I was chatting with my friend Cheryl, a fashion and style consultant who collects perfume bottles, and she asked me to keep an eye out for the jewelry of Art Smith at auction. I don’t…
The jewelry of Art Smith
Posted in jewelry
Auction Finds Posts
Night lights and estate sales
Posted in Lighting
I went to an estate sale once with my auction buddy. A friend of hers was clearing out her parents’ house after they had died. It was a two-story house just outside Philadelphia, with boxes…
The life sounds of soul music
Posted in Music
I had just settled into my seat in the small theater and was reading the program when I happened to look up to see that in the darkness, a man had slipped onto the stage.…
A floral needlepoint purse
Posted in Sewing
I don’t buy vintage clothing or personal items at auction. Out of curiosity, I’ll stand back and watch the bidding but I never participate. Until recently, when the auctioneer at one of my favorite auction…
Sports memorabilia
Posted in Sports
We all know that sports memorabilia is a multi-billion-dollar industry. And we also know that its practitioners are primarily guys. That was quite evident at auction recently when they turned out to bid on 320…
Vintage cars, tins and dinosaurs
Posted in Tins
As long as I go to auctions, I will never stop learning. I’m always finding items I have never ever heard of before and taking them home to research. Many of them have nothing in…
I had never heard of Ellen Pyle until a few months ago, after learning that the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington was exhibiting some of her original illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post. For me, the…
Vintage hatpins
Posted in jewelry
I was reading an article recently about Madeleine Albright, the former U.S. secretary of state, and her new book “Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box.” It talked about how she used her trademark…
Diner plates and 1950s glasses
Posted in Kitchen
I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but there’s something about having a cup of black coffee (no cream, please) in one of those heavy diner cups. The coffee seems to taste better, stays hot…