More Stuff (Puppet Photography)

What a relief---taking an extra day off has worked magic.
I'm still annoyed at the general ineptitude of the marketing director (I guess she's in "development" not marketing, but same difference, for the purpose of my annoyance)---BUT I am restored to balance--
I am there for the donated books & their friends, 
not the organization. That is . . .

NOT MY CIRCUS!!!

Speaking of circuses, I listed online a Fisher-Price toy circus train for the store yesterday. 

Remember these? This one's from 1973.

The Toy Lady told me that when she puts these FP sets out for sale, people rip open the bags and take the figures they want, so she wanted me to post them online,

where they also go for waaay more money than $1.99 thrift-store prices (more like $25–$50)––FP being one of the Recognizable Desireables of the Moment,

along with Pyrex and Steiff, etc.

I gather Antiques come in and out of fashion like that. Not to say these aren't nice brands. They all are:

Fisher-Price toys are great---still solid and bright, at forty, fifty years old.

My parents wouldn't buy these because they were plastic--tacky, in their eyes. I don't agree--I think they are good, imaginative toys--YOU, the player, come up with the stories and actions & all.

Anyway, I want to record here some of the other cool things I listed. Since I do this mostly volunteer (I get 10% in store credit of things sold), and it's a lot of work, I can list what I want. And that's  the quirkier things--and toys, and books. 

I ignore the piles of donated boring things, like electronics and expensive clothes and new items. 

I like things that are a bit of a mystery too.

WHAT IS THIS?
This, for instance:

It's lined with velvet, so it's meant for a trinket box, but I had no idea what its original purpose would have been. 

As I was photographing it, a passing customer who collects antiques told me.
Do you know?
I'll put the answer in the comments. 

(The silver-plate box is held on the stand with a locking mechanism, underneath.)

Mostly I know what things are, generally, but enjoy researching and learning more about the what and the why of them.

Sometimes they surprise me.

This is obviously a glass jar with a lid, for instance >

It's stamped "Fire-King Over Ware" on the bottom.

 I've deal with Fire-King before--

sort of a low-end Pyrex, their stuff was given as premiums at grocery stores--

but now is collectible.

I LOVE the polka-dots, but I was surprised to learn this darling bowl was made as a grease jar--part of a stovetop set--for putting bacon and other cooking grease in.

Lids often get broken or separated, so this is a desireable set--they go for around $75! 

(That's what I priced it. We shall see...)

What else is in my goodie bag?

My personal favorite is the puppet photography by Shiba Productions, (Japan, 1968) of Thumbelina--part of a set of books illustrated with toy photography (pre- Photoshop).
I remember these books--I hated them when I was a kid. Now I love these toy tableaux: