Any Inkling?

I was at an estate sale earlier this summer and saw this sitting on a shelf.

It's ink on paper and sandwiched between a piece of glass and heavy cardboard.  It's held together with a frame of black tape. It only measures approximately 6" by 3.5", but something about it called to me.  Maybe the simplicity of the silhouette rendering, the quaintness of the scene of two children playing with a sailboat in a creek, or maybe the 1931 vintage placing this squarely in the depression.

Given the graceful execution of the drawing, I was a little confused by the askew signature.   Maybe just following the flow of the creek?

I tried to do some research on the artist, but with a name like "Beacon" it's a little hard to separate Google results of paintings of beacons and paintings by Beacon.  More than likely, Beacon is an unknown.  Just someone's relative who had a talent with pen and ink.

How about it all you artist types out there (and you know who you are)? Were pen and ink silhouette drawings popular during this period?  What is this style of art called? And has anyone ever heard of the mysterious Beacon?

A Sight at the Opera

While flipping through some record albums at an estate sale in North St. Louis County this past Friday, I paused when I saw "Bizet Carmen for Orchestra" and a familiar face staring out from its cover.

Sign of the Times

Time was when you didn't have to be a Superman to find a phone booth.  These days even the lowly wall-mounted payphone is becoming a rare sight.  I fought as hard as anyone to avoid getting a cell phone, but finally broke down a few years ago.  Until then, if I received a page while I was out (yes, believe it or not the company I work for still makes us carry pagers), I would have to drive around looking for payphones.  I knew the location of each and every payphone on my way home from work.

I was at the estate sale of a ex-Bell telephone employee and saw this in his basement mounted next to the bar.

I was there on the second day of the sale and it was getting late in the day.  It was marked "Make Offer" so I offered $5 and they accepted it.

It needed to be rewired which I did with a re-purposed extension cord.  I think it looks great mounted over my 1952 Western Electric 354 wall phone.

Friday Slide Blowout

These slides are from the same batch as the previous blog.  No witty remarks, just throwing these out here for your enjoyment.

1963 Ford Thunderbird

Mustang

Beetle

Somewhere out there is a film of this slide being taken...

Clay H. Orrick

Surprise!

GTO

Tiki

Whoa, I'm trippin', man!

Street Smart

This post will probably only be of interest to readers familiar with St. Louis, particularly South St. Louis County where I grew up in the town of Oakville, and it might not even be of interest to them!  So if that doesn't catch your fancy, I'll see you next time.

Are you still there?  Okay.

I bought an old St. Louis street guide at an estate sale last summer (the same sale where I found these).  The guide is undated, but appears to be fairly old.  Looking at the map, the streets are noticeably different from the Oakville I know.  And looking through the street names, many sporting first or last names, I became intrigued as to their source.  (You'll need to right-click, open in new window or tab for better details.)

Sunbeam T-9 Toaster

I've previously mentioned my addiction to chrome toasters.  As I've often said, I've never met a toaster I didn't like.  Usually my wife just rolls her eyes when I come home with yet another.  But this past week while estate saling, she revealed her true self -- an enabler.  We were at an estate sale off of Gravois Road, a very crowded one, I might add.   While squeezing around, I had become separated from her.  Suddenly, she appeared before me holding this.