The oversized busts of famous men opposite large buildings stood out on the postcards. The cards were imprinted with the words “Reward Card,” and I wanted to know what the reward was. I asked the…
Month: November 2016
This auction was obviously for the men, and plenty of them turned out for it. It was also for those of us who like nifty little things, and we got our eye-full, too. We all came…
The weather-beaten chest caught my eye because it was so beat-up. The wood had long lost its brownish color, and the thing looked to weigh a ton. It had heavy iron handles on the front,…
Discovering Rose Murphy, the 1940s “Chee-Chee Girl”
Posted in Music, and Performers
The jacket cover of the first 45 record in the box was a burst of orange, and standing in the middle of it with her trademark smile was none other than the great Lena Horne.…
I’m sure most people who saw the sign chuckled out loud or silently. Maybe a few of us found it offensive, but moved past it. It was a metal sign with black lettering on a…
Pedometer from childhood hero Jack Armstrong & Wheaties
Posted in Advertising, Children, collectibles, and Health & Medicine
Before the weather started to chill, I went out and bought a pedometer. I wanted to measure the number of miles (or mile) I walked along the uphills and downhills of my neighborhood. I didn’t want…
‘Ordinary’ black women who did extraordinary work at NASA
Posted in African American women, Books, and Movies
Margot Lee Shetterly thought nothing of the black female scientists who peopled her childhood world in Hampton, VA. Her father was a research scientist at the Langley Research Center in her hometown and he worked with…
Frank James’ gun, corpse’s belt buckle & gangster’s faucets at sale
Posted in Antiques, Civil War, collectibles, and history
The man was waiting to nab one of three outlaw revolvers used in bank robberies by the Jesse James and Younger gangs in the late 1800s. But the prices that most of the items were…
Vintage toy pianos that were child’s play
Posted in Music, Toys, and Uncategorized
The first piano I saw was in the back lot of an auction house, most of its front stripped clean of the black paint that defined the rest of it. All that was left was…
From Jackie pearls to Marilyn dolls to coins at Franklin Mint sale
Posted in collectibles, Dolls, Figurines, and Uncategorized
One auction-buyer paid $1,300 for a set of silver coins. Another practically bought the entire lot of Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, Scarlett O’Hara and Gibson Girl bisque dolls in fabulous outfits. One guy did the same…