The weirdest museum you have ever been in..

In The Sticks said:
Not that I recall, EM. I bet they are pretty. The structure and surface of coal can be quite attractive.

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I love the folk art that people make with whatever materials are at hand. Just so talented.
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Are those coal sculptures? I've never seen them before.
 

Aunt Marg said:
Are those coal sculptures? I've never seen them before until now.
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Yup.

Here's one that's not polished.

iu


I get so jealous of people with such talent.

I can build things like mantles and appliance racks, but nothing along the lines of anything artistic.

ps: Granny Pantie Power??????? LOLOLOL!!!!!!!
 

In The Sticks said:
Yup.

Here's one that's not polished.

iu


I get so jealous of people with such talent.

I can build things like mantles and appliance racks, but nothing along the lines of anything artistic.
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Wow! Outstanding! Can't believe I've lived for 56 years and until now, never heard of coal sculptures.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Wow! Outstanding! Can't believe I've lived for 56 years and until now, never heard of coal sculptures.
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I'm not familiar with the industry north of the border.

You got me wondering. Here is where it's still produced in the states:

Us_coal_regions_1996.png


Here's what Wiki says of it in Canada:

Most of Canada's coal mining occurs in the West of the country. British Columbia operates 9 coal mines, Alberta 9, Saskatchewan 3 and New Brunswick one. Nova Scotia operates several small-scale mines, Westray having closed following the 1992 disaster there.
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Had I not lived in a coal mining region, I likely would never have encountered it before, either.
 
In The Sticks said:
I'm not familiar with the industry north of the border.

You got me wondering. Here is where it's still produced in the states:

Us_coal_regions_1996.png


Here's what Wiki says of it in Canada:



Had I not lived in a coal mining region, I likely would never have encountered it before, either.
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Surprisingly, we live in a coal producing region, yet coal sculpture (as far as I know) is non-existent. I'm just giving thought to the vast number of antique, second-hand, and thrift stores I've visited over the decades, and not one had such carvings, which seems odd to me knowing coal is right here in our back and front yard (figuratively speaking).
 
Aunt Marg said:
Surprisingly, we live in a coal producing region, yet coal sculpture (as far as I know) is non-existent. I'm just giving thought to the vast number of antique, second-hand, and thrift stores I've visited over the decades, and not one had such carvings, which seems odd to me knowing coal is right here in our back and front yard (figuratively speaking).
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Here's a carved bear supposedly made out of Alberta coal.

I just read that coal carving began as a way for miners to make money with the Great Depression hit. Apparently collecting is popular enough that there are knock-offs out there...things that are molded and compressed, rather than carved by hand.

You and I continue to find things we have in common. I love second-hand shops of all types. Forty years ago I used to frequent a block of houses that were all occupied by second hand stores of varying types. I got to know one owner well enough that if he got something he thought I would be interested in, he would call me to come look before he put it out for sale.
 
In The Sticks said:
Here's a carved bear supposedly made out of Alberta coal.

I just read that coal carving began as a way for miners to make money with the Great Depression hit. Apparently collecting is popular enough that there are knock-offs out there...things that are molded and compressed, rather than carved by hand.

You and I continue to find things we have in common. I love second-hand shops of all types. Forty years ago I used to frequent a block of houses that were all occupied by second hand stores of varying types. I got to know one owner well enough that if he got something he thought I would be interested in, he would call me to come look before he put it out for sale.
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Now that's the way to do it!

That's what I call having the inside scoop! :)
 
My sister was telling me about a strange little museum she went to in London a long time ago.

You know all those cutesy birthday cards with kittens in a basket and dogs sitting on bicycles and the like? Well, they're computer-generated now but before that, there were people who prepared taxidermied animals in all sorts of poses to use in pictures for the greeting cards.

This tiny "museum", which was in a house, had hundreds of these stuffed animals. I guess they had to do something with them, so they put them on display.
 
In The Sticks said:
Here's a carved bear supposedly made out of Alberta coal.

I just read that coal carving began as a way for miners to make money with the Great Depression hit. Apparently collecting is popular enough that there are knock-offs out there...things that are molded and compressed, rather than carved by hand.

You and I continue to find things we have in common. I love second-hand shops of all types. Forty years ago I used to frequent a block of houses that were all occupied by second hand stores of varying types. I got to know one owner well enough that if he got something he thought I would be interested in, he would call me to come look before he put it out for sale.
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As beautiful as they are, I can't believe what coal carvings go for.
 
Aunt Marg said:
As beautiful as they are, I can't believe what coal carvings go for.
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I don't know if you get "Antiques Road Show" up north, but it's a traveling venue where people bring in their possessions, oddities and heirlooms to be evaluated and professionally appraised. One episode aired last night. A guy had a Ute Native American blanket woven by Navajos (I wish more had been said regarding that connection.) It was a very early simple example, handed down by dirt-poor relatives. This episode was flashbacks to prior appraisals (at the time his blanket appraised for $500,000) and showed how appraised values have since changed (now worth $1,000,000)

One thing that brings surprising values are folk art objects like these coal carvings. There's a big market, and the stuff was made by hands that shall never be identified.

It's rather fascinating. The interesting thing is that much of it has little value beyond its native region.
 
In The Sticks said:
I don't know if you get "Antiques Road Show" up north, but it's a traveling venue where people bring in their possessions, oddities and heirlooms to be evaluated and professionally appraised. One episode aired last night. A guy had a Ute Native American blanket woven by Navajos (I wish more had been said regarding that connection.) It was a very early simple example, handed down by dirt-poor relatives. This episode was flashbacks to prior appraisals (at the time his blanket appraised for $500,000) and showed how appraised values have since changed (now worth $1,000,000)

One thing that brings surprising values are folk art objects like these coal carvings. There's a big market, and the stuff was made by hands that shall never be identified.

It's rather fascinating. The interesting thing is that much of it has little value beyond its native region.
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We sure do! Love the show!

OMG, I remember the episode you speak of related to the native Blanket!
 
We went to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum in Atlantic City. Crazy and odd stuff in there but nothing spectacular. I'm glad we got the senior discount.
 
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