The terracotta figurine was decidedly a black woman. Full lips, wide nose, fashionable tip of the head. I spotted her almost hidden among some larger items on the auction table recently. The skirt of her…
Black women, voiceless no more
Posted in Art
Auction Finds Posts
Toy trains and Pullman porters
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, and Toys
For some reason I can’t figure, I love model trains. So, when I saw tables of them at auction a week ago – Lionels, Tyco and other brands in original boxes, and some with no…
The organ sat there against a wall in the auction house like a grand dame – big, bulky with a little dust caked on the keys. It drew the attention of many of us as…
The ticket stub was among a box lot of items I had bought at auction. It was for the “Exposition Universelle de 1900,” the Paris International Exposition of 1900. Printed on the front of the…
Are you feeling down, emotionless, lacking ambition and self-confidence? Well, have I got the cure for you! Tucked inside a box lot I got at auction this week was a small ziplock bag with a…
Every now and then, I come across what appears to be a collection that makes no sense. Maybe they aren’t collections but souvenirs that someone bought or collected on a whim, and then just kept…
Sometimes the smallest things can say so much. A nod, a note, a gift. They can also contain a mystery, taunting us to solve them. One such mystery captivated me at auction this week. I had…
The scent of perfume bottles
Posted in Beauty Products, bottles, and collectibles
I don’t wear perfume but I do love the bottles they come in. Many of them are works of art, as refined as some of the fragrances they hold. I’ve found a few in box…
Redd Foxx & women over 40
Posted in Performers, and Records
The first time I saw the comedian Redd Foxx was at a club at the foot of the Las Vegas Strip at a time when the strip ended. He was smoking his trademark cigarette and…
I can’t imagine having the stuffed head of a black bear hanging over my fireplace mantle. I can see it now: When I move left, its eyes stalk me. When I move right, they still…