Author Topic: Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!  (Read 2360 times)

talesofthesevenseas

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Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!
« on: September 08, 2015, 06:19:47 pm »
Have you ever run across something that is virtually without monetary value and yet it is really cool for some other reason? Maybe a family item? Post your story!

Here is something that I acquired the other day. It is a broken paperweight. What's special about it is it's history. In 1893 William "Buffalo Bill" Cody wanted to participate in the Columbian World Exposition. However the organizers felt that his show was too "wild west" for the Expo. So Cody set up right outside the Expo and sold paperweights made by Abrams Paper Weight Co. They had pictures inside of himself, Annie Oakley and others in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. These bear a patent date of Nov 29, 92. Mine shows Buffalo Bill's Wild West Cowboy Band, which played dramatic music during the Wild West shows. So this had to have been owned by Cody and quite possibly may have passed through his hands outside the Expo. It was dug up by a bottle digger in Marshalltown Iowa. The Annie Oakley one sells for $2k. Buffalo Bill's for a few hundred. I got my broken one for twenty-one dollars. Not worth much, but oh so cool!

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mart

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Re: Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2015, 07:02:21 pm »
Oh My !!  With a story like that,, who cares if its broken !!

Bradley

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Re: Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2015, 12:49:29 am »
I purchased this "Pewter Railway Mug" (that was the label on it in the shop) not knowing what all the markings meant. I got quite an interesting schooling from some well-informed "chaps" from "the other side of the pond."

The mug at one time resided at the "Forest Gate Railway Tavern" (which still exists though in a different building) and other markings on the bottom indicate that the mug was made by Robert Pringle Limited sometime between 1863 and 1879. In one of the photos you can see the initials CK emblazoned large on the front of the mug. A well-informed Englishman informed me by e-mail (with links to prove it!) that in 1885 the Forest Gate Railway Tavern was owned by a man named ... (drum roll please) ... Charles Knowler! Most likely the man whose initials are on the mug. I cannot find much else on him. Evidently, he was no more famous than I am. But I have his mug, which somehow, some way, made it to America. The Englishman who discovered all this for me (I had e-mailed him photos) speculated that it was probably stolen and brought here!

He said there is not much of a market for these old items as it was common for people to have THEIR mugs at THEIR favorite pubs where they would hang out. But at least I have the story on this one.

And the last photo, close-up of the stamp, indicates that the mug was made sometime during the reign of Queen Victoria, 1837 to 1901. I only regret that I scoured it to get all the patina off so I could drink from it. NOT proud of that and WILL NEVER SCOUR again, but it is still one of my favorite items.

mart

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Re: Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2015, 06:13:24 am »
That is another great find !!  That's the problem with most things we buy,,we do not get the story that goes with it !!

ghopper1924

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Re: Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2015, 06:45:23 am »
Cool stories!! :-X
"I collect antiques because they're beautiful."

-Broderick Crawford

talesofthesevenseas

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Re: Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2015, 12:43:47 pm »
Love it Bradley!
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dontbe

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Re: Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2015, 02:26:54 pm »
Hey Tales, good to see you. Hope all is well!
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talesofthesevenseas

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Re: Worthless, but reeeeeeally cool! Post your favorites!
« Reply #7 on: September 18, 2015, 11:44:59 am »
Things are going well Dontbe! I've been here off and on replying to other posts, but hadn't started one in a while.
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