I had gone to the art preview at Freeman’s Auctioneers to see works by African American artists Lois Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden and Ron Adams. Jones, whom I had interviewed in 1993, is one of my…
Uncovering Our History Through The Relics Left Behind
I had gone to the art preview at Freeman’s Auctioneers to see works by African American artists Lois Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden and Ron Adams. Jones, whom I had interviewed in 1993, is one of my…
Posted in Etiquette, and flea market
I barely noticed the couple as they looked over the items I had set up on the pavement at a flea market last weekend. Two large metal outdoor watering tins, one vintage. A wall planter with…
I wasn’t sure what to expect before I entered the auction house to see how Robert Stinson Jr. had spent the money that the federal government has accused him of conning from investors. Stinson and…
Posted in Black history, Clothing, Photos, Postcards, and Style
In the auction catalog, the description of the postcards sounded a lot like “Crowns,” a book of photographs about black women and their love affair with hats: “Group of 275 real photo post cards of African…
The pages of the photo album had been soiled by water, making them both coarse and puffy. The front and back covers were missing, and some photos had been deliberately cut out. It was lying in a glass…
Posted in camera
“Did you see the camcorder, still new in the box?” my auction buddy Janet asked me as we awaited the start of the auction at this new place we were checking out this week. I had seen…
Posted in Art
A month or so ago, I bidded on and won at auction a set of filmstrips from the New York World’s Fair in 1939. There were several small boxes of films with views from the…
Posted in Black history, and Etiquette
I heard a regular bidder say recently that there are no friends at auction. In other words, it was every man or woman for himself or herself. If you saw something you wanted and another…
I had thumbed quickly through the two long rows of African American-themed books on a table at auction this week, but nothing struck me. Until another auction-goer mentioned that he had set aside a copy…
This is the beginning of flea-market season, so my auction buddy Janet and I decided to clear out some excess stuff from our basements – you know, that junk we’ll never use again. We shared…
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