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Steve's History of Things 10 - Smoothing Irons

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  Using something hot and smooth to get the wrinkles out of washed fabrics goes back about 3,000 years to ancient China, where they just lobbed hot stones into an open pan and rubbed the creases out. Fast forward to the 15 th century and the charcoal iron was invented. This was an iron box, flat at one end and pointed at the other, which you filled with hot charcoal. It had a handle at the top and a flat base. Various other attachments such as flues, doors and catches made this pretty cumbersome to use. Charcoal iron Image attribution: By Vincent de Groot - http://www.videgro.net - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=647050 Box iron slug or ox-tongue There was also the problem of charcoal dust being transferred to the fabric and the simple solution to this, was to heat a slug of iron and put that in the box. Thus, the box iron came into existence. Because of the shape of the iron slug, these were also known as ox-tongue iron s. Apart from solv
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It's retro Asian Art week here at Steve's Vintage Collectables and we started off on Monday  with a pair of vases which are very much en pointe at the moment. Soko Satsumaware from the 1960s is currently very popular. Under the correct lighting, there is a rich glow to these hand painted pieces, depicting pheasants in the Japanese countryside. The Japanese mark reads Minato Hikari (artist's name?) Finished base and apex in gold, and standing 6 inches (15cm high), they are perfect for displaying in well lit alcoves.  They would display very well alongside a pair of Kutani ginger pots, with matching pheasant design. See below.   https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1328372964/  Later in the week we added  two beautiful, genuine Kutani, ginger pots with loose fitting lids. Stylish, elegant, and extremely pleasing to the eye, they are a must have for any home where chic is the key. Diminutive, at only 4 inches (10cm) tall, and 2.5 inches (6cm) in depth, they will grace any, appropri
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Location: Cockermouth CA13, UK
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Steve's History of Things 9 - Souvenir Spoons

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  The American Collection Souvenir Spoons began in America in 1889 with Galt & Bros. issue of the 100 th anniversary of George Washington's inauguration, spoon. It built on the trend of wealthy American travellers collecting decorative silver spoons from Europe in the 1800s. Within two years every town, fair, and event seemed to be producing their own commemorative spoons. They were small, inexpensive items and people soon started to make collections. I bought one such collection at auction last week, on a bit of a whim really, just to see what it was all about, and spent an amusing hour or three going through them all. Firstly, there was this fine little set of North American spoons ranging, geographically, from Canada to Hawaii. The British Collection Then we Brits took up the theme in a big way.This is a lovely British collection, predominantly from Scotland and north west England (presumably the original collector was from this part of the world on the England/Scotland
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Location: Cockermouth CA13, UK
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