Monday 11 August 2014

Just Who Were You Mr Jones ...


Hello there ....
A nice sunny day here ... bit breezy .. 
what with Bertha having a bit of a chase around ..
 but nice enough. 
Hope you have had a good day ... I find Mondays can sometimes be a little hard work ..



Today was a sorting stock kinda day .... 
a bundle of vintage clothes needed some TLC .. a little mending and washing.
Just look how pretty these vintage pinnies/aprons look on the maiden ... 
such pretty fabrics.
its so hard to part with them  ...



A couple of nice 50's style dresses ... in excellent condition ...



.... and
 .. how pretty is this little top from Hungary.

I'm sure someone will snap these up ... 
I would if I didn't have such a .. umm ... 'rounded' and 
.. umm 
 'mature'.. figure .. !



This is a really fab dress ... 
I haven't got a very good pic of it ...
 but 'in real life' its lovely ....
 an amazingly full skirt .. and the pretty bows... 
and everyday wearable .

I will take them out tomorrow and see if I can find them a home.


On Sunday ... 
in all the rain ...
 at 5 o' clock in the morning ...
 Hubby P went out to find new stock ... 
crazy man thought I ... 
but I made him a flask of coffee to drink ... 
whilst he sat in the middle of a field ... 
in the pouring rain..!

Give him his due ... he returned with treasures ....

Which included a large collection of boxes and tins etc ... 
the contents of someones sewing room ...
its always a bit sad to sort through ...

In the bottom of a box of bits and bobs .. 
alongside the pinking shears and bias binding I found these...



My first thought was ... 'what nice keys'...
  and then ...
 'why would 'she' keep a bunch of keys in her sewing box ?'

It is a lovely .. tactile kinda bunch ...
you know ... 
a kinda nice chunky feel ...
 an 'old' .. used .. lifelong feel to them.

Looking closer I could see the name Jones stamped in the metal tags ... 
I had no idea what they were for .. but I guessed they would be something to do with a mans workplace.

Hubby P had an idea that they were Pit Tally's .. or Checks .. 

When a miner was given his lamp to go down the mine he handed in a 'check or tally' ... with his name on ... so there would be a record of who was down the mine ... when he came up to the surface it would be handed back to him.



The Tally's have various numbers and letters stamped on them too ... these  probably indicate the mine he worked at etc ...
 Hubby P is trying to find out more about Mr Jones.

I find it very moving that .. most probably .. 
Mrs Jones has kept this little bundle of keys ... 
was it treasured a link to her lost Husband ...
 a man who spent such a lot of his life in the dark ... underground ... to provide for his family. 
An everyday item that summed up his life ... ?

We can only guess ... if only they could talk...

Anyway enough of me ... 
I would love to hear your thoughts on our finds ... 
anyone know anything about these Pit Tally's ... 
we may have it all wrong..!

Bye for now xx