It took a minute for the revelation to sink in. There in front of me were images of some of the hair-care product labels I had picked up years ago at a collectibles’ show. They…
Category: Uncategorized
It was like looking into a rainbow. Lining two walls of long shelves at the auction house, carnival glass and other glassware glistened in the artificial light. It looked as if the auction-house staff had…
In 1923, Augusta Savage applied for a summer program at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts, a newly opened American-owned school in France. The all-white and all-male selection committee rejected her because she was black. Savage…
A wooden folding organ to carry on your travels
Posted in Military, Music, and Uncategorized
When I saw the organ on the auction-house website, I knew I had to see it. I’m one of those folks who’ve taken piano lessons ad-nauseum and still can’t play. So, when I see anything…
From $170,000 to $600,000 – record-breaking African American art sale
Posted in Art, and Uncategorized
The audience seemed to be ho-hum as artist Charles Ethan Porter’s beautiful yellow sunflowers went for $40,000. I didn’t observe much stirring when William H. Johnson’s jitterbug dancers sold for $90,000. But when Elizabeth Catlett’s…
A stop-off at Tuskegee to honor an Airman uncle
Posted in Black history, history, Military, and Uncategorized
My uncle Charles – whom some of us called Dye and his siblings called CW – was a Tuskegee Airman, but I didn’t fully recognize it until long after he had died. I should have remembered,…
1950s dinette sets stir up childhood memories
Posted in Kitchen, and Uncategorized
There was nothing distinguishing about the two dinette sets – except their age, and the warm and homey memories they stored. They were dinette sets from the 1950s, one with deep yellow upholstery and the other in…
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…