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.

April 9, 2018 / American Glass, Dean Six, Decoration, Depression glass, Features, Glass, Glass Museum, knick-knacks, MAGWV, Museum, Museum of American Glass in West Virginia, pattern glass, Tom Felt, West Virginia

Building a Glass Museum by the Numbers

The West Virginia Museum of American Glass at 25 By Tom Felt Dreams can be compelling and when the dream ...

The Big Dawgs of Salvage

An interview with Mile Whiteside of Black Dog Architectural Salvage If one man's junk is another man's treasure, than Robert ...

March 15, 2018 / Architect, Architectural, colonial, construction, Design, Domestic, Features, Georgian, Gothic, Grecian, Post Medieval, revival, Roman, Romanesque, structural, Style, stylistic

Know Your Architectural Elements

How to Tell Greek Revival from Colonial Revival and More Excerpts from the Architectural Style Guide reprinted with permission from ...

March 7, 2018 / Architectural, building history, Caribbean, Coffeehouse, Dani Jaworski, Europe, Features, Matthew Webster, Mid-Atlantic, New England, Reconstruction, Southeast US, Virginia, Williiamsburg

Stories of the Past

By Matthew Webster and Dani Jaworski When studying the building history of 18th-century Williamsburg, architectural fragments have proven to be ...

February 21, 2018 / Bob Hope, Celebrity, Donald-Brian Johnson, Elyse Knox, Features, Glamour, Hollywood, Lana Turner, Marjorie Woodworth, Max Factor, movie studio, Ozzie & Harriet, Photo, Photography, portrait, portrait photographers, Stars

Starry-Eyed: Collectible Movie Star Ads

Story & Photos by Donald-Brian Johnson Editor's Note: During the infancy of Hollywood Glamour photography, the studios wanted their audience ...

February 15, 2018 / camera, China, Dark room, drawing, Erica Lome, Experimental, Features, Greece, Historical, Joseph Nicephore Niepse, Light, Louis Daguerre, Obscura, photogenic, Photography, Pictoralism, William Henry Fox Talbot

Drawing with Light

The First Hundred Years of Photography By Erica Lome The concept of photography has deep historical roots. In ancient Greece ...

February 12, 2018 / Ambrotypes, Cabinet Card, carte-de-visite, Daguerreotypes, exposure, Features, Humphry Davy, image, Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, Photogram, Photography, photos, picture, picturing, reflection, Thomas Wegwood, Tintypes

Early Photos Defined

The very idea of capturing a picture by reflecting an image onto a light-sensitive surface in order to create a ...

February 6, 2018 / Alfred Stieglitz, Annie Leibovitz, Ansel Adams, camera, Diane Arbus, Edward S. Curtis, Edward Steichen, Features, Landscape, Photo, photographer, Photographs, portrait, Royal Family

Collectible Photographers

Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) "In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality." Alfred Stieglitz ...

January 27, 2018 / beat, digital, engineer, Evolution, Features, instrument, invention, inventor, Maxine Carter-Lome, Metronome, Music, Music Lessons, musical performance, musician, pendulum, timing

Keeping Perfect Time

The Evolution of the Metronome By Maxine Carter-Lome If you ever took music lessons chances are you are familiar with ...

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 ...