Thimble Psycho Gone Fishin'

Taking two weeks off. Mmmmm. . .

Notorious thimble mule nabbed!

The New York Times, 5 April 1870, p. 3.

. . .and a Happy Bloomsday to everyone!

Checks in the Mail

The items pictured above--the checks, checkbook cover, and address labels--are some of the things one can have personalized through Checks in the Mail, a mail order/internet company through which one can get what used to be called "designer checks" (maybe they still are--I just don't hear the term so much). You can pick your own picture (and do a better job of centering it than I did) and choose from about five different styles of checks, including some Disney-themed ones.
You need a JPEG, bitmap, or TIFF image, less than 4 megabytes, between 400 pixels and 4064 pixels wide and between 420 pixels and 2704 pixels high.
The prices for the customized items are:

• Duplicate checks: $17.99 for 1 box, $35.98 for 2 boxes, $71.96 for 4 boxes.
• Single checks: $15.99 for 1 box, $31.98 for 2 boxes, $63.96 for 4 boxes.
• Fabric Checkbook Cover: $16.99.
• Address Labels (set of 144): $9.99

Happy Flag Day!

What is Goofbay?

In the last week I've made minor changes to the layout of this blog. I moved the link to The Breast Cancer Site to the top of my links so that those who get here by clicking Next Blog>> will see it and might click on it before scurrying past the freakish thimble collector blog to something more interesting to them. I deleted the cumbersome Yahoo! "Translate this Page" box I had at the bottom of the sidebar and replaced it with the little flag links just beneath the title box at the top of the page. Again, so passersby can figure out what's up in their own language before they mosey along. (Alas, no Irish flag to translate into Irish!)
The third change I made was to delete the rolling eBay search, which made downloading the page really slow, and which leaves the bottom of the page to Goofbay search box (see above, right; use at bottom of page). So what is Goofbay? Goofbay is a search tool to find stuff being sold on eBay by people who either cannot spell or type as I do: very badly. For example, some people spell thimble as thimbel. Or thimbell. Or they spell the word thimble correctly but really can't type very well at all and don't go back and check themselves even though they really should. (The italicized part above was originally typed as: raekky can't typr very well a t all and don;t go back anf ckeck themselves eveb thugh they really shouf;.) So, Goofbay will search most of the boo-boos for you just in case some special treasure is hiding under the label of thmible or timble. They have other eBay tools: Negative Feedback Checker, Sellers Sold Items & Turnover, Regular Bidder Checker, Users 30 Day Bid List, and eBay Fees Calculator. Remember that the site is British, so it you are not British you might want to click on the appropriate flag at the top of the page just in case you miss something at eBay.com or eBay.ca or eBay.wherever.
There are similar sites to Goofbay. Google eBay misspelling and you''ll find several. IDA Express and Bargain Checker don't have as many variations in spelling errors, and came up with fewer, and completely different, listings for thimble last time I checked. In any case, Goofbay has the blog widget, so I used Goofbay.

La Folie des Dés à Coudre

This book, La Folie des Dés à Coudre, by Frédérique Crestin-Billet, is available through the French website Sajou, which has all sorts of lovely sewing accessories (I especially like their scissors). The title is roughly translated at the site as "Mad About Thimbles." It is paperback, sort of tiny--but not teeny tiny--(6"x6"), and 384 pages, and written in French (bien sûr!). The cost is 15.50€ (approx. US$20.62), plus S/H. One might also purchase this book through the American website, The French Needle, which also has many lovely sewing/needlework accessories, for US$26.00 (sorry, the book will still be in French).
Mme Crestin-Billet has also written a book, La Folie des Ciseaux, about scissors.
Sajou also has its own porcelain "souvenir" thimble in a variety of colors for 12.00€ (approx. US$16.00) each, plus a few other thimbles including some sterling repros from Spain for 30.00-40.00€ (I'm tired of converting Euros).

Tea will be served.

Oddment? Is an oddment like a tchotchke? A trinket?
I like the idea of a Barbaric profusion of thimbles.

Maritime Museum of San Diego

This little pewter thimble is available through the Maritime Museum of San Diego (CA), which is home to several old, historic ships, including an 1898 steam ferry, Berkeley; a 1904 steam yacht, Medea; and "the world’s oldest active ship," the Star of India. They also have some fine replicas, particularly the Californian, the state of California's official Tall Ship, and the H.M.S Surprise, a replica of an eighteenth century Royal Navy frigate.
For loads of money, "established"* groups or individuals may rent out the Berkeley, the Star of India, and the Surprise, and the Californian may likewise be chartered to sail. The thimble, above left, is $7.99 , plus S/H.
The boat (OK, ship) depicted atop the thimble is the Star of India.

The Maritime Museum of San Diego
1492 North Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA 92101
Ph.: (619) 234-9153
Hours: Open every day.
9 a.m.-8 p.m. Labor Day to Memorial Day.
9 a.m.-9 p.m. Memorial Day to Labor Day, inclusive.

*"Established" here would include groups or individuals with loads of money.

Lost in Space World

This thimble is from Space World and features the "official STS-121 space shuttle mission emblem," with the names of the seven astronauts from that mission: Mark E. Kelly, Stephanie D. Wilson, Piers J. Sellers, Thomas Reiter, Michael E. Fossum, Lisa M. Nowak, and Steven W. Lindsey. Space World has all kinds of space exploration collectibles. The thimble shown is $4.99, no extra charge for S/H.
There are other thimbles for sale, that may be similar but do not have pictures, such as:

• Apollo-Soyuz Program Thimble ($ 5.99)
• Gemini 9 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• Mercury 7 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• Skylab 2 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• STS-103 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• STS-107 Thimble ($ 5.99)
• STS-41D Thimble ($ 5.99)

I think there may be others, but unfortunately there is NO SEARCH BOX (aaarrrggghhh!) to be found on the website, so these are the ones I found by just noodling around the site. They didn't have one for Apollo 11, the first moon landing, but they did have the Junior Astronaut Wings! Yay! There are about a zillion embroidered patches available.

Augusta Sewing Before a Window

Augusta Sewing Before a Window.
Mary Cassatt. 1922.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York (from the Collection of James Stillman, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman).
So, there is isn't any discernible thimble in this painting. The point of my posting it here is not that it may or may not feature a thimble, but that it is one of several free e-cards one can send courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn. Granted, the vast majority of the e-cards depict knitting and crocheting, but they are all lovely, free e-cards with great paintings and illustrations of (mostly) women crafting with their hands. They also have free e-cards with "The Art of Lion Brand," which have more whimsical depictions of yarn crafts.

Truman Out-thimbles Dewey!

(Again, click on image to enlarge)
The Dallas Morning News,
12 July 1948.

Kindly avert your eyes if you're under 21.

This little souvenir thimble is from shopcaesars.com, the online gift shop for, I assume, Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, though I know they have a casino in Stateline, NV (south shore of Lake Tahoe) and possibly one in Reno (?) or Atlantic City (?), so I s'pose one could get this thimble even if one didn't care for Las Vegas because it's so insufferably, hellishly, hot. This thimble is $8.00. I think it's pewter, but it doesn't say so at the website.
What it does say at the website is, "Harrah's (parent company of Caesar's) welcomes those 21 years of age and older to our website."
If they're referring to some other website, then perhaps this pleasantly-phrased restriction is suitable. However, as far as I can tell, the shopcaesars.com website consists solely of pages for souvenirs for Caesar's Palace, the Flamingo, and Paris Las Vegas. Assuming the "Paris" stuff only depicts the Las Vegas casino/capital of France and not the guest of the County of Los Angeles, it should all be tame enough for those under 21.

History of a Thimble

Dallas Morning News,
16 March 1893.

Patent: No. D52012: Thread Cutting Thimble

Patent No. D52012, Theresa B. Gates, Richmond, CA,
7 May 1912.

Heavens to Betsey!

The (London) Times, 20 July 1787,
page 4, issue 799, column A.

Woman Sewing

Woman Sewing.
Caroline Augusta Lord, ca. late 1890s
Oil on canvas.
University of Cincinnati Fine Arts Collection.

I have tried to find works of art with thimbles, but I am amazed at how many pieces there are from different cultures and in different media showing women sewing. I think I would like to write/edit/publish a book on that: Depictions of women sewing throughout history. Maybe there already is something like that? Gotta check it out.

Update: In Praise of the Needlewoman: Embroiderers, Knitters, Lacemakers and Weavers in Art. Hello! Yay! Still, I don't know how much sewing is shown. Hmm. . .

Craft in America

This program, "Craft in America," has aired over the last two nights on PBS (at least here in the San Francisco Bay Area). Absolutely wonderful. It profiles a large number of artists in clay, wood, metal, glass, and fiber. Jewelry makers, ceramicists, wood turners. Craft artists of every ilk. All beautiful work. (How do they not worry about rent? What would I do with my life if I didn't have to worry about rent?)
Anyway, the DVD is being released this coming Tuesday*, June 5th, wherever such things are sold, with the companion book not being released until October 9, 2007.

*New DVDs, Cds, and books are now released on Tuesdays, except for Harry Potter stuff, which gets released when and how J.K Rowling wants it released. In the case of the next book, however, I think she completely missed the boat. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (book 7) is being released on July 21st, 2007. It should be released on (Duh!) 7/7/07.

Catching up on some eBay silver thimble auctions. . .

Peter Swingler Girl In A Straw Hat enamel & silver thimble.
Reserve not met: Highest Bid: US$204.06; 9 bids, starting at US$10.45.
17 April 2007

Simons Bros. Sterling Silver thimble: Washington, D.C., 1893 original.
US$305.99; 10 bids starting at US$12.01.
30 April 2007.

Webster Sterling Silver Cherub/Angels thimble.
US$255.01; 14 bids, starting at US$35.09.
2 May 2007.
Erroneously identified in listing as from Wallace; from description of mark it is Webster.
French Garlands, Flowers, and Bows Sterling Silver thimble.
US $150.00; 7 bids, starting at US$9.99.
30 April 2007.

A Stitch in Time Save Nine thimble.
US$245.93; 24 bids, starting at US $25.37.
3 May 2007.

Two Upcoming Auctions

Bonhams, Knightsbridge:
12 June 2007: The Knightsbridge Sale
Lot No.: 192; Sale No.: 14903
"A good collection of late 19th / early 20th century Mauchlinware items all with printed views of seaside and touring towns and cities, comprising a large egg shaped wool or string holder printed with views of Southport, another small egg shaped holder for Shakespeare's House, a barrel money box for Walton-on-Naze, a castle money box for Victorian Pier, Folkstone, a rectangular castle money box for Hyde Pier, a plain rectangular money box printed with a Highlander, a large medicine glass holder for Totland Bay, Isle of Wight, two smaller holders for Burns Cottage and Hunstanton Pier, a mushroom darner for Burns Cottage, a reel holder for the Jetty, Yarmouth, a miniature reel holder for Stirling Castle, two thimble cases for the Dripping Well and Shakespeare's House, a reel holder for Thirlstone Castle, an egg shaped reel holder for Stirling Castle, a pin cushion for Harbour Bridge, a thimble box for Lovers Seat, a needle case for Kirk Bradden, five variouus pin holders, two needle books, a hexagonal reel box, a minature tazza for Alloway Kirk, six napkin rings and three other pieces, (38 approximately)"
Estimate: £1,200 - 1,500

Christie's, Amsterdam:
14 June 2007: SILVER, JUDAICA, RUSSIAN WORKS OF ART AND OBJECTS OF VERTU.
Lot No.: 0153; Sale No.: 2743
A collection of various silver and silver-mounted boxes, snuff-boxes and other objects.
"Various makers and dates, 19th and 20th Century, mainly Dutch, some unmarked.
Comprising eleven boxes of various shapes and with different decoration, two silver-mounted tortoiseshell boxes, six pincases, three thimbles and various other objects, marked on bodies, bases and covers."
13.5 cm. long and smaller.
690 gr. (37).

Frankly, my dear. . .

This scene from the film Gone With the Wind shows Gerald O'Hara (Thomas Mitchell) looking through his late wife, Ellen's, sewing box, holding up her earbobs, right after we first hear him speak of her as still being alive. Scarlett has just figured out that her father has become mentally unstable. He has her gold thimble on his left-hand pinkie. This scene in the book is different, with no reference to Ellen's thimble. There are only four thimble references in the novel, quoted below.
A lot of the sociological writings I've read regarding references to thimbles in art and film and literature take a feminist stance as to what thimble-wearing in represents: Patriarchy feels Woman is weak and must be protected by its own contrived devices. Or: Patriarchy is dulling the sensation of Woman's finger in the guise of protecting her but really just controlling her sexuality (Huh?). Or: Woman is either (A) oppressed and recoiling from her life into a capitalist-male-created thimble-shell, or (B) empowered and seizing control of her life by "donning her armor" and seizing economic opportunities in the workforce. Of course, an artist can use any symbol for any reason, including any of the foregoing. I don't think that Margaret Mitchell or Victor Fleming or David O. Selznick had such things in mind.
I do think Ellen O'Hara's gold thimble sort of posthumously personifies her, in both the book and the film. Practical and dutiful, yet elegant and uncommon. But then again, sometimes a thimble is just a thimble.Chapter 3, p. 41. [Scarlett has just returned to Tara from Atlanta, to find that her mother has died.]:

Scarlett had never seen her mother's back touch the back of any chair on which she sat. Nor had she ever seen her sit down without a bit of needlework in her hands, except at mealtime, while attending the sick or while working at the bookkeeping of the plantation. It was delicate embroidery if company were present, but at other times her hands were occupied with Gerald's ruffled shirts, the girls' dresses or garments for the slaves. Scarlett could not imagine her mother's hands without her gold thimble or her rustling figure unaccompanied by the small negro girl whose sole function in life was to remove basting threads and carry the rosewood sewing box from room to room, as Ellen moved about the house superintending the cooking, the cleaning and the wholesale clothes-making for the plantation.

Chapter 26, p. 440. [A Union soldier has just arrived at Tara and has found Ellen O'Hara's sewing box.]:

"Who's there?" cried a nasal voice and she stopped on the middle of the stairs, the blood thudding in her ears so loudly she could hardly hear him. "Halt or I'll shoot!" came the voice.
He stood in the door of the dining room, crouched tensely, his pistol in one hand and, in the other, the small rosewood sewing box fitted with gold thimble, gold-handled scissors and tiny gold-topped acorn of emery. Scarlett's legs felt cold to the knees but rage scorched her face. Ellen's sewing box in his hands. She wanted to cry: "Put it down! Put it down, you dirty--" but words would not come. She could only stare over the banisters at him and watch his face change from harsh tenseness to a half-contemptuous, half-ingratiating smile.

Chapter 26, p. 443. [Scarlett has killed the Union soldier; Scarlett and Melanie are looking through the dead soldier's belongings.]:

The trouser pockets yielded nothing except a candle end, a jackknife, a plug of tobacco and a bit of twine. Melanie removed from the knapsack a small package of coffee which she sniffed as if it were the sweetest of perfumes, hardtack and, her face changing, a miniature of a little girl in a gold frame set with seed pearls, a garnet brooch, two broad gold bracelets with tiny dangling gold chains, a gold thimble, a small silver baby's cup, gold embroidery scissors, a diamond solitaire ring and a pair of earrings with pendant pear-shaped diamonds, which even their unpracticed eyes could tell were well over a carat each.
"A thief!" whispered Melanie, recoiling from the still body. "Scarlett, he must have stolen all of this!"
"Of course," said Scarlett. "And he came here hoping to steal more from us."

Chapter 27, p. 467. [Union soldiers are at Tara, scavenging for food and items of value.]:

"Nothin' but cotton in the cabins. We set fire to it."
For a brief instant Scarlett saw the long hot days in the cotton field, felt again the terrible ache in her back, the raw bruised flesh of her shoulders. All for nothing. The cotton was gone.
"You ain't got much, for a fac', have you, lady?"
"Your army has been here before," she said coolly.
"That's a fac'. We were in this neighborhood in September," said one of the men, turning something in his hand.
"I'd forgot."
Scarlett saw it was Ellen's gold thimble that he held. How often she had seen it gleaming in and out of Ellen's fancy work. The sight of it brought back too many hurting memories of the slender hand which had worn it. There it lay in this stranger's calloused dirty palm and soon it would find its way North and onto the finger of some Yankee woman who would be proud to wear stolen things. Ellen's thimble!

I appreciate Scarlett's sentimentality about her mother's thimble, but she might want to consider her own pride in wearing things acquired from the proceeds of stolen labor.