Monday, June 14, 2010

V is for Vintage





"Vintage" is one of those words that has multiple meanings. Officially the dictionary meaning refers to the year a wine is harvested.



But to many "vintage" is used to refer to anything that is considered "old" or "old-fashioned". My interests are certainly eclectic and range from country quilts to the whimsical art of contemporary artist Mary Engelbreit; from antique and vintage French faience to the contemporary pottery of MacKenzie-Childs; from the French country feel of blue and yellow to the patriotic trio of red, white, and blue. So I'm frequently drawn to "vintage" things. I'm intrigued with the stories that these items have to tell us.





Those of you who are frequent visitors to HFTS know that the summer months here give a nod to the patriotic theme. Starting with Memorial Day, the red, white, and blue begins to make an appearance in abundance. When neighbors gather on the 4th of July for local neighborhood parades, vintage cars are a popular sight. Isn't this 1952 MGTD a beauty?



It's also traditional in many areas across the United States for outdoor patriotic concerts to be held under the stars the evening of July 4th. Many end with spectacular fireworks displays, and all are the perfect venue for a summer picnic. My vintage picnic basket is from the 60s, a gift from my father the year I went off to the university.



Vintage 4th of July themed post cards are an interesting aspect of Americana. Raphael Tuck and Tabor Prang were two of the prominent artists whose work was produced on post cards as full-color lithographs. Vintage postcards often include a handwritten message and canceled postage.




Of the cards in my collection, three of them are postmarked: one dated 1907 and the other two dated 1912. You can see that one was postmarked from the "S. S. Colon" on Independence Day, 1912.




If you visited Monday's post: National Flag Day~June 14th, you know I attended the OpSail 2000 in NYC. I purchased these post cards depicting US stamps used through the years that feature Lady Liberty.




I had them specially 

postmarked that memorable day.




These charming ice-fishing decoys were a find at the NY Pier Antique Show in 2000. They are unsigned, but definitely vintage. I wish I knew more about the folk artist who carved and painted these patriotic creatures.




I doubt that the patriotic motif is typical of most of these vintage ice-fishing decoys, but it was the stars and strips that caught my attention.




Can't say that this Uncle Sam fishing lure is particularly handsome, though it is in the original box which provides documentation that this piece was sold as a souvenir during the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration of the USA.




Two of the hand-carved Uncle Sam figures here at HFTS are vintage. This Uncle Sam with the walking stick is unsigned, but carved from wood and pegged into the base.




This Uncle Sam is only five inches tall and badly faded, but someone took great care to carve this gentlemen. It is signed and dated 1940.




The small individual vintage flags on metal stands were once used on student desks in a classroom. The silk flags show 48 stars, the flag used between 1912 and 1959. The 48 star flag was the second longest in use. The round vintage tin depicting Betsy Ross sewing the first flag also features The Pledge of Allegiance to our country's flag.



No patriotic parade, concert, ceremony, or party would be complete without the ubiquitous paper flag to help one cool off in the summer heat. Through the years paper fans in a flag motif have always been a popular item.






I hope you've enjoyed seeing some of my vintage patriotic things. If you want to see more patriotic posts with a vintage twist, visit Joan @ Anything Goes on June 30 for her Vintage 4th of July Blog Party. Joan invites you to "share your love of vintage red, white, and blue and all things patriotic!" Click here to get all the details and add yourself to the list of those participating found on Joan's sidebar.

For more "Lesson V" posts, click here to join Mrs. Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday class.

Thank you for stopping by to visit. This post is also linked to the following weekly memes. Thank you to all who host these weekly events.







Sarah
Sarah

The summer we married, my husband was in graduate school, and I was employed as a teacher. We took a portion of our savings that summer and purchased a sailboat. We christened our Catalina 22, “Hyacinths For The Soul” after Saadi’s poem. Our "Hyacinths" provided years of pleasure.

63 comments:

  1. That was a great V post! What a wonderful collection of red, white and blue you have - I enjoyed those postcards. Americans and Danes have in common a love for their flags and fly them proudly.

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  2. What a wonderful take on vintage ... I really do adore the patriotism you Americans show ... I love the red white & blue ... almost as much as i love my own red & white!

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  3. I enjoyed your patriotic vintage show. As a naturalized American 4th.July is one of my very favorite holidays.

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  4. I love the idea of displaying vintage cards as a table decoration. What great ideas are in this post!

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  5. Fantastic collection of Americana! Too many great pieces to name but I just love the quilt and the Uncle Sams and the ice fishing lures!

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  6. very patriotic and vintagey too! happy VTT

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  7. Sarah, you have the most amazing collections, and I adore your patriotic ones. Everything is so neat, and your vignettes are WONDERFUL. I know the children in your classroom must have absolutely adored having you as their teacher, and you are a wonderful teacher. I always learn so much from you. Thanks for sharing...

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

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  8. I love red, white & blue! Lovely vintage spread.

    Happy VTT!

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  9. You have a great bunch of vintage patriotic things. I especially like the Uncle Sams.

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  10. Wow..gorgeous..always such a delight visiting your magical space! I love those little fish...aww..they are so cute.. i am totally smitten!
    Have a beautiful day!
    Kiki~

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  11. What an awesome post! I love the 4th of July postcards, never seen any of them before. The painted fish are really cool too.

    Donna

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  12. What a fantastic collection of patriotic items you have, and so artfully arranged! Loved seeing these things today.

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  13. Great post...I LOVE all your Americana goodies...especially the picnic basket, postcards and those wild fishes :)

    Blessings!
    Gail

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  14. Great show and tell of your vintage collections. I'm fascinated by the ice-fishing lures, and the Uncle Sam lure. How in the world could they help catch fish??? Doesn't matter, though, because they are wonderful treasures. The wood carved little Uncle Sam statues were my favorites today.

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  15. Super ‘V’ post – so interesting & enjoyable and so much red white & blue!

    Happy Alphabe-Thursday,

    LOLA:)

    PS Mine this time is HERE. Hope you can join me there!

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  16. love all your vintage uncle sam stuff :D

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  17. I love the fish & the Uncle Sam fishing lure...the graphics on the box with "go fish!" on the bottom make it extra special~ Love your patriotic post cards too!

    As always, your presentation, photos & info are outstanding and a treat to see :-)

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  18. What a wonderful collection you have! I especially love your Betsy Ross tin.

    Happy VTT,
    Sally

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  19. Everything is just so wonderful,I don't know where to begin. I love,love it all..with the little fish being my favorite..
    Happ VTT,.. have a lovely weekend..

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  20. Amazing post, Sarah! I enjoyed seeing everything, but I found the picnic basket from your father particularly moving. You're staged it beautifully. Wonderful photography throughout!

    Warmest regards,
    Bill

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  21. lovely post of vintage things. I love the picnic basket. Great V post.

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  22. I love all the vintage Americana- so patriotic and quite lovely! Happy VTT!

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  23. I really love your postcard display and the fish decoys are really unique...great July 4th decor!

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  24. What a hip-hip-hooray stop on our little journey through Alphabe-Thursday's Letter "V"!

    This was such a fun post with great photos and wonderful nostalgia!

    Thank you for linking up this week and helping to make A-T such an viviacious meme!

    A+

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  25. Wonderful vintage post for today!!! Have a great VTT!

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  26. This is a great post Sarah...V is for Victory, you have it in spades here. I am a sucker for things like this and love your collection!!

    jeanne :)

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  27. Great choices for V Sarah! I really love those fishing lures. You have such a great collection of vintage patriotic things. I hope I can find one of those fans before the 4th, we are exhibiting at the Rockport Art Festival and I'm afraid it's going to be really HOT! Kathy

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  28. I want that vintage car!! It is lovely and I love the bright red! Thanks for sharing all your postcards, my hubby has vintage cards from Lookout Mountain where we live and he also has a vintage
    3-D viewer and they are so cool!

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  29. Love your vintage patriotic pieces! Thanks for your very sweet visit -- I'm looking forward to your hunting tablescape!

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  30. Sarah, I'm always amazed at the similarities in our collections. Of course, I collect old post cards too. You have some great patriotic cards. Your Uncle Sams are all so charming, and those fishing lures are just about the most unique patriotic decoration I've seen. You are a master at styling for photos. That picnic basket filled with patriotic colors looked like a photo in a magazine or coffee table book. laurie

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  31. What a wonderful V post and what a fabulous collection of memorabilia - I especially love the postcards, but it is all fascinating to me, an English transplant who has so very much to learn still about this country.

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  32. Your patriotic vintage collection are really cute, Sarah....Christine

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  33. Great patriotic vintage stuff! Thanks for sharing!

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  34. Hi Sarah,

    I love all your vintage pieces and photographs! How fun with red white and blue! Great patriotic look too! I think those fish decoys are so great..I've never seen anything like them..got to be my favorite vintage pieces you shared. That picnic basket is fantastic too... thanks for sharing!

    Miss Bloomers

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  35. Happy V-Day. Great patriotic blog!

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  36. OK I love these finds! I would just love to have any of these wonderful things as Patriotic is an all time fav of mine in any form, its all adorable!
    I'm now following you and would like to extend the invitation to become a FOLLOWER on my blog as well.
    Hope to see you tere,
    Terry

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  37. Hi Sarah! I love your patriotic collection...so colorful! I love the word vintage, too...so much better than old and worn! lol...like me! Happy weekend!...hugs...Debbie

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  38. Oh Sarah I so enjoyed your wonderful "V" post! I did "vintage" also but I really like your vintage patriotic things. I always like visiting your blog as you are so articulate and have the nicest things to display.

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  39. Sarah, you have some of the best collections of things I have seen. I love all your patriotic stuff. Sorry I am late commenting on this for some reason I didn't see it come up on my blog roll. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

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  40. Such a fun post, you have an amazing collection. I love vintage postcards and your's are beautiful!

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  41. Oh, this is wonderful Sarah! Love your vintage post. How wonderful it all was. Love you red, white, and blue picnic basket!
    Sherry

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  42. What a wonderful post Sarah....I love those vintage post cards. I think you where the second vintage post for alphabet Thursday...and to be honest I am shocked that is not what I thought of.

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  43. Wow! You have some fabulous vintage Americana things. Loved this post!

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  44. Oh I sooo much enjoyed your patriotic post! Beautiful collection and so much creativity! Thank you for sharing!

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  45. Looking forward to having you join us on the 20th for Summer Sundays!

    - The Tablescaper

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  46. Thank you for sharing your great collections - looking forward to spending July 4th in the US this year!

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  47. This is an amazing collection Sarah, especially like the fishing lures, and those striped cachepots are very pretty too. We'll be celebrating the 4th again in a small New Hampshire town near Bob's home - there's a real 'old timey' parade which is always so much fun.

    I knew you'd notice the bag in the photo - I'm planning a post later about it and the other safari gifts I managed to take to all those amazing places in Africa!

    Sending hugs - Mary

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  48. Sarah, your V post was amazing! You have wonderful collections to display. I found the fishing lures quite amusing. You have been very faithful to the Alphabet Party. I can't wait to see what you do with the next four letters!

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  49. I love your fish decoys, so fun!I have a set of three primitive ones, love the way they look!

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  50. What a fun post. Such fun ways to show vintage, from the car to the postcards to your patriotic collections. Fab!

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  51. I LOVE this post !! Red White Blue. Yes, it is perfect all summer long. xx's

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  52. Wonderful post Sarah. It's hard to pick a favorite vintage item, but I think it's those little flags that used to sit on students desk.

    Now, I just have to say, with all of you many and varied collections WERE DO YOU KEEP IT ALL? And I'm not just talking about dishes.

    Thank you for joining in "Summer Sundays"!

    - The Tablescaper

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  53. Thank you so much for visiting me on my blog, I love the pictures of the patriotioc parade

    Fer

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  54. Hi Sarah, such an interesting and happy post. I love it. Those postcards are fabulous!!!!!!!

    Hope you are having a great week.

    Barb ♥

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  55. Sarah, what a gorgeous collection of 4th of July treasures!!

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  56. Wow, Sarah! So many comments - I almost couldn't find the end! :)
    Oh, my tiny hand is over my heart while looking at all of your lovely patriotic things! Those fish are so cute. I love the quilt and Uncle Sam!
    Hope your weekend was good.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  57. What an amazing collection you have! I loved seeing it all. Of course the basket with our WS/PB flatware caught my eye too! :)
    What a lovely display!

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  58. What a clever post! I just might qualify to be "vintage" too!
    Yvonne

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  59. What a wonderful and beautiful post! So many things to see, and adore!

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  60. I don't know exactly when the word 'vintage' started meaning more that good years for wine. It did not have the expanded meaning that it seems to have now 'semi-antique'= 'older that 20 years but less than 100 old', when I was growing up and went to school in Virginia. I'm glad you mention this on your post.
    You have a lot of really beautiful photos on this V-post. I love your post card collection and the unsigned fish-sculptures!
    Well done!
    Best wishes,
    Anna

    Anna's V-word

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  61. Yikers....I am tired out scrolling down below all the comments! I think vintage should start with wine! ;-). I love old postcards--what really nice ones you have shown here. I was in a restaurant in Georgetown, SC that decorated their rest room with old postcards. It was so cool--I stood there reading them. Then at a cottage we rented near Charleston, the bedroom had some old postcards that their son had sent them. I always feel I am going back in time--love the feeling.

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  62. I am in awe of your red, white and blue collection! I love the quilt and the little flags that students had on their desks. And the postcards. I can't wait to visit you again for Joan's party!
    Happy REDnesday!
    Carol

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  63. what a wonderful post...I like old uncle sams and have decided to start looking for them. You are the second blogger to inspire to that end.
    I have to ask you about those fish if you do not mind...we are patriotic, and my hubby is a vet and also a avid fisherman going way back to his childhood in the late forties. Just so I have a "scale" on 2 measurements...would you mind telling me these fish sizes and the prices...were they sold as a group or individually? you can email me at susanscraps AT comcast DOT net.

    Thanks, Susan

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Thank you to each of you who take the time to leave a comment. I read and appreciate each and every one and will respond to any questions. Your notes are the only way I know who has stopped in for a visit.