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Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

KILO NOVEMBER

One Too Many
Messages
1,068
Location
Hurricane Coast Florida
I don't know if it's been mentioned before and I'm not going to go over 349 pages to see, but it occurred to me that I haven't seen a paperweight in use in ages. In summer people used to leave windows open for ventilation. Paperweights were often decorative items and people collect them now. I had a relative who used a massive brass artillery shell fuze he'd picked up in WWII to keep papers from flying off his desk.
I have one that belonged to my great-grandfather. It's a round glass thing. Embedded in the middle is an Odd Fellows logo, his name, and a date. My guess is that date is when he joined the lodge. He was a shoemaker. I expect that most of his papers were receipts that got stuck onto one of those spike gizmos.

P I C K E L H A U B E !!!
 
Messages
12,941
Location
Germany
I have one that belonged to my great-grandfather. It's a round glass thing. Embedded in the middle is an Odd Fellows logo, his name, and a date. My guess is that date is when he joined the lodge. He was a shoemaker. I expect that most of his papers were receipts that got stuck onto one of those spike gizmos.

P I C K E L H A U B E !!!

S T R E I C H H O L Z S C H A C H T E L !! (matchbox)

But matchboxes are still there, as far as I saw last time. At least the basic quality ones. Or the special ones for camping.
 

Turnip

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,349
Location
Europe
What for sure disappeared has been the Swedish Match Monopoly in several countries around the world, in West-Germany in 1983.


Welthoelzer_DZMG.jpg
 
Messages
10,930
Location
My mother's basement
With blue-tip matches. You could light them on anything, including your zipper.
I recall striking those “strike anywhere” matches on my blue jeans.

I had a Zippo or two, but if they were overfilled the fluid gave me a rash on my right upper thigh, where my front pocket made contact.

Once the disposable Bic lighter became ubiquitous, it was goodbye to matches and Zippos.

I haven’t had regular need for such things since I gave up the smokes, 16-plus years ago.
 

Brandywine76

New in Town
Messages
13
The telegram :(

Mercury Methialade- I have no idea if I spelled that right. It was an antiseptic that my Mom used to use on particularly bad cuts and such. It stung something awful, but the mercury in it would kill anything. (Probably including me!):eek:
Currently in the medicine chest in my hall closet… I got into it when I was a kid and painted everything that pink/orange color. Nothing takes that stuff out!
 

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LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,715
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
On that note …

I can’t recall when I last saw a wall-mounted kitchen match dispenser. The ones in my memory were made of sheet metal and carried advertising. I assume they were distributed free, the refrigerator magnets of their day.
Still have the one that hung in my grandparents' kitchen. They used to light the kerosene stove, I use it to store the matches that I break in half to fix the stripped-out hinge screw holes in the bathroom door.
 
Messages
10,930
Location
My mother's basement
Still have the one that hung in my grandparents' kitchen. They used to light the kerosene stove, I use it to store the matches that I break in half to fix the stripped-out hinge screw holes in the bathroom door.
I’m guessing it either has advertising or it’s decorated with a floral design.

Just a few minutes ago I washed my glass sugar dispenser. They’re easy enough to find online, but you won’t likely find one in a restaurant anymore. Those little paper packets spelled the end of that.
 

ChiTownScion

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,247
Location
The Great Pacific Northwest
Still have the one that hung in my grandparents' kitchen. They used to light the kerosene stove, I use it to store the matches that I break in half to fix the stripped-out hinge screw holes in the bathroom door.

My wife just did a fix-it job on a bathroom door using toothpicks in a similar manner. Evidently a carpenter friend of mine had given her that tip years ago.
 
Messages
12,941
Location
Germany
Sorry, my loungers, I can't stop this, it's just too good... :p


Another good german one:

The good old B E H E L F S W E R K Z E U G K A S T E N ! ;) Emergency toolbox

4:54
 
Messages
10,930
Location
My mother's basement
Ice boxes? There was one in my mother's house when we moved in in 1967. It's still in her kitchen today. There's a microwave sitting on top of it, and she uses the compartments to store old bills.
The Old Man, who went the way of all things in 2015, referred to the refrigerator as “the icebox,” as did his parents and siblings.

He didn’t predate the household electric refrigerator, but his folks did, and I imagine he had some firsthand experience of true iceboxes.
 

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