"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 :)

Rob Olston

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Rob Olston recently after a long illness. A well known and long serving teacher at my old school, Rob was one of the most cheerful and genuine men I have ever met. He had a great sense of humor, and would frequently digress from the lesson to tell tall tales of his early days in the outback. He also had an incredible memory for ex-students, remembering me instantly when I ran into him at a Collectibles fair last June, even thought it had been several decades since we'd last met. A great man, held in high regard by all that knew him, he will be fondly remembered by his colleagues and many former students (Picture of Rob from the Ballarat Courier).

Postscript March 11, 2010: Attended Rob's memorial service with over a thousand other people yesterday. A fitting tribute to a great teacher, historian & family man. Rob had the last word with his open letter published posthumously last Monday.

Ballarat Antique Fair 2010

It's the Labour Day long weekend in Victoria this weekend, which means it's Moomba in Melbourne, and the Begonia Festival in Ballarat. It's also the time for Ballarat's Annual Antique Fair, now in it's 40th year, and always worth a look if you're in town.

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.

The small things

Lately I've been gathering some accessories to compliment my meager collection of men's vintage ware. I already had a pair of vintage cuff-links from Circa, but I've added two more pairs (new with tie clips) from eBay ($8.27 ea. delivered).



Also from eBay a pair of faux Ray-Ban Wayfarers ($16.49 delivered). These work for 1950s/60s and 80s looks ....plus are popular again these days with Hipsters.