The stuff that Dream Pets are made of...Saw Dust!

Dakin Dream Pets...I love them! I only started picking them up recently, but with over 2000 different Dream Pets made between 1957 and sometime in the late 70's, I think the collection will be exploding in no time. Every time I buy one, it seems, some old lady in the antique store/at the garage sale tells me how "Dream Pets are the original Beanie Babies", which to me, is like saying "The Damned are the original My Chemical Romance"...Dream Pets Rule, Beanie Babies are fun to light on fire, and that's about it. Fun fact...Dream Pets came about when the Japanese R. Dakin & Company wanted to ship toy trains to the US and decided to use these adorable little sawdust and velveteen bastards as a cheap and original packing material. The Dream Pets were super popular and the trains, not so much.

These three hang out down at my girlfriend's cake shop. The deer came from our local antique mall...The same booth where Melanie picked up those masks in my last post. I don't remember how much it was...less than $10. All the Dream Pets were picked up for $10 or less...Dream Pets are perfect for the collector on a budget. The Skunk(as seen on our X-mas card) and the Octopus were found in a junk box in the swap meet area of the Auburn, Indiana classic car auction(which I hear may not happen this year, 'cuz they're millions in the hole...bummer). I don't know any of their names(Dream Pets all came with a cardboard tag with their name on it), or what year they were made(some of the later ones have years printed in their tags). My guess is early 60's on the deer, late 60's or early 70's on the other two...not that it really matters.



This guy is called Bernard...real original. He came in a box of a dozen or so Japanese Sawdust toys that I got for 99 cents on Ebay. This is one of the ones that was reproduced in 2004, but this one is an original from 1965. Not that it matters. As far as I know, none of the Dream Pets are worth big money, and that's one of the things I love about them. When I was a kid, I collected Hot Wheels. I used to be able to pick up some of the early ones for $10 or so, but then the Hot Wheels market exploded (no)thanks to Ebay, and everyone started thinking every Hot wheels should cost in the triple digits...ruined the whole thing for me. Sorry 'bout the rant.



Dunno the Giraffe's name either. He also came in the big box from Ebay. I think it's the ugliest of my Dream Pets.



This turtle is from 1975. Also from Ebay box. He's a less cool version of Honolulu Harry, which is also in this post...guess I should have thought more about the order when I uploaded pics.



Ebay box poodle. It looks dirty in the picture, but it's not. My shirts(Black Sabbath and The Teeners) acting as the backdrop look washed out too...they're actually neon green. I suck at photography...and life.



Also From Ebaybox...



...So is this. This is my favorite of all the Ebay box crew(including the non-Dream Pets that are not included here). It's also one of the ones remade in '04, but this one is also an original from 1967. It's name is Hawaiian Hound Dog. The sticker on the surfboard says 'Souvenir of Cypress Gardens, Florida'.



This Tiger was found during the annual US 12 garage sale that stretches from Detroit to Chicago, and usually ends up draining my wallet half way through day one. This guy, however, was a thrifty 25 cents. His tag says he's from 1975, when the quality was really starting to slip.



Honolulu Harry! By far the most expensive Dream Pet in my collection, at a whopping $10. He's also been remade, but this one's from the 60's. He lives on top of my TV.



These are all 2004 remakes that we picked up at Hollywood Mirror in Chicago. HM is always a must stop on trips to Chicago, along with Uncle Fun, Quimby's and Permanent Records, and it's like walking into my brain. They are Tobasco Bull(1970), Billy Goat(1959), Henrien Hippo(1965), and my favorite...Mimi Octopus(1962).



Well, I need to go to bed...It's 5:30 am! I plan on doing an update soon on Dream Pet knock-off Japanese import sawdust toys from the 50's-70's. Yes, I am also shocked that I am heterosexual. Finally, FUCK Beanie Babies!

Here's the promised X-mas edition of Hoarder Of Awesome. I was gonna have a huge blowout post about not only presents given and received over the holidays, but I was gonna show some of my favorite vintage decorations my town puts up every year, as well as show off some of my favorite X-mas items I've obtained over the years...but I'm starting out 2010 just as lazy as I was all last decade...so I present a shortened version of that epic post in my brain.

I found this guy a couple years ago at the local Goodwill, before they started ebaying, shipping to other stores, or tossing in a locked dumpster every vintage item that came in their doors. I have a lot of contempt for Coldwater's Goodwill store these days. Anyway, I picked up this late 50's/early 60's inflatable Santa(that holds air surprisingly well) for a buck. That's another thing about Badwill...they jacked their prices WAY up in the last few years. No way I'd get this thing these days for anything less than $15. Phooey.



My mom gave me this for Christmas. It's by Marx toy company circa 1969. it's got wheels on the bottom. Thanks mom!



The ketchup guy was pretty cool, but I was super stoked when my mom gave me these, that she found recently at an estate sale.



Melanie got me this totally kick ass Quisp action figure. I have a slight obsession with the Jay Ward created cereal mascot, as anyone who has milled through my artwork can tell you. I find it odd though that it comes with his holster, but no ray gun. I guess we live in different times.



Melanie also got me these 60's Halloween masks. I love the Colonel Sanders mask...what kinda weirdo kid wanted to be Colonel Sanders for Halloween(well, I did, but I was a very strange kid...still am)...?!



I bought these for Melanie(and myself too, of course!) the second I saw 'em. We have A LOT of cool atomic lamps, but these are our first matching pair, and I think they are exceptionally fucking killer! We wanna put pink or aqua shades and sputnik toppers from moonshineshades.com when we save up a million billion dollars.



I got these large mid-century wall hangings at the same antique store as the lamps. I couldn't find a box big enough for the big one, so I wrapped the other two and hid the big guy in the basement. These will be in next year's X-mas card, for sure.



I got these from Melanie. I'd had my eyes on 'em at the local antique shop for awhile, but I thought they were way too pricey, like the Gene Shalit collectible plate. I think she talked 'em down a bit. I LOVE them!



I pussyfooted around too long about taking pictures of the vintage decorations downtown, and they took 'em down. I did manage to snap this pic of our giant Santa right before they put him back in storage. He is ENORMOUS. The city spent a shitload on it too. It's a replica of the one Coldwater had built in WWII. Both my parents grew up with it. Then it was destroyed in a fire in the early 80's, and replaced with a sad little 8 feet tall Santa standing on a plywood box painted like a present. Luckily, our city council is reckless with money, so this replacement was hand built and shipped to Coldwater a few years back, even though the city doesn't have enough money to properly plow roads this winter, and they just took out the stoplight at a dangerous intersection because they couldn't afford the power to run it.



Well, I hope all my readers had a good time over the holidays. Stay tuned. I think my next update is gonna be on Sad eye art, squeak toys, or maybe part one of cool lamps.

Merry Christmas!

I planned on doing a big blowout X-mas edition of Hoarder Of Awesome, but I'm lazy...plus, I don't want my girlfriend to get on here and see stuff she's getting for gifts, so I'll save my x-mas special until after the big day, when nobody wants to see anything christmasy for another year.


Anyway, here's a pic from our Christmas card photoshoot. It was a pain to haul all these goodies downtown to Melanie's bakery, but I think it was well worth it.




Cheers!
~Ben

That's Cool, That's Trash!

Welcome to 'Hoarder of Awesome'...It's been a long time coming, and I for one am quite excited about it. Because I have no life. Anywhozzle, I was originally gonna call this thing 'That's Cool! That's Trash!', but some kid in Oregon beat me to it. Damn. But it gave me an idea for my first ever blog post. Cool trash! Here's a few items from my collection that I saved from a one way trip to the landfill.

This nifty head hunter stationary set was getting tossed by a friend. I was helping her move out of her apartment last year, and I found the set at the bottom of a mound of magazines and papers destined for a burn pile. She gave me some nifty old science books too, but headhunter stationary is way cooler.



I was waist deep in a semi truck bed size dumpster when I came across this nifty cookie jar. Every year around Labor Day, the Goodwill gets one of these HUGE dumpsters and does some serious house cleaning. I come away with at least a couple things every year, but this guy is one of my favorite finds. He is currently being used to store punk rock band patches.



I was also snooping around behind Goodwill when I found this little friend. He's pretty important to me for a couple reasons. I found him the first time I ever dumpster dived, back before Goodwill started locking their dumpsters(not counting the semi truck), and before dumpster diving and thrift store shopping became a big hit with the local youth, thus making it a lot harder for me to score goodies. He's also important because he was the first in my growing collection of vintage rubber face stuffed animals. He's not my only rubber faced monkey, but he is by far my favorite.



The city of Coldwater does this thing every October, where you can throw (almost) anything to the curb in front of your house, and the city will haul it to the dump for free. They do the east side one week, and the west the next, and lucky for me, I'm right in between zones, so I can easily explore on foot both weeks. These glorious 2 weeks used to be like Christmas to me, but since the recession hit, the streets have been packed with crazy toothless armed hicks looking for scrap metal and stuff to re-sell. For the first time since they started doing this, I brought home NOTHING this year. I remember year 3, I FILLED my father's minivan with treasures, TWICE! Bummer.

I found this large(20x30") painting, along with a couple other not as cool paintings, night 2 of curb searching 5 years ago. My camera made it look brighter than it really is, and in person it's A LOT creepier. All the paintings were done in the 1930's(All but this one are dated 1936, and I assume this one is from the same era) by Lawrence Eavich of 109 S. Sherman St. Lagrange, Indiana, so it says on the back. I looked it up on google and saw his roof. The internet is a fun waste of time!



This very Danish 50's Elgin clock was also found during trash pickup week(s), about a block from my house, in 2007. It doesn't work, but it's in aesthetically good shape, and I love it. My friend/guitarist Matt also has a pretty neat Elgin clock that will likely wind up in a future post.



My dad actually rescued this cool late 50's/early 60's painting when they remodeled the offices at his old job. He was like "hey, you like art and stuff, here." Very unlike my dad, but I appreciated it a lot. There used to be a matching one, but it got ruined as I stored it in my garage when I was in high school. bummer. the artists name is Mark Coomer...I looked him up once, but found nothing. It reminds me a lot of the show Mad Men...which is VERY high on my list of favorites.



This 18x32" silk screened red velvet masterpiece is the very first thing I picked up, year one of city wide October trash pick up. When I found it, it still had a plastic covering on it from when it was new in probably the late 60's/early 70's, and when I removed it, it was like new. I bet someone didn't care for their x-mas gift and threw it in the garage for 35 years. My apologies for the sub-par camera skills I have shown here.



I found These three(I only took pictures of 2 the other one is also white-ish) Herman Miller Eames arm shell chairs on the side of the road WAY out in middle of nowhere on a tip from a friend. They apparently sat under a tree for a number of years, evidenced by the leaf stains and bird poo...I believe of the berry blast variety. I guess technically these may not have been dump bound, they had a 'free' sign on 'em, but judging my the rotting hillbilly hut of a house* they were sitting in front of, the shape they were in, and the backwoods, low traffic area they where in, I find it quite unlikely that they'd have found a loving home if I hadn't grabbed 'em. They shall be restored when it gets warm out enough to undertake such a task.

*this house had a big yard, with no grass, a half buried engine block, and their living room curtain was a Dale Jr flag. There were 7 shirtless koolaid and dirt stained kids, one about 5 in a diaper and drinking Mountain Dew, yelling at me and my buddy Dean as we loaded the chairs that we couldn't have them(even though they were labeled free) and that they would call the cops if we didn't get off their property, and that their dad would kick our asses. Like I've always said, Michigan is just north of Mississippi.







I found this sweet Silvertone console record player along with a matching speaker console, wait for it...at the city wide curb side October trash pick up fun fest. This came from a late 50's ranch house on the north side of town, along with a pretty cool vintage chair, and some glittery orange curtains, all of which I think had been in the house since it was built. Matt rigged the speaker console up with a guitar amp and it sounds pretty killer in a blown out Link Wray kind of way. More on this find in a future post.


Stay tuned for Christmas madness!