By happenstance I found the most amazing place for antiques in Chealsea, NY: Garage Antiques. Although almost everything in New York is incredibly pricey, I found this market reasonable, and the sellers are willing to haggle.
Most surprisingly was the amount of Asian vintage goods; I couldn't resist buying this turn-of-the-century Japanese postcard with a Russian stamp. Apparently, it increases the value of the postcard if it was mailed and postmarked, because it's more rare and irreproducible. It reminded me of one of my favorite photographs in the collection of the St. Louis History museum, Dainty Geisha Girls and Quaint Arched Bridges in Japan. The method of hand-coloring, or manually adding colour to a black-and-white photograph, looks rather outdated; but for me still has its own sort of charm.
Amazing wood and lead-cast printing types, as well, salvaged from discarded movable printing presses.
My friends and I agree that we much prefer to spend money on gifts for others than on ourselves. There is something gratifying about surprising someone with the perfect gift that is personalized and special. For my graphic design friend interested in typography, I bought her initials.
How do you buy gifts for friends?
d a n i e l l e
I love the postcard! Doesn't it feel like something our parents might have had when they were younger? The cast letters are so quaint--they remind me of something I've seen in this Baroque art class I took with a fantastic professor from Japan.
ReplyDeleteI love buying gifts for friends more than I enjoy buying things for myself (which, ashamed to say, is quite a lot, the materialistic person that I am). I always see things my friends would like and I tell them about it and sometimes give it to them months later for birthdays or holidays. When I was a first-year at college, one of my good friends and I would send little packages to each other of trinkets that we saw or received that we knew the other would love.
Leslie,
DeleteIt is always a pleasure reading your comments; the memories you recall are so warm and cheerful that they feel familiar and comforting. x
thats a unique store!
ReplyDeletei just ask to friend what they want me to give xD if they didnt want to tell or didnt know what they want, i will just give what i like lol
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Inge,
DeleteI also have some friends where we are so close to each other that we acknowledge the degree of disappointment when we receive a gift we don't like and just tell each other what we'd like. It's key to be very good friends in order to be direct, so that we may skip the polite way of doing things. x
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ReplyDeleteVivid,
DeleteThank you ! x