By Kim Davis of Bloggity Blog
My Uncle was a lost soul that never found his way in life, he died young and in a tragic way. When he was younger he was a talented artist. I knew he had a lot of paintings that had been sold and were out in the private sector, all I needed was to find one.
But to find an unknown artist from the 60's and 70's in this huge world was going to be hard. I threw my fate to the wind and put a search on Ebay. In fact I added a few items and names, I am still waiting on a couple of things I would dearly love to have, but I will show you what I have found so far. First was a painting done by my Uncle, he also made the frame, which is out of some sort of plaster.
Next is even more rare. This postcard is of my Great, Great Grandparents home in Burr Oak, Kansas. I was stunned when it came up on Ebay and delighted none of the other relatives had a search going as well! My ansestors were pioneers they came by covered wagon to Indian territory and lived in a dug out, later they added a sod cabin in front of the dug out and raised 11 children in there. Once they decided they could afford to build a home, this is what they built.
As it stands today, most of the original features of this house have been restored and preserved. A few things like the plumbing, kitchen and toilets have been updated. But this house still has it's gas lights that have been converted to electric!
There are more treasures I have found, I purchased a complete set of Zane Grey books that my Grandparents owned and I was forbidden to touch. I found a couple ceramic pieces that my Grandmother always had displayed. They had gotten broken at my mothers house so when she passed and I took them, I really wanted to replace them with unbroken replicas. I still have the originals though. One is this little girl on a sled which was made by CDGC in Japan (it's numbered), my Grandmother always had her on our mantel in a snow scene at Christmas time. She is very precious to me I am delighted to have found another one.
The other is this bit of Americana:
The one on the left was my grandmothers and the one on the right is the replacement. This one is not exact like the one she had however, it was as close as I could get. It seems that these little guys were mass produced by everyone that made ceramics. I am thinking they were made in the 20's to the 40's.
I scour antique shops, second hand stores and put my searches on Ebay to replace items that remind me of people I love and miss. It took years to get these items, they did not pop up over night. I still have a few items I am looking for and with luck I hope I will be able to find them as well. You just never know what someone has that may lead you to a little of your past!
