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…
Tag: auction
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…
Searching for J.N. Wilson’s stereoview cards
Posted in Black history, collectibles, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Photos
I got an email recently from a great-granddaughter of Savannah photographer J.N. (Jerome Nelson) Wilson, whose stereoview card of two black boys from the 19th century has been the subject of recent news stories. Tina Wilson…
Black golfer, black relics & black ancestors
Posted in Black history, and Sports
This week, my local newspaper ran three stories with a black history theme. I was surprised to see so many in one week, but I found it fitting since this is the week leading up…
Memphis, Sinatra & the music
Posted in Broadway plays, and Music
I was dropped right smack in the middle of the 1950s last week and bathed in soul music. It wasn’t the R&B music of Booker T. & the M.G.’s or Sam and Dave or my man…
Black images and America’s shameful past
Posted in civil rights movement, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Photos
The images spoke their own evilness. Paul Robeson – one of the smartest and most talented men in the world – toting a bale of cotton, staggering out of a bar singing “Ol’ Man River”…
I had my eye out for mile marker 116.7 as we drove along the Pennsylvania Turnpike headed west last week. At that point, I would be in the vicinity of Negro Mountain Tunnel, though I…
Licking and gluing S&H Green Stamps
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Home
I came across some books of S&H Green Stamps recently while combing through a box lot from an auction. They were inside an old Eckerd’s drugstore paper bag, the word “Stamps” neatly written across the…
We all save them – the newspapers and magazines chronicling historical events in the country. Sept. 11, 2001. World War II and other wars. The assassinations of the Kennedys and Dr. King. The first moon walk…
Lewis Carroll’s book “Alice in Wonderland” keeps sneaking up on me. I’ve found two editions of it hiding among books and small items I’ve picked up in box lots at auctions over the past few months. I can understand why…