I went searching for the rickshaw as soon as I got to the auction house. I had seen a photo on the website and my auction buddy Janet had also mentioned it to me. I…
Month: January 2012
I spotted the nondescript flip-over chalkboard placard first. It resembled so many I had seen outside New York restaurants advertising their menus, and most times, they faded into the sidewalk. This one was a bit…
My friend Valorie pulled me aside as I stood listening to a curator expounding on artist Henry Ossawa Tanner’s painting “The Annunciation,” its brilliant light and shadows illuminating not only the painting itself but its message.…
A woman’s 1940s nursing photos
Posted in Photos
It was a simple cardboard box, sitting low in front of some computer towers and near some laptops on a side table in a room at the auction house. The box seemed out of place…
When I came upon the handful of books on the auction table, I wasn’t sure what they were. Then I saw the title: War Ration Book 4. And then I saw Book 3 and several…
The hot tub was literally the elephant in the room. You could not walk from one room in the auction house to another without practically bumping into it. As big as it was, though, I had…
Those menacing ‘Fallout Shelter’ signs
Posted in Architecture/Buildings, Culture, history, and Signs
“We got under our desks and covered our heads – like that could stop the radiation,” I overheard the woman say to the two other women with her. They were standing in front of an auction…
Old dirty and ghostly pay phones
Posted in Home
The four phones looked like they had not been washed or handled in years. They were grimy with dirt from storage, the weather and a lot of sweaty hands. Sitting there on the floor under…
When I saw the odd-looking device in the box on the auction table, I wasn’t sure what it was. It had the metal handle of a flashlight with a small roller at one end. There…
The distinct art of Sarai Sherman
Posted in Art
Sarai Sherman was about 26 years old when she exhibited a painting called “Hericane Time” in an art show at Philadelphia’s Pyramid Club back in 1948. I found her name and the piece listed in…