JAPANESE MANHOLE COVERS

I've just returned to Australia from a very busy but fascinating trip to Japan. One thing that stood out to me while I was there was the pride that the Japanese people take in making their surroundings pleasing to the eye. This is obvious in their gardens and temples but even everyday items of life, such as street manhole covers, are considered worthy of receiving the decorative touch. Some were outstanding, almost like works of art.

I'm not sure, but I may have been the only Aussie tourist in Japan that got excited over these decorative manhole covers and who had to keep stopping every 5 minutes to take some photos of them. I kept imagining how great they would look all displayed on my shed back home in Australia. They might even be the ultimate man cave collectable from Japan. Although I'm not sure the Japanese government would look very favourably on anyone trying to stow a few of these in their luggage when they left the country. And just imagine the excess baggage cost you would incur at the airport. Hence I only took photos to share. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Small coloured cover from Tokyo near the Koishikawa Korakuen Garden (one of Tokyo's oldest and best Japanese gardens)

Large brightly coloured cover from Kanazawa featuring the stone lantern from  the famous  Kenrokuen Garden in Kanazawa

The actual stone lantern in Kenrokuen Garden featured on the above cover.

A really nice coloured round cover from Osaka featuring Osaka Castle surrounded by cherry blossoms.

Osaka Castle featured on the cover above

Another nice decorative round cover from the gardens that surround Osaka Castle and again featuring the castle.




Some of the fire services manhole covers are particularly colourful and in some cases pretty cute as well.

No mistaking the purpose of this cover. Nice red fire engine from Osaka.

Cute little yellow firefighter with his fire truck from Toyota (the city near Nagoya, not the car)

Another two small covers which most likely identify water mains.

Another cover from Toyota

Some larger round covers

A decorative cover from Takayama

A very decorative cover from Toyota

A cover from Kyoto

Another Kyoto cover

The last 5 covers are not literally Japanese manhole covers but instead, American manhole covers. These covers are all from Universal Studios in Osaka. Just to add authenticity to the film sets.  

There were still a lot more different manhole covers to see but the ones featured here were probably some of the most interesting. Now, wonder what they do with the old covers when they no longer need them. I'm sure I could find a spot for a few!

Depression Era Cotton Reel Leg Table

I finally went to my first Antique Auction this week. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time but just never seemed to get around to it. So I jumped at the chance when the opportunity arose.

I was interested in a couple of items but only ended up bidding on one of them. There was only one other bidder for the item I wanted (not very serious) so in the end I was able to come home with my first auction win. My prize was a nice piece of Australiana, a small Depression Era table, probably made in the 1920-30s. It has legs made from cotton reels and top and stretchers decorated with pokerwork. Apart from being a little shaky, it's in very good overall condition. Not bad for being about 80 to 90 years old.

Depression era cotton reel and pokerwork table.  The table stands 65cm high with a 18.5cm diameter top.

A bit of an unusual combination, the pokerwork with the black and gold. To me, the black and gold colour scheme gives it a somewhat Egyptian look. Maybe the colour scheme was influenced by the popularity of everything Egyptian that swept the world after Howard Carter's discovery of  King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922.

The legs are each made up of 21 cotton reels threaded on steel rods. Each cotton reel has been painted black and gold and each leg is composed of different size and shaped cotton reels placed in the same order making each leg symmetrical.

The top (and bottom most) cotton reels each have a convex shaped centre.

The stretchers have been joined with lapped joints fixed with screws from below.

Nice floral pokerwork top.

More pokerwork on the stretchers, daffodils this time.

I may not have found a whatnot made of cotton reels but I think that this table is just as good. Again, this little table clearly shows what can be made from whatever materials are at hand. Another fine example of Australian ingenuity from the Depression Era.

And I wonder, if now that I own three items from the Depression Era, it means that I have now started another new collection. What will be next?

Depression Era Ingenuity - Recycling At Its Best (Part 2)

As promised, here is my Depression Era Tool Box that I was lucky enough to find at an Aladdins Fair last year. It has been made out of old kerosene crates and has been fitted out inside with cigarette and chemist tins for the storage of all sorts of bits of hardware.  Just the sort of storage system that every workshop should have. I believe it was discovered under a Queenslander (typical Queensland house) in the inner suburbs of Brisbane.

The tool box is rather crudely made but quite robust. It measures approximately 55cm wide x 36cm deep and 28cm high. Unfortunately, it has some small damage to the drop down front.

The seller presumed that Virtue is the name of the owner. He must have obviously lived in Brisbane. One can only presume that Mr Virtue must have taken this tool box on site with him to warrant the need to write Brisbane on it. Maybe he had his own Handy Man business? We will probably never know.  Both the top and the bottom are marked with FIRE TEST 150º indicating the burning quality of the kerosene that would have originally been in these crates.

One end of the toolbox is made from a Shell kerosene crate. Barely visible now.

But the other end is the crowning glory of the toolbox. A very nice WHITE ROSE OIL kerosene crate end has been used here. What a great picture of a rose and what great colours too.

Each end has a nice crudely hand made metal handle. This also indicates that the toolbox was meant to be moved around with it's owner

A simple hasp and staple latch has been added to the drop down front.

The front drops down to reveal two crudely made slide out shelves. There is also a space below them for some tools.

Another view of the box with the sliding shelves partly out.

Top shelf revealing some of the many containers fixed to it to store all manner of hardware.

Top shelf completely removed from the toolbox.

Tins opened to reveal their contents.

Lots of nice screws. Solid brass ones aren't cheap to buy these days.

More screws and some small round wooden boxes that may have originally been pill boxes.

Below are some photos of individual tins. They are not in the best condition (although some not to bad) but are a good representation of what would have been available in the 1920s and 30s. The first group are all tobacco tins.

HAVELOCK Flake Cut PURE FRAGRANT TOBACCO tin

REFEREE FLAKE CUT TOBACCO tin

CHAMPION TOBACCO FLAKE CUT tin

Yankee Doodle FLAKE CUT tobacco tin

T. C. WILLIAMS Cos. WELCOME NUGGET tobacco tin

There is also a surprisingly large variety of pastille, jube and butterscotch tins. These appeal to me more as I collect chemist items. Below are a few photos of these individual tins.

JONE"S ANTISEPTIC THROAT PASTILLES tin

SIGMA PASTILLE tin

Henderson's Sweets WEE MACGREEGORS BUTTER SCOTCH tin (This is one of my favourites)

MacRobertson's SUPERIOR Butter Scotch tin

Henderson's VOICE JUBES tin

G. HUDSON EUMENTHOL JUJUBES tin

There is also one R. BELL & Co VESTA box fixed to the top sliding shelf.

R. BELL & Co VESTAS tin

On the second sliding shelf were a few odd containers. These were just loose and weren't fixed to the shelf.

 Small Wulfing's Formamint FOR Sore Throat tin

Nice clean Vaseline CAMPHOR ICE tin

And a BAUER & BLACK ADHESIVE TAPE spool that was now being used to house a string line.

What to some may only be a dirty old box of bits and pieces, is to me a thing of beauty! I can only imagine the many things that this tool box (and its owner) must have been involved in building or repairing early last century. The stories it could tell if it could only speak!