The Smiling Christ

A couple of months ago, Mr. Cheese and I happened upon one of those uber-rare and slightly odd pieces at a privately hosted estate sale. The item in question was an artist-signed print of a smiling Jesus, dated 1955. Mr. Cheese and I became obsessed with the story behind this piece, and spent hours researching it.

Google search results presented links to a few archived newspaper articles about the artist when he was using the moniker "Old Timer" and press photos of the artist just before his death, at which point he revealed his true identity to be Ralph D. Pekor. Research points out that the first known smiling Christ artwork was done by Pekor.

Pekor was an accomplished commercial/cartoon artist, but spent the majority of his life in prison for crimes that ranged from bad check writing (apparently only while intoxicated) to manslaughter.

According to the artist, it was in a dream that he first saw the image of a smiling Christ. While creating his Christ paintings in prison, Pekor desired to remain anonymous and would not accept money for his religious paintings. His smiling Christ paintings were highly sought after by churches across the United States. The artist knew actress Lilian Roth in the 1930's. Roth came to visit Pekor in prison when he had only completed eight smiling Christ paintings, and she chose to take painting #3 home with her. Roth later wrote the old timer "I keep the painting near me always. If I become weary and a bit cross I have only to look at His Smile to get the spiritual lift I need."  

Even while imprisoned during WWII, Pekor was churning out propaganda illustrations for the U.S. government, as shown in this press photo for Folsom Prison.

Pekor's mark was left on Folson prison in the form of 12 murals that he painted in the former Officer's dining room. The images below of "The Last Supper" are from the Folsom County Prison Museum.

In his mural "The Last Supper", it is rumored that Pekor painted the warden as Jesus, the inmates on condemned row as the disciples, and included himself (tucked away under the table). Other accounts say that Pekor painted himself as Jesus, and it was an image of the Devil under the table.

Pekor was released from Folsom County Prison around 1941, but was soon arrested for another crime...

During his imprisonment in Florida in the mid-1950's, the prison's warden sympathized with Pekor, knowing that the outstanding warrant for his 4th offense in New Mexico would mean that he would spend the rest of his life in prison. When he was released from the Florida prison, Pekor did indeed have to return to New Mexico for imprisonment. Shortly after, upon his cancer diagnosis, the New Mexico governor granted his release from prison. Pekor died 18 days later, in 1956.

Sources: folsom prison museum, miami daily news archives, lewis wayne gallery, seattle_washington_archive 

Good Stuff in Georgia

Were I to review this week's activities...well... you would be bored. Instead, I choose to share my adventures from last week. I was very fortunate to spend a fun and relaxing few days in Athens with my aunt, uncle and cousins (one of whom was in from Australia, it was a rare and awesome treat to see her!). Think good food, good wine, and lots of good conversation. We ate breakfast at The Grit - a ridiculously good vegetarian place.

There was time to take a run around Athens and do some "hunting" in Chamblee on the way home. The Ice House offered  a gorgeous 50's sofa and a set of really nice set of Danish Modern Chairs (only $140 for all four!)

At Antique Factory, I spied the craziest and most awesome tile-top coffee table I've ever seen, and a set of Blakely Arizona Cactus dinnerware (I thought this motif was only present on tumblers!).

Last weekend was spent celebrating Mr. Cheese's birthday in a low key way: a run in the Chickamauga Battlefield, a walk around downtown and the riverfront, watching lots of sci-fi movies, eating good food, and a trip to Gateway Antique Mall in Ringgold, Georgia, where we spied mod concrete patio chairs, a Krystal restaurant tupperware set, and a fantastic 10 foot long 60's era stained glass window.

It all added up to a delightful week! 

This weekend's plans include a possible visit to our town's annual Brewfest and stuffing ourselves with my mother-in-law's famous tacos. What are you up to this weekend?

World's Longest Yard Sale - 2012

How was your weekend, my friends? Our days were spent searching for treasures at the world's longest yard sale. Over 400 miles on the odometer later, I'm sad to say that we didn't come home with much, but had a good time nonetheless.

 Saturday's Route: Outskirts of Dunlap, TN driving north to Crossville, TN.

Pretty much the coolest gimmick for a typewriter ever:  This Royal Swinger typewriter has an AM radio built in! I wanted it. I mean, I really wanted it. Priced at a reasonable $100, and the dealer even said he'd come off that price, but I just couldn't make myself pull the trigger. 

One dealer had a lot of neat signs, pedal cars, and vintage sporting goods, but his prices were way high. The sweet Orange Krate Schwinn Stinger was $950. Yep.

 We parked in a cow pasture.

 Vintage women's clothing in a mobile store. Cute!

 Lunch was a really tasty cheeseburger & tots at Little Maggie's Cafe in Pikeville. This cute restaurant is owned by members of Mr. Cheese's family, and the building was built by Mr. Cheese's grandparents in 1947.

Sunday's Route: Lookout Mountain, TN driving south to Gadsden, AL. We had never driven this route before, and had no idea what to anticipate. For the first he first 40 or so miles we saw only about a dozen vendors set up. But then... 

 Things got a bit more exciting when we arrived in Mentone, Alabama - a cute artsy town.  I'd love to have visited this place on day one of the sale (Thursday).

 We took a wrong turn, which took us off the mountain, but it was a lovely (if accidental) side trip.

One thing that we spotted over and over in Alabama were vendors selling tires. This was the most sculptural tire display.

 Cute little old store - I cannot remember where in Alabama this was, but it was definitely rural.

Although the 2012 yard sale proved to be mostly just scenic driving, the hunt is always fun and it's an adventure to travel down new roads. The tentative plan for next year is to take the trek up north to the Ohio and Michigan leg, where the surely the midcentury treasures are easier to find.

Stay tuned for some exciting news this afternoon...

Eames Chairs and Aaaaayyyyyy...

My favorite finds of the week:

Set of 4 Ebony Eames DCW's (Dining Chair Wood)

My Friend the Cow (dairy ad/kid's book with the BEST mid-century illustrations)

Tiny fawn from 60's Japan

14" Fonzie Paper Doll - unused

We found a dozen really fun items over the past week, now I just need to buckle down and get them listed. But wait, football is on. I'm so easily distracted...

Birthday Weekend

Hello my lovelies, did you have a nice weekend? Mine started off with a whimper - a nasty headache put me in the bed Friday night. My husband bought me this beautiful cake. Why? It was my birthday :) Like I needed another excuse to play with my new iPhone Hipstamatic app (which I learned about through Amy. Her photos are much better than mine.)
Mmmm... chocolate cake with the best buttercream frosting ever.
We spent yesterday roaming up and down Highway 127 browsing the World's Longest Yard Sale. I found a few cool things for the shop, and highlights of the day included fresh-squeezed lemonade, the best blueberry fried pie in the whole world, and dinner at a local old-school favorite Italian restaurant. Oh, and the cake. Did I mention the cake? Every year I see some unusual stuff at the 127 sale, but this was my favorite weird thing this year: a Peter Griffin (Family Guy) Painting. And what I just noticed - it even says Happy Brd.Day!
This was one of my shop's busiest weeks ever, so today was spent packing parcels. Carving out some time to spend with friends this week is a priority. I have no social life these days...

My New (old) Chair

Here are a few teaser pics before I reveal our weekend find. This first photo is amazing - one of my favorite flickr pics ever. The contributor's father took it in 1957!

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A bit of a cheat because this chair isn't wicker, but it's too cool not to include it. A mid-century Mallin barrell strap arm chair (with vinyl straps).

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Funny that the same weekend we picked to get rid of a bunch of our stuff was the lucky weekend that we found this beauty. The chair is a little rough around the edges - needs a paint job, some screws tightened, and new feet (or paint removal from old feet). But it was only $12.50!


Please excuse my quickie pics and pollen covered porch. The rain foiled my plans of getting good photographs. The chair will stay on the front porch, at least for now. It's perfect with the age/style of our 1958 ranch.

Fun Stuff at the 127 Corridor Sale

I thought I'd share some pics from the 127 Corridor Sale (aka world's largest yard sale). I didn't even LOOK at the price on this cool Donald Duck bike. I had never heard of Silver Fox beer, but the sign reminded me of my grandfather, who was nicknamed "the silver fox" in his 20's due to prematurely gray hair. Everyone still calls him "Fox". He's "Grandpa Fox" to me. I really wanted the sign, but it was $110. Yow! And I'm pretty sure this was the same Texaco sign from my picture in this post.
Very old barbershop chair.
"Tight Squeeze", a Mattel game from the 1960's. I almost bought this game just because of how ridiculous the premise is. The box included a bunch of straps, to be used as demonstrated on the box. "Look, we're all having so much fun strapped together!". I didn't read the directions, but I do believe this game was meant to appeal to randy teenagers.
I really wanted the 1950's child's waterskis. They were even better than they look in this pic, as the sun washed out the nice bright turquoise color. At $40, they were a little outside my frugal budget.
Last year there were booths set up in front of this house, which appeared to be abandoned and filled with junk. I love this old house, and it appers that someone is fixing it up. Well, sort-of anyway.
An interior of the home, now tidily filled with vintage wares, but nothing that appealed to me. The closet's walls are still wallpapered with newspaper from the 1960's. Beautiful front door and fireplace!
The only interesting dinnerware that I saw all day was this pattern, and sadly the only piece was this dirty saucer. I probably should have bought it. I love this pattern and many have to start collecting it. "Broom" by Royal Stafford, English Bone China.
Old fire engine turned ice cream stand. This was brilliant. The sign atop rotated 360 degrees.
I skipped the ice cream to save room for this blueberry fried pie. I would drive the 80 miles to Crossville just for one of these fried pies. I usually go for apple, but this being the first year that blueberry pies were available, I couldn't resist. One family makes these apple, peach, cherry, and blueberry fried pies for the yard sale every year (and luckily the apple pies are available again in September at the Homestead Apple Festival). These pies, as well as the hot dogs, chili, pinto beans, and cornbread also served at this unnamed food stand are famous amongst locals and yard-sale goers. Sorry for the half-eaten pie pic, I forgot to take one before I bit into it. Priorities...
If I were serious about eating healthier, I should have eaten some fresh fruit from this stand instead. The eggplant was gorgeous, but I didn't think the produce would survive in the hot car.
Just one of many fantastic old bikes available.
I dig this huge old U-Haul truck toy. I don't usually display stuff like this in my house, but as often as we move, it seemed like a good fit. Again, dealer price of $55 was a little too high for me.
This dealer had several dozen stunning vintage chandeliers.
I saw several pairs of matching brightly painted kids' chairs. They were so cute, but I couldn't figure out what on earth I would do with them. This pair was $20, a fair price for how cool and sturdy they were.
The most interesting auto of the day, below. I think this truck belonged to a beautiful, very tan, 20-something hippie chick whose tent you can see behind the truck. She made a lot of cute womens skirts and childrens jumpers from brightly colored hemp fabrics. However bizarre her car, she was not even close to being the most colorful character of the day. A gray-bearded, beer-bellied, happy-go-lucky drunken vendor cheerfully slurred "my ecosystem is a bit out of balance" as he stumbled about his booth, empty 12-pack beer boxes in the backdrop. I think he meant his equilibrium instead of ecosystem. Sorry, I couldn't get a pic of this character without seeming rude. Ok, sorry for the tangent. Cute hippie-chick's truck:
The message on the door reads "the hell with the dog beware of owner hoss".
More great vintage bikes. The red bike is just like the one pictured on the Fat Tire Ale bottle, and was priced at $600.
We had a great time at the sale, although next year we will get an earlier start, as many vendors were packing it in early on Sunday due to a few rain showers, heat, their long trip home, etc. I was just a little disappointed this year because we didn't see anything profoundly weird. Next year maybe we'll make a mini-break and try to do a couple hundred miles of the sale. What did I bring home? Sadly, nothing for myself (we are so short on space in our small house that we are super-choosey about what we collect). But I did find some fun items for the Etsy shop: A coconut monkey, some vintage pencil sets, a West German butterfly brooch, a rattan breakfast-in-bed tray, and some groovy orange and yellow tablecloth fabric.