Month: April 2022
Kings of Sling
The classic cloth triangle to immobilise or elevate an injured limb has been a staple of first aid for centuries. Arguably though, no organisation better demonstrated its versatility than the Saint John’s Ambulance Association.
Michael Burroughs of Anything Military has recently obtained this model of medical efficiency from the early 1900’s. Showing two dozen practical applications from tourniquets to splint braces, the illustrations are so clear and easily understood they could have been drawn up by IKEA.
Business As (Un)usual
After our week off last Saturday, we’re back!
Curious browsers, experienced dealers and committed collectors alike can be found every Saturday at Charing Cross Market. Rare postcards, stamps, coins and militaria abound in a unique indoor location at the heart of Central London. Come and see what makes the market one of the Capital’s best kept secrets – because everybody knows all the best treasure is kept underground…
Closed Easter Saturday
Quick reminder that we only close on one Saturday every year but it’s this week (16th April). See you all next Saturday though!
Whistler’s Mothers Day
Artistic licence is normally understood to be the painter’s prerogative but not where the US Postal Service is concerned. Whistler’s iconic painting from 1871 is a study in maternal patience. He was characteristically coy about the painting to friends saying ““One does like to make one’s mummy just as nice as possible.” Regardless, it has attained a sacred place in the American artistic pantheon, in part because of Roosevelt’s enthusiasm for what he took as its sentimentalism.
However, in 1934 the USPS saw their opportunity to use it as a way of celebrating Mother’s Day, another American creation. Reproducing the whole painting would have meant the matriarch was too small so the stamp version crops a lot of detail from the top and left side. At the same time, her pensive gaze which in the original invited us to imagine what she was thinking now fall on a vase of flowers.
Coining It In
Imagine if you didn’t spend any of the change you received in coins. Instead you put it into a ‘sovereign’ size champagne bottle holding 25 litres (equivalent to 33 standard bottles). It takes you five years but in the end you do fill it up. How much money have you saved?
While the answer might be slightly different if you’re using UK currency, one Austrian user of the social media platform, Reddit, has given us a guide. He photographed his haul and invited others to guess the total value of all the euro, two euro and various cents he’d amassed. Their estimates varied between €430 and €2,500 were way off. The actual amount was roughly €7,000 or £5,900.
This is partly because several coins are worth more than face value. A number are special commemorative coins and others (from the Vatican City State or San Marino) are comparatively rare.
A chance to cash in on the cashless society? Possibly. You might need to save up for that 25 litre champagne bottle first…