Uncovering Our History Through The Relics Left Behind
Posted in Advertising, and Signs
The sign was lying on its side, its letters twisted, but its big sunshine-yellow words clicked with the auction-goer. “Ground Round a family fun place to eat and drink” were deeply carved in the sign. He…
Posted in collectibles, Equipment, and Work
The auction house website showed photo after photo of dusty vintage and antique typewriters. I didn’t raise a brow because I’d seen plenty of them – both dusty and clean – over the years. When…
As the tour bus rounded a corner to Saxman Village Totem Park in Alaska, the guide directed us to look at a pile of gray logs with splashes of color. Those are totem poles left…
Posted in Advertising, African American women, collectibles, and Tins
Both the image and the product name on the metal tin poster surprised me. The tin featured a young black girl wearing a clean dress with a white pinafore, and a bright smile. She had red…
Posted in collectibles, Music, and Toys
First, I tried to get the boxy contraption to play, and then the auction-house staffer, who was just as curious as me about this instrument, tried it. As we watched the paper roll round a…
Posted in Animals, collectibles, and Figurines
I enjoyed the movie “Ratatouille” about the mouse (or maybe it was a rat) named Remy that was a Michelin-star chef, but if I see one of the little rodents in my house, I won’t invite…
I was cataloguing some old 78 rpm records, including too-many copies of Frank Sinatra’s “White Christmas/Jingle Bells,” when I came across a name and label I did not recognize. The singer was Ruth Wallis on…
I can’t remember the last time I went to an auction and didn’t see one of those small hand-colored landscapes of Wallace Nutting. The colors were usually muted and dull. Among the masses, Nutting was no-doubt…
Posted in Architecture/Buildings, travel, and Vehicles
To me, it was a no-name highway, a stretch of lonely road that I took each December to buy pecans from a market not far off I-75 south when I visited my family in Georgia.…
