Talk of the Trade

by Sloane Middleton Mann It’s the most wonderful time of the year—especially if you’re selling unique, one-of-a-kind, and easily giftable items. The holidays have the potential to break your sales ...

by Sloane Middleton Mann Let’s be honest: posting product photos on Instagram isn’t a marketing strategy. It’s a hope and a prayer. If you’ve been using social media as a ...

by Sloane Middleton Mann Vintage items shine in person. Within styled booths or stores, the tactile browsing and face-to-face connections make an impulse purchase hard to resist. But what happens ...

By Sloane Middleton Mann. Sloane is the founder of Business of Vintage, the world’s only marketing agency specializing in vintage and antique shops.  Follow @business.of.vintage on Instagram for vintage marketing tips ...

As the Journal of Antiques & Collectibles celebrates its 25th year in publication, we find ourselves at a moment of meaningful reflection and exciting renewal – a milestone that honors ...

We are a civilization inspired by discovery, whether that leads us to look upwards to the heavens, underground for what time and nature has buried, or to the bottom of ...

Working and living in the town where Old Sturbridge Village is located, Sturbridge, MA, we at the Journal are quite familiar with historical, especially military reenactments. Every August, OSV holds ...

As we enter a new year, it’s fun to look back a century to see how far we’ve come while we look forward and imagine what will be in the ...

Holidays not only celebrate our culture and religion but bring generations of family and friends to the table. For these occasions, we take out our special china, prepare traditional meals, ...

One of the most beloved aspects of antiquing, collecting, and thrifting is what we collectors call “the hunt”; knowing that your next great find is still out there just waiting ...

Everyone knows throwing a party takes time, money, and planning, even more so when the party is for the nation’s 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence ...

According to the Museum of Youth Culture, Mod is defined as “a youth subculture whose origins can be traced back to the late 1950s and a group of young Londoners ...

"In my own view, the important achievement of Apollo was a demonstration that humanity is not forever chained to this planet, and our visions go rather further than that, and ...

On Friday, May 17th, Brimfield Auction Acres in Brimfield, MA, took its place on The National Register of Historic Places as the birthplace and originator of the World Famous “Brimfield ...

Transportation is a subject that seems to be always in the news these days and usually for the wrong reasons: train derailments, bridge collapses, overturned tractor trailers, cruise ships running ...

Live long enough and you’ll outlive many of the companies, products, and brands you grew up with. They may no longer be in business but like many of the companies ...

Glass, an inorganic compound found in many forms in the natural world, has been man-made into practical and decorative objects since the Late Bronze Age. Over the millennia, the process, ...

While tin might be considered the antique of metals, remnants of its dominant presence in the world since its extraction and earliest use during the Bronze Age are evident today ...

If history has taught us anything it’s that it takes a woman to get the job done! That has certainly been the case in the collector world as we discover ...

Nineteenth-century paperboard trade cards and their 20th-century trading cards counterparts have long been used as a popular way for companies to advertise their brand and sell products. They are fun ...

Each New Year is marked by change and defined by trends. As we wrap up our editorial year for 2023, we can’t help but look forward, which next year is ...

Long before Kevin Costner's John Dutton, Rip, and the ranch hands on the Yellowstone Ranch, there was the Marlboro Man, the quintessential archetype, even today, of the American cowboy and ...

As any collector can tell you, luxury watches are much more than a means of telling time. They’re works of high craftsmanship, symbols of taste and status, and, for many, investments that ...

Every year since 1998, The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, NY inducts beloved toys from our past into its Toy Hall of Fame. Like other Hall of Fame ...

You can always spot a sports fan in the crowd - whether at the stadium or on the street – because they’ll be the one sporting head-to-toe branded attire that ...

Whether you are an antiquer, collector, curator, or just someone who enjoys bringing old things back to life, the word “recovery” as it relates to items you restore, unearth, or ...

The word “homespun” today is often used pejoratively to say someone or something is “simple” and “unsophisticated” as it relates to look, fashion, or philosophy but its origin in the ...

the 19th century, an era of rapidly accelerating scientific discovery and invention. Significant developments in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, electricity, and metallurgy laid the groundwork for the ...

While the use of glass in the making of everything from jewelry to stained glass windows, optical lenses, architectural structures, decorative objects, and home furnishings is commonplace today, so is ...

In the first decade of the 20th century, it was obvious to anyone who had seen a film or heard about moving pictures that this new form of entertainment was ...

Ever drive by a house you love and not know its style? Or pick up a piece of glass or pottery at a show or flea market but you can’t ...

As we move forward into 2023, it’s only natural to reflect on the products, inventions and discoveries that have their roots in a history that is now 100 years old, ...

Working on your holiday gift-giving list? This year, rather than purchasing a mass-produced plastic toy, a high-priced piece of electronic gadgetry, or an unwanted item of clothing, consider turning to ...

While branding is and always has been an essential part of building any successful business, standing out from the crowd is harder than ever with all the new outlets and ...

Every culture - every religion - every person - mourns in their own way. The sentiment behind that expression, however, is universal: honoring a loved one in a way that publicly ...

When our children were growing up we lived in western Massachusetts and within an easy drive to two Shaker Village sites: Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA and The Mount ...

Every old house has a story. Here is mine: In 1998, my husband and I said goodbye to our corporate lives and moved with our two young children to the Southern ...

With the start of summer the antiques trade traditionally moves business outdoors. Fields, fairgrounds, and outdoor venues, dormant through the winter months, and some even longer due to pandemic restrictions ...

Every year on the first Monday in May, everybody who’s anybody in the world of fashion and celebrity attends or watches on TV the famed Met Gala at the Metropolitan ...

This past March saw new seasons of such fan-favorite period pieces as Bridgerton, The Gilded Age, and Sanditon return to television. Like many, I binge-watched each show, savoring the costumes ...

What more is there to say that’s new when it comes to glass? Especially antique and vintage glass? More than you would think. As it turns out, glass is trending ...

Travel our country’s backroads and no doubt your view will include time-forgotten, weathered-worn barns, enduring symbols of America’s earliest settlement history. Once one of the most important structures on a ...

Leading the effort to publicly and historically recognize the achievements and contributions of African Americans was Carter G. Woodson (December 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950), known as the “father ...

While design and fashion are sometimes difficult to define and assign to an era, Art Deco is one style that is easily identifiable, whether it’s a building’s architecture, a piece ...

We often hear the word “dandy” applied to wealthy, fastidiously dressed, 19th-century gentlemen unduly devoted to themselves, their image, and style, yet it seems an antique, ill-fitting designator to apply ...

If you are one of those people who feel ‘any surface will do,’ then it might be hard to understand the writing desk culture, and the personal connection many people ...

The legend of Johnny Appleseed as an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to the Midwest and beyond is a uniquely American story that to this day continues to ...

In John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address on January 20, 1961, the President called on all Americans to commit themselves to service and sacrifice: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not ...

Like the Internet in the second half of the 20th century, trains were the major disrupter of the 19th century. They changed the way we brought our goods to market, ...

For this month’s theme, “History Contained,” we selected feature subjects that reflect a less literal, more ‘out-of-the-box’ interpretation of the topic beyond the obvious examples of antique and vintage general ...