11 Comments
Feb 15, 2021Liked by Monica McLaughlin

Monica! As always, what a stunning collection you've put together for us. I'm a little depressed now though, because I have to live the rest of my life knowing I don't own even one of the octopus spoons, let alone the full double set, and sugar tongs, et al. It's a cruel world! Thanks also for sharing the Mysterious Book Shop channel. Between this and that gorgeous Italian jewelry designer, you are now the official curator of my YouTube time!

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I want to inside-paint something.....

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DO IIIIIIIT. And report back! (Just the thought of it is making my hand cramp up.)

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Feb 16, 2021Liked by Monica McLaughlin

I’m actually from Melbourne, the setting of the Mystery of the Hansom Cab – got a much newer copy in my bookshelf. We don't have hansom cabs anymore, sad to say. The book was made into a movie in 1911, which lays claim to being the world’s first murder mystery feature film.

Gorgeous stuff in your newsletter!

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The first! That's amazing, and I see on Prime that there was another film adaptation that was made in 2012, so I'm definitely going to have to check that out. Thanks, Alison - both for the info and the kind words. (And hello from Philadelphia! I'm always so tickled to hear from readers in far-away places!)

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Feb 15, 2021Liked by Monica McLaughlin

Oh god, also a follow up. That picture of Henry Cyril Paget in the Vogue article? Excuse me! I should have been prepared for such fabulousness, but I was NOT!

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Yes, he was truly spectacular! I wish I could have seen the emerald-covered ping-pong jacket.

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Oh this was a fun read! Substack picked a good one for Sunday morning reading...

I have a silver gimmel ring that was my mother's - she bought it in Williamsburg, I believe, back in the 70s. Love that ring, even if it only fits on my thumb. Years ago a jeweler advised that sizing it to fit my ring finger would be difficult and expensive.

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Thanks, Corinne! So cool that you’ve got a sentimental gimmel ring! I can imagine why a jeweler might shy away from working on it. A lot of jewelers won’t size a ring if it requires a difference of more than 3-4 sizes, and then if it’s also a two- or three- parter that needs to fit together? Yikes. Better safe than sorry. But a 70s gimmel ring is basically the perfect bohemian thumb ring - I’m jealous, lol!

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Feb 26, 2021Liked by Monica McLaughlin

If my derriere were seated on a wooden bench being lifted by two live bears, the poor bruins' facial expressions would look just like that.

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Oh stop; they are clearly shouting praise and exaltation!

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