Last of my 'shape' photographs for this year's 'flash of red' challenge and I've take a lead crystal rose bowl that Carole would have bought from one of her trips across the Berlin Wall into the DDR. Absolutely crazy exchange rate from the West German Mark to the East German Mark, further helped by the equally bonkers exchange rate we'd already benefitted from between the Pound Sterling and the West German Mark made buying these items so attractive. We have a shrank full of DDR Lead Crytstal that comes out on highdays and holidays.
Given the news of the last 48 hours in Ukraine, I'm mindful of the night of 9th November 1989 when I was sat on the Berlin Wall drinking and celebrating with thousands of East and West Germans, what I thought at the time was the end of the Cold War. It would seem, given the events in Ukraine to have only been a 30 year hiatus.
Thank you for your continued engagement with my humble offerings.
A stunning rose bowl. Amazing to learn about the currency exchange rate during those times. I have a piece of the Berlin Wall a friend gave me upon his return from Germany the year the wall came down.
@louannwarren I have a chunk of it also, which I broke off myself the morning after it fell. Within days, you could see folk on the side streets making concrete slabs, painting it, breaking it up and selling it to tourists as ‘guaranteed’ pieces of the wall. Capitalism at its best.
A proper crystal ball Phil! We also have a piece of the wall given to us by a very dear German friend. She escaped East Berlin just days before the wall went up
Great shape. Crystal was a sought after item, by visitors from the West. Especially at the silly prices, due to the amazing exchange rate. They only allowed so many people into a shop at any time, so there were queues & we weren’t allowed into their food shops as the food was subsidised by the government & at times rationed. A long time ago & we were used to seeing armed Russian soldiers, a different world - but was it?
lovely photo and an estern block bargain too . As for the 30 year hiatus, it is frightening, one chilling moment as I watched the news today , there were a couple of western reporters fleeing Ukraine into Poland, one gave an account of Ukraine families fleeing, but men aged 18-60 were being rounded up and conscripted into the Ukraine army. Chilling.
