SubscribeMay 2012
The jazz art of David Stone Martin (0)
5/18/12 •
When I saw the ink outline of two musicians on the auction website, I immediately looked for a signature on the drawing. It was signed “David Stone Martin,” and somewhere deep in my mind, I recognized that name. I had written it before or seen it before but I wasn’t sure where. Then it came [...]
A lamp in search of an identity (0)
5/17/12 •
I had arrived at the auction house late on purpose. This was the day of one of its Modern Design sales, so I knew I could afford very little on the tables, floors or walls. I always go to browse because this auction house usually has some very arresting pieces for both this sale and [...]
A pecking chicken paddle toy (0)
5/16/12 •
I was picking over some disparate items in a box at auction when I spotted a round paddle board with wooden chickens on the top. It reminded me of the paddle ball toys I’d played with as a child. You know the one – you hit a red rubber ball against the paddle and try [...]
The end of candy-making at Weber’s (0)
5/15/12 •
I love chocolates, especially turtles with their uber-delicious caramel and pecans all layered together and mixing it up into one sweet taste. So, when I learned that an auction house was selling the remains of a New Jersey candy store that specialized in chocolates and other goodies, I just had to go. It was named Weber’s [...]
Vintage gear for the little ones among us (0)
5/14/12 •
The only thing missing was the baby. Week after week, baby gear kept appearing at auction. First, I saw a heavy wooden cradle with rockers at both ends. Then, I began seeing carriages and strollers, potty chairs and rocking chairs. Everyone seemed to be tossing out these vintage pieces all at the same time – maybe [...]
A bat mounted in a case (0)
5/11/12 •
“Did you see the bat?” my auction buddy Janet asked, walking up to me as I was looking over some items on an auction table. I felt like ducking just in case a bat was flying overhead in this cavernous and dimly lit auction house. We were near a wide open door that offered some natural light, but [...]
A wooden mask by artist Roger Francois (0)
5/10/12 •
I can’t seem to escape wooden carved masks at auction these days. They keep turning up and I’m not quite sure why. It’s working out for me because I’m on the lookout for items to offer for a silent auction that’s coming up a week from now. So, I’ve bought a few hoping that they’ll be snapped [...]
Skip Pitts and his magic guitar (0)
5/09/12 •
The auction house was holding what it called its first Quality Sale of items expected to bring bigger prices. I browsed the tables looking for something of quality that would grab me but very little did. Except for two tables of guitars – several of them Fenders – that I wasn’t likely to buy but that [...]
A lowcountry poster of street blues singers (0)
5/08/12 •
I could almost hear the man singing his heart out as he stood strumming his guitar next to his singing partner who was cupping a mike close to his mouth. It was so close that I first thought he was playing a harmonica. The two men were on a framed poster hanging on a wall at the auction house. [...]
Figurines depicting Alex Haley’s childhood (0)
5/07/12 •
The first thing I saw in the etagere was a beautiful Lladro grouping of a mother reading to her two daughters. One daughter was seated on a bench next to her, listening intently, and the other was at her feet kinda listening but playing with a puppy. The image was so powerful that it willed [...]
Sorry, I don’t know the value of your treasures (0)
5/02/12 •
I get inquiries from folks who’ve come across my blog while trying to find out the value of an item they own. The item is usually similar to something I’ve blogged about. A General bread-making machine. Nazi memorabilia. Old newspapers from the Kennedy assassination. Restaurant placemats. I have to honestly tell them that I have no [...]
The sad saga of an unloved child named Khalil (2)
5/01/12 •
First, let me tell you about a child who was apparently loved: I picked up at auction a small blue cardboard case covered in royal blue satin. I looked inside and saw a cute pair of little girl bedroom slippers topped with white faux fur and needlepoint flowers. Folded beneath the shoes were a Japanese-style robe [...]
April 2012
A temptress in the form of a red telephone (0)
4/30/12 •
“Hello, hello. Is anyone there?” the man asked knowingly into the receiver. He knew that no one was on the other end, just like the other folks who had tried out the red and beige touch-tone phone. Each had picked up the receiver and placed it to their ear, as if they expected to speak to [...]
Decorative trivets with words to live by (0)
4/27/12 •
I stood there for a few minutes just reading the messages painted in white letters carved on the cast-iron trivets. There about 30 of the pieces, most with some witty, funny or thoughtful aphorism that someone had dreamed up. At least one was a familiar saying, and several had no messages at all. They were [...]
A Christmas book about a black boy named Turky (0)
4/26/12 •
As soon as I saw it, I was impressed with the drawing of the little black boy on the book’s dust jacket. He was decently dressed in an outfit that put him in the early 20th century – during a time when black children were illustrated as caricatures of their true selves. But this little [...]
A meter to test your love (0)
4/25/12 •
I was just wasting some time at auction recently, nosing around on tables when I saw the little box almost hidden under more towering items. “Mystery meter, Love meter” was the title, and I was hooked. The box was no longer than six inches and on the front was a drawing of a hand holding [...]
A baby sculpted in bronze (0)
4/24/12 •
I’ve seen the little shoes that parents have cast in bronze as a memory of the time when their babies were cute and little and oh-so-precious. Imagine my surprise when I came upon a whole baby sculpted in bronze during a walk-through recently at an auction house. There the child was, as naked as the day [...]
A love affair with the saxophone (0)
4/23/12 •
I wasn’t sure what was in the long black box I spied on the floor under the auction table. I assumed it was a musical instrument, because they come up for bids pretty often. I usually admired the artistry of the instruments but never took the time to bid on one. But I always checked [...]
Giving up a soapbox racer (0)
4/21/12 •
I spotted the racing car as soon as I turned the corner. Its slender body, low to the floor, took up a large block of space inside the frame of a mattress-less bed. Its orange and green color, and yellow stripe stood out against the dark mahogany of the antique furniture around it at the [...]
An “antique” doll bed with a pedigree (3)
4/19/12 •
The doll bed was in awful condition. It was dusty. It was dirty, and the ropes that once crisscrossed its bottom were busted, now only remnants. The bed still had its four wooden posts and rails, which had tiresomely survived the ages but not very well. The bed’s appearance was off-putting, and normally I would [...]
I started going to auctions to fuel my love for African American art – but at a bargain. I love the old masters: Lois Mailou Jones, Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith. I wanted to find their works and discover other veteran artists whose works may have been hiding in an attic or basement, and forgotten.
