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.
Dracula style F one-sheet (photo courtesy Heritage Auctions)

Movie Posters: Collecting Trends and the Current Market

By Amanda Sheriff, Gemstone Publishing Collecting movie posters is plain and simply a fun hobby that expresses the love for ...
Projector manufacturers like Richmond Research Corp. produced relatively inexpensive standard 8mm units like this model 600 during the 1950s and 1960s.

Film Memorabilia: The Reel Thing

By Douglas R. Kelly The original props. The one-sheet posters. The lobby cards. The sculptures and statues and autographed photos ...
“Accentuate the positive and camouflage the rest,” … words legendary designer Edith Head lived by.

Edith Head: Designing A Hollywood Legend

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher “Accentuate the positive and camouflage the rest,” … words legendary designer Edith Head lived by. At ...
/ American Glass, Features
Mt. Washington Glass Co. peach blow Queen’s decoration vase ca. 1886-1890 for sale at Etsy for $3,900.

What Styles of Glass Are You Passionate About?

A walk-through of American glass styles and inspiration with Peter Wade In the late 1800s, Canary glass was “all the ...
This enormous ca. 1755 armchair is ambitious in both scale and design. Its bold contours are enabled by the dense mahogany that came from the colonized West Indies. Distinct in its beautiful grain and light-reflecting sheen, mahogany became eighteenth-century Britain’s “national wood.” Thomas Chippendale’s design for this “French Chair,” published in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754), specified that it “must be covered with Tapestry, or other sort of Needlework.” Here, the needlework depicts a scene of the Annunciation, the feast day when contracts for trades and craftspeople were renegotiated. photo: The Met

Chair Styles: Take a Seat … or Two … or Three …

by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor Everyone has their favorite chair, whether it is an ergonomic masterpiece or an overstuffed recliner ...
/ Features, jeans
A small capsule of vintage (and pre-loved, because they’re made post-2000) jeans appropriately titled “Wrangler Reborn.”

Jeans: The Iconic American Style

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher From 19th century miners and railroad workers to the cowboys of the Old West, hippies, rock ...
/ Dolls, Features, Madame Alexander Dolls
1938 Tiny Betty, a colonial with proper attire and accessories, sold with her original box for $550 online

Madame Alexander: Alexander Doll Company, Inc.: 100 Years of Doll Play

by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor One-hundred years ago, Bertha Alexander turned the porcelain doll industry on its head when she ...
/ Features, Yankee Stadium
Babe Ruth at first game in New York City’s new Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium: East 161st and River Avenue – The home of Legends

By Douglas R. Kelly Pittsburgh Pirates fans have been through it. So have Baltimore Orioles fans and Detroit Tigers fans ...
/ Features, King Tut
The gold death mask of King Tut.

King Tut: 100 Years of Discovery

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher One Hundred years ago this coming February, British archaeologist and Egyptologist Howard Carter entered an undiscovered ...
/ Features, Non-Sports Cards
Wolverine Strange True Stories Wrapper

Non-sports cards: A Tale of Two Collections at Auction

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher, in an exclusive interview with Alex Winter of Hake’s Auctions In November, Hake’s Auctions held a ...
/ Disney, Disneyana, Features
Disney 100th Anniversary Boxed Set of 12 Little Golden Books, to be released December 27, 2022

Disney: 100 Years of Wonder

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher The Walt Disney Company has a big birthday to celebrate in 2023 and they will be ...
/ Features, holiday collectibles, Santa
Ceramic Santa in a sleigh by Brad Keeler. 8” h

Here Comes Santa Claus!

By Donald-Brian Johnson “Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus, Right down Santa Claus lane!” – Gene Autry & ...
Empire Santa Blow Mold

Ultimate Christmas Kitsch: Blow Molds

By Carrie Polales Sansing They are known by various names. Light-ups, lawn art, plastic kitsch, illuminated figures, or simply blow ...
/ branding, Features, moxie
The Moxie Guy cardboard cutout sign;

You’ve Got Moxie: America’s Longest-Lasting Soft Drink

by Judy Weaver-Gonyeau, managing editor Courage. Pluck. Perseverance. … Moxie. A little bit sweet, a little bit bitter. What some ...
/ brand building, branding, Features, Frisbee
The Name of the Game: Frisbee or Frisbie, it’s an American Cultural Icon

The Name of the Game: Frisbee or Frisbie, it’s an American Cultural Icon

By Douglas R. Kelly There are few product names in the games and sporting goods industries that can match “Frisbee” ...
/ brand building, branding, Features
Pecan Log Rolls

Stuckey’s: A Sweet Roadside Oasis

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher “You’ve got to be honest with the public. And you’ve got to work. Of course, good ...
/ Features, mourning
East Sicilian polychrome ware from the 3rd or 2nd centuries, B.C.

Urns: Their History and Collectibility

by Judy Weaver Gonyeau, managing editor Cremation as a form of burial goes back to the Neolithic or Stone Age, ...
Cover and title page of A History of Mourning by Richard Davey, commissioned by Jay’s London Mourning Warehouse to offer rules of etiquette for mourning during the Victorian Age.

Victorian Mourning Warehouses: One-Stop Mourning

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher “MOURNING—Court, Family, and Complimentary—The Proprietors of the London General Mourning Warehouse, Nos. 247 and 249 Regent-street, ...
/ Features, Flowers, mourning
This Victorian family home memorial followed the guidelines of the day as far as appropriate height, stand, wreath, and flowers were concerned.

Memorial Flowers: The Oldest Form of Tribute

by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor The arrangement and placement of flowers around the dead are considered the oldest act of ...
/ Features, mourning jewelry
Below: Glass/gold/hair mourning brooch, mid-1800s, American, Gift of Miriam W. Coletti, 1993. Public domain, www.metmuseum.org

Mourning Jewelry

By Melody Amsel-Arieli During the Middle Ages, Europeans grieved the passing of loved ones by following a variety of traditional ...
/ Features, mourning, mourning wear
Mourning Dress, 1850 – 1855, wool mousseline Amsterdam Museum

The Evolution of Mourning Wear

by Maxine Carter-Lome Mourning attire has evolved throughout the centuries but one thing that has remained constant, at least in ...
/ Features, Shaker, Shaker Fancy Goods
Mount Lebanon sewing carrier, made of brown-stained & varnished gumwood, 1920s-40s. Inset: Interior of Mount Lebanon carrier is purple brocade, with matching pincushion.

The Shakers Get Fancy: Sewing-Related Fancy Goods of the Northeast Shakers

By Diane Dolphin (Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are by the author, Diane Dolphin. All items shown are currently or ...
/ Features, Shaker Villages
Experience life as a Shaker: A brief history tour of five village sites

Experience life as a Shaker: A brief history tour of five village sites

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher Step back in time and experience a simpler way of life, separated from the ways of ...
/ Features, Shaker, Willis Henry Auction
Single board tiger maple rectangular top, 18 1/4 x 25 1/4 inches, single drawer below with three dovetails, classic cherry Canterbury dimpled drawer pull, elegant turned and tapered legs, with a medial circular scribe line, Canterbury, NH, c. 1840-1850. Sold for $6,500, June 2022 Willis Henry Shaker Auction

The Shaker Experience from Willis and Karel Henry’s Point of View

Interview by Maxine Carter-Lome publisher Willis Henry Auctions, Inc., a Massachusetts-based auction company of antiques and fine art, has been ...
The Catherine Orr House today.

Dating and Preservation at Colonial Williamsburg: And How Hints Lead to Change

By Dani Jaworski, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Manager of Architectural Collections, and Jenn Wilkoski, Shirley and Richard Roberts Architectural Historian, ...