| 'The girls' of The Purple Elephant (2/8)
I am not an antique kind of guy, and perhaps that is one reason that I have not ventured into The Purple Elephant more than I have. But, I continue to uncover treasures in and around Columbus, and what I learned today on my latest expedition might be worth passing along.First of all, let me say that The Purple Elephant is not an antique store. As one of “the girls" told me, “We are an all-occasion gift shop, which constantly introduces new lines of products."The building in which The Purple Elephant is housed at 404 Main St. has a bit of history.The first Hardin's Bakery was located at this site. The wooden floors are original, and some of the boards are peppered with dark splotches, which look like some type of burn.Carole Eubanks told me that these dark spots are the results of “accidents" at Hardin's, or car battery acid spills from the time in which the building housed an auto shop.
Thriving market emerges for World War II collectibles
A hoot of laughter erupts. Images -- immediate and intangible and visceral -- slowly materialize. For a moment, it is 1944, and an 18-year-old sailor gazes across a fateful beach called Normandy, where the world clashed on what would be dubbed D-Day. More than 60 years later, H.W. "Huck'' Huckestein, of Franklin Park, can still recall that fateful day, when his LST Naval craft helped transport some of America's "Greatest Generation" to that Normandy beachhead. Together, the veterans and those historic battlefields form a precious national treasure, a collective conscience, of sorts, that has ignited a boom in World War II collectibles. "Renewed interest for World War II memorabilia stems from the fact that 14-year-olds today see World War II the way my generation viewed the Civil War when we were kids.
Canes still popular with collectors
While I was at the Miami antique show, I was able to talk with Gary Durow, an antique cane dealer. Canes are one of today's most popular collectibles. It is also an old field of collecting and one of those items that seems to be gender specific. Though canes were made for both sexes, collectors are nearly all male. Today, when one sees a person walking with a cane, it is nearly always a medical necessity. White canes assist the blind to walk. Metal ones aid an injured limb. The first canes were probably used for similar reasons. Who knows how long ago people began using a straight tree branch to aid walking over rough ground or to support a bad knee. The ancient Egyptians used a staff to represent power. Shepherds used a crook neck walking stick to help manage the herd and assist in getting up and down the hills.
Mangalore: Heritage Society to Document History of Buildings
Mangalore, Feb 7: With Mangalore being identified as a fast track city developing at a tremendous pace, the Mangalorean architectural tradition is being lost some where. The development of imposing edifices are bringing about indiscriminate change and demolition of antique buildings having immense heritage value. Wonder how the younger generation could even get a feel of those antique buildings. Here is Mangalore Heritage Programme, which was started in January 2007 as a non-profit, citizens initiative and envisaged with one goal in mind: preserve the hastily disappearing past of this region for the appreciation and education of the present and future generations. The programme aims to preserve these structures through images, photographs, architectural drawings and written documentation of its history.
Get a Taste of Genoa
Despite frigid temperatures and a change of venue, the Taste of Genoa was nearly sold out, said organizer Marilyn Reeder. The event was supposed to be held Thursday morning at the Genoa Town Hall, but frozen pipes and a broken boiler sent organizers scrambling for another place to hold the get-together sponsored by the Downtown Genoa Merchants. Reeder said the First Federal Bank of Genoa agreed to host the event in an upstairs banquet room. .
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