The best woolen shirts ever made???

Any one that has visited our stall will already be aware of the amazing quality of our vintage American made clothing. Our winter "collection" includes great Cowboy shirts, Carhartt jackets and hunting jackets. We also wanted to bring to your attention our beautiful Pendleton Shirts, we now have many more mint condition examples from the 1950’s and 1960’s. These shirts are woven with soft pure new wool, checked pattern (or as our American cousins would say “Plaid”) shirts that were originally designed for woodsmen and “out door types” in Oregon on the west coast of America. 

We have three different styles available in Small, Medium and Large. These are button front and collar with two front button down pockets, Western shirts with snap front, collar and cuffs and lastly the very cool loop collar shirts with flap pockets. We will have these available to view at the Spitalfields Market stall each Thursday and you can get a sneak preview on our facebook page.

They are of supremely high quality and are very warm! On autumn days a Pendleton shirt will only need a T shirt underneath. We love the 50’s styling with loop collar and flap pockets! We have not seen very many of these shirts for sale in the UK. Timelessly cool and once again very practical for this time of the year!

Fougasse prints and posters at auction

Cool Stuff Across The Pond have been fans of Fougasse's work for a long time and serious collectors for the last 10 years. Check out some of our Fougasse items at CSATP Facebook Poster Gallery 






Kenneth Cyril Bird 1887 - 1965
Was a cartoonist and humourist who made a unique contribution to Britain's home-front during WW2. Bird signed his work Fougasse. A name he took from an unpredictable form of French land-mine in WWl. He and his comrades discovered, through bitter experience, that the bomb was likely to go off at any time.

Bird's own personality was anything but explosive. He was remembered by his colleagues at Punch as a quiet and withdrawn man. His drawings and cartoons, like HM Bateman's, offer a social commentary on British middle-class anxieties in the middle decades of the last century.

Fougasse was commissioned by RoSPA to produce illustrated guides for road safety during the 1930's. The objectives of RoSPA were achieved by appeal to the ideal of courteous driving and road-side manners. Similarly, his posters for London Transport show passengers how their behaviour can make the transport system work better for everyone. Fougasse always acknowledged these posters as propaganda. Indeed, he devised a series of guidelines for the successful communication of propaganda messages through humour. 

The stoic good humour of the British people during WW2 is one of the founding mythologies of the home-front. The popular experience of the war is recalled by reference to the ubiquitous Careless Talk posters that Fougasse drew for the MInistry of Information. The posters (as can be seen above) were published as a series of eight drawings in many formats. They were displayed in any public place and in many military establishments. Each of the drawings shows Hitler and Goering, in absurd poses, evesdropping on an unsuspecting public. The posters succeed in making a serious point light-heartedly. Although printed in very large editions during the war, the posters are rare today. Examples in good condition are extremely difficult to find. - Excerpt from Rennart.co.uk

Several examples of Fougasse's work are up for auction next week in London at Christies Auction House CARELESS TALK COSTS LIVES SALVAGE 


Prices are high and getting higher for these highly collectable 20th century classic lithograph  posters.

Collectible Vintage Zippo Lighters.

Walking in Memphis.

1954 Advertising Zippo lighter

1952 Italian Sterling Silver Zippo

We have learned a great deal along our travels, like how to accurately discern the age of Zippo lighters by the markings and patent number on the base of each lighter case (See here for all the inside info!). Zippo lighters are amazing as each old one has a story to tell! We have engraved trench art examples from the Korean War, Vietnam War and “advertising” lighters that were engraved by companies who used to give them to valued customers in the 50’s and 60’s. These have very cool graphics and are highly collectible!

We also have some beautiful 1950’s solid silver cased Zippo lighters from Italy, Japan and Mexico. Often these were American GI standard issue lighters with the original case thrown away and a silver case made by a local jeweller in the area the GI was based. Again these are great practical collectibles and will really stand out as unique Christmas gifts!


Don't forget we will be on Spitalfields Antiques and Flea Market in London UK each Thursday from the 3rd November 2011. View our Cool Stuff galleries on our Facebook page.  Links for it, and our Contact Us form can be found on our website: CoolStuffAcrossThePond.com.

We're Heading Back Over, And We'd Love To See You!

Natalia and Phil busy at work looking for cool stuff in Memphis TN.

1952 Zippo Lighter with Italian sterling silver case.

Mid 1950's Pendleton shirt

Stroud OK

The Cool Stuff Building in Florida is buzzing! Packing cases and straw litter our storage facility as we carefully pack 2 months worth of new Cool Stuff finds, ready for it's debut in London on the 3rd November at Spitalfields Antiques, Cool Stuff and Flea Market over the road from Liverpool street station in Central London. Check out the Antiques market: Spitalfield's Life, Visit London, Town and Country Markets.   

While travelling through the majority of the US States over the past three months, we have found really unusual and interesting things! 1950’s Zippo lighters from Pennsylvania, Chevy hood ornaments from Texas, 1920’s and 30’s ephemera such as scrap books, matchbook covers, posters, amazing lithographed fruit case labels from Florida, California and Georgia, 1950’s School year books from New York, Pendleton shirts from Oregon, Movie posters from Los Angeles, vintage fishing items from Wisconsin. Believe me the list goes on and on!

So many cool and unique items that have come from all over the USA! Watch out for a new blog every day this week in which we will introduce you to our new finds and explain why we think they are so special! All of which will make very Cool Stuff Christmas Presents! Get ready for great photos of our travels and lots of insider industry knowledge!


Questions or comments about our items?  Please visit our site: CoolStuffAcrossThePond

Fougasse, Careless Talk Costs Lives

Fougasse

Kenneth Cyril Bird 1887 - 1965

Was a cartoonist and humourist who made a unique contribution to Britain's home-front during WW2. Bird signed his work Fougasse. A name he took from an unpredictable form of French land-mine in WWl. He and his comrades discovered, through bitter experience, that the bomb was likely to go off at any time.

Bird's own personality was anything but explosive. He was remembered by his colleagues at Punch as a quiet and withdrawn man. His drawings and cartoons, like HM Bateman's, offer a social commentary on British middle-class anxieties in the middle decades of the last century.

Fougasse was commissioned by RoSPA to produce illustrated guides for road safety during the 1930's.  The objectives of RoSPA were achieved by appeal to the ideal of courteous driving and road-side manners. Similarly, his posters for London Transport show passengers how their behaviour can make the transport system work better for everyone. Fougasse always acknowledged these posters as propaganda. Indeed, he devised a series of guidelines for the successful communication of propaganda messages through humour.

The stoic good humour of the British people during WW2 is one of the founding mythologies of the home-front. The popular experience of the war is recalled by reference to the ubiquitous Careless Talk posters that Fougasse drew for the MInistry of Information. The posters (as can be seen above) were published as a series of eight drawings in many formats. They were displayed in any public place and in many military establishments. Each of the drawings shows Hitler and Goering, in absurd poses, evesdropping on an unsuspecting public. The posters succeed in making a serious point light-heartedly. Although printed in very large editions during the war, the posters are rare today. Examples in good condition are extremely difficult to find. 

Measures 12,1/2" x 8" (32 x 20 cm).

For more information please contact us: CoolStuffAcrossThePond

Phil's Jerk Chicken. As cooked by Natalia.

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Who are Cool Stuff Across The Pond? Glimpses into our life.

Sure we have cool stuff.  And yes, we love sharing it with you.  But who are we?

Visit CoolStuffAcrossThePond.com to read our "official" about us.

Personally, I think sharing snapshots of our life will give you a better glimpse into who we are.
And it's so much more FUN this way!!!

I'll be posting more every time I get a chance.

Thanks for visiting, and check back often.  We're happy you're here!

Today's photos are from a stop over in Arizona.

Oh, the cool stuff we found in Arizona!!!

Phil & Natalia xx