Looking at it, I wouldn’t have guessed that the metal sculpture was a planter. It reminded me of the Greek goddess Medusa, but this piece had only three snakes emanating from its top. I had…
A creepy snake planter
Posted in Art
Tag: finds
Buxomy black female figurines
Posted in Art
I was previewing photos of an upcoming auction earlier this week when I spotted them. They were figurines of black women, 13 of them, dressed in brightly colored bathing suits, church suits and night-out-on-the-town outfits. Whoa! I…
A mystery sewing item
Posted in Mystery Finds, and Sewing
The auctioneer described his next item up for bid as a mini sewing machine. I perked up. I love old sewing machines, the big black metal monstrosities that weigh as much as a house but…
I came across the name Stangl at an auction a couple years ago when I bought a lovely hand-colored pottery bird. The name was unfamiliar to me, but I’ve learned a lot about the company…
With Christmas only a few weeks away, I decided to go through my auction finds to come up with some items I’d seen or bought with this theme. I’ll share them with you as we…
Long road to a black (Disney) Princess
Posted in Art, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
The black woman standing before us was agitated. Did you see that picture on the wall over there, she asked my auction buddy Janet and me. Janet had seen it. I hadn’t. I always miss…
Illustrating Pearl Harbor
Posted in Art, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
Some months ago, I bought at auction six postal covers with illustrations of the attack on Pearl Harbor and other World War II battles drawn by a man named Fred Miller. I had never heard of Miller, but…
A couple days ago, I wrote about my surprise at what people collect. My post that day was about yo-yos. That got me to thinking about other collections I’ve bought or seen at auction. One that came…
I have this image in my head of taking my grandmother to have lunch at the Woolworth’s in Macon, GA, in the 1970s, near where my family lived. I don’t recall what we ordered, but the…
Collecting yo-yos
Posted in Toys
“People collect anything,” I said to the man standing next to me at one of my auctions this week. I was referring to two small clear plastic boxes of yo-yos that were about to be…