LIFE. November 6, 1964

Knowing my penchant for the classic Bond movies (1962-2002), a buddy brought me back this little gem from the Clunes Writers Festival. An original edition of LIFE magazine from November 1964, featuring the iconic Bond "Golden Girl" Shirley Eaton on the cover.

Goldfinger (1964) is number 3 in the original series of 20 films, and was the first to encompass the complete classic Bond formula.  IMHO it's one of Connery's best, and one of my favorites in the series.

Top Right: Cover, from Google images (my photo wasn't good enough),
Above: The Goldfinger article pages from my copy of the mag. Thanks DJ :)

Takin' care of business, 60s style

Vintage suit hat-trick! Been on a lucky streak of late with vintage suits. Without trying I now have a set covering the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Found this business suit by HyTone of Melbourne at Joyce's Junkatique (38 Main Rd) for $25. Dating from around 1960 it's straight out of Mad Men. Given the trend back to 60's style narrow lapels over the past few years, this is one vintage outfit I can actually wear to work.

The narrow tie was also a nice $3 pick-up from last year, late 50s/early 60s silk featuring a bullfight scene. While I don't support bullfighting in any way, it's still an interesting artifact of the time.

Above right: c1960, Grey pure wool 3 button business suit by HyTone of Melbourne. The quality of your average modern off-the-rack suit doesn't compare to this 50yo classic.


Above left: HyTone suit label.
Above right: Late50s/early60s Bullfighter scene silk tie by "Cresta Cravat" marked "Rhodia - Woven in France".

Vintage Gold!

Possibly one of the best finds I've had in many years of op-shopping, an original and complete "Golden Era" Men's 3 piece suit from the late 40s/early 50s.

Last year I saw a 3 piece like this at Circa going for $550, ..this one cost me just $35!

Talk about dumb luck, I picked it up only 2 weeks after finding a complete 1970s Safari Suit at the same place. Coincidentally they are both by Roger David.


Above: Men's 1940s/50s wool pinstripe double-breasted 3 piece suit, by Roger David. Found at the Sebas Salvos.

Classic 70s Polyester

Had an amazing find over the Labour Day long weekend a few weeks ago. I've previously said if I ever saw a Safari Suit cheap I'd grab it, well I finally stumbled on one.

Feast your eyes on this classic and complete 1970s powder blue men's polyester safari suit by Roger David. Big collar, flared pants, the whole deal. Roll on the next bad taste dress-up event!

Above: 1970s Men's Polyester Safari Suit, by Roger David. $25 Sebas Salvos.
Right: Note the male symbol in the old Roger David logo, soooo Disco.

Classic Bristolite Deco

Here's a lovely old pair of Art Deco Bakelite kitchen canisters by "Bristolite", found about six month ago. Originally from a larger set, this lonely pair have luckily survived with no chips or cracks.

Above left: Art Deco Bakelite canisters by "Bristolite", marked "Cat No.311" on base. Probably late 1940s. $12 the pair from the Sebas Salvos.

Chunky time

Found last weekend, a working SEIKO "Transistor" battery powered wall clock from the 1970s. A predecessor to the ubiquitous modern Quartz wall clock, it dates from a time when Seiko was enjoying huge success (even James Bond wore a Seiko in the 70s).

Seiko "Transistor" electromechanical movement wall clock, $14.95 from the Wendouree Salvos.

Happy New Year!

2011 has started well for me, with these recent finds over the holiday period. A vintage Titoni Airmaster Automatic watch and cigarette case, both from the 50s/60s.

Left: Mens 25j Swiss Titoni Airmaster watch ($30 eBay) and West German made chrome cigarette case ($5 St Vincents Op Shop Daylesford)

Stationery Pursuit

I know someone that collects writing materials (letterheads, journals, pens, etc), so every time I travel I feed their obsession by souveniring the complimentary hotel stationery.

Here's what they got from my recent trip to Sydney.

Colorfone 801

My third vintage telephone purchase in less that 12 months, one of the first generation all new designer colour plastic handsets from the early 60s. A working Colorfone 801 for $20 from the Mill Market last weekend. Here it is with the later model Colorfone 802 I picked up last year.

Left: "Light Ivory" Colorfone 801 (c1962/3), Right: "Topaz Yellow" Colofone 802 (c1970). The familiar old telephones of my suburban childhood (thanks to the Mill Market staff for letting me crawl around under their desk in search of a phone socket to test it).

Hula and Bakelite

Had some nice pick-ups at the Mill Market last weekend. Also ran into Dear Prudence, who has moved into a bigger stall since I was last out there.

Firstly a cute little 16 cm souvenir Hula figurine by the Chiefly Co. of Hawaii (see right).

Secondly a fantastic 1950s style "Australian Post Office 400 Series Auto Table Handset" (see below).

I've actually wanted one of these old bakelite telephones for years, but they have always been too expensive. Not only has it been converted for a modern outlet, it's working perfectly (with a really loud and chunky bell ringer) and was less than half the price asked by most secondhand dealers ... sweet!

The Party leads us on ...

One of the delights of op shopping are the unusual things you sometimes turn up, like this 1970s vinyl album by the Military Band of the Chinese People's Liberation Army "The Party Leads us on to Victory", found at the Sebas Salvos in the early 2000s.



I don't think I've seen a more happy and determined bunch of people. Check out the track listing on the back cover to see the titles that inspire this level of excitement!

Golden Era Vintage

The 1930s-1950s is considered the Golden Era of classic 20th Century style, and I unexpectedly obtained my own piece of it from Ruby Rouge last weekend, an original 40s/50s men's double breasted jacket. I've seen complete Golden Era suits recently ranging from $250 (2 piece @ Lost & Found) to $550 (3 piece @ Circa) so I thought $30 was a pretty good deal for an original jacket (pictured above with vintage shirt, modern vintage style tie and pocket square, the jacket is in great condition for a 60+ year old garment). For more original suits of the period see The Houndstooth Kid's vintage (US) menswear blog.

Also picked up a few more vintage style ties ($1-2 ea), including a wonderfully gaudy brown and orange paisley number from the Brace Bargain Browser.

Left: A late 60s look, the paisley tie with my recently thrifted 70s dress shirt.

"A Night at the Opera"

"Queen - the Unseen Archive" is currently on at the Ballarat Art Gallery, which has prompted me to go through my stuff and bring out these old treasures from my adolescence.


1975 Queen "A Night at the Opera" 12 inch vinyl LP (bought secondhand in 1977)


1976 Queen "A Night at the Opera" glam belt buckle (by Pacific Mfg. thrifted around 1980).

Labour Day Long Weekend

Being in Ballarat over the long weekend we did the usual rounds plus the Antiques Fair. I have to admit though I didn't enjoy the fair as much as previous years. Plenty of beautiful (highly priced) objects, but maybe my collecting focus is more grounded in 20th century vintage & thrift markets these days. The best find for the weekend was a 70s dress shirt for $1 from the St John's Op shop (Lydiard St N) last Friday.

While it was wet in Ballarat, it was nowhere near as stormy as other parts of the state. This didn't dampen our appetites though, as we also enjoyed the hosptality of Sweet Decadence, Nicks and Cafe Bibo over what was a restfully pleasant holiday weekend.

Left: 1970s (big collar) "Nevarda - Mr Silk" Australian made pale orange poly/cotton dress shirt. Now I need some big chunky 70s gold cuff links to go with it :)

Vintage "spear point" shirt

Had a major stroke of luck last weekend with a vintage shirt from the Light Lounge Op Shop. A turn-down "spear point" collar formal shirt, a style fashionable from the 1930s to the 1950s, for just $2!


Vintage poly/cotton formal dinner shirt by " Welmar".
The difference between these and modern business shirt collars is more obvious with a side-by-side comparison:


Vintage vs Modern (Target business shirt)

See this Fedora Lounge post for more on vintage "spear point" shirts, and these US, NZ and UK (1 & 2) sellers of new made replicas.

Crying Girl print

Here's another vintage print I picked up at the Sebas Salvos some time ago, a "Crying Girl" by Bragolin. These prints always disturbed me a little as a kid, and I have wondered since what kind of people made these pictures of traumatized children so popular in the first place(?!). However at $5 I couldn't pass up this classic piece of vintage kitsch, even if it's not something I'd put on my own wall. This is only one of a series of crying boys and girls by the same artist, and interestingly in the UK there's an urban myth that the prints are cursed.

Happy New Year!

It's been a restful week-off being a tourist in my own town, doing the rounds of the local secondhand & antique shops (Salvos, Vinnies, Junkatique & Main Rd Shops, A&C Centre, Antique Effects, etc.) as well as checking out the new Mill Market. Also met Dear Prudence & sussed out her Sturt St shop for the first time.

With all of that I still only managed to come home with a few early 1960's mens "skinny" neckties, increasing my collection of these from one to four. I especially like the the olive one on the end, with it's "space age" atom symbol.

Early 1960s (late 50s?) 2 inch mens ties, $3-4 ea. from the Salvos & Junkatique

Woodland Goddess

The prints of J.H. Lynch were a ubiquitous part of the 60s/70s. Strangely though, for an artist who's work was reproduced by the thousands, his identity remained a mystery. That was until Mario Klingemann set up www.jhlynch.org, and managed to track him down. His site remains one of the best sources of information on Lynch prints to-date.

As luck would have it, I manged to pick up my "Woodland Goddess" in Ballarat for $30 back when Lynch prints were selling for $80 in Melb. Last I saw (Lost & Found Market) they're up around $200 now!

"Woodland Goddess" by Joseph Henry Lynch, pre-1965

Millers & Wranglers

Picking up a pair of vintage Rollers reminded me of that other iconic fashion item of the 1970s, the nylon plaid western shirt with press-studs. It appears everything old is new again, as after an absence of a few decades, retro style western shirts are back in the 2000s. As for the originals, the top 70s brand in Australia was "Miller", followed by others like "Wrangler" and "Golden Breed". I haven't seen vintage Millers in op shops much these days, and they are fetching $60+ on eBay.au! Undaunted I managed to pick up a vintage Wrangler on eBay for around $25 delivered.

Left: 16yo me in a Miller (note "pilot" sunglasses & high-waist jeans), Right: My eBay Wrangler

Millers are remembered for the shiny metallic threads woven through the fabric and imitation mother of pearl press-studs. Wrangler's only gimmick was to make the pocket flaps in the shape of "W"s.

Rock'n Rollers

If you were an Aussie teen in the late 70s (guy or girl) you just HAD to have a pair of desert boots. When I saw this pair of DBs for $8 at the Sebas Salvos a year or so ago, they just HAD to come home with me. They are the one-and-only original "Rollers" brand too, and not one of the many knockoffs from the time. A very lucky find in such good condition :)

Footnote: I haven't seen Rollers like these in the shops for years and assumed the style went extinct in the 1980s, I found however there is still a company in Australia selling old school style DBs! advancefootwear.com.au carries new made versions of the classic high and low cut Rollers styles in their "M sprint" range (the "Custom" $69.99 and "Superlight" $79.99).