As I browsed before an auction recently, I was struck by the unusual colors and designs of several chairs in the furniture room. A Lucite chair with a Mount Rushmore image on its cushion. A lime-green plastic…
Tag: auction
Don’t insult the flea-market seller!
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 had never heard of the actress Theresa Harris, who appeared in more than 80 movies from 1929 to 1958. I was introduced to a woman like her this weekend in an Off-Broadway show called “By…
A safari chair like Hemingway’s
Posted in furniture
When I think of safaris, Ernest Hemingway and his short story “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” come to mind. Macomber was the less-than-courageous big-game hunter – the antithesis of Hemingway, an image of…
“Did you see the goldfish lamps,” my auction buddy Janet asked me as we stood among the furniture at one of my favorite auction houses. I had not. She pointed to a group of lamps…
A collector of Nazi artifacts
Posted in history
Recently, I got an email from a man named Darrell English who had read my blog posts from some months ago about an auction of Nazi paraphernalia. I had written emphatically that I could never…
Straw hats – a cool summer pleasure
Posted in Clothing
My girlfriend eyed the straw hats lying atop each other in an old cardboard file drawer. She lifted the one on top, a lovely hat made of light straw with a forest green velvet band tied…
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…
I didn’t know Hazel Allen, but from the scrapbooks, photo albums and magazines lying on tables at the auction house, I could tell that she saw the value of saving history. My first introduction to…
Is that Westminster Abbey?
Posted in Architecture/Buildings, and Art
The model replica was captivating. It instantly got my attention with its detailed woodwork and its enormous size. It had been on display at the auction house for a couple weeks, reminding us that at…