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Wonderful World 4

Have you ever thought about the character of the the cities you have visited? In my imagination they are like women; put together from the same elements but how different they are. New York is like a Vogue model; hard, glittery wants to be heard and noticed. San Francisco is like a dowager aunt; quiet, soft spoken and if you are fortunate enough to have a chat with her she has wonderful tales to tell of her interesting life. London is like The Dowager Queen; old, a bit frail, a bit dowdy but wearing magnificent jewels. Paris is like two different women; one, a shop girl who has hardly a sou but knows how to tie a scarf around her shoulders so you think she frequents Hèrmes. The other, if titles were still in use, would be called Countess, and when she arrives all eyes turn to her. She is older, elegantly dressed in couturier clothes from years ago and you see immediately that everyone else is overdressed, overdone and gauche by comparison.*

Q.  The First California Flag. For history buffs, the very first flag of California.  In June 1846 a tiny band of American settlers living in the Sacramento Valley rebelled against the Mexican authorities who were then in control of what we now know as California.  They captured Sonoma, then the largest settlement north of San Francisco.  There were only 500 of them and there were thousands of Mexicans in the area but those early settlers were very gutsy guys!  If you can imagine, they issued a Declaration of Independence and hoisted this flag!  A few days later Captain John Fremont arrived and with his troops gave support to the new Republic and then was elected as head of the government of the new Republic of California. The Republic was short lived!  On July 9 Commodore John D. Sloat arrived, occupied both San Francisco and Sonoma and raised the flag of the United States over both settlements and claimed all California for the United States. Inside the box, the United States flag and a star for the clasp. Our price: $136.90.

R. The Western Wall in Jerusalem Box. (The Wailing Wall.) For those of the Jewish faith the Western Wall is the place where all of their prayers go before ascending to heaven. Originally built by King Solomon as a retaining wall for the Temple on the Mount, a portion of it was left standing when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 68 C.E.(Please don't ask what the dating means. I do not know. I do know that the Jewish calendar is not the same as the one in use today.) The Wall is considered a permanent reminder of the presence of God and is thought to be the source through which all Godliness comes to us. The box is done in both high and low relief with relief done layer upon layer, 8 layers in all, to give the box the great depth that it has. The figures praying at the wall, even the plants growing in the wall, are all done in relief. Included inside is a tiny Torah, removable. Retail: Upwards of $205.00. Our price: $184.90.

S1. The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Box. The Bay beneath it and Alcatraz off to the west of it. Such an exciting city with the most wonderful vistas every where you look. On a clear day the city just sparkles and when it is foggy, and that is not infrequent, it is as though the city is wrapped in velvet. A hush falls. There is no other city anywhere that is anything like San Francisco. It is sophisticated but not brittle. It doesn't bustle the way New York does and it isn't loud the way New York is. Ride a Cable Car down to Fisherman's Wharf for fresh seafood, lunch in Chinatown on authentic Chinese food, (The city has a large Chinese population.) or stop for a bit of sustenance at Ghiradelli Square where you will see that wonderful chocolate factory. (From one chocoholic to another, if you have never tasted Ghiradelli chocolate you are in for a treat.) You can shop on the little streets that run off Union Square and on the Square you will find some marvelous shopping. And oh yes, I haven't mentioned the hills. There are some streets on which it would help to be a mountain goat, they have little flights of steps on the side to make it a bit easier going up them and coming down them is something else. It is like stepping off the edge of the world. Great City! Unforgettable! The Bridge, by the way, takes you from S.F. into Marin County, a completely different kind of place that is very arty and and somewhat bohemian and almost totally built on hills overlooking the Bay. Retail: About $205.00. Our price: $184.90. We have carried this box for 5 years and it is still in demand. By far the best of the San Francisco boxes!

S2. The Forty Niner's Box. (Ha! You thought I meant a football box instead this is who the San Francisco team is named after.)The discovery of gold in California came within months of the ceding of it to the United States by Mexico in 1848. California was not yet a state when this enormously significant event took place. The tremendous population growth that the Gold Rush brought to California resulted in it becoming the 31st state of the union in 1850. Our box is a gold miner panning for gold on the South Fork of The American River at Sutter's Mill, California where gold was first discovered. Inside, California Gold Rush, 1849-1999 and a tiny dimensional and removable "gold" nugget. Our price: $182.90. We've run this box for several years now and it is always in demand.

S3.  The Lombard Street, San Francisco, California, USA Box.  San Francisco is a city of hills rising up from the Bay. Some of the hills are higher and steeper than others and the one that is steepest is the Lombard Street hill. One really needs to be a mountain goat to reach the summit of that street or to have spent a lot of time on the equipment at the gym.  It is the only street I know of that has stair steps running alondside of the sidewalk to accommodate those of us who are not mountain goats.  I recall the first time my husband came round the corner and turned onto Lombard St. I gasped!  It was like stepping off the edge of the world.  Down, down, down went this street! I was terrified.  I was certain that the forces of gravity were not sufficient to keep us from tumbling down the hill, car and all.  But, we made it down and after a few days I got used to San Francisco.  The natives think nothing of these hills excepting that they make it such an interesting city.  Inside the box, the street sign, and the clasp is a car.  Our price: $189.90.

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T1. The New York, New York Box. You'll have Manhattan, The Bronx and Brooklyn, too. You can see The Trump Tower, The Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, The World Trade Center--=see the note above -- The Brooklyn and Queensboro Bridges, The Holland Tunnel, The Hudson and East Rivers, The Statue of Liberty, Riker's Island and New Jersey. Inside,  “New York!" and a tiny Yellow Cab, dimensional and removable. The clasp is The Statue of Liberty Torch. The entire box is done in various heights of relief in such a manner as to make the buildings appear to be standing up straight when you look at it. The shape of the box is that of an apple.  Retail: About $205.00. Our price: $184.90. We have carried this box for 6 years and it is still in demand. By far the best of the New York boxes and notice that it is still at the original price!

T2. The Times Square, New York Box. This box was originally made for the Millennium but from then until now I have looked in vain for another New York box that had all the excitement of New York that this one had. Two years of looking and finally I have come to know that there is no other box for New York that has the vibrancy that this box has. It is Times Square on New Years Eve 2000. You can feel the excitement just looking at the box. The Square is filled with people, the Times Building Ball had not yet come down and in the right light that ball looks as though it has a light in it. (It is multi-faceted crystal and reflects the light wonderfully well.) The buildings are all lighted and the excitement is palpable.The sides of the box are the American Flag, Inside it says, "Times Square 2000, the biggest party on earth." The clasp says, 2000. It comes with it's own easel so that the box can be shown upright. Our price: Originally $265.00, It is now $175.90.

NOTE: Others do not see this box as I do and when I called to order it recently the maker, Chanille, said to me that they had reduced it considerably because it was an old box. I was delighted. I didn't care how old it was, I cared about the feeling it had and how great a box it was, so, you get to be the beneficiaries of this terrific reduction in price on a marvelous box!

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