I had seen the piece of sheet music in a back room of the auction house, slightly ajar in its frame, the masking tape holding it in place having lost its glue. The front cover was…
Month: April 2013
Billed as an antiques fair but buyers were flea market types
Posted in collectibles, Cooking, dishware, and flea market
It was advertised as an antiques street fair, which worked perfectly for me because I had items in my basement that weren’t exactly antiques but they were vintage. I gushed to an organizer that this seemed…
Readers ask for numbers & meanings in dream book
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Reader questions, and Uncategorized
I was cleaning out my emails recently when I came across several from folks asking me to look up numbers and interpret dreams based on “The H.P. Dream Book” of numbers. I don’t believe much in…
I’m not much of a boxing fan. I find the sport too messy and too barbaric. But a friend who is the owner of the famed Blue Horizon boxing venue in Philadelphia keeps trying to…
The auction house was holding another one of its “special” sales – the second, it seemed, in as many weeks. These are the sales where everything is out of my reach, the merchandise high-rent with…
The man had pulled the brass item out of a piece of soft white paper and was watching amusedly as the young camerawoman examined it. I didn’t hear him identify the piece but saw that she…
A congregation of women’s fancy hats
Posted in Clothing
“This is my favorite.” I heard the bass voice of a man so I looked up to see an auction-house staffer headed to the far end of a shelf with a mirrored backdrop. His eyes were…
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…
I could feel the woman’s eyes on me as I flipped through the book of black and white photographs. Without even seeing her face, I knew what she was thinking. I was taking my time…
As I rounded the corner from one room to another at the auction house, I came face to face with an item I had never seen before – at auction or anywhere else. Hanging on…