Every now and then, one particular item at auction grabs your attention. This week, it was a sweet little dark-wood handmade chair for a child named Richard. It sat alone atop a table in the…
Category: Home
Years ago, when I parked appliances on my countertop – and very seldom used them – I’d buy those colorful fabric covers to keep them cozy. Since appliances don’t get cold and shiver, I suppose I…
Avon’s calling and calling and calling
Posted in collectibles, Glassware, and Home
I’ve never been much of an Avon buyer. Avon to me was perfume and cologne – which I don’t wear because it irritates my nose – but who can forget “Skin So Soft,” its much-promoted…
It was raining like crazy outside one of my favorite auction houses a few Sundays ago. But inside, there was this pretty little yellow dining room set that stood out like sunshine on a cloudy…
As spring nudges, a look back at Victory Gardens
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Gardening, and Home
On my train trips into downtown Philadelphia, I would pass the remnants of a large community garden on a hill right near the tracks. Faded wooden structures, dead weeds, bald patches. It was wintertime and gardening…
Whenever I spot a sampler at auction, I always pause a minute to look it over. I wonder about the girl behind it – boys didn’t often stitch them – and what it says about…
I don’t usually go for much new stuff at auctions, but I kept passing by these cute little pastel birdhouses lined up neatly on one of the tables this week. They were the colors of…
Buying auction items I can actually use
Posted in Home
At auction this week, I didn’t see much in the way of vintage on the tables, so I bought for my house. Functional and utilitarian items that could make my life easier. I was standing…
We’ve all collected recipes. We’ve clipped them from magazines and newspapers, jotted them down from the memory of a family member or printed them from the web. At auction some months ago, I bought a…
Privy to slop jars, chamber pots and the past
Posted in collectibles, and Home
“Maybe they cleaned it,” I said to the buyer slightly to the front of me as she hugged the slop jar/chamber pot she’d just gotten at auction. “They” were the previous owners who had once used…