Ancient Artifacts from Florence

This is going to be a quick update on a fun day . . . 

Yesterday, February 2, 2013, the weather was nice, we had snacks, and we felt like taking a drive.  We loaded the Tahoe with said snacks, copious amounts of coffee, my camera gear, and a Google Map . . . to Florence, Colorado.  It’s a small place, but a couple of blocks of Main Street are occupied by Antique Shops.  Housed in old buildings, and crammed full of old stuff, these shops hold treasures from days gone by.

This will be a quick tour, and there is no associated SmugMug Gallery . . . but I do plan a full post, and that one will have all the pertinent information.  For now . . .

By the way, in each shop I asked the persons working there if it would be OK to shoot some photos.  All agreed.

You can read about the fashion from those times HERE.

What strikes me about these is they are (were) not only functional, but ornate.  It spoke to pride in the product; it spoke to artisanship, of caring about what one produced and sold.  Look at those designs adorning the sewing machine.  They serve no function other than to provide art with the utility of the tool.

There is a tactile quality to it, a fit to the hand, a utility which modern electronics and appliances cannot hope to match.

This next thing, for me, was the most impressive piece of all the things I saw.  It was incorrectly described as a Netsuke, but it is instead a Chinese Puzzle Ball.

The last shop we visited was the first one we had visited.  I bought a camera that was there, and will show it when I do the full post of our visit to Florence’s antique shops.  But meantime . . . a blast from my youth (in Italy, not here).

We left Florence, and headed West, and then North to Guffy.  A very small town with some interesting stuff.

Guffy is a town I spent some time in during one of our previous drives . . . back in September.  I still have to document it, but this serves as a preview of what’s there.

As usual, thanks for stopping by, and I hope it was worth your while.  If it was, tell everyone.  If it wasn’t . . . man, you guys are picky!

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