Definitely a typewriter desk. Central portion lifts up and back, and inside would be a space to put a desktop typewriter. Given that desktop...
After a lot of cleaning, I finally got the lighter working. I was able to completely disassemble the lighter (including taking out the...
The head of that key looks extremely even and level. I've cut/filed my own keys by hand (usually when I'm restoring something which has a lock...
I've collected fountain pens for years. It looks like a real MB to me. The nib looks right. Clean. Crisp. 14kt. Knockoff MBs often have very...
A lot of Scotch Collegians went to war (both WWI & WWII). But I've never heard of the school doling out parting-gifts like this. My gut-feeling...
Yes I suspect that's what's happened here, AF. I'm just wondering WHY and WHEN this happened. What event or reason would've caused the school to...
Done some poking around, and I've found out more information about the lighter. Manufactured in Germany by Karl Wieden. Model 620. Ca. 1932....
The tank has a threaded screw-cap (which you can tighten up with a small coin). It's a conundrum. I suspect it's to jump over a patent or skirt...
Hahahaha!! But yes, AF. That's the school I was talking about. The lighter is an oddity, to be sure. Up top, it's got the usual lift-arm...
The lighter is somewhat reluctant to operate. The flint-wheel sparks, there's a fresh flint inside it, and there's juice in the tank. That said...
What we have here is an old school lift-arm lighter. Not an oldschool lift-arm lighter. An old school lift-arm lighter. Literally! It was...
That's not true. It takes DECADES of use to wear down a pen nib. The occasional scribble from another person isn't going to damage it, unless they...
I only let fellow collectors/users use my fountain pens. Anybody else would probably smash the nib into spaghetti.
I have read MANY newspaper articles about how kids today don't know how to write. Don't know how to hold a pen/cil, don't know how to sign their...
I sell antiques online. With every successful sale, I write a thank-you note and put it in the parcel along with the item/s. That's how I practice...
"Quadruple plate" definitely means silver-plated. Common silverplate metals included pewter (sometimes known as Britannia metal), and...
Hahahaha!!! Nooo! Sorry to disappoint! :P
Conical Asian Hat. Coolie hat. Call it what you will. VERY common in Japan and China and many other places around Asia & SE Asia, just because...
I don't see any evidence of hallmarks. And most European and British silver is pretty strict about that.
Thanks to everybody who was so interested in my old family photograph! Here's a blog-posting I wrote about it, if you're looking for a bit more...
Separate names with a comma.
