The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Thursday December 12th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Thursday December 12th — —

I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Thursday December 12th — —

Another Collection Illustrated

The fascinating essence of collecting is the dynamic starting when one finds an object, and by placing it within the context of other items, creating a new entity: the collection. Whether it’s a set of objects with great similarity or objects that have no apparent connection, within the context of a collection everything goes as long as the objects are brought together by the collector(s). As the Another Something & Company studio, over the years, has become a vault for (an) ever-expanding collection(s), we found it was time to start sharing some of the objects one finds here. And by doing so in an illustrated form, creating a whole new collection which we named: Another Collection illustrated.

Kokeshi doll
A Kokeshi doll is a traditional Japanese doll, originally from northern Japan. They are handmade from wood, have a simple trunk and most of the time an enlarged head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face. The body has a floral design painted in red, black, and sometimes yellow, and covered with a layer of wax. One characteristic of kokeshi dolls is their lack of arms or legs. The bottom is marked with the signature of the artist. This particular Kokeshi is very rare and very oddly shaped. It is part of a small collection of Kokeshi dolls, but a rather large collection of all sorts of wooden dolls. It was acquired in Los Angeles at Tortois General Store.

Maritime flag
A maritime flag is a flag designated for use on ships, boats, and other watercraft. Naval flags are considered important at sea and the rules and regulations for the flying of flags are strictly enforced. The flag flown is related to the country of registration: so much so that the word flag is often used symbolically as a synonym for country of registration. The triangular white flag with red dot is a pennant used by ships at sea and the U.S. Navy, it  refers to the numeral one. This particular flag is part of a significant collection of maritime flags which were acquired via eBay.

The Kaweco Classic Sport ball pen
The Kaweco company has been manufacturing pens and pencils in Germany since 1883. In that year the Heidelberger Federhalterfabrik, translated as ‘dip pen factory’ was launched by Luce Koch and Enßlen Weber in Heidelberg, Germany, as Federhalter-Fabrik, Koch Weber & Co. Several months after the Second World War’s end, on 30th of October 1945, permission was given for continuation of the production of Kaweco pens. By the end of the 1940′s under the management of Friedrich Grube and his sons, Kaweco had at least one major retail store in all larger cities of Europe. In this period Kaweco was unparalleled the most renowned luxury pen producer worldwide. This particular pen was produced in very limited numbers, and in honor of the 1972 Olympic Games in München. It is one of the more cherished specimens out of a large collection of vintage Kaweco pens and was acquired via eBay.

Miniature wooden propeller
A propeller converts rotary motion from piston engines, turboprops or electric motors to provide propulsive force. They may be fixed or variable pitch. Early aircraft propellers were carved by hand from solid or laminated wood with later propellers being constructed from metal. Alberto Santos Dumont was an important early pioneer of the propeller, having designed propellers even before the famous Wright Brothers, for his airships. He applied the knowledge he gained from experiences with airships to make a propeller with a steel shaft and aluminium blades for his 14 bis biplane. Some of his designs used a bent aluminium sheet for blades, thus creating an airfoil shape. They were heavily undercambered, and this plus the absence of lengthwise twist made them less efficient than the Wright propellers. Even so, this was most likely the first use of aluminium in the construction of an airscrew, which later became standardized. This particular miniature wooden propeller is part of a significant collection of similar wooden propellers acquired via eBay.

Westminster Bank Ltd money bag
Leather or canvas money bags with, in this case, a chubb lock were used by all major banks at one point. This leather money bag was produced for, and used by the British Westminster Bank. This was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1834 until its merger into the National Westminster Bank in 1970; it remains a registered company but is at this point dormant. At its prime the bank was considered one of the Big Five, as it expanded during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and took over a number of smaller banking companies. The lockable money bags were used for the transportation of money. This particular bag is part of a large collection of lockable, leather and canvas money bags of banks mostly from the USA and the UK, and was acquired via eBay.

Pride Creations Popsie doll
Popsie dolls, which were also called ‘Push Downs’, are one of the more humurous trends which originated in the mid century. Developed and produced in Japan from 1963 by a company called Pride Creations, these pop-up toys were only made for about a decade and then disappeared from the market. Approximately 175 different styles were made in total. All are quite funny looking and very sarcastic in tone. Some of the dolls have human shapes, but there are also editions of horror creatures, some of which were concepted by Disney’s Rolly Crump. This particular Popsie represents a older lady which shows a little sign reading the words ‘Drop Dead’ when pushed down. It is part of a small collection of Popsie dolls and was acquired via eBay.

All illustrations by Roel Nabuurs at Another Company.