COLLECTION #155: Vintage Lifesavers Display Rack

I haven't been able to find out the age of this candy rack, but it's probably from the 1950s.

 It's Orphan Wednesday again! (Remember? I started doing that last Wednesday- sharing my odd stuff, onesies, singles, 'why would anyone want more than one of these?' kinds of things). Today I'm sharing my vintage Lifesavers display rack. I have had this thing for years and years. I wish I could remember exactly where and when I bought it, but it had to have been at least 30 years ago. I bought it with the idea that I would display/ store my art supplies there many years ago, and I more or less stuck with that. But I never really felt that I used it to its potential until I put it on my drawing table years ago, and used it to display lots of fun and useful things.

I do have to laugh about something kind of funny. I thought I might do a quick Google search and see if I could find out anything about this rack... how old, if anyone else had one, etc. I was looking through the Google images, when I spotted a photo of my very own rack, filled with my toys and stuff. Although I had photographed it for this blog post, both empty and full, I hadn't yet composed my posting, and I certainly hadn't added my photos. It kind of spooked me for a minute! I mean, how did this happen? How did my own (just taken) photo jump into the Google images archive? (Insert Twilight Zone music here....)  Then I clicked on the image. It took me right to a post I did several months ago where I gave a virtual tour of my collections. Lo and behold, I had already photographed it, and posted it. I hadn't even remembered taking the photo!

 I thought you might like to see it empty and clean, and then stocked with all of my toys, critters, games, and fun stuff.

THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: Me! (Part 2)

I promised I'd come back and post more of my house & where I keep my various collections- here is part two, my upstairs. I don't keep collections everywhere, but I do have two main areas upstairs where I keep things.  The first is our upstairs landing- it's a very large open area at the top of our stairs, and I have 6 bookshelves full of books and goodies.  [Sadly, my Nikon camera died 2 days ago, so I used my iPhone camera to take these photos... they aren't the finest quality, especially indoors, but they will have to do for now!]
I'll start by sharing the photos of each of these shelves & treasures, then go to area #2.

My first shelf is full of children's books of all kinds- old and newer, classics and obscure. It's really hard for me to get rid of anything!

These are mostly classics- including Little Golden Books, Laura Ingells Wilder, etc.

Next is a vintage Ethan Allen set of shelves and desk/ cupboard units. I keep all of my LDS Church books. The left side is mostly modern ones, the right side has a lot of old, historical church books.

This desk belonged to my husband Bruce as a child. I keep it stocked with vintage school supplies and my Dick and Jane readers.

More vintage school readers & work books.

The plaque is a copy of an article about me in Playthings Magazine,  October 2004, featuring my school book collection.

This tall shelf includes school arithmetic, science, readers, music, art, geography, and social studies books.

Children's reference books, history, geography and vintage magazines.

In addition to my schoolbooks and accessories, I have school photos of Bruce's grandfather, and my Mom's high school graduation photo.

Next, we go into my studio. You can see all of the various treasures I have there.

As a toy designer, I have many toy reference books: books about dolls, games, toys, and also books about pop culture, collecting, travel, and reference- plus lots of dolls and toys on display.

I also have a variety of stuffed animals & other critters.

Here are my robots...

.... and my pedal cars and some of my kaleidoscopes.

This shelf has a couple of the toys I've designed, and a photo of me with a Cabbage Patch Kid I designed when I worked at Mattel.

An old Lifesavers display rack holds games, boxes, and a plethora of stuffed dogs and critters.