Vintage winter

Vintage Burton BB1 Londonderry Snowboard.

This is a 1978/79 Burton BB1 Londonderry Snowboard, which by most collectors is considered ‘The Holy Grail’ of collectable snowboards. This board was hand made in Londonderry Vermont by Jake himself and was pulled from his personal archives and sold for a charity event. This board was purchased at a fundraiser and is literally pristine, mint, as new, never ridden. It is in absolutely perfect condition.

Vintage Burton Prototype Snowboard c. 1978.

Vintage Burton Backhill Backyard Snowboard c. 1981.

UNIQUE BATHROOM DESIGN IDEAS

Bike in the bathroom.

Unusual decor.

The Top 10 Most Expensive Classic Cars Sold At Auction

10. 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster – $1.45 million.

In July 1984, Christie’s sold a 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster for $1.45 million. Just 58 of these supercharged sports cars were built between 1934 and 1936.

9. Aston Martin DBR2 – $3.4 million.

One year after the 500K Roadster, Christie’s sold this one-of-a-kind Aston Martin DBR2 racing car, for $3.4 million. The car’s value has increased considerable since then.

8. 1931 Bugatti Royale (Berline de Voyager) – $6.5 million.

The Bugatti Royale Berline de Voyager, was built in 1931 but kept as part of Bugatti’s private collection. Hidden away from the Nazis during the war, the car was eventually exported to the United States.

7. 1929 Birkin Bentley – $7.9 million.

When the Birkin sold during the 2012 Goodwood Festival of Speed, it became the most expensive car ever manufactured in the UK to be sold at auction, a title previously held by a 1904 Rolls Royce.

6. 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California – £10.9 million.

In May 2008, radio presenter and car fanatic Chris Evans paid almost 11 million dollars for this Ferrari at an auction in Italy. The car had previously been owned by actor James Coburn.

5. 1936 Mercedes 540K – $11.7 million.

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone owned one of these rare vehicles and sold it for $6.3 million in 2007. Five years later, one of the remaining 26 models still in existence sold for almost twice as much.

4. 1931 Bugatti Royale (Kellner Coupe) – $14.9 million.

More than 15 feet long and powered by a 12.7 litre aircraft engine, the Kellner Coupe had been launched at the height of the great depression and was a sales flop as a result, but would go on to become one of the most valuable cars of all time.

3. 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa – $16.39 million.

The Testa Rossa race car dominated Le Mans during the late fifties and early sixties. Famous for its distinctive red valve covers – the name means red head – just 34 of the 250 Testa Rossas were ever built.

2. 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO – $19.4 million (2010).

Two years after he bought his multi-million dollar California, Chris Evans sold it in order to fund the purchase of this car. The GTO is hugely sought after in collecting circles but owners tend to hang on to them – only 2 have come up for auction in the last 20 years.

1. 1936 Bugatti Type 57C Atlantic – $43.7 million.

With just three models ever built and a single prototype, this Bugatti is one of the rarest cars around. Little wonder then that this vehicle broke all records for cars sold at auction when it went under the hammer in 2010.

Leather Bags

French Vintage Leather Doctor’s Bag.

Absolutely stunning leather bag in very good vintage condition. The patina aged nicely and adds to the character of the bag. The leather is still sturdy.

The bag opens by turning the clasps on the frame and releasing the popper button. Inside is one large compartment with a zipped pocket in the middle. Impeccable inside, lining, which has become slightly undone on one side, hardly noticable.

The Leather Postal Bag.

This bag clearly had over a half century of use and with a little care could probably go another 50. That’s why I like leather so much. It’s a living material that continues to evolve the more it is used.

Vintage Italian leather bag holdall travel bag.

This strong and robust leather holdall is the height of bohemian style! It’s old, well used, repaired and just full of character. A bag that will always make an impression wherever it goes!
The bag is a practical design with 1 very large main compartment and a dual zipped base compartment. There’s also a large, leather bound zipped inner pocket. On the outside of the bag there’s a wide zipped compartment on the back and a smaller zipped pocket on the bottom section. Finally the bag has a front compartment with flap – very handy for keeping those travel documents etc easily and quickly accessible.

Dolce & Gabbana vintage-effect leather bag.

The Phones of The Past

Candlestick Phone

This is definitely one of the designs you’d think of when you thought about old fashioned telephones. It’s a classic 1920s piece, which needs two hands to operate and comes with an external bell set to alert you of any incoming calls.

French Porcelain Vintage Phone

These are the most decorative phones in existence – often laced with gold/gilt detailing, in a typically French manner, with lots of floral patterns. There are lots of good quality replicas out there, which look very expensive indeed, and are a quirky addition to your country home.
One of these will look perfect on a side table with a big bunch of flowers, stack of big photography books and a few pretty photo frames.

Antique Replica Coffee Mill Phone

The retro styled Coffee Mill phone combines modern features with nostalgic styling. These antique style phones are a great addition to any room. Die cast with antique designs, these beautiful telephones include elegant detailing and antique style.

1950s Diner Phone

This phone is just the best! So classic and retro but all of the functions are up to date! You don’t have to pay for calls obvoiusly but it can be used as a coin bank and even jingles as you insert your money…love it!

Skeletal Telephone

Skeletal Telephone made by L. M. Ericsson, circa 1892. It was used in the Head Office of the Victorian Government Department of Mental Hygiene, circa 1900.

1905s Dial Candlestick

This is the first dial telephone. The inventor, Almon Strowger, was an undertaker in Kansas City who got upset because the operators there kept putting business through to his competition. So he developed the first automated telephone switch and dial telephones. Strowger’s company was later bought out by Automatic Electric.

Coca-Cola Vintage Vending Machines

History of Coke Vending machines

In the early part of the 20th century, most corner grocery stores kept their inventories of bottled Coca-Cola cold by icing them in coolers. It was an age of serve-yourself, where all it took to ensure that a customer brought his bottle of Coke to the store’s clerk for purchase was to put a sign on the side of a cooler with the word “please.”

The culture, however, was becoming increasing mechanical, which accounts for the introduction in 1910 of a coin-operated vending cooler designed expressly for Coca-Cola bottles. Georgia bottler George Cobb had the right idea when he introduced his Vend-all cooler, but it held only 12 bottles, making it impractical for retailers.

By the 1920s, numerous companies were making point-of-purchase coolers for Coca-Cola products. In the mid-1920s, Icy-O made one of the first Coca-Cola machines, whose tub-like design resembled a washing machine and featured a crank at the top that customers could turn to make their selection. Payment, however, was still on the honor system.

In 1928, Coca-Cola hired sheet-metal manufacturer Glascock Bros. to design and build a cooler that it could sell to retailers. Electric coolers followed in 1930 and in 1931 Glascock produced a coin-operated vending machine for Coke. While the benefits of these machines was clear, they were slow to catch on with retailers, in no small part because coin-op technology had not advanced far enough yet to prevent customers from “paying” for their bottles with a worthless slug.

During the 1930s, Westinghouse’s coin-operated Vendo Top coolers gave customers access to an ice-cold bottle of Coke for a nickel, but the biggest name in Coca-Cola machines came along in 1937, when Vendo of Kansas City, Missouri, was founded.

At first, Vendo filled a niche by making coin-op tops for traditional coolers produced by competitors like Westinghouse and Cavalier, but eventually Vendo would manufacture the entire machine. For example, its widely produced V-39, built between 1949 and 1957, is one of the most collected machines, thanks to its handsome, rounded top. Early all-red models featured the words “Ice Cold” embossed at the bottom of the machine; two-tone models made after 1955 had white tops.
By the 1950s, Vendo was arguably the king of Coca-Cola vending machines—the Coke-supplied graphics on its Style Star machines of the late 1960s and early ’70s are familiar to anyone who visited a bowling alley or other public place with vending machines during that time. Indeed, Vendo was so successful that in 1979 it was able to buy out a competitor named Vendolater.

Other companies also prospered making vending machines for Coca-Cola, including Cavalier, whose small machines are especially popular with collectors. The C-27 from the late ’40s is a favorite thanks to its “ship’s wheel” handle, which was only produced for a limited amount of time. The wheel was replaced by an equally short-lived star-shaped handle, which itself gave way to a more standard lever or crank.

Another popular Cavalier machine was the C-102, which vended from two sides. Widely used throughout the 1950s, these machines had the unintended consequence of being tools of segregation—some machines were labeled “Whites Only” on one side and “Colored Only” on the other.

Finally, bottles were not the only way in which vending machines delivered Coca-Cola to thirsty customers. In the 1950s and ’60s, pre-mix machines dispensed a paper cup of soda, sometimes over crushed ice. Glasco is one of many manufacturers that produced these pre-mix machines, many of which also featured Coke’s classic Style Star graphics.

Gas Pumps

Vintage gas pumps on Route 66, Dwight Illinois

Old Pure Gas Pump

Old Phillips 66 Gas Pump

Vintage Sinclair Dino Gas Pump

Old Super Shell Gasoline Pump

1950s Texaco Gus Station

1935 Bugatti Type 57 “Grand Raid” Roadster

The Type 57

Built between 1934 and 1939, the Type 57 was Bugatti’s swan song. It was developed by Jean Bugatti, and it simplified the Miller DOHC drive train that had been appropriated for the Types 50, 51 and 55, substituting a chain of gears at the rear of the engine to drive the camshafts.

The car would, generally speaking, be bought in two series with four variations: T57, T57C (with compressor), T57S (short, low-slung chassis) and T57SC (same thing with blower). There were four “standard” body styles available for each chassis, in theory at least. They were Galibier (four-door sedan), Ventoux (two-door, four-seat coupe), Stelvio (two-door, four-seat cabriolet), Atalante (two-door, two-seat coupe) and Aravis (two-door, two-seat cabriolet).

This, however, does not account for the various special T57s, including the numerous coachbuilders across Europe who created one-offs. It also does not account for the Grand Raid roadster, which was essentially a prototype that preceded the famous 57S.

The offering of such a car is not only incredibly rare but tremendously important. In fact, this car is documented in Bugatti 57 Sport by Pierre-Yves Laugier and in the book The Bugatti Type 57S by Bernhard Simon & Julius Kruta. Both of these rare books will walk an interested party through the development of the Type 57, particularly the prototype examples.