Ashes Memorabilia

Yesterday we set out to visit the rocks market. Actually... it was Pancakes on the Rocks we were hoping to visit but the line up was simply outrages! It spanned a good 100m long just to get in the door! So that idea was quickly knocked on the head and we settled on a German style feast instead at the Rocks famous Lowenbrau. After a round of German Hotdogs we headed to the street markets which are located right in the middle of one of the tracks used in Project Gotham Racing 2 (Xbox).

As soon as we arrived the very first stand you notice a sculptures stand selling spoons, knives and forks bent and sculptures into Australian animals. It's simply amazing and at first we figured we had stumbled upon the find of the weekend. However, after gazing at that my brother dragged me away from that to point out a stand selling stamps. At first I figured I'd skip it. Stamps. Seriously. How exciting could stamps be? Well these were no ordinary stamps. The stand owner explained how these 3D stamps were formed. She painstakingly collects numerous stamps of the same kind and cuts out layers of which she re-lays on top of one another. This then gives the stamps a real third dimensional aspect with the main objects of the picture within the stamps standing out. These are then later re-framed by her husband and sold.

The very first stamp that stood out for me was the Ashes 2006 commemorative stamp featuring three stamps that were issued last year showing the Aussies celebrating on the field after a Shane Warne wicket, the Ashes urn and last a stamp showing the post win photo with the urn. It's fixed in a extremely well produced frame that is in traditional display cabinet colours and looks like something channel 9 would have Ritchie Benaud flogging off during a live broadcast!

Yutang also purchased 2 stamp frames. One of an Australian Tree Frog and the other was of a blue bird. They were not cheap. I would normally not even consider these within my reach. But we figured the Ashes one would perhaps one day increase in value as its limited to just 200. But it's a new addition to the house and will definitely be a conversation starter for years to come!