Back in the USSR!

Some are, but most of my maps are of more recent vintage. I save all those gorgeous maps from the National Goegraphic and they're up-to-date.

I collect 'vintage' globes. I've posted pix of some of them.

Set's entertaining in that he figures out when a particular globe was made by what countries are on them.

My oldest globe is from the 1920's. Pewter, opens up to hold cigarettes. I've got some older atlases.

Globes - mine is a vintyge, I've got to my first communion (1958), the one in use is as of 2003.

Atlas: mapy from 1600 onwards, complete atlas from 1850's, 1920 ... and a really new one.

I do the exact same thing. It's fun to find an old globe in a second-hand shop. I wish I hd the space for an actual collection of such thigs, but then I'd be crowding out the useful things.

I was waiting for a bus in Columbus, Ohio, and happened to look in the window of thrift store, in which an atlas was displayed. It was opened to the page which showed Czechoslovakia. On the western border was a portion of Germany which was labelled "Sudetenland." On the northeastern border was an area in Poland labelled "Silesia," except that it was the Polish version of that place name. The price label for the atlas was $300.00. Another guy was looking in that windown, and he did a double-take--then he laughed and said they'd never get $3.00 for that atlas, let alone $300.00. I pointed out that as the atlas could only have been printed within a range of less than two months in 1938, they could probably get at least $300, and maybe more from a dealer. He didn't get it. Next, he looked at me as though i were crazy, and moved off. Had i been a rich man, i'd have bought that atlas, and held on to it until it was really valuable. I was impressed though, that the thrift shop owner had noticed how unique the book was, given that they get their stuff by donation, and he or she didn't necessarily have anyone to tell them that.

When we lived in the States we found a book in a thriftshop- 50 cents.

The Common-School Geography:
An Elementary Treatise
On Mathematical, Physical, and Political Geography.
For the use of schools.
Published by H. Cowperthwait & Co. 1858

It is very interesting to read what was taught at that time.

Yeah!

Now I don't feel so silly with my 1968 Atlas and my mid-80s globe.

I do miss having my big current maps handy, though.

I remember seeing photos of your globes on the house pictures thread, eBeth. They're serious cool.

That's a great story, Setanta. You are probably one of the few people who could have seen that and recognized it for what it was.

Merry Andrew, Walter Hintler, eBeth, Setanta.....

What nice company to find myself in this morning.

Thank you all for your replies.

We purchased an 89 year old one room schoolhouse this year and the coolest thing about it is the hanging globe. It is suspended from the ceiling on a pulley and a weight sits on the chalkboard ledge. (The weight is a metal orb and painted silver on one half and black on the other -- makes me think of the light and dark sides of the moon.) If you lift the weight up the globe descends and can be studied. Pull the weight down and sit it on the ledge and the globe ascends up towards the ceiling out of the way. We only got a good look at the globe on our last visit after we demolished some partition walls. Unfortunately it is really grungy but I can tell that Sri Lanka is still Ceylon and Indonesia is still ruled by the Dutch. Future plans include cleaning it (very carefully). It's a school model sold by Moyer's but I couldn't find a date on it. We also found the rollers and bamboo rods with pulldown rings for those big maps that used to hang above the boards (remember? They advertised Neilson's chocolate bars) but I guess the maps rotted away.

Wow, that's fabulous, Ta Chi!

Yup, I still have the same globe I had as a kid, and it has USSR on it.

It's fun to look at it every once in a while and see how things have changed.