They were clearly mid century, but I was thinking we already had enough porch furniture plus they were marked at $16 each.  She really liked them so I relented and we came home with them.

On the way home, we stopped by TFA on Chippewa and I saw a nearly identical pair set out front.  I asked about them and they were priced at $112.50 each.

Once home, I commenced to cleaning them up.  That's when I noticed the label:

I of course recognized Heywood Wakefield as one of the largest manufacturers of Mid Century Modern furniture during the 1950's and 60's, but I was unfamiliar with the Lloyd branding. 

Marshall Lloyd invented the Lloyd Loom in 1917.  The loom created wicker sheets using kraft paper-wrapped wire which was then used to create furniture.  The furniture was very popular and was used in restaurants, cruise ships and even Zeppelins.  Lloyd Manufacturing was bought out by Hewyood Wakefield in 1921 who used that technology to create their line of wicker furniture.

The chairs are actually very comfortable, contoured just right.  I plan on spending quite a few summer evenings relaxing in them.