In celebration of the 1000th item added to VintageManStuff.com today (August 23th 2019) I awarded myself this 1930 statue of a Vintage Man holding his stuff (being a ball in this case)! You can check out the statue in more detail here. Continue reading →
Vintage man stuff
I was actually wondering if it would be possible to pick up some vintage items in the USA. It seems thrifting is the equivalent but just a bit different. Like in the UK and in the Netherlands there are a lot of Good Will and Red Cross stores around. Something to explore! And of course I am aiming at finding some real vintage USA made stuff that interested the men.
Winter 1970. Only a few channels on TV. Fireplace lit. You are 14 years old and finaly your dad is home for a longer period of time since business is slow due to bad weather. Out of nowhere your dad asks if you feel like doing something together. You go like “sure, like what?”. Dad says it involves fire, dangers tempretures of about 300-400 degrees Celsius. So you are like “NICE”, because your interest is woken. Dad ups the ante and says it also involves manslaughter, canons and battle. Now you are really intrigued (?)! “TELL ME, TELL ME. So dad explanes you are going to building your own army from scratch…together! Exactly the way you want them to! You are going to make toy soldiers.
What is toy soldier making about?
Basically it is about 4 steps. Casting, Preparing, Painting and Display.
The Maestri Company
Founded in Milano, Italy by Romeo Maestri in 1919 the Company first manufactured various kinds of seals like string safety seals, seals for mills and post parcels. Maestri’s wife and two children helped to run the Company. His son Bruno Meastri introducing a new product in the 1930’s. The office stapler. He launched the RO-MA (Romeo Maestri) stapling plier, followed by TENAX and PROTOFIX desk stapler (shown below and also for sale here).
About the Bang and Olufsen Company
Svend Olufsen (born 1897) and his friend Peter Bang (born 1900), Both from Denmark started working together from the attic on the Olufsen family house late 1924. In 1925 they registered their business in the city of Struer and the B&O Company was a fact. Mr. Bang did the tech and production side and Mr. Olufsen did the sales and money side.
They worked hard and made some significant discoveries to which they scored some patents. Sound and later images made up the bulk of their products leading to radio’s and later television and sounds sets. Yet they also made electric razors until the middle of the 1950’s. Svend Olufsen died at age 52 in 1949 and Peter Bang died age 57 in 1957. Their Company kept going strong though. To make this more clear, find below the 1978 advertisements from B&O and Philips. There are definitely some differences in approach.
When a man is buying his stuff he unconsiously takes a few rules into account. First shopping must be easy, when there are not a lot of shops close together then better bought online. Second his stuff must have a good price-to-quality ratio. Third the stuff must have a practical function. And last, it must be cool. By cool we mean real man stuff, which of course difference from man to man. When it is cool enough, the first rules do not apply anymore (and the second rule can also be overlooked). Anyway….looking into vintage man stuff is the next logical step because it is mostly interesting and cool, do read our article on why to buy vintage. When you established that vintage man stuff is the way to go. Then the next question is, what vintage things should every man have?
How to make your social time into quality time?
Time off is great, time spend with your friends even better. When enjoying time with your friends, why not make it an experience? With a few vintage items you can create a whole different ambiance. when these items are interactive you are adding a entire different layer of fun, vintage fun.
Grinding roasted coffee beans is hard work when doing it by hand. So let’s call it a manly job! I like to share some information here on the art of coffee grinding for a great cup of coffee….vintage style.
History on the Coffee grinder
The first coffee grinders were probably generic grinders for all kinds of herbs, dating back to the 15th century and perhaps earlier…being downsides mills an all. The “first real coffee grinders” date back to 1600-something in England/Holland which was a direct link with the world wide overseas trading they did. Spreading from these countries to the rest of the world. These by now higly antique grinders are not much use in the every day proces of slow-coffee brewing.
Checkers or Draughts is a game with a long history. The reason why it became an evergreen is because it is a very straightforward game with little rules. Most obvious reason for this is the fact that all pieces are the same. Same size, same value, only different colors for both parties. You could basically play the game with rocks or seashell if you found enough that look the same…:).
Since it would probably take you more time to hunt for the rocks or seashell then to play several games. It would be easier to have a set of standard stones and a board at your desposal. I asume that in the past one would bring 2 branches and a hand saw and make a set when needed! A few beer caps would do the trick as well. But if you have to drink them first I am not sure if you make it to play!
There are people who prefer to buy all their stuff new. Not aware of the quality or if the price for the product is good. As long as it has a box, they are satisfied. Then there are people who prefer to buy everything cheap. No matter the quality or the condition it is in. And then there are people that love vintage. And what is not to love about vintage? In this post I will share the things I learned buying vintage stuff, manly stuff!
What is vintage then?
The word “vintage” is used to cover products in the period between roughly 1920 to 1980. Items with more age to them would be coverd by “antiques” and the word “retro” would be used for stuff after the 1980’s that is based on the period before. So retro would be “newly made vintage”. You know you are dealing with real vintage stuff when: Continue reading →