Retro Collectibles
Unleash your inner nostalgia with Retro Collectibles. This is more than just collecting; it’s a vibrant celebration of 20th-century charm. From the sleek lines of mid-century modern decor to the bold colors of 80s ephemera, we dive into the stories that race our hearts and spotlight the icons and oddities that shaped generations.
Horror Soundtracks and Four Color Comics
By Amanda Sheriff and J.C. Vaughn One of the things many horror fans enjoy in fright flicks is the spooky atmosphere bolstered by the uncanny, often jarring music composed for ...
The Timeless Draw of Mid-Century Modern Furniture
by Jessica Kosinski The phrase "Mid-Century Modern" most often refers to goods produced in the middle of the 20th century. Today, the phrase is how we label a certain type ...
The Early Days of Independent Comics: Nexus, Badger, and Whisper
By J.C. Vaughn: President of Gemstone Publishing and Amanda Sheriff: Gemstone’s Editor-Digital. PopCultureSquad.com’s Bob Harrison also contributed to this column. In the early 1980s, there was an explosion of independent—generally ...
In Memoriam: Jim Shooter
by J.C. Vaughn & Amanda Sheriff His comic book career was worthy of the characters whose exploits he detailed. Comic book writer, editor, artist, and publisher, Jim Shooter died on ...
The Vinyl Never Lies: Vintage Music, Memorabilia, and the Stories We Still Want to Hear
by Laurence Carpenter Vintage music is having a moment – and not just in playlists. We’re seeing a resurgence in vinyl, the return of needle-dropped nostalgia, and a spike in ...
A New Beginning: Giant-Size X-Men #1 Turns 50
By J.C. Vaughn, President of Gemstone Publishing and Amanda Sheriff, Gemstone’s Editor-Digital Giant-Size X-Men #1, cover For those who only know the Marvel superhero characters through the movies, TV shows, ...
Vinyl Records and the Meaning of Music Memorabilia: Identity, Beauty, and Belonging
By Shirley M. Mueller, M.D. Music memorabilia—especially vinyl records—serves as more than a nostalgic nod to the past. For many collectors, it is an intricate, deeply personal, and socially meaningful ...
The Next Big Hit? Music Trading Cards & the New Wave of Collecting
By Laurence Carpenter, Music Memorabilia Expert From vintage concert posters to stage-used guitars, music memorabilia has long captured the hearts of collectors. But a new format is quietly gaining traction ...
Makes Good Cents: Vintage Gumball Machines
by Douglas R. Kelly All of the debate surrounding the U.S. government’s potential elimination of the penny—a coin with a long and illustrious history—ignores what I think might be the ...
It’s A Cardboard Thing
by Douglas R. Kelly Ironing vintage toy boxes and writing about the process in the February issue of the Journal got me thinking about some of the other boxes on ...
Building a Music Collection on a Budget
by Laurence Carpenter In the world of music memorabilia, there’s a common misconception that collecting is reserved for the wealthy or seasoned enthusiasts who can spend six figures on an ...
Crumpled Cardboard Toy Boxes: Doing the Ironing
By Douglas R. Kelly On the annoyance scale, there are probably worse things than a creased/wrinkled/crumpled box. I just can’t think of any at the moment. Finding a great vintage ...
An Interview with John Sexton, The Civil War Collector
by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher When it comes to Civil War memorabilia, John Sexton is the go-to guy. His decades as a consultant and independent appraiser of Civil War memorabilia make ...
Rubber Toys
by Douglas R. Kelly Best to get this out in the open, right off the bat: I’m not a rubber toy person. Over the years, I’ve owned a total of ...
Toy Sleds: Just One More Run
by Douglas R. Kelly When my editor, Judy Gonyeau, pinged me a while back and told me that toy sleds might make for a fun topic for this Holiday issue of ...
Paper Trail
by Douglas R. Kelly Given the time and energy we spend pursuing antiquities and artifacts, it’s kind of surprising to me that we have a tendency to give short shrift ...
The Resurgence of Oasis: A New Era for Music Memorabilia Collectors
by Laurence Carpenter In recent months, the music world has been abuzz with news of an Oasis reunion. This long-anticipated event not only rekindles the flame of nostalgia for fans ...
Collecting Collectoys
by Douglas R. Kelly Louis Marx is never far from my mind. I didn’t know the man, but his company made so many cool and wonderful toys in the 1930s, ...
Summertime Scores
by Douglas R. Kelly Seems to me it doesn’t get much better than going on a summer vacation. This year, with family and job commitments, mine has been limited to ...
Out of This World Toys
by Douglas R. Kelly Science fiction movies made during the 1950s are among life’s greatest pleasures for at least two reasons. One, we didn’t know as much—as individuals or as ...
Micro Signage
by Douglas R. Kelly My great friend of many years, Renny Schoonmaker, likes to call these kinds of things “go-with items.” These are the displays, the ads, and the accessories that ...
From Tangible to Digital: The Evolution of Collecting in the Modern Era
By Shirley M. Mueller, M.D. Most collectors acquire their treasures through traditional methods – purchasing from dealers or at auctions that specialize in physical items within their areas of interest ...
Doing The Rounds
by Douglas R. Kelly If there’s an alternate me in a parallel universe, he may just be a milkman doing his rounds in a Divco milk truck. Not that I’m a ...
Hubley Manufacturing Company
by Douglas R. Kelly Hubleys have been pushing their way onto my radar screen lately. Over the years, I’ve more or less pursued the Pennsylvania-based toy maker’s “Real Toys” series ...
The T in Tinplate
by Douglas R. Kelly Most people familiar with automotive history know that Henry Ford’s Model T put America on wheels. In fact, the T changed the course of history, being ...
