LOOKING FOR JOHN DALE ROBINSON

HEY EVERYBODY! I would appreciate it if you would all re-post, or share this, especially if you are in or know anyone in Illinois. A friend of mine is trying to find JOHN DALE ROBINSON or his relatives. I knew John in Alton IL in 1967-1968 and saw him one more time in the winter of 1972, in Wood River IL. John was a tall dark haired Caucasian with an un-repaired congenital heart defect. In 1972 he said he was married. John may have at least one child born in Illinois before 1967 and another after 1968. He himself was born somewhere between 1940 and about 1945. Please message me or comment with any information you might have. PLEASE SHARE this as far and wide as you can. Thanks Susan Starcevic

MY MOTHER'S MOKA EXPRESS

In the late 1950's, my Uncle, Raymond Holmes, who was then a Vice-President of Olin Matheson, and in charge of Winchester Arms and Ammunition International, went to Italy on business. He brought back presents. To my mother, his sister, he gave an Expresso coffee pot. The name of the pot was Moka Express and had this character of a little Italian man on the side.

Over the years, the little Italian man, a trademark of Moka Express got nearly washed off. Only the faintest outlines were left. There was also a mark around the aluminum pot that showed it had been laying askew in water for quite some time once. The inside, though clean, did not look like anything I would want to brew coffee in, if I drank coffee, which I do not.

In any case, I decided to see what it might be worth if I sold it on eBay. I found there were several that sold on eBay for between $9.00 and $20.00, but most looked better than mine. I also looked up Moka Express on the internet and found that these pots are still being made, and a new one just like the one given to my mother 50 years ago could be purchased for $15.95.

I found this history about the little pot:

From the beginning of 1950's to the present day, Alfonso Bialetti S.p.A. of Crusinallo has manufactured over 200 million coffee makers, amongst which, the

Moka Express stands out as a masterpiece of industrial design as well as an extraordinary maker of good Italian coffee. In fact, the Moka Express is by far the most widely used coffee maker throughout the world.

Alfonso Bialetti who is best remembered as the "little fellow with the moustache (as shown here above)" created the Moka Express inspired by an early washing machine comprising of a boiler and tub for the collection of hot water. It was on the basis of this principle that Alfonso developed the Moka Express with its unmistakable octagonal shape.

I now believed I would not be able to sell Mother's Moka Express. Why would anyone want to purchase a used pot when, for so little, one could purchase a brand new one just like it? If you click on the Moka Express links in this article, you will find the company web site were you can buy a Moka Express on line.

I put it up for auction anyway. It sold for $12.13 including shipping and handling. And the winner of the auction apparently liked the little pot when it arrived as the purchaser posted this feedback-- "Exactly the expresso pot I wanted...... Thanks"

Amazing!

IS IT FAKE OR IS IT REAL?

I stared at this picture for over an hour, while trying to find out just one thing; was this a man's or a woman's watch? The auction said it was a small man's Rolex, but the box it came in, also pictured on the auction was pink. Yet the owner had insisted the watch was a small man's watch.

I looked for a picture of a Rolex on the web that matched this one. I found many that were marked with the words, "Oyster Perpetual Date Just" under the crown symbol on the face, but none that were exactly like this watch.

I came close. I found a Rolex that had the exact same face, but had a bezel encrusted with diamonds. That one was a woman's watch.

I also looked for the watch box pictured. I never found any Rolex box like the pink hatbox shaped one pictured, but I did find enough different Rolex watch boxes that it was certainly possible that this pink box was a Rolex box. I finally came to the conclusion that the watch was probably a woman's watch, but as the watch by this time already had bids, it did not much matter whether or not it was a man's or woman's watch.

Have you stared at this watch face long enough to find what the auction lister, the buyer and I overlooked? I even visited a web site devoted to teaching you how to spot Rolex fakes, and I still did not get it.

Give up? Or are you a better observer than all those others and I?

Just how do you spell officially?

PRE-REVOLUTIONARY WAR?

I saw this on eBay and this is what they said:

This is a Limoges hand-painted tea cup with saucer. The cup has a British Tax Stamp dating the cup to pre-revolutionary war times. The tea cup has beautiful hand-painted gold accents and well as an intricate shaped handle. The cup and saucer is not a perfect match and the saucer does NOT have a Tax Stamp. The gold striping on the inside of the lip is worn some and there are some worn spots on the handle as well. Now is your chance to own this tea cup that dates pre-1770's. Own a piece of this country's history!

HOGWASH!

I believe the teacup shown here was manufactured about 1900, as T. V. refers to Tresseman and Vogt who made china in Limoges in that era. Their mark was a bell with T. V. inside and Limoges at bottom.

And the saucer is not French, but British. It is a Royal Wochester, made, according to the maker's mark, between 1862 and 1865. In addition, I believe the mark below the circle with the W's is a 2 which indicates this saucer was sold as a 2nd. As there is a drop of the blue paint on the back, this may just have been the case.

In addition, I suspect the cup as well as the saucer, except for the blue rim, were undecorated when first sold by their manufacturers and either decorated by another factory or by the lady who purchased them, as was a common hobby during the 1800's to early 1900's.

The tip off that Hogwash was present came because of the claim that this cup and saucer were pre revolutionary war. Not likely, as Limoges only started manufacturing this type of bone china in 1771 and stopped in 1779 for a number of years . In addition, the china manufactured from 1771 to 1779 was only white, as they were very proud they had finally found the secret to bone white china, until then, only available in China itself.

Just thought you'd like to know.