Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail by Frederick Warne & Co. 1954

Angry Beaver has always had an eye for a fine looking rabbit, so when Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail came into the shop he was all like “Hi ladies.”

Creations of Beatrix Potter that they are (though “licensed by copyrights” to Frederick Warne & Co. 1954 in Beswick England in this incarnation), they were having nothing to do with a low-down no-account probable marmot. Though . . . Angry Beaver is very persuasive. I mean, he can actually say “You’re saying no, but you want to say yes,” with a straight face. Mopsy might, in fact, just be pretending to look for the bus.

Someone, please, save the bunnies. They’re in excellent condition.

Pony Beer Coasters: an analysis of the portrayal of dominance & submission in animal/human interactions

What is it with snide beer coasters? They make fun of party guests or they make fun of ponies. Can we never escape the patriarchal dictates of having to perpetually role play either dominance or submission?

Here we have the pony as folded-up futon with parts of a hay bale attached to front and rear end. I think those legs came off one of the tables we couldn’t sell. Owner: short, angry, foul mouthed. (Yeah, ok, in a little pain.)

Pony with stringy neck possessed of confusion which denotes sentience. Owner: short, angry, foul mouthed.

Height/weight appropriate pony in state of not inconsiderable terror.  Owner: short, angry, foul mouthed.

Inflated pony, possibly inflated with helium. (Animal experimentation=bad.) Owner: short, in trouble, possibly angry and foul mouthed.

Pony: angry. (Would you be at this point?) Owner: short, refreshingly terrified.

Pony: very well fed and royally pissed off. Owner: short, young, small, frightened.

As the ponies gain power, the owners get younger, weaker, portrayed as the human version of a kitten. Don’t fall for it. When the ponies rise, you want to be on the winning side.

We’re #3,240,435! But wait there’s more (MCM Sofa and Chair).

According to Alexa we’re# 3,240,435 in their website popularity ranking. Evil Empire here we come!

While we’re waiting to take over the world we’re going to kick back in this great mid-century modern tufted Naugahyde vinyl sofa that we got in over the weekend . Luckily for us, on those odd moments when we feel that sprawling on the couch isn’t  dignified enough for a future Darth, we have a matching swiveling armchair.

Both pieces are in great condition.  $225 for the sofa, $145 for the chair.

Angry Beaver on Edge

Angry Beaver always thought he’d really enjoy being lifted aloft by angels. Or putti. Or even cherubs. Or really any kind of winged creature–except eagles. Some childhood events shape more than scar. But now that his life is some kind of endless fast float with everyone drifting in and out and about the commune–Sorry the dog keeps taking off the busk his way around the country, Reynard’s got an iphone he answers in the middle of every conversation, and the peeps are planning a tour of all the state fairs–he’s not so sure. Even some of the mutants are taking trips to New York to do spots for reality television. Floating feels too much like being on edge. Happy Dog bores him. He dreams of Vegas every night.

—

Wingless putti made of pot metal who has sacrificed his hands to hold up a fluted candy bowl.

Carol Grigg, Bringing Hejira Home, Framed Print from Editions Gallery

They are, of course, of the same size and tint (and much less yellow) in reality.

Two piece framed print from Editions Gallery, Portland Oregon.

Dimensions W = 80cm H = 62cm for each (including frame).

Apologies for the bad photography. We need better lighting in the Estate Store. Any electricians out there willing to volunteer their services?

Vintage Grindley England Creampetal Dishes

Thirty-three piece Grindley England dish set, Helen pattern on creampetal form. Lovely dish set for an intimate Thanksgiving.

Know Your Shakespeare?

Four volume set of Shakespeare’s works. Complete and unabridged with notes and glossary. Featuring illustrations by Warren Chappell.

Where would your head have to be for you to say “Oh, my beauty, dead in my brother’s arms, you don’t look as half as good as you did when you were alive.” Of course, she’s not really dead. And neither is she Fidele or a he. Maybe crazy plot lines make for crazy characters. O, Cymbeline.

Yeah, you can find the text on the internet, but it’s easier to read when you have the books. Or cannibalize the volumes and make holiday greeting cards from the illustrations.

Golden lads and girls all must,

As books and chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Vincent van Gogh

Matted framed print of The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum by Vincent van Gogh. Measures 25.25 inches across and 31 inches high including frame.

For a few years there was a French restaurant downtown that was as close to perfect as you can get in this world. My partner and I would sit outside over lunch and discuss how much we had to make to be able to come there every day. I would have transformed myself into Reynard and stolen sausage from the starving dog Wackerlos if it brought me enough to buy dinner there afterwards. Strawberries drizzled in chocolate. Mussels. Duck confit. Glass upon glass of good red wine. Crème brûlée.

Pretty in Pink Ballerina Dancer Print

As an artifact of the pink & silver movement (yeah baby, that frame’s metallic), this object is a delight to the changeling offspring of magpies and those who squeal upon hearing that pink is the new black.

What? You hadn’t heard? Where have you been?

Not steeped in femininity? Not focused on flash and shine? Contemplate those legs. The face may be by L’Oreal, but those thighs could tango until 2am.

Life is short. Dance more.

Pair of Table Lamps Bedecked with Flowers

detail of lamp body

Pair of table lamps with four footed metal bases, white glass lamp bodies strew with flowers, and paneled fabric shades. With the current shades, they measure 35.5 inches high and 16 inches in diameter.

Vintage Chest of Drawers

Vintage chest of drawers in good condition. As you can see from the picture, the lower three drawers are sweater / jeans depth and the upper ones are suited for lingerie / ties / t-shirts. Measures 46 inches tall, 36 inches wide and is a maximum of 20 inches deep at the outermost part of the serpentine bow front. All drawers have the original hardware and work properly–though the lowest top drawer is sometimes stiff.

Settee Upholstered in Faux Leopard

Settee with graceful curved arms and turned legs reupholstered in graduated sheared leopard faux fur.

It might be that you have to wear a short red dress with a full skirt and fitted bodice and spiky high heels to look really good sitting on this–there honestly wasn’t time to check before we took the picture. (Ed isn’t the type of guy who makes sure his lingerie always matches his heels, you know?)

We think it could fit into the Woodstock hippy home, blend with NoPo funky, or be the accent piece to the Alberta artsy look.  Measures 63 inches long, 24 inches wide, and 22.5 inches high at the end of the arms.

Tile Topped Coffee Table

Thirty-four inches square coffee table; sixteen inches tall.

Oak Mission Style Three Tiered Table Bookcase

Vintage oak mission style table. It has three shelves and is 26 1/2 inches tall, 17 inches wide, and 9 1/2 inches deep.

Fun & Games at the Community Warehouse

We hope you made the Community Warehouse / Estate Store open house last night. If you didn’t, we’re sorry we missed you. And we hope to see you soon shopping in the store or donating goods at the warehouse door. We’re in need of small dressers, twin beds, towels, and pots and pans.

We’d like to thank the Oregonian and the Portland Upside for writing about us this week and helping get the word out about what we do.

If you need fun and games for your upcoming gathering we have this eclectic wheel of chance where the queen of hearts marks the winner (card marked Peppermill Reno Nevada on the back). Wheel measures 20 inches in diameter and the total height of this silver painted delight is 27 inches tall.

Mid-Century Modern Oval Surfboard Coffee Table

Could benefit from refinishing. Measures 17.5 inches wide at its widest point, 60 inches long, and 15 inches high.

Blue Ridge Southern Pottery Bowl with Flowers

An approximately 9 1/2  inch diameter vegetable serving bowl by Blue Ridge Southern Pottery. In excellent condition with hand painted (under glaze) blue and yellow flowers. we’re unsure of the pattern name but it is pattern 3871 in the Blue Ridge numbering system.

Cup & Saucer from Uncle John’s Pancake House & the Source of Human Evil

“I have discovered that all human evil comes from this, man’s being unable to sit still in a room.”–Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal lived before the internet.

I say this, in part, because I make a living (of sorts) sitting in a room analyzing web pages and determining different kinds of relevance. Which is to say I look at what the global you look for. Which means I analyze the code of what polite society would have me call porn. I often put the work off for as long as possible which means I’m up until 2am putting in the hours.

When I was a student, way back before I dreamed my computer would offer me payphrases like “informal commitment,” I got to class by walking down long avenues with trees, through a park (where once I thought I’d been shot), under a train bridge, past an International House of Pancakes, beside a highway on-ramp, past a defunct ice company, and into what had once been a bank. At least once a day I walked through this path in the dark.

Every time I went past the International House of Pancakes I looked in. Half the time, I considered stopping–it seemed like a place I could sit alone with a cup of coffee and not be bothered. But I never did. I choose to go and sit alone in my apartment and read Middlemarch, The Death of Artemio Cruz. When I couldn’t read or sleep, I listened to the radio.

Doing so, I heard an interview where a guy told this story: “When I met Lisa at a party, well, we went back to her place. She had her room at the top of the house. I think we stayed up there for three days. I know we didn’t sleep. We didn’t eat. Whatever was going on between us, it had to happen. I was transformed by it. And so was she. Once we went out for breakfast. And then back up to her room. We laughed. We talked. We had to make up new words to continue talking. And then we didn’t talk. Hours we just were with each other. It was spiritual. We had this work we had to do. [Long pause. Laughter.] And then we both had to go back to work, see if we still had jobs.”

I remember the rhythm of interviewer’s voice, how he would second what the guy was saying and then repeat a shard of it with that lilt that asks “Really?“

When too many voices had floated up like smoke to the ceiling, I got up and went out and walked, looked in at the few windows still lit. Most exposed empty rooms.

If, in my current wanderings, I went past an International House of Pancakes or Uncle John’s Pancake House, I would go in and sit and drink a cup of coffee among other people.

A “Home of Our Own:” Open House at the Estate Store 4pm to 6pm Today!

The Community Warehouse moved to a new location last month. Please join us for an open house today, November 5th, from 4-6 pm, to celebrate our move and learn more about our efforts to purchase the building that now houses our operations and Estate Store.  We look forward to seeing you!

Community Warehouse

OPEN HOUSE
Today, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
3969 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland
❉ Tour our New Digs ❉ Meet Staff and Volunteers

❉ Shop at the Estate Store ❉ Enjoy Music and Munchies
❉ Celebrate Community

Sad Suitor Rabbit Ceramic Sculpture

Such a sad flower holding rabbit. This is a ceramic sculpture by the Portland artist Sandy Visse, whose work can be seen locally at the Attic Gallery. Our rabbit is 12 1/4 inches tall, and we think it may be another “suitor” rabbit, like this one, but the title to ours is not written on the piece. It is signed inside one of the legs and is in excellent condition.

Franciscan Starburst Cup and Saucer

A cup and saucer in the classic mid-century (Eames era) dishware style and form. In great condition. The 6 inch saucer is in the typical oblong shape of this pattern and the cup is 3 1/2 inches in diameter.

A Vintage Belly Itcher? Nope, It’s an Old Pitcher

A vintage Price Brothers (England) blue and white banded (annular ware style) cream pitcher. Ours is in excellent condition and probably dates to the late 1940’s or early 1950’s.

Approximately 3 1/2 inches tall and 2 7/8 inches in diameter at the base.

For more chants and taunts look here.

‘Thrash my rhubarb they’re still flonking the dwile’

Portland has a great tradition of unlikely sports. Since we’ve got Mondo Croquet and Bike Jousting, you might think there isn’t anything we could add that would be more unusual or depraved.  But then there’s Dwile Flonking.

We offer a  petite pewter cup suitable to be a mocking prize for the soberest individual at your next flonk.

The cup was made in Germany by WMF and holds approximately 12 ounces of you favorite potent potable. It features three panels depicting works by Rembrandt, Sorgh and Steen.

Antique Gold Framed Mirror With Beveled Edges

Measures 46 inches by 23.5 inches (inclusive of frame). In very good condition.

Monkey Bank and the Perfect 10 Point Landing

Okay, we’ll give it ten points for cuteness but . . . does this image encourage you to save? And the bottom has one of those plugs that with one quick turn gives you back all your cash. But, hey, he’s Super Masked Banana Eater. He’s Red Glove Monkey. He’s Star Belly. He’s the kind of guy that fights for the WWF and wins!

Check Out the New Digs! Open House Thursday Nov. 5th 4pm to 6pm

Community Warehouse
OPEN HOUSE
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
3969 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Portland
❉ Tour our New Digs ❉ Meet Staff and Volunteers

❉ Shop at the Estate Store ❉ Enjoy Music and Munchies
❉ Celebrate Community

The Community Warehouse moved to a new location last month. Please join us for an open house to celebrate our move and learn more about our efforts to purchase the building that now houses our operations and Estate Store.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

Golden Kitchen Nook

“Only memories will remain of pillow fights, first loves, friendships . . . ” (Welcome to Czechoslovakia, 1967).

Put a phrase into Google Scholar and/or Google Books and the oddest things will come up.

But, yes, this corner bench and kitchen dining table set (made to fit into a nook) is sturdy enough to outlast your darlings’ childhood. The spacing is a bit tight for a pillow fight but it could easily be the stage set for first loves and friendships or just noshing down on crepes with powdered sugar and raspberries.

The table is  3 feet by 4 feet. The benches with backs cover and area that is about 6 ft by 5 ft and the individual bench is 4 feet long and 14 inches wide.

Large Round Wooden Table with Carved Pedestal Base

Table with column pedestal base encircled with fleur-de-lis. Suitable for a Carnegie library (where one would sit at it and study Kant, memory palaces, or economics), or any room in a house with wainscoting and/or a pressed tin ceiling. Go ahead, lean against it and drink champagne from a slipper.

Measures 54 inches in diameter and is 30 inches high.

All My Pretty Chickens And Their Dam?

The wife of chicken MacDuff?

Here we have a ceramic storage container in the shape of a frightened hen trying to protect her five bright yellow chicks from . . . something. She’s not looking up, so it’s not a hawk.

The newly hatched chicks (muscle tone of fresh peeps, lack of focusing ability) don’t appear to understand that there is danger.

So maybe mama hen is just offended? Did someone turn on Fox news?

Ms. MacDuff is of a size to store your loose change and keys, collection of raincoats, or a mousegun (if you want to stay in the world of animals and Macbeth).

Tubbs Vermont Snow Shoe Chair

A nice well loved snowshoe chair by Vermont Tubbs. Oddly Vermont Tubbs is a furniture retailer and not related to Tubbs the snowshoe manufacturer. In what appears to be an odd case of synchronicity, Vermont Tubbs was founded in 1840 by William Tubbs with a product line consisting of a variety of bent Ash products, including snowshoes.  Tubbs the snowshoe manufacturer was founded in 1906 by Walter Tubbs of Norway, Maine and moved to Vermont before ending up in Seattle.

I’m really glad the piece wasn’t just marked ‘W. Tubbs, Vermont.’

The chair is in decent condition, the wood is all solid and well stuck together. Some of the rawhide lacing is broken (it looks like someone stood on it), but the chair can still be sat in by the average American and should hold up for some time. Or you could re-lace it–which would be good practice for being stuck in the Yukon.

German MCM Square Tile Top Coffee Table

Vintage mid-century modern square tile topped coffee table with brass trim and tubular steel legs. This piece is in great condition and was made in Germany. Measures three feet square and just under 19 inches tall.

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Just kidding.

It’s a two piece ceramic flower frog, for fresh cut stems. Or it’s a kitchen storage device for wooden spoons and other long handled implements. In a pinch it could double as a toothbrush holder for 19. In any case, it’s the sort of thing that could come in handy for the upcoming holiday season!

A Martini A Day

“A Martini A Day” is the title of this piece. Is it a summation of the artist’s career leading up to the conceptualization of this work? A general admonition to the purchaser? A bit of friendly advice on how to weather the ongoing (and yet never going anyplace) debate between the nature of Art and Craft? Measures 38 inches square and is painted on board.

Minton Gold Rose China Set

This Minton’s Gold Rose china set consists of:

• 12 Dinner Plates
• 12 Luncheon Plates
• 9 Bread and Butter Plates
• 10 Cups and 11 Saucers
• 6 Consommé Soup with 8 Under-plates for same
• 8 Fruit / Sauce Bowls

This Cat’s on the Prowl

Fainting couch and reclining cat. The cat’s arm doesn’t actually set upon the pillow and neither do his hind paws touch upon the sofa. In that, his ease is like the royal ease of Kuan Yin who is ready to rise at any second to come to the world’s aid–though cat’s mind is focused on the world’s pleasure.

Should he wander off after you take him home, his fainting couch is approximately suitable in size to be used by Barbie and her kin.

Walk Like An Egyptian

Walk like an Egyptian

Slide your feet up the street bend your back
Shift your arm then you pull it back
Life is hard you know (oh whey oh)
So strike a pose on a Cadillac

Slip-cast ceramic bust modeled after the famous (and perhaps fake) bust of Nefertiti in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin.  Made my someone whose has the same lipstick as I do and the same skill level in applying it. If you don’t need her for your Halloween party tonight, you need her for the Thanksgiving centerpiece. Really truly you do.

Honkin’ Huge Honkey Tonk Armoire Entertainment Center

“I’m gonna’ hire a wino to decorate our home,
“So you’ll feel more at ease here, and you won’t have to roam.
“We’ll take out the dining room table, and put a bar along that wall.
“And a neon sign, to point the way, to our bathroom down the hall.”

David Frizzell – I’m Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home

Or you could choose to move into this two piece entertainment center armoire. It features a spacious upper section with an adjustable shelf and two large doors that fold out of the way.

In the lower section are two storage drawers and suspended below the armoire (attached to the underside of the piece) is another adjustable shelf suitable for a DVD player.

64 inches wide, 20 1/2 deep and 70 inches tall. The main compartment dimensions are approximately 24 inches deep, 53  and 41 1/2 inches tall.

It’s not the strangest thing I’ve ever found in a box (maybe)

An envelope labeled “finger inside”.  Sure enough there WAS a finger inside the envelope.

Unfortunately it was for the Lladro statue that was also in the box and not a preliminary adjunct to the shrunken head collection I hope to one day have donated.

When the Body is All Eyes: Attaining a State of Transformative Fury, Doubtlessness, and Mental Power

This is not an object indicative of attaining the state of raudra, a transformative moment of selfhood, of sacrificial activation, in which the practitioner of kalarippayattu becomes a vehicle of the goddess’ fury. It might, however, make you wish you were living a life in which raudra was likely.

This cookie jar measures approximately 14 inches high and 8 inches wide.

Devil’s Night Friday Five: Tormented Teak Table Set, Ominous Oval Antique Table, Repugnant Round Table, Vampiric Vintage Sewing Machine, Nauseous Northwest Art Print

The theme being Halloween (and the commercialization of culture). Of course, none of our products this week are nauseous, vampiric, ominous, or tormented.  If something is or is not repugnant is a matter of personal taste and we’ll leave that decision up to you.

Patio table with six chairs. Table measures (approximately): 70 inches long, 40 inches wide, with a center leaf.   The wood appears to be teak or a teak relative so they probably could be left out in the rain. GONE

Antique oval pedestal table with leaf decorated column, four sided base with concave sides and claw feet, and pie crust edging. GONE

Measures: 46.5 inches across on the long side and 34 inches wide.

Round wheeled coffee table with shelf and glass inset top. Measures 36 inches in diameter. $55

Classic (circa 1952) Singer sewing machine, model 201-2. Excellent review here. Has accessories and manuals.

Attachments include: universal sewing machine attachment for buttonholes, more than seven different other sewing machine attachments, 13 extra metal bobbins, spare light bulb, seven different packets of sewing machine needles, official singer motor lubricant, and the manuals. All for only $125.

Northwest passage by Jerry Schurr (1985). Measures 39.5 inches long and 15.5 inches tall (inclusive of frame). $40