Saturday, April 30, 2011

All The Time In The World

We'd been battling a large, empty plot of wall space in our great room for the better part of two years. We struggled with possibilities, tormenting each other with a long list of potential candidatessuggestions never failing to fall short and the spot remaining vexingly vacant. Up until a few weeks ago, we figured we'd never find the big item needed to get this room closer to completion.

That is, until we happened upon this Peter Pepper clock, and then there was no doubt that we'd finally found that elusive object! There was also no denying that this (nearly) 5 foot beast is a perfect fit!

Despite the fact that the clock was manufactured in 1960, we feel that it displays a forward-thinking sense of design that's conceptually aligned with the space age items in the room. Don't you agree?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Beat Beat Beat

We've had some recent recruits climb aboard lately, and we figured we'd showcase 'em this time out. All manner of unpalatable miscreant has found a new home here—a nice cross-selection from the most hirsute, pigeon-chested, diminutive, and sylvan.

The larger member of this pair has been kicking around here for a while, so we were glad to finally turn up his sidekick. Their knowing glances belie some lonely, starless nights.

The guy on the right is an Italian lamp from the late 60s or early 70s that washed ashore in Florida, and we're thrilled he found his way over. Many thanks to our new buddy Joe who's the first reader to approach us outta the blue with something he knew we'd want. Again, we're grateful to you for setting such a good example! No doubt that the other furball's ruddy complexion is due to too much mead.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Future Shock

OK folks, we don't mean to build your expectations up unfairly with this abnormal spate of productivity, but this will be our last post for the next few weeksconsequently, we figured we'd pack a real humdinger to keep y'all satisfied for a while. It shouldn't surprise most of you that space age electronics are one of the many things we enjoy stockpiling, so here we have a nice sampling of the (mostly) portable pieces that are currently gathering dust on our shelves.

Here are two JVC Videospheres. As far as we're concerned, these guys represent the pinnacle of space age television design. These were issued in three colorsred, white and blackwith black being the toughest of the three to track down. We're hopeful that we'll get a white example, which is the most common, sometime soon! The Bulova clock has been included elsewhere, but we liked how it looked in the spread, so we threw it in anyway.

Panasonic was responsible for creating a ton of swinging mod designs in the late 60s and early 70s, and here are some notables. You may notice that the black cube radio in the middle is slightly different from its peers—that's because its face design varied by region, and it's a Canadian version. The Rolling Tone portable radios in the foreground were produced in several different colors—we're in desperate need of an orange one, and we'd gladly swap our spare red one for it, if anyone's up for it. We're also missing a few of the 8-track players located in the rear. Help?

I vividly remember having a Panasonic Panapet that my aunt gave me when I was a little kid. No idea where that one ended up, sadly. Obviously, the Panapets, Rolling Tones and cube radios came in a variety of vibrant colors (including a rare, albeit unflattering lavender we're not too fond of). The TNT 8-track players located in the background were released in five different colors—we've only seen the white and clear smoked versions a few times ...and we're hoping to get them somewhere down the road. The blue 8-track player manufactured by Emerson was a cool, previously unknown score we made recently.

These are the two Sony portable television sets we just turned up in Pittsburgh, alongside our lonely Planetron 8-track player.

Yet another entry that's received a little attention on the blog already. The Orbitel was Panasonic's response to the race for space age design, despite its being a little more 50s inspired than the other examples showcased here. This set is pretty scarce and finding one without chipping around its visor remains a fairly tall order. The Weltron 8-track player next to it mimics an astronaut's helmet and complements our Videospheres quite nicely. Again, the Weltron was issued in yellow and orange and we're hoping to get those someday, too.

The serpentine Toot a Loop proves itself a fearsome adversary. We're still on the hunt for orange and lime green specimens of this particular model ...available only to those good folks down under. Dearest Aussie pals: please include them with our free Chosen Few and Young Identities EPs. Thanks in advance! A few more portable Panasonic cassette players wouldn't hurt either.

Lastly, we've got a portable record player (by Columbia) which isn't technically a vintage piece per se, but it's capable of playing records while dangling precariously on a wall, so that's just gotta suffice. A Panasonic radio alarm clock and AM/FM headphones manufactured by a Japanese company called Soundlite round out the stash.

We'll eventually get around to photographing the rest of our vintage electronics collection but, until then, dig in!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Mars Bar

Here's another short one for ya, folks. We just got back from a brief stay in Pittsburgh last Sunday and pickens were slimmer than usual—though said fact didn't stop Valery from buying a portable bar and transporting it back to Atlanta on an airplane! We'd spied this space age liquor cart during our last visit, but we picked up so much stuff, we decided to leave it behind. No surprise, it didn't escape our clutches this round.

We got lucky and snagged a mint set of Herb Gardener's Nebbishes coasters from '59, complete in their original packaging. A wind-up dancing monkey manufactured by Knickerbocker and an enormous paperclip (that doubles as a hanger when mounted to a wall) were also found. Lastly, we scored a couple of vintage Sony portable television sets that'll reappear in our next update ...which should be coming up real soon!


Until then, a big thank you to our favorite Pittsburgh folks: Carmela, Hone, Steve and Pogo for making us feel right at home. Some great food and good times were had by all. We miss you guys!