Thrifting Thursday: Blood Remedy

I've been locked into editing recently, which will be my personal theme for the rest of the month (that, along with sending out poetry and short stories of my own), but I hope to offer some advice and reflections on the process.
I hate referring to anything as "The Process." It sounds mystical and mundane at the same time.

Anyway, today I give you Blood Remedy and other vintage pharmaceuticals.

I actually gave the Blood Remedy to my spouse for Valentine's Day...because it was used for syphilitic conditions, and nothing says "I burn for you" quite like a syphilitic fever.

Don't worry, we're okay...just a little odd.

And the Heart medicine still has a pill in it (look at it, lower, left corner of the bottle)...
Sometimes I hate being curious...

Currently, that single pill is just good for generating story ideas and questions.
Why didn't they take the last one?
Did they die? Did they get better?
Did they misplace it?
Were they reaching for the bottle in their final moments?

That final glass bottle, marked with "The Dill Medicine Co. Norristown, PA," is otherwise unlabeled, but I see that company sold things like "The Balm of Life," opium tinctures, alcohol-based cough syrups and extracts used for cooking.
I have no idea what was in this particular bottle, but I can think about it.

Thrifting Thursday: Cute 1940's Valentine Cards

Well, this has been one of those weeks that has wrenched back and forth between depressing and inspiring. (And I'm glad I don't really have TV or I'd be even more freaked out--I've been listening or watching the news online)

I've seen people passing around pictures of baby hedgehogs or links to EmergencyKitten on Twitter, and I wanted to contribute to the arsenal of adorable. I was trying to pick out some object to feature that would be nice and distracting, but the closest thing I have to baby hedgehogs, kittens, sunshine and unicorns are these 1940's Valentine's Day cards.

I paid $5 for this set. They're mechanical. Not that they're machines, but they have parts that move. They're cute in a way, but they're almost creepy-cute. The three on the right are all in the realm of cute enough, but not creepy.
Also, notice the change in style--
The Jack in the Box card (bottom left) is undated, so ignore that one.
Just my Dish (top left) is 1940
Speed it Up (top center) is 1942
Did You Hear (top right) is 1944
The Sailors (bottom right) is 1945

So, we have pre-Pearl Harbor and 3 months after Pearl Harbor. Not too much going on with them, but notice the two from 1944 and 1945. More patriotic color schemes and themes.
I thought it was neat.
History!!

Have a closer look:
I found this poem amusing, and with the picture and poem combined, this is probably the cutest card of the bunch.The couple on the boat can be moved to rock back and forth, like the boat is rolling through the waves.

This was the creepiest one upon first inspection. I don't know why I think it's the creepiest, probably the face. Like a doll's face... I like the color scheme and the hair, and its arms move. It had a little bit of a sticker stuck to it, so I had to peel it away carefully. It still has some sticker on it, though.

The Jack in the Box card exploits its mechanical feature to make itself even stranger.

It's like clown-level creepy already and then...wink...

Hope you weren't too creeped out by that one.
 One more look at them--

Thrifting Thursday: Decanters

Just a couple of thrift store decanters. The one with the green stopper holds homemade absinthe (it's one step above being rotgut), and the other contains whiskey with dried cherries in it. I think I paid about $5 for both of them. A lot of times when I find decanters at thrift stores the stoppers don't seal, but these two were okay.

Thrifting Thursday: Silverish Things

These are some silver plated (or formerly silver plated) items purchased from a local antique store and flea market. I paid $5 for the salt and pepper shakers, and the tea pot was $16.

The teapot is International Silver Company, and I wish I knew what year it was from. It could use more cleaning.

The salt and pepper shakers are Peerless Silver Company, La France Reg 501. They were made in the USA, but I have no idea what year exactly. I've found that the company was in business from 1936 to 1959. These were filthy when I bought them, but have cleaned up pretty well. The silver plate appears to be flaking away in most places, but I like how dark they look.

Thrifting Thursday: Old Photos (around 1910's)

Here is a set of pictures that I bought at a local antique store. I believe that I paid $6 for the whole lot. In general I think of older photographs as being a life contained in one image. We live in a world of camera phones and instagram. Everything is instant and digital. It's tough to imagine a time when people may have only been photographed a few times in their life, or not at all. Right now I could take a picture of myself with the webcam on my laptop...I could even take a picture of myself with the webcam while taking a picture of myself with my cell phone as well.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

What I found interesting about these two pictures was the differences between their suits and how each young man is posed. Same pose and everything, but the guy on the left has a poorly-fitting suit and his stance is more relaxed. The guy on the right was possibly named John, that's what is written on the back, but there's a question mark next to it and I can't read the last name.

I really liked the image of this girl because she's outside, and it has her name written on the back.

 

Baby pictures. The one on the left has a name and birth date written on the stand, but it also has the date of his death. Don't worry, he lived to be 82, attended college in the 30's and was a successful businessman--I found his obituary online. His picture is also the only one set into a frame, while the others are just glued onto the mounting board.

Thrifting Thursday: Early photo of trans* woman

 See what I did with that ultra clever title? Alliteration... anyway, on Thursdays I plan on posting my thrifting and antiquing finds, or just other things that I may, or may not have, bought.

This is actually an item that I did not purchase because I didn't have $125 to spend at the time (it may still be at the antique store, I don't know since I haven't gone back in the past couple weeks). I still wanted to document that I had seen it, so I took this picture through the case. The photo is labeled as "Early image of man dressed as a woman." Judging by the clothing style I tentatively placed this photo at around 1850 to 1860, but if someone else has a better guess then let me know.

What I found so interesting about this image was the dress, the formal-looking pose and the hair. I've seen antique photos of people cross-dressing before (usually wearing far less clothing and in a brothel-like setting), but not this early and not in a rather boring formal pose.

The mundane nature of this photo fascinates me because, in those vintage porn cross-dressing pictures the focus is on sex and playing around, but this image strikes me as being quite serious.

So, there you are, and I'm going back to writing.