National Guitars Have Perfectly Shaped Dust Bunnies

Steve Olson, who repairs guitars for Elderly Instruments , has collected dust bunnies from guitar and mandolin bodies for years and has even catalogued them. The one pictured on the top left was found in the cone of an old National guitar. Apparently, National guitars create perfectly round and dense "tone balls" (dust bunnies) over time. Interesting! I happen to know someone in Oregon who once worked at Elderly repairing guitars and I also know a National guitar collector/repairman who would absolutely love this article which appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of The FretBoard Journal (Number 2). Thanks, Mark! BOINGBOING

Vintage Theatre Photos

Wedding tableau, Sydney, ca. 1930 / Sam Hood

The State Library of New South Wales

has some beautiful vintage photos of theatre in Sydney dating from the latter half of the nineteenth century. How fun!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Girl Portrait Has Leonardo's Fingerprint

Times Online has reported: "A fingerprint in the top left corner of this portrait appears to have confirmed it. The 13 x 9in picture, in chalk, pen and ink, was catalogued as 'German school, early 19th century'. It sold for $19,000 in 1998. Now some leading art experts agree that it is almost certainly by Leonardo da Vinci and worth about 158 million." Read the rest of the story here:

TIMES ONLINE

Looks like a Leonardo to me!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Vintage Cigarette Rolling Papers

Here are a couple of examples of cover art for Italian rolling papers (1890-1910).

Follow this link for a wonderful catalogue of images from different countries:

CIG PAPERS

Thanks, Internet Weekly

Bizarre Early Picture of "The Boss"

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

Here's a photo I found at home. What are they wearing? Floppy hat, raggy mop-top hair, jeans with patches. What are they playing? A P-90 equipped gold Les Paul guitar and a transparent Dan Armstrong Ampeg bass. What are they whispering to each other? "Vinnie, you just got busted for wearing those silly love beads!" This is an early picture of 3 members of the band Steel Mill with none other than Bruce Springsteen himself. It was taken in 1970 at the Hullabaloo Club in Richmond, VA. (Photo previously unpublished, copyright Lou Reimuller, part of a set of photos taken one afternoon, March 1970).

The Art of Amy Crehore

Amazing Online Gallery of Pre-Raphaelite Images

Pencil drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Ink Sketch by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Pen and ink drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti


Pen and ink drawing by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
This is exciting: a large collection of 2257 drawings, studies, prints and paintings by the Pre-Raphaelites. Where?
The Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource.
Shown here are just a handful of gems by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He made these drawings around 1849-1850. Aren't they incredibly lovely? 1."Ecce Ancilla Domini - Female Nude - Study for The Virgin", 2. Sketch of a Young Woman, 3."To caper nimbly in a Lady's Chamber to the lascivious pleasing of a Lute" and 4."Love's Mirror or a Parable of Love".
I can't wait to go back and look again. I'm inspired!

The Art of Amy Crehore

Beauty, Virtue and Vice

Click to Enlarge
Here are some beautiful prints from the 1830's-1850's. The print in the middle is of a woman named Ellen Jewett, "a young and beautiful New York City prostitute who was found murdered in her bed" in 1836. These prints are part of an online exhibit called "Beauty, Virtue and Vice: Images of Women in Nineteenth-Century American Prints". Follow this link to view more:

American Antiquarian

The Art of Amy Crehore