I met the historian and bibliophile Charles Blockson some years after I arrived in Philadelphia. I had gone to his enclave at Temple University, a small space that housed the thousands of books, manuscripts and artifacts…
Tag: auction
Doing the cakewalk – in bronze
Posted in Art, collectibles, and Postcards
Back in November, my auction buddy Janet found four neat postcards among a lot of cards she had just bought. They were images of two black couples demonstrating how to do the cakewalk around 1904.…
A treasure trove of African masks
Posted in Art, Carvings, and collectibles
They were lying almost cheek to cheek on a long table, in double rows, at the auction house. Some of the nicest African masks I’ve seen in a while. Some years ago, I was into…
A dream book of lottery numbers
Posted in Books, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, history, and Religion
I get a lot of requests from readers wanting to know where to buy a dream book and asking me to look up numbers for them. Please Google “dream book” to find an online store that sells…
A classy way to enjoy hot chocolate
Posted in collectibles, and dishware
When I first saw the lovely porcelain pot at auction, I thought it was it was a coffee pot. It certainly had the shape, except that it was flared at the bottom like a woman’s…
The lost art of cookbook advertising pamphlets
Posted in Books, collectibles, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and food
Last week, I wrote about the lithographs on needle packs. They were executed so well that some of them were like works of art. This week, as I was going through my trove of ephemera…
Photos and the stories they do (or not) tell –
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Photos, and Postcards
As you know, I love old photos. I like to imagine the stories behind each one of them. Who were these people and what were their lives like? I don’t go out of my way…
At the turn of the 20th century, a census-taker stopped by a rented farm in Monroe County, Georgia, and wrote down the names of my great grandfather, Green Howard; his wife, Rebecca, and their six…
Needle packs: Too classy for sewing
Posted in Art, collectibles, and Sewing
When my auction buddy Janet saw a needle pack among others on an auction table recently, she hunted me down to tell me that it was one that she wanted. She knew that I tended to…
Baseball has traditionally been seen as the national pastime, but for women that may be sewing. At least that’s what it feels like to me, based on the amount and types of vintage sewing items…