I always feel lucky to find works written by African American authors from the early part of the 20th century. I’ve come across several of them at auction, most of them children’s books that I’ve…
Author: sherry
Jackie Robinson’s “42” & the fear of change
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, history, Movies, and Sports
Some years ago, I picked up a lobby card for the 1950 movie “The Jackie Robinson Story” at auction. The card showed a smiling Robinson, Ruby Dee as his wife Rachel, along with other actors playing Branch…
Bronze sculptures of Laszlo Ispanky
Posted in Art
I hadn’t been to this auction house in a couple years, but as soon as I walked in the door I noticed that very little had changed. Near the front door to the left was…
Mystery of the “Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dawg Aroun'” song
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Music
I had seen the piece of sheet music in a back room of the auction house, slightly ajar in its frame, the masking tape holding it in place having lost its glue. The front cover was…
Billed as an antiques fair but buyers were flea market types
Posted in collectibles, Cooking, dishware, and flea market
It was advertised as an antiques street fair, which worked perfectly for me because I had items in my basement that weren’t exactly antiques but they were vintage. I gushed to an organizer that this seemed…
Readers ask for numbers & meanings in dream book
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Reader questions, and Uncategorized
I was cleaning out my emails recently when I came across several from folks asking me to look up numbers and interpret dreams based on “The H.P. Dream Book” of numbers. I don’t believe much in…
I’m not much of a boxing fan. I find the sport too messy and too barbaric. But a friend who is the owner of the famed Blue Horizon boxing venue in Philadelphia keeps trying to…
The auction house was holding another one of its “special” sales – the second, it seemed, in as many weeks. These are the sales where everything is out of my reach, the merchandise high-rent with…
The man had pulled the brass item out of a piece of soft white paper and was watching amusedly as the young camerawoman examined it. I didn’t hear him identify the piece but saw that she…
A congregation of women’s fancy hats
Posted in Clothing
“This is my favorite.” I heard the bass voice of a man so I looked up to see an auction-house staffer headed to the far end of a shelf with a mirrored backdrop. His eyes were…