When I walked into the community room at Mother Bethel AME Church, I saw a stack of boxes on a table. I was sure they contained the books I wanted badly to see. I was at…
Month: February 2016
When I saw the dummy grenade in the glass case, I knew it was someone’s idea of a joke. Instead of recoiling from this faux weapon, I asked the auction-house staffer to take it out…
I wasn’t sure who would buy the marionettes. They had belonged to a theater company that apparently had stored and forgotten them. Their clothes were aged and their strings were an entangled mess. I purchased…
Now, it looks like a tangled mess of metal, but I’m sure I knew exactly what this item was when I first spotted it on the back lot at the auction house. What struck me was…
Flash! magazine and the “fair skin jinx”
Posted in Black history, Culture, Music, and Uncategorized
To be honest, you could not tell from the cover photo that it was a magazine aimed at African Americans. The fair-skinned man had all the markings of what I would normally expect to see…
Guess the function of this novelty item
Posted in collectibles, and Personal items
I stood staring at the cute little item in the glass case trying to decide whether I wanted to actually handle it or not. As I wavered, a staffer came up and asked if she…
There was a simple beauty to the way the thin layer of ice had formed crystals on items set up on the back lot at the auction house. As I strode through the assemblage of…
It’s a table, but what kind of table is it?
Posted in furniture, Guess what it is, and Home
The antique table was beautiful from where I stood, and as I drew closer, it grew even nicer. There’s something about dark wood cut in a pleasing form that checkmates me. It had Louix XV-style…