For years, I collected children’s books illustrated by African American artists. I imagined that that these artists found it liberating to be painting for children, their stories simple yet imaginative. I’ve never found any of…
Auction Finds Posts
Do you remember Rickie Tickie Stickies? I didn’t when I first found a bunch of them in packages while inspecting a box lot from auction a couple weeks ago. I was going to toss them until…
Cups that are too sweet for tea
Posted in China, and collectibles
The tea cups and saucers were beautiful sitting there on the table, all very elegant and poised. They obviously had been someone’s collection – they appeared to be well-cared-for, with no chips and not a…
Discovering the identity of a Tuskegee airman
Posted in Black history, history, and Photos
Back in November, on Veterans Day, I wrote about some photos I had found at auction of 10 African American soldiers, apparently taken during World War II. Since the photos had been done by the…
Furniture at too cheap a price
Posted in furniture
Sometimes when I’m sitting at an auction waiting for an item to come up, I’ll saunter over to the furniture sale. The stuff sells so cheaply that the auction house might as well give it…
I first learned about Dave the Potter when Winterthur, the former DuPont estate that is now a museum, held an exhibit of his stoneware pieces. The exhibit was called “‘I made this jar’ The Life…
Belated look at sale of Louis Sloan’s art
Posted in Art
Back in April, I wrote about a tug-of-war within the family of the late Philadelphia artist Louis B. Sloan over his artwork. At age 75, the artist died in 2008 on his way out to…
It’s pretty hard for me to pay retail these days. Not after seeing how little items go for at auction. The key is knowing when these items are up for sale. You can find that…
It’s hard to imagine the voice of James Earl Jones coming out of some of the Vader Project pop-inspired helmets at auction last weekend. Carmen Mirandarth (with fruit as hair). Darth Mushroom (baby-girl pink), Hanus…
I’ve gotten two requests lately from people asking me to determine if their treasured heirlooms are worth anything. I’m not an appraiser, but I do know how to conduct research. So, I agreed to research…