Uncovering Our History Through The Relics Left Behind
Posted in Black history, and Photos
The row of African American men in the black and white photo were a stark contrast to the dollar-store prints sitting on a rack at the auction house. They had the faces of proud men…
Who buys globes anymore, I wondered as I stood near one, waiting for some items to come up for auction. This was a floor-model, with a wooden leg and 12-inch ball. With time on my…
I know very little about stamps, and when they come up for auction I usually look the other way. Collecting them seems so complicated and insular. Those folks have a language, culture and knowledge base that’s…
Posted in Black history, and Civil War
We had driven past the headstone when my friend Valorie called out for me to back up the car. She was in the back seat quietly looking out the window for the granite stone that marked the…
Posted in Black history, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
When I first saw the bright yellow book with the red band and white lettering, I knew I had to check. Its title shouted out its contents loud and clear, so I was wondering if…
Posted in Black history, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Photos
Dr. Diane Turner held up a small photo album containing the documents of an African American soldier who had served in World War I. She had found and bought it on eBay, and she was astounded.…
Posted in Art, Black history, collectibles, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
I had noticed the Cream of Wheat ad but had not really noticed it. You know, the way you see something out of the corner of your eye but you move on rather than stopping…
Posted in Black history, and slavery
Last October, a reader named Bob came across one of my blog posts about an auction of Nazi paraphernalia. In the post, I was pretty adamant about not-never-ever having any inclination to buy such artifacts.…
I’ve been to many auctions where the simplest of African American ephemera has been snapped up by dealers. But I was not prepared for the prices on such items at a recent manuscript auction. When did our…
Posted in Black history, Clothing, Photos, Postcards, and Style
In the auction catalog, the description of the postcards sounded a lot like “Crowns,” a book of photographs about black women and their love affair with hats: “Group of 275 real photo post cards of African…
