The soft yellow and blue colors on the postcard were the first thing to catch my eye. I could tell it was a linen card and thereby had some age on it. Many of the…
Category: Postcards
Readers ask about Sugar Ray’s Café postcard and theater lights
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Lighting, Performers, Plays, Postcards, and Reader questions
Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do…
Postcards of black women with hats
Posted in Black history, Clothing, Photos, Postcards, and Style
In the auction catalog, the description of the postcards sounded a lot like “Crowns,” a book of photographs about black women and their love affair with hats: “Group of 275 real photo post cards of African…
The slightly tawny postcards were adorable there on the table at the auction house. There were six of them, depicting the members of a wedding party, all stylishly dressed in what looked liked 1920s clothing.…
I can always find something Christmasy on auction tables anytime, anywhere – be it vintage lights, ornaments or any other decorations that had likely been sitting in someone’s basement or attic for years. The vintage…
Doing the cakewalk – in bronze
Posted in Art, collectibles, and Postcards
Back in November, my auction buddy Janet found four neat postcards among a lot of cards she had just bought. They were images of two black couples demonstrating how to do the cakewalk around 1904.…
Photos and the stories they do (or not) tell –
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Photos, and Postcards
As you know, I love old photos. I like to imagine the stories behind each one of them. Who were these people and what were their lives like? I don’t go out of my way…
Earlier this week, I wrote a post about stereotypical images of black children that I come across at auctions. I complimented Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” for its positive portrayal of a black girl…
Cakewalk postcards at auction
Posted in Postcards
My auction buddy Janet collects vintage African American postcards. Like me, she can’t stand the ugly ones that stereotype us as black people. At auction recently, she picked up a batch of cards, including three…