So, as I was combing through my ephemera this past week, I came across a stamp that I found on Etsy.com (if you haven't been on Etsy, it's a great site for handmade in the U.S.A. items and some vintage goodies). This stamp has graced my bookshelf for a few years now and it was only recently that I started to put 2 + 2 together...potentially.
As many of you know, I began at Brown's Candy Factory under the tutelage of June Ward. June and her husband Jo Bill adopted me outright and for years looked after me (secretly reporting back to my family on my well being). They have even traveled to my sister's wedding, my grandfather's funeral, and many other "family" events. Truly, this woman, is more than just my mentor...she might as well be my blood relative. I wouldn't love her any less if she wasn't.
During our times in the basement, she would tell about starting at the City and helping open the Candy factory in its new location. I had almost forgotten about her very first role at the Post Office (they even mention it in the bio below):
http://www.bransonsilverdollarcity.com/craftsmen/craftsman_detail.aspx?AttractionID=858
I had an almost-immediate epiphany. Could it be that I had one of the stamps that Aunt June originally used at the Post Office? The jury is still out, as she hasn't seen it in person, but I plan on bringing it with me on my next visit to confirm. At any rate, hope this to be true so I feel that I have a piece of Aunt June staring back at me on my bookshelf every day, hopefully giving me her "stamp" of approval.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnytie/4420591603/
very cool! I dig the stamp!
All my Christmas cards are getting this stamp....HA! (just kidding)
too cool!
I have a very similar one purchased online as well...it said mine was from the post offiice, and the handle was well worn...who knows!
You might have the other one that was online when I bought mine. That's what mine said as well. A match!
My question is HOW do these rubber stamps find their way onto ebay? I seem to remember a few years ago a large cache of original concept drawings, perhaps by Andy Miller or one of the other SDC early artists, made their way into a sale on ebay or in an auction in the Branson area. Anyway, somebody bought the stuff and posted some of it on the internet...maybe on this site. HOW DOES THIS STUFF GET OUT, and WHERE CAN I GET SOME OF IT???
Beta won a few of the drawings a few years back. I dont know how the stuff gets out either.
Yep, I have some of the original Andy Miller concept drawings for Float Trip, Candy Factory, General Store, etc (about 12 in all) under lock and key in my "Grab it if the house is on fire!!!" safe. I don't know how they got onto ebay, but it goes to show you that you never can tell when they might pop up there.
Of course the person selling it, I believe, had no clue what they were. The stamp that I purchased came from Etsy.com which is another neat source for odds and ends stuff. There is a vintage SDC silk scarf with different motifs from the City in its early days on there now.
silver dollar city has never had much love for its ownpast. They have destroyed so many momentos over the years. At one time the entertainment department videode every show on park every year. The next year they just recorded over the old tapes rather than purchase new ones. At one time I knew numerous dump sites around the park where signage atmosphere pieces and even merchandise was merely pitched over the hill into a mound. At one time I had the world's smallest Natural Bridge sign from the float trip hanging in my room because I found it in a junk pile back in the early 70's I was as a tourist walking down a path behind the first log cabin that Silver Dollar City erected at their campgrounds. I was surprised to find a pile of the old billboards with the pointing miner on them in a pile back in the woods where I'm sure they eventually rotted away. Jack and peed have never been overly sentimental about their business as so much of their old papers maps etc merely went to the garbage. This is where these unusual pieces have come from.
Those would be some terrific piles to rummage through!
At an antique store at Eureka Springs I saw an old GOLD MEDAL FLOUR sign from Sullivan's Mill on sale. In the past...last year...in the same shop I saw an ice cream parlor sign from SDC on sale.
Going through a flea market in Rogers, AR today I found a sign reading FRISCO SILVER DOLLAR LINE. It was an emblem taken from one of the old passenger cars, I'm sure. Not in too bad of shape, painted by hand on plywood, bottom of the sign was in rotted condition. Price, $33. No, I didn't buy it...but I wanted to. Just no place to put it. By the way, the Gold Medal Flour sign I mentioned in a previous post was still at the Eureka flea mkt. As recently as 2 weeks ago.
Junior-Care to share the name of the store? I'm headed to Branson in a couple of weeks and would like to check it out!
In Rogers, AR the store is The Antique Rose. I cannot remember the name of the shop in Eureka.
Do you remember if the shop was on the main drag through town? I'd like to hunt down that sign!!
Intersection of Hwy 23 and hwy 62, it is an antiques store. When I passed by, the Gold Medal sign was outside next to the front entrance. The ice cream parlor signs were inside the shop in 2 locations, hanging on the walls. Bring cash, I seem to remember prices on all three signs of around $150. Perhaps if you buy them all he will give a little discount. Don't know.
Those sound like nice pieces! You have much more restraint with your purchases than I do Junior! Not that I could justify or afford them, but still I would have tried!
Oh, I wanted to buy the stuff, but the wife would not like it. The library/computer room already looks like a museum, and if the desktop were in another room she would never go in there. She tolerates the room but that is about all..the SDC signs would be too much for her and I would never hear the end of it. Ha!
I think all of us on here that are married would agree that our spouses would feel the same was as yours and mine Junior!
Yup! :)
Except mine ;D I think she likes SDC as much if not more than I do !
Hmmm...I think my definition of the so called "perfect woman" has been altered! Ha!
Nice job Okie! She's a keeper.
Found this and a bucket light yesterday, south of Nixa