I'm over here, though was in the UK until I moved here at 22 in 1981. The Birmingham and Coventry bombings in the early 70's caused great hurt. My lifetime goal is to hold no animosity, though it's hard, really hard.

I've no dog in the fight, I get both sides. I grew up and lived in Coventry and spent most of my youth in the Irish quarter, so to speak. I had staunch provo friends and staunch loyalists friends both, and as much as they all tried to make it a big deal, the troubles never made much sense to me personally. I always respected both points of view because if you'd never been in those peoples' shoes, how can you judge?

It's deeper than that really; I lost people that I loved, though the anger left me years ago. As you say, thank God things are so much better now.

I feel like this thread needs a come-back, so I'll see if I can get the ball rolling again...

Every once in a while, you come across an item that just calls to you, and this is one such item. Honestly, this has got to be one of the most interesting things I've ever seen for sale, and I'm happy to own it. This is the original Titan II GLV launch panel from mission control that was used to launch the Gemini missions. The panel was owned by Colin Harrison, who recently passed away. Colin was a man who we all have a lot to thank for the technological advances we made during the golden age of exploration.

Colin finished a degree as mechanical engineer with major studies in thermodynamics and electronics at the University of Virginia. He joined
the American Bosh Arma in Long Island in New York doing electro-mechanical design for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) guidance systems. Colin later worked for Aerojet General in Sacramento, CA, designing and supervising assembly and test firing rocket engines for the Titan ICBM’s. He joined the Martin Marietta Company in Denver, CO after working the engine integration office there for Aerojet. Colin then became test stand manager, chief of test, project manager for the integration of the Titan ICBM into the Strategic Air
Command inventory.

In 1961 he was transferred to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, to be the company project manager for the Gemini Program. At program completion Colin returned to Denver to be the Director of Manned Systems Design. Next, he became Project Manager for the Apollo Telescope Mount which was the center for the electronic brains for the Skylab Space Mission. After launch and completion of mission control activities he was assigned to the Space Shuttle Program where he was project engineer responsible for building the first External Tank and taking it through propulsion tests. In 1980 he became responsible for the external tank at Vandenberg Air Force base where the plan was for the Air Force to fly their shuttle missions. He eventually became operations director for the shuttle launch pad. At the termination of the Air Force shuttle program he became Director of International Spaceports in Denver, Colorado, a position he held at his retirement.

I'm now in the process of trying to track down a few original photos of the piece, so I can have "dummy" lights reinstalled that will work when plugged in, so the panel can cycle through a red/green indicator pattern. If anyone knows a good custom electrical person, please let me know!

Sorry to disappoint, Jon, but that control panel is not from any Titan II missile system. Note the upper right-hand quadrant--Propellant System." There are lights for "fuel," and for "LOX" (liquid oxygen). The Titan II burned a hypergolic (self-igniting) combination, nitrogen tetroxide for its oxidizer and Aerozine 50 (a 50/50 mix of hydrazine and UDMH) for its fuel.
Still a very cool piece.

Thanks for the info David. Any idea what it could be from then? It was labeled Titan 2 on the back of the frame, so I think the family assumed as such, and frankly I wouldn't have known otherwise!

Edited to add, I guess it could be an Atlas or maybe more likely, a Titan 1 launch panel. Titan 1 would also make sense since it was a Martin project.

It could be Titan I.

WOW is all I can say. Thanks for bumping this thread...here are a couple items of mine:

Early 20th century Regina Nickelodeon...it WORKS too!!
https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8356/2...79717931_z.jpgUntitled by John English, on Flickr
https://c8.staticflickr.com/9/8386/2...0841241d_z.jpgUntitled by John English, on Flickr
https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7472/2...25303f8e_z.jpgUntitled by John English, on Flickr

This sword has been in my family for a few generations now...Miller is the family name on my mom's side, so it's ours...just not sure of the exact origin.

https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8023/2...bd81ee3e_z.jpgUntitled by John English, on Flickr
https://c3.staticflickr.com/9/8123/2...e6954a84_z.jpgUntitled by John English, on Flickr
https://c7.staticflickr.com/9/8242/2...9625b574_z.jpgUntitled by John English, on Flickr

Non-sport bobbing heads
 

As you guys may know- we love our old sports bobbing heads. We also love the non-sport dolls. Non-sport dolls can be of political figures, monsters, comic characters, T.V. personalities, advertising and more. Below are a few from our current auction.

Enjoy!
Lou
www.insidetheparkcollectibles.com

Love these great pieces of americana
 

Here is a piece of the first transatlantic cable. This piece most likely did not carry signals, but was harvested from left over stock that didn't make it into production.

Either way, I think it's a neat piece

And a neat circus poster that caught my eye

Rocketdyne LR-101 liquid-fueled (LOX/RP-1) rocket engine. Two of these were the vernier engines on the Atlas missile. Produces 1000 lbs thrust.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...pswohjqqka.jpg

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...psclf3i1i7.jpg

Christopher Columbus?
 

Picked up the following signature of Cristobal Colon Duque De Veragua. From what little info I am able to find, it seems Cristobal was a relative of Christopher Columbus and was invited / visited the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the New World.

I am guessing the 1893 Chicago fair may be where the signature was acquired?

I thought it was interesting. Love to hear your thoughts?

Out of respect for our veterans today, this is from my military diary collection -

I recently picked up a handwritten diary from a sailor on the light aircraft carrier USS San Jacinto (CVL-30). Very rare in that it has one of the only contemporary accounts of the downing of future president George H.W. Bush's Avenger fighter bomber, and his subsequent rescue by submarine. This topic has always followed Bush to this day - did he do enough to try to save his two fellow airmen (there were three aviators that flew in this particular aircraft and Bush was the pilot)?

Rob M.
(Always looking for historically interesting diaries)

"Sept. 2nd. Today we are raiding same islands again. Yesterday one of our fighters was shot in the tail with 40 mm over the island but today was a disastrous one for us. A fighter taking off this morn fell in the water, the pilot was saved , one coming in was waved off & as he zoomed up his motor stopped, & he caught the top of the barrier, swerved into a 40 mm gun mount, bent the barrels & wrecked the plane so badly it was shoved over the side, the pilot was unhurt. One of our TBMs was shot down over the island, one man was seen parachuting into the sea, nothing known of the other two, presumably killed. Quite a bad day for the San Jac.

Sept. 3rd. Full dope on yesterdays raid, our TBMs dropped 12 tons of bombs on Chichi Jima, destroying a radio station. Very heavy anti-aircraft fire was met. Mr. Bush pilot of the TMB shot down was rescued by a sub of ours. Our fighter planes hit 3 two-engine & 7 single-engine planes on Iwo Jima airfield, also one of our pilots on a photographic mission discovered a hidden air field on Iwo Jima covered with planes, so the Big E sent a squadron of planes & wrecked it. In addition our planes wrecked a fuel storage tank & silenced by exploding it, an AA gun position. Ha Ha Jima was also raided. This evening ends our operations up here. About an hour ago a group of B-24 four engine bombers came over (37 of them). One was hit & smoking & they contacted us to stand by while the crew bailed out. I stood on the flight deck & seen them, eleven men, all landed safe in the water & destroyers rescued them. Quite a site."


Wikipedia article on Bush during WWII - Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Bush decided to join the US. Navy,[1] so after graduating from Phillips Academy in 1942, he became a naval aviator at the age of 18.[4] After completing the 10-month course, he was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Naval Reserve at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi on June 9, 1943, just three days before his 19th birthday, which made him the youngest naval aviator to that date.

He was assigned to Torpedo Squadron (VT-51) as the photographic officer in September 1943.[1] The following year, his squadron was based on the USS San Jacinto as a member of Air Group 51, where his lanky physique earned him the nickname "Skin".[5] During this time, the task force was victorious in one of the largest air battles of World War II: the Battle of the Philippine Sea.

After Bush's promotion to Lieutenant (junior grade) on August 1, 1944, the San Jacinto commenced operations against the Japanese in the Bonin Islands. Bush piloted one of four Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft from VT-51 that attacked the Japanese installations on Chichijima.[6] His crew for the mission, which occurred on September 2, 1944, included Radioman Second Class John Delaney and Lieutenant Junior Grade William White.[1] During their attack, the Avengers encountered intense anti-aircraft fire; Bush's aircraft was hit by flak and his engine caught on fire. Despite his plane being on fire, Bush completed his attack and released bombs over his target, scoring several damaging hits.[1] With his engine ablaze, Bush flew several miles from the island, where he and one other crew member on the TBM Avenger bailed out of the aircraft;[7] the other man's parachute did not open.[1] Bush waited for four hours in an inflated raft, while several fighters circled protectively overhead until he was rescued by the lifeguard submarine USS Finback.[1] For the next month he remained on the Finback, and participated in the rescue of other pilots. Several of those shot down during the attack were executed and eaten by their captors.

Attachment 250931

One Canadiana 1st Calgary Stampede pennant 1912 and One Americana 1914 Mardi Gras pennant

And on the music front - Original Woodstock poster, Band used signed snare drum Aerosmith.

And on the political side - Eisenhower and Kennedy

Soviet Union Space & Nuclear Arms Negotiations
 

Not sure if this has much value, but I thought it interesting given the times we are in now.

Have not done the research yet, so not sure what all is going on here (who, what & where etc.) I've got some studying to do! I assume it is real - would love to hear your thoughts?

Neat letter, historically speaking, but probably not of great value IMO. The writer and recipient are not particularly important historical figures nor the topic, in the larger context, but still neat on the smaller scale.

Rob M

Here's my Houdini letter. Dated just 6 months before his death:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4366/...b47b5521fa.jpg

George P Shultz
 

Hi Rob, thank you for the response. That is what I figured, just kinda neat... Here are two more documents that are associated.

This is from a set of 3 letters that I have from a Revolutionary War soldier written in 1776.

Rob M

Front page of letter:

Attachment 287754

Transcription:

Attachment 287755

My collection is almost exclusively sports-related, but I do have a couple of original drawings from the Little House on the Prairie series by legendary illustrator Garth Williams.

Coaches Commode has a Harry Handcuff Houdini forgery😈

So nice to see a great AUTHENTIC autograph of one of the most fascinating people. Great piece!!

USS Liberty
 

I was in the US Navy for 10 years so was drawn to this

Here's another nice piece. This is a 1932 original sketch of Buster Keaton by an artist named Hardie Gramatky. For a little while Gramatky was head animator at Disney. He was also an accomplished water colorist and wrote and illustrated the classic "The Little Toot". I love this drawing. It's got so much emotion:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/...e49c2fa0a3.jpg

2017 Inaugural

I also collect records. Here's my favorite. This is an original French pressing of the White Album on white vinyl. Not shown are the complete posters and inserts. This album has never been played. I bought it from the original owner in France while I was there to study abroad. This was his duplicate that he bought just for show:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4412/...11e7bb9cd9.jpg

That's a great piece. I still have my white album and the posters, heavily played and all posters corner-damaged from taping to walls.

This was an enjoyable thread that has been dormant for a while so I thought I'd wake it up in hopes others had some additional unique and interesting items to post.

I'm a diary collector so I'll put this one out there - It comes from the family of Lt. Jacobson, one of the 16 P-38 pilots that were on the mission to shoot down Yamamoto on April 18, 1943. This is one of the biggest missions in military history, much like the SEALS tracking down and killing Bin Laden. Yamamoto was the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack. The U.S. had cracked the Japanese code and found out his flight path and sent a squadron of P-38 long range fighters to attempt to intercept him...which was like finding a needle in a haystack considering the timing and distance. Amazingly they did find him and shoot him down. The only bad part, as far as the pilots that pulled this off was concerned, was that they were told they would be court-martialed if they told anybody about it because they were afraid that the Japanese would realize they had broken their code. They wanted the Japanese to believe it was just damn luck. So, the story didn't really come out in detail until after the war.

Here is the first page of the entry followed by a transcription.

Rob M.

Attachment 342120

Attachment 342124

Attachment 342123

Picked this up a while back. If it passes authentication I am going to display it with the 1969 Man on the Moon set.Attachment 342127

Mike, I have to say that I am, unfortunately, sceptical of that Apollo 11 signed crew photo.

The style of the Armstrong doesn't match the time period. By 1969, Neil had shortened his signature considerably. The style on the photo you posted, where just about every letter is visible, is the one he used during his early days at NASA in the early-mid 1960s (primarily while he was in the X-15 program).

Steve

Mike, I just found the photo on the below website. It appears to be a pre-print.

http://astroautopens.com/ap_apollo11.shtml


Steve

That is awesome Rob. Here are some pages from my grandfather's war diary around some pretty major events...

Hey Jon, that’s some outstanding material, especially with Normany content! What ship did he serve on? LST?

Rob M

Thanks Rob. He was on attack transport APA-13 Joseph T. Dickman. During WWII, the Dickman was assigned first to the Europe-Africa Middle East Theater, and then was re-assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. The ship earned six battle stars for its service.

Teddy Roosevelt
 

For the Teddy Roosevelt collectors -my original 1907 Indianapolis, Indiana photo & supporters.

For the Military collectors, I recently picked up a small WWII Iwo Jima US battle Flag flown durning the conflict now in the process
of being professional preserved.

Not quite sure what the standard definition of Americana is but would think vintage Star Wars stuff would potentially qualify...just picked up a beautiful Kenner RC Sandcrawler with working electronics, no broken tabs and all but one sticker (missing elevator sticker which I’ve since sourced). These things are not easy to find in this kind of condition and I’m really excited to have something the 8 year old me would have killed for!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...02410ba892.jpg


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Very nice! Also love seeing a baseball player(Yankee player?) in your display case along with a Wampa and Adm. Ackbar.:D Congrats on the pick up!

Mussina signed 8x10. Thanks!


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World's Fair Cinema Player

I always enjoyed this thread and thought it was time to re-visit it.

When I was in junior high (now middle-school?), I remember a classmate bringing in a newspaper his father has saved headlining the attack on Pearl Harbor. I thought having that newspaper was a great piece of history. Years later, I decided to start saving historic headlines, of course starting with the Kennedy assassination. Was cleaning out the garage and came across my box of newspapers and thought I would share some of them here to give this thead a renewed life.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7dc166e333.jpg
I collect some celebrities and bands, my favorite being this one which unfortunately has CJ Ramone rather than DeeDee.


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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d2ce94cb7d.jpg
Scrolled through the thread, lots of WWII stuff. I have morbid curiosity and have this piece


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Longtime collector!
 

Hi, just thought I’d post a pic of some of my goodies non sports.

Non sports
 

Here’s some more goodies. 😂

More stuff
 

Yo joe! He’s a real American hero!

My father had an opportunity to meet Jimmie Haskell in the 60's. I asked him to take an album for him to sign. I was about 14 at the time, so don't judge my choice of albums. For those that don't know, Jimmie was an Emmy/Grammy award winning composer, arranger and conductor for major names like Elvis, Ricky Nelson and Billy Joel.

I was in a business transaction in the 70's with Jimmy Witherspoon. At the conclusion of the transaction, he brought me this album and signed it for me. It's a two-record set, hence the signature on one of the interior pages. Great music.

Hello All,

My name is Mark, I'm new here for a few reasons. I want to learn more from folks that know about vintage baseball. I am also here to learn some things about what I have and to share them as well. Please note none of these items are for sale. I'd like to introduce folks to something I call the "Steele Box".

I believe it's important for people who share information and people who appreciate things like this.

If I am in the wrong place please just say so.

What is the "Steele Box"? I can tell you it is a box similar to a old milk box / storage container, wood handles and made of metal. It's about 18 inches front to back, 22 inches side to side and about 18 to 20 inches deep.
I named it the "Steele Box" because it is basically a time capsule for the 1880's from a Mr. Charles Steele.
Mr Charles Steel was a...
Banker
Firefighter
Railroad Engineer of some sort
Local Baseball Player
Fan of the New York City and local theatre as well
In the box there were...
Copper printing plates, one of which has the signature of George Washington on. Mt Vernon is currently researching it.

The box also had CDV photo's of actresses (Lotta Crabtree) from the California Gold Rush days taken by a well know photographer from New York City named Jeremiah Gurney. He was ranked up there Matthew Brady who happened to be the person who made the cases for Jeremiah's photos early on. As you know Matthew Brady then went on to take the famous photos which he is well known for of President Abraham Lincoln.
Employee time tables from the Lackawanna Railroad, Chicago and others.
Love letters.
A letter that is from a man he knew that was in Cape Horn, South Africa. From what I gather he was trying to evade being captured by the police.
Letters to bring electricity to Newton.
Papers, ledgers, and so on all tied to arranging local Baseball games in the area including New York City in such places as Coney Island.
The baseball team from Newton was made up mostly from the Newton Steamer Co. No. 1, firefighters from that time.
Broadside of the first kidnapping in the United States for ransom, Charles ("Charley") Brewster Ross.
Opera house floor plans from New York City, one of which was torn down and is now where Madison Square Garden is today.
Bill Heads and Broadsides.
Bank Checks
Bank notes that were used as currency before the Federal Reserve been into existence.
....and more. There are over 2,000 pieces of paper (Ephemera) in this box.

As you can see it's overwhelming.

I hope to get the chance to post some of the baseball related papers here in hopes to learn more about them from folks that have knowledge of what I have
For the first post I will include a pic of the box and the riders that I have separated things into.


Thanks,

---Mark

Very cool! How did you acquire the box?

I hope I am allowed to add a link here... This will hopefully give you a better idea of how all of this began.

As for the SF Giants didn't they start off as the Gothams? If so I have a few letters from that time period. I really don't know enough about any of the teams to say for sure if they were the Gothams though. I am learning as I go.

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/he...ele-box.61531/

Here's one more link too...

https://www.antiquers.com/threads/we...ele-box.61542/

You can definitely add links!

Yes, the Giants started out a# the Gothams.

I chase after Civil War images (tintypes & ambrotypes). Here's a few from my collection (note - if you have any you want to sell, contact me).

Rob M

Attachment 458814