Yet another souvenir plate. This one is made especially for the Hudson’s Bay Company by Johnson Brothers of England, which joined the Wedgwood Group in 1968. I particularly like how this multilayered image succeeds as a collage decades before the Photoshop era. This would also be a fun plate to use for red beets and mashed potatoes. Currently for sale on ebay.

More souvenir decals from the web. Two of these sold on ebay recently, although we have already seen one here before. The Vancouver Mountie decal is currently listed on ebay, and it looks like it’s signed. The name in the bottom right hand corner spells Tekao. Still, my all-time favourite decal is this one of Chinatown.

Phantom views of the Lions Gate Bridge foundations, from a brochure published in 1939. The colophon thanks Leonard Frank (photographer), Don Munday, the Sun Publishing Company Limited, and anonymous friends for the publishing of the brochure. Don Munday was the mountaineer who discovered that Mystery Mountain (later named Mount Waddington) was taller than Mount Robson. The brochure failed to thank the illustrator, so I am unable to credit him here; it was commissioned by the First Narrows Bridge Company no doubt, perhaps Don Luxton knows who it may have been. This brochure has been published to archive.org thanks to Langara College Library.

Souvenir scarf of Vancouver, circa 1950s seen on ebay recently. This would have made a nice second prize in my pillowcase throwdown, but alas someone else is the lucky winner.

Souvenir of Vancouver, BC; another pennant you may enjoy. I’m sure there’s lots more out there. Featured here: the RCMP at the Courthouse (now Art Gallery), Burrard Inlet, Indian Totem Poles at Stanley Park, and Lions Gate Bridge, again with a mistaken apostrophe. Perhaps this pennant is from the same era as the infamous silk pillowcase!

Lions Gate Bridge, a souvenir tin by Gray and Dunn, Biscuit Manufacturers established 1853 in Scotland. Except it’s Lions Gate, not Lion’s Gate. North Vancouver Museum has a great specimen of this tin as well. Text from the McCord Museum:

Since the Lions Gate Bridge was a powerful source of civic pride, its image was quickly co-opted to sell products. The artist who created the scene on this biscuit tin was almost certainly based in Great Britain, where the tin was manufactured. Interestingly, he saw fit to imbue the relative wilderness of Stanley Park with bucolic touches, exaggerating the low fence and pasture scene to the right of the bridge’s entrance. This employment of artistic licence probably sprang from attitudes in the motherland towards its rough imperial outposts, as Vancouver was still viewed in the 1930s. The name of the Lions Gate Bridge also reflects this colonial heritage. Although there is a double-humped mountain called The Lions on Vancouver’s north shore (not actually visible from the bridge deck), the name also refers to the lion symbolizing the British Empire.

• What

  This biscuit tin from Scotland was produced for the Canadian export market. Ongoing immigration from the United Kingdom meant especially strong sales in British Columbia.

• Where

  Foodstuff tins of this era made widespread use of landmark images. It is not surprising that the longest bridge in the British Empire was soon reproduced in this way.

• When

  While this tin was manufactured in the early 1950s, the lid’s painting is based upon a 1939 photograph by Leonard Frank. Embellishments include the cars, scenery and a modern vessel…

There are lots of other similar vintage cookie tins from Gray and Dunn; they really had the market cornered! However, the factory has been shut down for more than 10 years now. It looks like the Kinning Park site in Glasgow has been listed for sale since September, 2011. Here’s a video of the facility from January, 2012; it’s a bit spooky without any biscuits!

Souvenir plates of Vancouver, part 2. Lions Gate Bridge, an idyllic postcard image on a decorated plate from Germany. Marked NC or CN Western Germany, most likely made in the 1950s or 1960s. Thanks Karin!

One Love, Vancouver, a tattoo dedicated to the city of Vancouver by Christina Christie. She writes: “Rob decided that he wanted to commemorate Vancouver by dedicating his whole back to it. So after some brainstorming we decided to create a depiction of the Lions Gate Bridge overlooked by Stanley Park.” This particular tattoo began in summer 2010 and was completed in April 2011 after several sessions. More work in progress photos on her site.

More about Christina: “Christina’s introduction to tattooing professionally stemmed from an unlikely mentor: the heavily inked janitor from her highschool. He’d seen her pieces around school and suggested she work for a local shop drawing for the less naturally gifted tattooists. Here she learned how to tattoo, her first piece being a skull with bunny ears.” Christina Christie continued to hone her skills at a local tattoo shop while attending University, and she graduated from Emily Carr University in 2009.