The green and white banner was attached to what looked like a “Black Panthers” wall at the auction house. It blended into the arrangement of posters and photographs of party notables, set apart only slightly by the figure of…
Category: collectibles
A wooden phone booth from the 1950s
Posted in collectibles, furniture, and Home
I had looked all over the auction house for the phone booth. I had seen it on the website – an anachronism now but quite ubiquitous and popular in its day. I had scoured the…
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…
As I rounded the corner from one room to another at the auction house, I came face to face with an item I had never seen before – at auction or anywhere else. Hanging on…
A vampire-killing kit? You’ve got to be kidding
Posted in collectibles, Religion, and Unusual
It was a simple note in an email from my auction friend Rebecca: “Take a look at the auction site of Brunk Auctions, the March 23rd auction. Lot #23. Interesting item for your blog.” Rebecca…
Classic pinball machines & their colorful graphics
Posted in collectibles, and Games
The image is vivid in my mind: A room lined with bright back-lit pinball machines with boys and young men attached to the end of them, their eyes transfixed, their hands trying to out-maneuver and out-smart these…
Bell push, snuff box & other pretty little things
Posted in Beauty Products, collectibles, Glassware, Personal items, and Trinket box
The color was the first thing that struck me. The round chartreuse item seemed to glow in the glass case at the auction house. I wasn’t sure what it was – it resembled a door bell, but it…
Spotting a fake Coca Cola bottle
Posted in bottles, and collectibles
When you’re in Georgia, you expect to see a lot of Coca Cola. When you visit antique shops and malls in the state, you expect to see even more. And I saw plenty of Coke paraphernalia…
Christmas stocking stuffers buried in box lots
Posted in Beauty Products, bottles, Carvings, Christmas, collectibles, Dolls, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Holidays, jewelry, and Personal items
The woman was as gleeful as a little girl with her boxes of Barbies and doll clothes. She couldn’t wait to get them home and go through them, she said. You never know what’s hidden…