Trailer Trad Collecting: Recent Junking Finds

I came across this boat model at the flea market this past weekend. A picker found it at an estate sale and sold it to me gladly for $20. Good price I thought for a piece that I can proudly display in my small apartment. Probably from the 1950s or 1960s, the wood model was not from a kit so it contains some of the dreams of the builder. It seems very streamlined, like the builder wanted it to be really, really fast and bad-assed. It does.

I didn't buy this cool military group photo last weekend and I regret it. There were pluses and minuses with it and this is a good example of missed opportunities when all the possibilities are not considered. Strike One: It is a long group photo which are not nearly as desirable as square photos. Strike Two: It was a military photo which are not as desirable as sports photos. Strike Three: It had one sizable hole in the middle along with one or two small holes near the large one. That was the deal breaker for me since condition is really important.

HOWEVER, I should have thought about it more before I turned on a dealer friend about it who undoubtedly snagged it. What I should have done was cut the photo up into two perhaps even three smaller photos with some hand painted sports uniformed athletes in each one. And just threw away the little piece in the middle with the holes. Darn. Nice photo.

Although I collect U.S. Navy china and silverware, I'd never seen this pattern before and a number of peoplethat I showed it to hadn't seen it either. Very cool and I'd love to acquire as much of it as I could find.

A really nice militaria dealer sold them (gave them away really when I bought this super WWII pennant with quite a history. It came off of the Iowa class battleship the USS Wisconsin. Because it came from this guy, I believe the story. It's hanging in the 'doghouse' (my living room) looking great in a place of honor.