This has to be one of the most beautiful inorganic possessions I own right now: This beauty speaks to my soul itself. A few pictures before I began my initial cleaning (believe me, there is much more cleaning to follow) - I will take neglect over misuse any day: Before and after... I still haven't completed my full restoration of the microscope, as seen in the following picture, but what I hoped to capture in this picture was the many years of service this thing of beauty offered before it was destined to reside in my 'pseudo-museum' of eclectic items... Condenser, iris diaphragm, and filter holder, swiveled away from under the stage: Iris diaphragm, 2/3 constricted: Closeup of the mechanical stage apparatus: VS my "Old" microscope: Here we have exhibits from the turn of the century, and a good half-century later, soon to be joined by a more modern exhibit (pics to follow)...
I'll have to send you the trumpet I got from a little place in the Mountains of TN. It was made in Elkhart, IA, and has all these intricate designs on it, and pearl, or Ivory, for the things that go up and down to change the tune. I will have to dig it out of storage. On Google Probably the inner bell is not brass but rather a gold wash (a plating of gold). The name Elkhart is confusing because a) There was an Elkhart Musical Instrument Company that made brass instruments between 1912 and 1917, and that it subsequently merged with Martin. b) there was a Elkhart Band Instrument Company that made brass instruments between 1924 and 1928. In 1928, it merged with Buescher. c) Buescher also used it as a trade name.
I just hear Sanford and Son music when I think of what his house must look like. I have some weird urge to get rid of everything save the essentials... like someone who is going to die soon. I just don't want to leave a bunch of crap behind for someone to have to deal with.
I think about that all the time... I picture my sister and best friend going thru my crap bitching and laughing saying stuff like " WTF.. now tell me why she had this...Where did she find that... Oh you know this stolen...hey look at this, now tell me what in hell she thinking when she decided she needed this... you know she is watching us and laughing, she collected this crap just to piss us off" I must admit, I think this almost everytime I find a new weird thing... I have an antique trunk with fake body parts in it.. 2 right prosthetic arms and 3 mannequin heads...and a box with 2 unmatching glass eyeballs. I have a bad problem with collecting crap....even crap I dont really like..but it is old or unique ... I say to myself, "someone would really dig this, this would be a treasure to someone"
I've used my 'old' one for a few things, maybe I'll post some pics... One use was letting a gal actually see living, swimming, sperm - that she herself summoned... ...other times, I was just fucking curious about some shit... Like, when I first got my cat, and wondered what a flea looks like under the microscope. I have some pics of that - and let me tell you, that fucking head is nasty. Looks like something out of an Alien movie. Or, even... When I found these little 'bumps' on the leaves of my young Pecan trees in the back yard, and I wondered what was causing them. Naturally, I decided to cut a few of them out, dissect them, and examine the larvae under the microscope. At the time, I used the digital camera I carried around back then to snap a few pics through the eyepiece... Here's one of 'em: Is any of this really that absurd? Is owning a microscope in this day and age that odd... really? I used the 'old' one (technically, the 'newer' one) for a purpose - but this older one (yet new to me) I cherish because it's a testament to an extinct age of newfound discovery and enlightenment in mankind's understanding of the world around (and within) himself. May not have any value to the layperson, but dammit, it means something to me.
BTW... I did catch that one... somehow, forgot to respond to it right away, though... Age must be wearing off on me, I suppose...
