PHONOGRAPHS AND JAPANESE DOLLS

Yesterday afternoon in Gallery 1 was a delightful treat with Dave Homewood bringing along several of his collection of phonographs with records and cylinders to play some wonderful old tunes for us.

Also on display were 7 of my own Japanese dolls or 'Kokeshi'.

About 70 to 100 people must have come along to see what was going on drawn in by the fabulous sound of voices from long ago singing down the length of the gallery. A buzzy atmosphere was created by people looking at Dave's wonderful machines and asking questions. A number of people were also specifically interested in asking about the Kokeshi.

At one point when quite a crowd had gathered I asked Dave some questions about his phonographs and about collecting in general.

We found out that for both of us our collections had started when we were children and a relative had given us something as a gift that kicked off a lifelong passion.

Nearly everyone had lovely gentle smiles on their faces as they heard the beautifully ghostly voices emanating from horns and cone-shaped speakers.