One auction-buyer paid $1,300 for a set of silver coins. Another practically bought the entire lot of Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, Scarlett O’Hara and Gibson Girl bisque dolls in fabulous outfits. One guy did the same…
Category: Uncategorized
Help me identify the artist’s name on this lithograph
Posted in Art, Music, and Uncategorized
I often stumble across artwork that speaks directly to me, and as a result, have built a collection of well-known and not-so-well-known artists. I was at an auction house recently when I saw a jumble…
Little girl’s dresser set with a sweet little note
Posted in Children, collectibles, Home, Trinket box, and Uncategorized
How cute, I thought when I saw the small porcelain dresser set on a tray inside a glass case at the auction house. There was nothing fancy about it: It was gilt-trimmed like many of…
Cellophane tape holds together 1949 ‘Dear Jane’ letter
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Uncategorized
The sheet of paper looked like a puzzle. It was covered in a crazy patchwork of cellophane tape that had turned golden-brown with age. It was a handwritten letter that had been ripped into pieces and…
Flash! magazine and the “fair skin jinx”
Posted in Black history, Culture, Music, and Uncategorized
To be honest, you could not tell from the cover photo that it was a magazine aimed at African Americans. The fair-skinned man had all the markings of what I would normally expect to see…
The timeless elegance of pearl necklaces
Posted in Clothing, jewelry, and Uncategorized
On first glance, the old black and white photo was typical – a group of society women fashionably dressed in dark colors staring and smiling straight into the camera. They could have just finished a…
It was 5 o’clock and time for the sale of paintings at the auction house. The staff had been selling expensive items in a special auction for most of the day and was getting ready to…
Antique armchairs with a religious flair
Posted in furniture, Religion, and Uncategorized
I wasn’t sure what style of chairs they were, but I knew that I liked their shape. The three armchairs shared the seat of a French provincial sofa with beige damask upholstery. Someone had placed…
1880 book on Fisk Jubilee Singers & their songs
Posted in Books, and Uncategorized
I don’t know how I had missed the book, possibly because it was hidden in one of the many boxes of outdated books up for auction. Someone with a quick eye had located it and handed…
The man and his wife had just moved to Philadelphia with their family and were decorating their house. His wife was looking for a lamp, he told me, and she had considered buying one before they…