Remember Rubik’s Cube, the puzzle with so many twists and turns that it seemed maddingly impossible to solve? I remember how people would wrack their brains trying to get the colors to line up – their…
Month: December 2017
When cap guns were king
Posted in collectibles, and Toys
As soon as I saw the two sets of cap guns, they brought back memories. Memories of my boy cousins and little brothers who fired paper caps at each other with toy guns. How far we…
Christmas gift ideas from 1902 Strawbridge’s catalog
Posted in Advertising, Christmas, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
At auction recently, I came across a 1902 Christmas catalog from Strawbridge & Clothier, and it spoke of a time when this store and its counterparts were the place to go for shopping in Philadelphia. The gifts…
A 1987 pencil drawing of a slave auction
Posted in Art
When I saw the pencil drawing hanging on a wall at the auction house, I wasn’t sure what was going on. As I looked closer, I saw a man tied to a ball and chain…
As I flipped through the pages, the book reminded me of a high school yearbook, but this one had original – not reprinted – photos. In fact, the only photos in the book were of…
Even the auctioneer was a bit astonished when the item came up for auction. “It’s the first one I’ve ever seen,” he said. He wasn’t alone. It was the first for me, too. Christmas decorations end…