Latest in a weekly look at Kootenaiana selling on eBay.
A flour cup from the Harrop and District Co-operative Association made by Medalta Pottery of Medicine Hat drew 14 bids and sold for $244.50 US last week.
That was despite four chips on the rim and a defect in the glaze.
Stencilled on the front is: “Ask for Ogilvie’s Royal Household Flour.”
An identical cup sold in December 2001 for $127 US. Vintage Medalta pottery in good condition is highly prized by collectors.
The Harrop Co-op was established sometime in the 1910s, according to a history by Anne Forrester in Kootenay Outlet Reflections. The association built a packing shed to handle fruit from around the outlet area of Kootenay Lake.
Their biggest year was 1925-26, when 35 carloads of apples, pears, and other fruit shipped. This was before the CPR line was completed past Procter, so boxes were loaded on the train at Harrop, then transferred to barge at Procter to continue down the lake to Kootenay Landing.
In 1939, the packing shed began processing small fruits as well, including strawberries and cherries. This continued into the 1950s.
The second floor of the shed was a social centre, and hosted Christmas concerts, church services, theatre productions, and dances.
• A Hughes Brothers postcard of an “old timers parade” down Bay Avenue in Trail, showing the old Liberty Theatre, sold for $51 US.
The card was mailed in 1925 to Roy Shields of Victoria. The message read: “Dear Roy, Just a line to let you know I am fine and dandy and working all the time. Say hello to the Adams for me. Ed.”
• A lovely real photo postcard of the SS Kaslo, postmarked 1905, sold for $31 US.
It was mailed to a Miss E.E. Fraser of Boston.
The Kaslo’s career on Kootenay Lake only lasted from 1900-10, although it was the fastest and most luxurious boat on the lake when launched.
After it hit an underwater piling at Ainsworth, it was towed to Mirror Lake for repairs, but was instead broken up for parts.
• A nice 1940s postcard of the SS Moyie moored at Kaslo sold for $16 US.
The Moyie, now a museum and arguably West Kootenay’s most important silver rush-era artifact, opens for the season later this month.
This story will appear in the West Kootenay Advertiser on May 17.
