A Couple of eBay Finds

I used to peruse eBay almost daily and I found some good things back when I did. Now, I only check it when I am actively looking for something. And sometimes, that leads me right down the eBay rabbit hole.

Look at this wonderful Preiser Liberty Horse set I found!

Preiser is a German company that creates 1/87 (HO Scale) and  1/160 (N Scale) pieces for the railroad hobby. 

Mighty Mouse, on the right and one of my favorite pieces in my collection, is HO scale while the Mini Mighty Mouses (Mice?? LOL) on the left are N scale. 

I don't know how old this set is, but I am guessing it is probably 30 years at least. 

The clear plastic of the box has yellowed and feels a bit fragile just as old Breyer boxes do.

But not only did I find this cool Liberty Horse set to add to my circus horse collection within a collection, I found something else I have been looking for. A random check of bridle rosettes brought up this beauty!

My initial! It has been very hard to find. I started looking years ago when I bought Tim bridle rosettes with his initials as a Christmas gift from Abby and me.

As you can see, bridle rosettes come in different sizes. These two, like my new one, were being sold singly which is very common. Pairs get separated and only one survives.

I have O'Boy's bridle from 1936 (my father's circus pony), but there is only one bridle rosette remaining on it.

That brief look at eBay brought me two things I am thrilled to have. Hmmm, maybe I should check it more frequently? 

I'd better wait until after I have finished my holiday shopping to think about that!

New Bridle Rosettes

Audrey's gift of the earrings that looked like bridle rosettes prompted me to go to eBay and check out the listings for bridle rosettes. It had been a while since I'd done that, and I was excited to find a pair that went immediately into a Buy It Now sale.

A set of Dan Patch bridle rosettes!

I want my bridle rosettes collection to be personally meaningful so I pass on a lot of sets that I come across. The circus ones and O'Boy's single rosette connect with my father and my love of circus ponies. Then, I have one bridle rosette that came on Amy's bridle (Amy was my very first horse) although the other was lost decades ago.

Not only was the Monon Railroad based here in Lafayette, but when it's 50th anniversary was celebrated, my mother was crowned West Lafayette's Queen of the Monon and did a whistle stop tour from Chicago to Louisville.

As for Dan Patch, he was bred and foaled in Oxford, a small town twenty miles northeast of me. He lived there for the first six years of his life and was used by his breeder, Dan Messner, as a cart horse for deliveries when he wasn't racing at tracks in the area. My friend Brooke and her husband Tom are restoring Dan Messner's building on the town square of Oxford, and that is where the Happy Trails/Dan Patch show is being held next month.

So, of course I had to add those bridle rosettes to my collection!

After I bought those, I found another bridle rosette, one I've been looking for for a very long time. It is a single, but I was glad to find it and quickly bought it, too. I'll share it when it arrives.

Stay 'tooned!

Like Bridle Rosettes

My friend Audrey gave me an unexpected and very thoughtful gift during The Feast of the Hunters' Moon.

Where on earth did she find fleur-de-lis tissue paper?? That's one of the Feast's emblems!

Inside was a card that she had made with a thank you message for helping her as she joined the living history world.

There was also a very special pair of earrings that Audrey had made for me - earrings that were cut from little bits of one of my mother's dresses that Audrey now wore. She'd had to alter it just a bit and had saved the snippets she'd taken out.

They are beautiful and very meaningful, connecting me to both my mother and to someone who is becoming a very dear friend.

They also reminded me of something else, something on my horsey side. 

One of the collections within my collection (yes, I do plan to return to that topic) are bridle rosettes. They are round glass domes with pictures inside them, just like Audrey's earrings.

I don't have many pairs, but many of them are circus related because of my dad's circus pony, O'Boy.

The Monon Railroad was located out of Lafayette so I was thrilled to be given this pair by Cole for Christmas one year.

I have seen bridle rosettes crafted into necklaces and other jewelry but that makes me sad.

They are so unusual and a lot of history is reflected in those little glass globes. Do a search on eBay and you will see all kinds of historical people, places, and events in surviving bridle rosettes. 

Like bridle rosettes, my mini bridle rosette earrings made from my mother's dress reflect a bit of personal history and are a strong connection to my mother and to Audrey.

I love them and plan to store them in my bridle rosettes case.

When I'm done wearing them!

 

A Case for the Bridle Rosettes

Ever since I began collecting bridle rosettes, I have been looking for a way to display them. Shadow boxes didn't work well - the rosettes have a raised bar on the back so that they can be used on a bridle, and that made them roll around in the little cubbies.

Sorry for the photo quality - the sun isn't up yet as I write and there is glass in the cover of the box.

That bar on the back made it so that anything I tried for displaying them simply didn't work. Finally, I just put my rosettes into a box and set them on the shelf. I was resigned that I was going to have to have to go down to the frame shop and see what they could figure out. 

Then, a friend posted on social media that she had bought a ring case to display her horsey jewelry and rings. Since I have a lot of horsey jewelry, I clicked on her photos to see if it might work for me. And in doing so, I solved my own problem.

Photo by Myla Pearce. Don't her things look great displayed like that? And how easy to find what she wants to wear!

I hopped onto Amazon, found a similar one, and ordered it. It arrived this weekend and I began inserting my bridle rosettes. It looks pretty good thus far!

I also included a photo of my father with his circus pony, Oh Boy. I have Oh Boy's bridle and there is one rosette remaining on it, so I plan to pop that one into the case, too. The plain silver one is from my first horse, Amy's bridle. 

Queen of the Monon!

I am trying to curb my enthusiasm for bridle rosettes, but I do check eBay every now and then, "just to see." (Honestly, I'm not even fooling myself.) I've looked at (and resisted) many pairs including the neatest Wizard of Oz rosettes, but I simply could not resist these.

 Monon, the Hoosier Line!

Why was this pair so irresistible? Check out this photo.

That's my mama, Fern Honeywell, in the white dress. (I did not add the arrows; aren't they an odd trim for a dress? But I love how they point out her banner!) Mom was West Lafayette's Queen of the Monon Railroad in 1947. The girl on her left was Lafayette's queen, and the mayors of both cities are at their sides. I don't know the man on the far right; my guess is that he is an official from Monon.

The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the railroad, and to celebrate, they did a whistle stop tour all along the route from Chicago to Louisville, stopping in all the towns along the way for pictures, autographs, food, and fun. A four man band from Chicago was on board the train, playing at the stops, too.

Posing with other queens. My mother is on the front left.

As you might imagine, I really wanted those Monon bridle rosettes, and so Cole bought them for me for a Christmas gift. They're a nice addition to my original pair and my Barnum & Bailey/Ringling Brothers  circus rosettes.

But really, I am not collecting them. Not yet, at least.