Underwater scene?
Does anyone recall those rather odd ornaments, usually in the shape of a ship's wheel, that tended to grace the top of the telly? In the centre was (I think) a transparent dome, inside which was an undersea scene of fish, a treasure chest etc. This was illuminated by mains power which arrived via a length of dangerous-looking thin 'speaker wire' cable.
I thought they were terribly 'common', but at the same time they fascinated me! |
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Yes My grandparents had one on top of the telly in fact ISTR lots of my relations had them but as they were all in places like Newlyn I guess not surprising :thumbsup:
Couple of pics from the net |
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My grandparents didn't! Might be something to do with grandad having had two ships sunk from under him?
What he did have were two very large (to me as a small kid) shells stood each side of the fireplace. David David |
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I remember them.... tacky, as you say. Some of them were water-filled and had little metallized-plastic flakes (like in a snow-globe) - heat from the bulb caused convection-currents to circulate the flakes and give a 'twinkly' effect to the water.
We never had anything so horrid - our 1960s TV-topper was a sailing-ship, about 18 inches long/high, with a 15-watt pygmy bulb in the base to illuminate the sails/rigging. |
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We've had a thread on these TV top ornaments before, but I can't find it at present.
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Equally horrendous were the vintage cars, horse and carts, and paddle steamers with a little tranny radio built in! All three of my sets of grandparents had these.
(this doesnt include my Corgi RTL van with a radio in it!) |
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Jim |
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And at risk of being admonished by our moderators, having to get rid of the piles of newspapers, Radio Times and shoes & slippers from the space between the legs? Sorry, wandering OT again..... |
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Yup.
You just hope they weren't live..... There have been a few incidents of houses being evacuated while 'souveneirs' were removed. At least underwater scene ornaments are relatively safe. I once bought an old piece of WWII radio gear. It had a bank of crystals inside with small charges fitted between them. David |
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Another rather tacky ornament was a model ship illuminated from within by a number of Christmas type lights. Often the lamps were fitted permanently and not user replaceable.
Often holiday souvenirs. Not confined to atop the TV, but that was a popular location. Later displaced by lava lamps in some cases. |
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I suppose thats one thing with the modern wall mounted ultra slim tellies - very hard to put cheesy ornaments on top of them!
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Hang on, what sort of shells are we talking about, please?
I just immediately assumed pretty sea shells!;D Not military ammunition!:o |
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Shells, Naval.
In the words of the Navy Lark; whizz-bangs and Oooh-Narsties David |
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There will always be tat, how much tat lasts for 40 odd years? There must be a (potential) line of slimline TV tat, recumbent snakes perhaps, or the classic Nessie!
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Screen saver of fish swinging round?
Yes I know that only CRT screens need screen savers. |
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How about a 'Kilroy' (Mr Chad) type of thing that could hook over the top edge of our shiny new slimline TV's? For added tat-factor, they could be illuminated by an internal LED and be powered from the TV's USB port.
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I don't know whether it counts as a TV-top ornament but when I was a boy "motion lamps" were all the rage. Here's one with an underwater scene:
Underwater motion lamp I had one with a couple of cars on (a model T and a Bearcat). They seem to be very rare and expensive now. |
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I guess its movement was powered by some sort of vane-structure fitted in the rising heat from the bulb, in much the same way as 'flame-effect' electric fires with a vane assembly above a red bulb.
I've never seen such a 'motion lamp' device myself, but a decade back some friends put their obsolete non-HD LCD TV in their fireplace and fed it from a concealed laptop showing a "log fire" screensaver! |
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