[MR] Everything old is new again...

[Towey, Brian]

Wow!  Look at the pointy toes on these shoes!  Truly, there is nothing new
under the sun.

http://www.zappos.com/n/p?dp=1100103&c=5132

I have noticed that all the stores this year are selling majolica-like
pottery dishes that are "plausibly period."  (More plausible than my woven
teak salad bowl straight out of a Brady Bunch episode, anyway.)  Every time
I see them, I wonder.  Is the pattern on the Sears set more authentic than
the one at Costco?  Who would know?  I wish there were some SCA guild that
could put out shopping bulletins every so often.  

"Attention K-Mart shoppers!  On Aisle 14 there are metal ice cream dishes
for sale that look remarkably like 16th C French salt cellars.  And, over on
Aisle 20 there are some ladies' link belts that would look great on a 14th C
English gown.  Pointy flat shoes are in fashion this spring, so pick up a
couple of pairs before the silly fad is over."

We all have our specialty, the one thing we do that is as historical as we
can make it.  It might be beads, or brewing, or carving, or fighting style.
And we all have some other part of our kit that we know very little about.
What a help it would be to have a panel of experts to advise us that the
margarita glasses on sale at Pier 1 this week are reasonable facsimiles of a
renaissance Italian goblet in the Musée Antoine Vivenel in Picardy. 

Your servant,

Charles Fleming