From the PO Box...Various Wins and Purchases

This month has been great. No bills -- only get those bi-monthly -- have come this month which means that certain purchases and wins have been filing up the mailbox. Who doesn't like receiving packages...

Check out the rest here...

Vintage Vanity Fair

Check out the rest here...

eBay Win of the Month

Last week while perusing the eBay market -- where I spend most my time is wasted -- I stumbled upon a pair of beautiful boots. After checking them out, doing a little research and triple-taking the starting price of $19.99 I clicked the watch item for this beautiful pair of 1940's Wolverine moc toe work boots.

Knowing very well the beauty of this specific item and the demand for an item such as this I expected -- like most items I put under my watch list -- to have exceeded a price beyond what I could afford. Especially being made of Shell horsehide, being in such pristine condition, and having been resoled already. There was no way I was going to be able to get this item -- especially after boasting about them a little bit at the Pop-Up Flea this weekend, stupid me -- but as the clock counted down and the last 30 minutes came till the end of the auction I couldn't help but notice that there was one other bid. So, with one minute left like any good sniper I shot in a max bid of $40.00 and won these beauties for a total of $26.00. Sorry for sniping but I couldn't help myself.

Check out the rest here...

Men at Work

With this season of Mad Men over and the last episode ending with Sterling Cooper's loss of their office space and their unfortunately setup in a hotel suite my mind drifted to the once high status of the desk. In the 21st century the idea of a corner office has been lost. Where corner offices once stood, cubicles have taken it's place. And where glorious desks once sat, multiple desk-style units have take over the wall space. So, here is my tribute to the days of corner offices, grand desks and the lunchtime martini. Here are men at work.

Don Draper's former desk

Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson

Atlanta, GA Mayor William B. Hartsfield

New York, NY Mayor Robert Wagner

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy

RFK's Brother and 35th President of this United States of America John F. Kennedy

Some desks more unconventional than others, Ernest Hemingway

Check out the rest here...

LIFE Archives | Hunting in the Old Days

Yesterday the LIFE Archive was gracious enough to present us with some of the best pictures of "Hunting in the Old Days". Between picture of Papa Hemingway and Ike (Eisenhower) we are given a very American (at least those are the pictures I chose to feature) perspective of hunting when the Remington or the Winchester was a man's best friend.

Northern Austrailia, 1931

Theodore Roosevelt on African Safari, 1909

John Lachenmaier (left) with safari trophies, 1951

Ernest Hemingway on African Safari, 1937

Dogs and Hunters, 1946

Goose Hunt in Louisiana, 1955

Ike and Coke on quail hunt, 1961

Father and son, 1955

Check out the rest here...

The Lost Art of the Postcard

I have always had a soft spot for personal correspondences. I try to write as many letters as I can, when postage permits me to, but the idea of sending a postcard is as familiar as taking off your cap when in the presence of a lady. It is almost a foreign letter. Well, I give you a little homage to that which is foreign yet in its content so familiar.










Check out the rest here...

The Pocket Pal | The Apache Pocket Pistol

I sometimes sit around thinking to myself that true gangsters must have a problem storing all their weapons between the knuckle dusters, the gats, and the shanks. Okay, well I don't really ponder such things but if I were a gangster, a mobster or a cowboy there would be the conundrum of where I would store all my weapons and other accoutrement. There is the possibility of a holster but with your hands in pockets how useful is that? So, in 1869 L. Dolne à Liege developed a patent for a steel and brass revolver. Not your average revolver. An 8mm caliber pepperbox revolver that folds away to be a total of 1.5 inches in width with a handle that folds away to become a slightly useless knuckle duster and a dagger that folds out no longer than an inch. Overall this work of art is absolutely useless unless your point blank. The pepperbox revolver action is as accurate as would be a blind sniper. So basically the only use for one of these would be to carry around with your around town for the periodical mugger. But if I were a gangster I would carry some sort of modern model for show. But is the original worth the $4,000 for an original? You decide.



Check out the rest here...