I was watching television one night recently when on screen popped Beyonce in a L’Oreal Paris commercial. Her lips were fire-red, and the lipstick seemed to be applied thickly, as if smeared on. Did her lips…
Month: August 2010
No friends among bidders
Posted in Black history, and Etiquette
I heard a regular bidder say recently that there are no friends at auction. In other words, it was every man or woman for himself or herself. If you saw something you wanted and another…
I didn’t see much that moved me on the box-lots table in the back room of one of my favorite auction houses recently. Not until I spotted a light beige vase interspersed among some small junk…
A wedding dress on the cheap
Posted in Clothing
The two wedding dresses were lying on top of a box under a back table at the auction house. I was surprised to find them because it’s not often that I see new – and…
Why no one wants my dark-skinned doll
Posted in Black history, Dolls, and history
She has sat through several flea markets, this dark-complexioned wooden doll I got at auction a few years ago. She has watched as her companions – two light-colored fabric dolls in dresses with Asian script –…
They remind me of Big Mama
Posted in Family, furniture, and Personal items
Every now and then when I’m at auction, I see a piece of furniture or some other item that reminds me of my grandmother. Things that belonged to her and represented who she was to…
Playing around with doll furniture
Posted in collectibles, Dolls, and Toys
The woman peered into the little white paper bag, not sure of what she’d find inside. “Is this doll furniture?” she asked. Yes, it is. She then picked up the bag and began taking out…
Clowns the size of my thumb
Posted in collectibles
“Did you see all of those clowns,” my auction buddy Janet said to me. “What would you do with them?” From where we sat at the auction house, she motioned to a long row of…
How we ‘wear’ our faith
Posted in Religion
The New York street seller had already snookered one of my friends into buying a booklet of photos of the World Trade Center attack. So, when he accosted us again after we’d toured the exhibit…
A half-century ago, Sugar Ray Robinson owned Harlem. He was good-looking, had a pink Cadillac convertible, plenty of money, and was a boxing champ. He was loved and admired and fussed over. He was the man.…