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…
Author: sherry
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…
Vintage Halloween postcards more sweet than spooky
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Halloween
Looking at the images on the postcards I could see why so many people like to collect all things Halloween. The witches, black cats, lots of jack-o-lanterns and other symbols were quite colorful and innocently…
It had a wide middle reminiscent of a pot-bellied stove, and its function was not far removed from that of its lookalike. This tin metal item with the iron feet and gold leaf design was…
“Jesus,” I heard the woman say in a voice of controlled disbelief behind me. “Jesus,” she said again. We both stood before wrought-iron shackles that had perhaps been on the ankles of an enslaved African…
Leftovers from a theater show
Posted in theater
The first thing I saw was a cow’s head and then a horse’s head, and the items reminded me of Halloween. Looking closer, I saw that they were likely props from a theater. Here they…