Bet you’re glad you don’t have to use one of these, the auctioneer said as I stood there looking at an old-style washing machine. He was right, but that wasn’t what was on my mind.…
Tag: auction
As a child, Deborah Johnson’s mother had a Topsy-style doll that she did not love. In fact, she hated it, Jennie Butler would later tell her daughter. Topsy was typically a dark brown-complexioned doll whose hair…
Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do…
I was thumbing through a grouping of papers and documents on African American history when I came across an unused sheet of Christmas stamps. In the center was a lighted torch and at the bottom in crisp white…
The print was actually quite sweet. It was an etching of a young girl playing “Bo Peep” from sheet music on a Victorian grand piano as other children played a violin, accordion and horn. Some…
Readers ask about & help identify a Noritake-style teapot
Posted in collectibles, dishware, and Kitchen
Fridays at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do…
Don’t ride the (real) white horse
Posted in Music
You couldn’t miss the big white horse. Someone had leaned it against a wooden beam holding up the roof of an open shelter on the back lot of the auction house. It was looking over…
Wheeled fire extinguisher from 1900s
Posted in collectibles, and Equipment
I knew the old dirty cart with the crumbling hose and metal wheels was a piece of early fire equipment. Its red color defined it as something belonging to those who battled blazes a long time…
Readers ask about souvenir spoons & bug sprayer
Posted in collectibles, and Home
Friday at Auction Finds is readers’ questions day. I try to guide readers to resources for them to determine the value of their items. I’m not able to appraise their treasures, but I can do…
The Native American figures were exceptionally carved. The maker had given them some dignity in wood, surely not matching the ways they were perceived in the era the carvings were made. They were symbols for a…