A Brief Primer on Comic Books

"Buying comic books as an investment, Thompson warned, “is not a good idea for the beginner. People who know nothing about the field will get burned.”'

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Python 070 GP 100 Gun Holster

 

Safariland 070 GP100 holster.

Here is part of Safariland's holster story.

"Safariland is by far the most popular holster brand carried by law enforcement.  Nearly 70% of all law enforcement personnel have a Safariland holster.  With so many choices available to law enforcement personnel, there is surely a holster that will fit your needs.
Safariland specializes in duty gear, competition, and concealment holsters.  Their duty gear holsters range from plain leather to basket weave leave to thermal-molded laminate to nylon.  Each style of holster offers level I, II, or III retentions levels."

See the rest here.

1900 Silverplate Elkington Serving Bowl made for Norddeutscher Lloyd Shipping Line

 

This serving bowl is a great piece of history both with regard to silverplate and shipping.

The originators of silver-plating were George and Henry Elkington who began researching how to do it in the early 1800s. They had patented and seen their process of electro-plating brought to perfection by 1840

Elkington & Co. went on the become the premier silverplating company in the world.  You can read more about Elkington here and here.  One of the cool things about Elkington is they developed a unique system of marks which allowed accurate dating of all their stuff.  Here is a great site that has done a lot of work documenting all the marks.  You can see that the bowl I have has a mark from 1900.  As Elkington grew they began making dishes for the cruise lines of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including the White Star Line of Titanic fame.  They also made stuff for Norddeutscher-Lloyd or North German Lloyd line.  This line had a number of ships including the Bremen, and Kaiser Wilhelm II.  You can see a lot of memorabilia for sale here.

This bowl may well have served beans to well healed passengers crossing the Atlantic 100 years ago.

2000 Sugar Bowl National Championship Game Nike Football

So, I found this football a week or two ago.  I have spent literally hours trying to figure out whether it is interesting and worth listing or not.  I would have guessed that some football fan had collected all the BCS bowl game balls or National Championship game balls and would be proudly displaying them on their blog, but perhaps not.  Well, there is one way to find out whether anyone is interested or not.

Metal Yogi Bear Lunch Box and Thermos, 1974

Metal lunch boxes are highly collectible.  Many are in fairly poor condition, and most don't have their thermos's.  Don't just go for the really old ones.  Some of the newer ones can bring a large amount of money.  On the day I bought this Yogi Bear I past up a Masters of the Universe box that would have brought much more than Yogi.... learn or die... the motto of the picker.

Here is a recent Collectors Weekly interview on lunch boxes

Stanley Push Pull No. 7506 Tape Measure, 1935-1948

Stanley has made measuring devices from 1850 through today.

For a comprehensive study of Stanley measuring tapes, see:

"Stanley Tapes Measure the World" parts I, II, III, IV and V by Walter Jacob. 

The paragraph regarding the above measure reads as follows:

"By March 1935 Stanley had introduced the "target" case models-removable blade pull-push rules nos. 7406 and 7506. These rules were both six feet, with the no. 7406 (Figure 1) boasting a chromiumplated case with red and black enamel filled decoration. The no. 7506 had a gun-black steel case with red enamel filled design (Figure 2). They resembled a target, thus the name. Another term often describing these rules is a "bull's eye" rule.

These target tapes, patented by Austin Stowell of Stanley (no. D98,554, Figure 3, and patent no. 2,131,694, Figure 4a and 4b), were close-cased rules. These rules had a hubless design, which had a coiling medium of a double row of protruding spring fingers fitted around the inside of the case, against which the blade coiled. No. 7406 was permanently discontinued on 21 December 1942. Target rule no. 7506 was continued until 1948, when the tape was changed to a vertical read and the enameled decorations were eliminated (Figure 5). The case was redesigned in 1950."