Saturday, August 5, 2023

Getting out the box

Our friend from over the Great Dividing Range caught the train to town and we lunched somewhere. He came back to our apartment. He and his brother live together on a a few hectares and his brother is an amatueur junk restorer and seller. His brother's partner is very knowledgeable about 'old stuffs'. Our friend picked up some skills from them and took at look at what we brought out. 

This used to sit on a plate stand somewhere in one of our former homes. It is a rather nice Chinese plate, but not of any real value. Dishwasher unfriendly. 


Four setting or six setting? I can't remember but the Turkish coffee set is complete and undamaged. It is quite lovely and comes with a jug and sugar bowl, but few seem to desire an old Turkish coffee set nowadays. Dishwasher unfriendly. 


In the early 1980s we were good friends with a dyke couple. They lived in a house owned by one of their aunts in St Kilda's then notorious Vale Street. I slept there one night after a serious disagreement with R. He cared enough to track me down. I am not sure he would now. This plate was nicely painted by Jennifer Anderson's mother Vi. I'd like to know what she Jenny is doing and looks like now, but you try and Google a name like hers! The plate is dishwasher unfriendly. 


I can't remember any history to this cat figure but apparently the manufacturer is very well known but the piece is worth nothing. Dishwasher unfriendly. 

The other item is a candle stick holder. It has been used by us during power blackouts a long time ago.  Amazingly as it came out of the box, there was a box of matches sitting in the holder. It is very dishwasher unfriendly and I used to polish it with Brasso. 


I recently commented on Hels blogpost about hoarders. You can read that here. The candle stick holder was an item from the hoarder's possessions.  I just love that there is a box of matches. Can you still buy them like this? Yes! Mother smokes when she is not in hospital and she cannot work these fangled disposable lighters so she still uses matches to light her cigarettes. 

38 comments:

  1. We have rather a lot of those dishwasher unfriendly treasures out and about (and put away) too. I remember cleaning the silver too. At my parents home and my own. No more.

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    1. PS: Himself would lust after your Turkish coffee set.

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    2. EC, cleaning silver was a tiresome and boring job but rather rewarding. I should have added never used by us Turkish coffee set. I am not a believer in not using things but this set is so nice, I would make an exception.

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  2. I have often hankered after a smart coffee pot. Do you use your Turkish beauty?

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    1. We've never used it JayCee. It feels quite delicate.

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  3. No one seems to want the beautiful old china and other dishwasher unfriendly things. I basically gave away so many things from my parents house. I kept as much as I have space and use for. Sad really.

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    1. Pat, when Mother sold her house, we got rid of so much china, all to the charity shops. Most of it was fairly worthless. A few pieces we kept.

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  4. Your Chinese plate is lovely. I also wouldn't machine wash it! In fact if you only have one, I would leave it out as a display item rather than eating off it.

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    1. Hels, it was a display plate for years, maybe two decades. Now it is unloved.

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  5. These treasures are something special. Great collections to research or safekeep.

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    1. Roentare, back in the box and someone else can sort them out after we've gone.

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  6. You must know that I adore these pieces, especially the cat figurine. lol And I like to think that R would not have to track you down these days but would if necessary. Namaste.

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    1. Darla, the cat seems to be well made with a high quality glaze. I should think collectors of cat figures would really like it. He has probably and secretly has installed a tracking app on my phone.

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    2. Tracking is a thing with one of our cars. When I want off his grid out of spite I drive the other. lol Just this morning, my few steps away at a farmers' market left him in a mild panic.

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  7. I started reading Hels post and will go back to it later, I have a sister who is a hoarder. I like your bits and pieces, the cat figurine is nice. The op shops all over Australia are full of dishwasher unfriendly pieces, no one wants to wash things by hand anymore particularly if they are delicate pieces.

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    1. River, washing them occasionally if they are decorative is ok, but for what is used regularly, they need to be dishwasher proof.

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    2. Unless you don't have a dishwasher, as I don't. It's everything in the sink around here.

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  8. Amazing what you find when you bring out a box. Interesting items for sure. Don't care for that cat, it's just not me though I must say I have two pretty frogs climbing the wall that youngest son said, 'you're showing your age mum'...lol

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    1. Margaret, I hope you gave your son a good slapping for his disrespect to his wonderful mother.

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  9. That box of matches looks like the kind they use to sell in smoky nightclubs back in the Rat Pack era. Of course, those places sold cigarettes, too. That's why they were smoky!

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    1. Kirk, smoky nightclubs where your clothes would reek of smoke afterwards. There is a long and proud history to the makers of Redhead matches, and they started rather a number of bushfires.

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  10. If we only ever bought or kept 'practical' pieces, our homes would be very dull. I do agree, though, that regularly used dishes and cups are more usable if dishwasher-friendly.

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    1. JB, I do like the minor quirky home decoration we have. Practical is good, but as you say, a little boring.

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  11. How can a dishwasher be unfriendly? It is just an inanimate machine created to serve us - the masters of The Earth. Even so I always keep my fingers away from the top of the dishwasher door in case it bites me.

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    1. YP, never mind your fingers, keep your crotch away from the dishwasher is the best advice I can offer you. The dishwasher in our Brisbane hotel last year popped open the door upon completion of the cycle right when I was standing in front of it. It could have given me a serious whack and ended my future breeding prospects.

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    2. Cricketers wear protective "boxes". Maybe it's a good idea to don one before getting close to household appliances.

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    3. I did see an internet ad recently for so called boxes to enhance your 'appearance' should you be wearing a close fitting bathing costume.

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    4. Fortunately I have no need for such trickery.

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  12. There are only a couple of things left in our house, that can't be run in the dishwasher. At one time I knew the history behind safety matches and why the striker is on the back side of a cardboard matchbook,

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    1. TP, these boxes have a striker on both sides. You mean those booklet type matches that used to be everywhere I guess. Watching people use them, they seem quite problematic.

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  13. I like the candlestick holder. I've seen a few around in thrift stores, yeah brasso needed to keep them shiney. But still. However I can't light candles here because of their fire hazard with curious cats around. When camping though, the candles come out.

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    1. Strayer, yes, cats tails etc. I see the problem.

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  14. That matchbox cover is great graphic design!

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    1. Steve, this link should take you to a montage of the the different Redhead matchbox designs. I can remember some of them.
      https://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/iconic-australian-brands-taking-something-disposable-and-making-it-collectable/

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    2. That was an interesting little video. I still have boxes of matches here in case visiting smokers have lighters that don't work. Also for burning shredded papers with ID details on them, I used to do this in an old coffee can although haven't burnt anything for quite a while now.

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  15. I belong to a thrifters' group (on line) and virtually every picture is accompanied by "Is this worth anything?"

    I guess that I'm a different kind of thrifter. If I like it, it's worth something. If I don't, it's not worth anything. I'd say, (to me) your stuff has some value. The good news is that I don't have a dishwasher, so your stuffs would be safe with me.

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    1. Debby, we all wonder about the worth of what we think should be worth something. Apart from one item of pottery, what would be worth the most in our place are some coffee table books.

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    2. No dishwasher? I hope you don't force that nice William to washing dishes

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