Thursday, October 27, 2005

Collections: Ephemera ~ Paper Fans


















Edited to include the image on the top left: Tan Lucy Pez found a link about 666 products. You can find it in the comment section and I recommend that you read it because it is funny. Thanks, Tan Lucy!!

Ephemera refers to paper items, and among the ones I collect are old paper fans, old postcards and matchbook covers. Over the next several weeks, I will be showing my collections. Some other things I collect are frogs, wooden carvings of people, old tin spice and medicine containers and I have a little paper money and coin from other countries. My collecting has slowed down considerably over the last year, as I am reaching a point where I need to pare down - not add!

The fan above was one I HAD to have as soon as I saw it, because my daughter was pregnant with twins at the time, plus I like its sunny, bright color. It advertises a product called "666", which as the reverse proclaims, is good to fight malaria, headaches, neuralgia, minor burns, cuts, sores, and colds and is also good as a laxative and tonic. I wonder what the alcohol content of this one was!

I cannot imagine that "666" was a big seller - given the Biblical connotations of those numbers. Unfortunately, there is no date on this fan, but since 666 predates my time, I am assuming it was from the 30's. Hoss, if you or anyone else from that era remembers this one, I'd appreciate some info.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hoss probably smeared that 666 salve all over his epidermis. That's why he's the devilish way he is now

srp said...

When you said the name of the product, my first thought was the same as yours. Who came up with that brand? LOL.
I remember the fans with a center wooden stick, almost like a paint stirrer and the stapled on paper fans. They always had them at the revivals, on the wooden benches under the tents with the sawdust floor. Sometimes they had a calendar on one side and a picture of Jesus as the Good Shepherd on the other. They were always a life saver in the hot sticky summer heat.
(I feel a Neil Diamond song coming on.)

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Nope, not me. I just became an origami expert last week, so I am way behind the times.

Mike said...

Some how I don't think a product called 666 would sell very well especially today.

Bec said...

Hi Kenju, I didn't know you had twins in the family too! I love this fan, and would definitely have been a 1930s user of 666: what a shame they don't make those remedies like they used to...

Hey, my word verification is Oz Hag (ozhag) - how apt is that!!?

doug said...

Hi Judy! Thanks for dropping by and supporting Eeyore with me... I just posted a huge piece on a family phone call I had earlier tonite and I am beat down now.... lOL The paper fans are cool, I sold three on eBay about three months ago, two minor advertising ones and a funeral parlour from my grandmothers estate stuff circa 1920 - 30 something...... hehehe

w-v time!

"tseoladm" =
"The Sexily Eloquent Older LAD Meanders..."

sage said...

is there a connection between the 666 on the fan and BC comments Wednesday (see my latest blog). I remember those paper fans in churches (seem like funeral homes supplied 'em) back when I was a kid in the south. That musta been in the very early 60s. Neat collections--I don't seriously collect anything, but will pick up old post cards of ships and trains. One day I'm going to display 'em in my home.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see things in your collection. I love nostalgic things of any flavor.

Ramona said...

Very interesting collection. I like that yellow fan...but 666? That's odd, isn't it?!
Here via Michele's!

Anonymous said...

Very pretty. Do you display the fans on the wall?

Duke_of_Earle said...

Just curious, but why did you think it came from the 30s? The pictures of the product are more reminiscent of some of the old ads you see from the 1880s and 1890s. But I don't remember QUITE that far back...

John

Jamie Dawn said...

666 sounds like a wonder. I'd like to have some!
That fan is so neat. I like the pic too.
The things you collect are interesting, and I look forward to seeing more.

TLP said...

Check out this site: http://www.deuceofclubs.com/write/666.htm

Apparently 666 was made by The Monticello Companies, Inc., of Jacksonville, FL.

I love old stuff! I used to have a ton of old valentines that my MIL had been given by her students over the years. I finally gave them to the state museum.

Weary Hag said...

I love the fan collection. My best friend would love them too! She's a fan collector, and better yet she even uses them. She went off to a singing gig in Paris years ago and came home with about four new silk fans. They were to die for!

Panthergirl said...

These are amazing!!! I've always wanted to have some kind of collection... I started a bobblehead one a few years ago, but Lucas pulled the heads off some of them (he was a challenging little boy) so that ended that.

I love the fans, and I'm enjoying all the other stuff too!


Here via michele...but I don't need to be! ;)

dena said...

What a fascinating collection! I've never seen these fans, but they are full of charm and history.

visiting from michele's today.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I love that you collect all these wonderfully interesting things. There was a time I collcted frogs, myself...I was told that in Japan Frogs were good luck where money is concerned...! Have you heard that too? Will you be showing your collections in a particular physical place or here on your blog? Fun and very wonderful to come to your bog!

Gel said...

I use 666 in my email addy for the good reasons you stated because I come from a medical family, not for the Biblical connotations! (I can't help you with the product origins, though.)

I liked learning the word "ephemera." I am a collector of some such things on a a small level. Very interesting post.