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MMD > Archives > July 1999 > 1999.07.07 > 18Prev  Next


Edison Phonograph Ad in Cosmopolitan Magazine
By Mark Kinsler

> ... The interesting thing is the runner on the table with the Nazi
> swastika on it and two of the young men wearing Jewish yarmulkes.

Dunno about the yarmulkes -- maybe they are indeed just beanies.
But the swastika is always a source of great excitement amongst antique
collectors, who are unaware that it was a fairly popular decoration
motif in the years before it was used to adorn bombers.  I think it
derives from some American Indian designs.  My 1908 Sears reprint
catalog features a swastika bracelet.

I read that you're supposed to be observant as to which way the
swastika points: the kind that's a counter-clockwise buzz-saw is one
thing, and the kind that's a clockwise buzz-saw is apparently quite
another.  One's Nazi, the other is innocent.  I never could keep them
straight, and I guess nobody else could, either; both varieties are
thoroughly out of style now.

But they showed up as decorations on all sorts of stuff before 1933,
including Navajo Indian blankets.  That may be what's in the Edison
phonograph picture.

Mark Kinsler


(Message sent Wed 7 Jul 1999, 23:46:09 GMT, from time zone GMT-0400.)

Key Words in Subject:  Ad, Cosmopolitan, Edison, Magazine, Phonograph

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