Features

Curated articles that explore the rich intersections of history, craftsmanship, and collecting culture. These long-form pieces are your gateway to learning something new, seeing the familiar in a fresh light, and connecting with the past meaningfully.

January 12, 2018 / Analog Music, bluetooth, digital music, Disk Jockey, DJ, EP, Erica Lome, Features, Gramophone, Grandmaster Flash, high fidelity, LP, Mikiphone, Motorola, Panasonic, Phonograph, record player, Record Scratch, records, turntable, Victrola, Vinyl, Walkman, Westinghouse, Westinghouse Electrical Corporation

High Fidelity

The Charm of Vintage Record Players By Erica Lome If you were to stroll into an Urban Outfitters today you ...

January 3, 2018 / Armor, Arms, Art, Clocks, communications, Entertainment, Features, Fine Art, furniture, iPhone, Kary Pardy, Modern, science, Technology, Tools, Travel, warfare, Watches, wheel

Exploring Antique Technologies

by Kary Pardy From the wheel to the iPhone X, the broad term "technology" encompasses each of our inventions and ...

December 25, 2017 / digital, digital revolution, Features, Gift Giving, Gifts, Grapes, iCollector, Invaluable, Ken Hall, Laptop, LiveAuctioneers, Online bidding, PC, Spirit, Tablet, wine, WIne Collecting

In the "spirit" of gift giving, wine is a grape – er, great – choice.

Wine collecting has gotten much younger and more sophisticated – and has gone decidedly global – thanks to the modern ...

December 22, 2017 / Ballroom, Bill Thornbrook, Celebrations, Dance, Features, First Night, Formal Invite, Formals, Holidays, Invitations, New Years, New Years Eve, Proms, , Socials, Times Square, Weddings

May I Have This Dance?

By Bill Thornbrook It seems as if every year concludes with short days and a long holiday season seemingly crammed ...

December 8, 2017 / Art, Birkin Bag, Engraving, Features, Grands Boulevards, Hermés, Hermés Scarves, Jane Birkin, Maxine Carter-Lome, Paris, Scarf, Scarves, Silk, Thierry Hermés, Wearable Art

Hermés Scarves

Fashionable by Design By Maxine Carter-Lome When you think of luxury brands that have stood the test of time by ...

November 21, 2017 / bird feathers, Chinese, courtly, culture, Egyptian, Fans, Fashion, Features, Fixed Fan, Folding Fan, Greek, hand Fans, Hot weather, Kathryn Hanna, Plants, Status

Fans and Fashion

By Kathryn Hanna Quick History of Fans. The ubiquitous cooling instrument for hot weather and making a fashion statement - ...

November 15, 2017 / Antonio Pineda, Features, Hector Aguilar, Jamie L. Shenkman, Mexican Jewelry, Neiman-Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, silversmithing, Taller de Las Delicias, Taxco, Tiffany & Co., Vintage Jewelry, William Spratling

Collecting Vintage Mexican Jewelry In Today’s Market

by Jamie L. Shenkman "Too hot to buy,” so say some dealers of vintage Mexican jewelry. A colleague in the ...

Seeing is Believing: Extravagant 1950s & '60s Eyewear

By Donald-Brian Johnson Photos by Leslie Piña Writer Dorothy Parker once declared that "men seldom make passes at girls who ...

October 27, 2017 / Ash-pans, Ashes, Ashtrays, barware, buffet dishes, Cigarette Rests, Cigarettes, cigars, decorative accessories, Donald-Brian Johnson, Features, Mad Men, pipes, Smoke, Smoke Rings, smoking, Tobacco

Smoke Rings: Collecting Vintage Ashtrays

By Donald-Brian Johnson Ever watch Mad Men? If you were one of the many fans of that series, which meticulously ...

October 23, 2017 / Arapaho, Cheyenne, Cigarettes, cigars, Features, Native American, pipes, Red Stone, smoking, Stone Pipe, Tobacco, William A. Turnbaugh

Native American Red Stone Pipes

By William A. Turnbaugh, Ph.D. Native American traditions and mythology highlight the regard that the New World's people have long ...

October 11, 2017 / aficionado, Cigar, Cigar Cutters, Cigar Tip, Civil War, Features, Lighters, Matches, Michael Eckles, scissors, smoking, Tobacco, Tobacconists

Cigar Tip Cutters and Lighters of the Late 19th Century and Early 20th Century

By Michael Eckles Preparing to smoke a fine cigar can be a long and luxurious process that involves a series ...

October 4, 2017 / America, calumets, Christopher Columbus, Cigarettes, dried leaves, Features, History, maize, pipes, Richard Elliot, Smoke, smokers, Tobacco

The Early History of Cigarettes in America

By Richard Elliot When Christopher Columbus reached the West Indies in 1492, the natives greeted him with fruit, wooden spears ...

September 20, 2017 / American history, China, Citizens, Decoration, Decorative China, Executive Mansion, Features, POTUS, Style, US President, White House, William G. Allman

White House China

Excerpted with permission from Official White House China From the 18th to the 21st Centuries by William G. Allman The ...

September 13, 2017 / Art Collections, artistic, China, commemoration, Features, floristry, Herend Porcelain, Judy Gonyeau, Louis XV, Manufacture de Vincennes, Porcelain, Queen Elizabeth, royal art, Royal Collection Trust, Sèvres, tableware, Wedgwood

The Royal Connection

By Judy Gonyeau When Queen Elizabeth was preparing to celebrate her 90th birthday, a beautiful set of china was commissioned ...

September 6, 2017 / Bone, bone china, Casting, Ceramics, China, clay, Decal, Engraving, Features, feldspar, Ivory, Ivory China, kaolin, Molding, Porcelain, quartz

What is China?

Ceramics, in its broadest term, defines the art of making any object from clay by baking it. Just as the ...

August 28, 2017 / bed hangings, Curtains, Decorations, decorative, du Pont, Features, Henry Francis du Pont, upholstery, window dressing, windows, Winterthur

The Well-Dressed Window: Curtains at Winterthur

"I feel very strongly that the curtains, bed hangings, etc. will make all the difference in the house. If you ...

August 22, 2017 / album quilts, Brenda Hornsby Heindl, Care, Condition, Emily Quail Moon, Features, History, Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Mary Seeds Moon, patterns, Provenance, Quilts, sawtooth-diamond pattern

History and Care: The Importance of Provenance and Condition in Today's Quilt Market

By Brenda Hornsby Heindl On the night my grandmother passed away, I learned that she had been trying to finish ...

August 2, 2017 / Art Museum, Clothing, Colonial Williamsburg, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Curator, DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum, exhibit, Features, Historic, Home, Kim Ivey, Printed Fashions, Textiles

Printed Fashions: Textiles for Clothing and Home

by Kim Ivey Senior curator of textiles and historic interiors Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Exhibit Introduction The exhibition Printed Fashions: Textiles ...

July 20, 2017 / Daniel Finamore, Exhibition, Features, George Schwartz, Glamour, ocean liners, Peabody Essex Museum, PEM, RMS Britannia, Speed, steamboat, Steamship, Style, Transatlantic

Ocean Liners: Glamour, Speed, and Style

by Daniel Finamore and George Schwartz In July 1840, RMS Britannia departed Liverpool for the voyage that would initiate transatlantic ...

July 11, 2017 / Advertising, Airplane, Art, artists, Brochures, Exotic, Features, Fliers, investment, Jessie Gillan, poster, Poster Art, Print Ads, RoGallery.com, Ship, Stylized, Trains, Travel, Travel Companies, Travel Poster, Zeppelin

Selling the Dream: The History of the Travel Poster

by Jessie Gillan Creative Director at RoGallery.com Poster art has always been an influential form of advertising in addition to ...

July 5, 2017 / Airplane, aviator, bi-wing plane, Bill Thornbrook, Business travelers, Calbraith Perry Rodgers, cross-country, Features, flight, Kitty Hawk, long-distance, Plane, TAT, Train, transcontinental, traveler, Vacationers, Wright Brothers

It's a Plane, It's a Train, It's TAT!

by Bill Thornbrook Business travelers and vacationers today can expect a transcontinental flight from Boston or New York to Los ...

In the Beginning: 19th Century World’s Fairs

By Maxine Carter-Lome When the gates to the Crystal Palace opened on May 1, 1851 to welcome guests to the ...

Let’s Go To The Fair!

By Bill Thornbrook It seems people can find almost any excuse to throw a party. And a party is even ...

June 10, 2017 / Boy Scouts, Brooks Bank Note Company, David Cecchi, Eastern States Exposition, Expo, Features, Girl Scouts, Horace A. Moses, Junior Achievement, New England agriculture, Russell Massachusetts, Springfield Board of Trade, Strathmore Paper Company, The Big E, The Dairy Show, the fair, Woronoco Massachusetts

The Big E: The Creation of a New England Tradition

by David Cecchi No matter what you call it – The Big E, Expo, the fair – the Eastern States ...

June 3, 2017 / Batman, Boy Scout Pavilion, Boy Scout Service Corps, Donald-Brian Johnson, Features, Flintstones, Flushing Meadows Park, Michelangelo, New York City, New York Worlds Fair, official Fair Guidebook, The Riddler, World Fair

What A Wonderful World: The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair

By Donald-Brian Johnson Abe Lincoln was there. So were the “Flintstones.” Michelangelo’s Pieta paid an exclusive visit. The enormous inhabitants ...