As soon as I saw the metal token on the auction house website, I recognized it. It held an image of a woman on one knee, her hands chained and raised heavenward, asking for a freedom that was…
Tag: slavery
Who buys globes anymore, I wondered as I stood near one, waiting for some items to come up for auction. This was a floor-model, with a wooden leg and 12-inch ball. With time on my…
Rewriting the reason behind the Civil War
Posted in Black history, and slavery
Last October, a reader named Bob came across one of my blog posts about an auction of Nazi paraphernalia. In the post, I was pretty adamant about not-never-ever having any inclination to buy such artifacts.…
An autobiography by a female slave?
Posted in Black history, Books, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and slavery
I was checking out the upcoming sale at one of my favorite auction houses when I came across a novel by a female slave. I was familiar with William Wells Brown’s novel “Clotel,” but one…
Buzz is still on story of ‘rare’ slave photo
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, Photos, and slavery
Last week, questions were raised about what was described as a “rare” photo of two slave boys and the identity of the photographer who captured them. I wrote about the photo, too, out of curiosity. I’m an…
A story has been circulating over the last few days about a photo of two “slave” boys, one supposedly named John, found during an estate sale in North Carolina. The buyer was the collector Keya Morgan, whom…
Wedgwood anti-slavery pin
Posted in jewelry
A couple weeks ago, I got a flyer in the mail for the upcoming two-day Quality Auction at one of my favorite auction houses. These are the house’s “prices-in-the-stratosphere” auctions for those of us who…