eBay Featured Item:

Vintage 1964 Superman Model Kit Aurora No. 462 - Rare!

Now available on eBay (click on image to go to ebay auction).

Plastic Model Figure from 1963/1964. Aurora Kit No. 462-100. The original assembly instruction sheet is included! Unfortunately, there are a few pieces missing, but still a rare find for Aurora Kit collectors!

Aurora Plastics Corporation - Brief History

The Aurora Plastics Corporation is a U.S. toy and hobby manufacturing and marketing company. It is known primarily for its production of plastic model kits in the 1960s. Aurora Plastics Corporation was founded in March, 1950 by engineer Joseph E. Giammarino (1916-1992) and businessman Abe Shikes (1908-1997) in Brooklyn, New York (in West Hempstead, Long Island from 1954), as a contract manufacturer of injection molded plastics.

With the hiring in 1952 of salesman John Cuomo (1901-1971), the company began the manufacture of its own line of plastic model kits. These kits were marketed to young hobbyists, as were the kits of rivals Monogram and Revell. Aurora profitably targeted to a younger demographic than their competitors, creating smaller-sized models at a lower price point.

Although their first offerings were aircraft kits in a "Famous Fighters" line, it is with their figure kits that Aurora is most associated and had their biggest success. Following a series of "knights in armor" and historical figures, Aurora acquired a license from Universal Studios to create a line of kits based on Universal monsters, which became the company’s most popular offerings. Together with their other licensed models based on characters from movies, TV shows and comic books, Aurora’s figure kits continue to be highly valued by collectors. Aurora used artist James Bama for some of their box art.

(Source: Wikipedia)

eBay Tips: Photography

Antique Victorian Wax Desk Seal with
Sterling Silver Crest and Agate Handle

(Sold for $177.00 in 2005, BidBrothers)

This was another antique objet d'art I enjoyed photographing. Ornate and rich with details. Beautiful colors...

The History of Sealing Wax

Sealing wax actually originated when envelopes did not come with glue on the flap that made it difficult to seal and thus ensure privacy. To solve this problem, a lit candle was tipped over the envelope, allowing a few drops of wax to fall on the flap’s side and that was stamped with an inscribed stem, which was called a seal.

In days of yore this was a method used to ensure that the communication sent was secure and authentic. Unfortunately it was the coming of the gummed envelopes that led to a decline in the use of sealing wax, though the ones who are fascinated with it still find an excuse to melt the wax!

The recipes of sealing wax can be generally divided into those before and after the beginning of trade with the Indies. Beeswax that had been melted together with Venice turpentine was typically used in the Middle Ages to make sealing wax. The wax that was manufactured at this time was uncolored. It was after some time that vermilion was used to add some color. It was in the 16th century that sealing wax was compounded from a mixture of various proportions of shellac, resin, turpentine, chalk, plaster, turpentine and coloring matter and no actual wax.

(Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/wax-seals-what-is-sealing-wax.html)

eBay Tips: Photography

Antique Japanese Charcoal Iron

eBay Tips: Photography

The SAMOVAR: Form and function in the art of tea

A samovar (Russian: самовар, literally "self-boiler") is a metal container used to heat and boil water. It has traditionally been used in and around Russia, as well as in other Central, South-Eastern and Eastern European countries, in Iran, Kashmir, Turkey and Hadhramawt, eastern Yemen. Since the heated water is usually used for making tea, some samovars have an attachment on the top of the lid to hold and heat a teapot filled with tea concentrate. Samovars are said to have been invented in Central Asia, though their origin is a matter of dispute. For example, some argue that it is purely a Russian invention given that the samovar appeared in Iran not later than the 18th century, and it bears the same Russian name samovar which translates to self-brewer. Though traditionally heated with coal or charcoal, today many newer samovars use electricity to boil the water. (Source: Wikipedia)

Antique Russian Samovar Teapot
(BidBrothers consignment item, 2005)