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.
/ American Roadside Motel, auto tourism, Features, Motor Hotel, Road Trip
The Stars Motel, Chicago, Illinois

The Rise and Fall of the American Roadside Motel

by Maxine Carter-Lome In the first decades of the 20th century, nothing was more novel than the automobile. The idea ...
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/ collecting pottery, Features, Jessica Kosinski, Kiln, Potters Wheel, Pottery, Pottery Decorating Techniques
Ceramic vessel remains, bag-shaped jars made some 20,000 calendar years ago discovered at the Xianrendong Cave in China. A total of 282 pottery sherds were recovered from the oldest levels of the cave. They have uneven thick walls between 1.4-1.5 inches, with round bases and inorganic (sand – mainly quartz or feldspar) temper. The paste has a brittle and loose texture and a heterogeneous reddish and brown color from uneven, open-air firing. They appear to have been made with two different techniques: sheet laminating or coil and paddle techniques. photo: Thought & Co.

The World & The Potter

by Jessica Kosinski For as long as there have been people on the Earth, hand-crafted goods have existed. People have ...
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/ blacksmith, Features, Iron Works, Melody Amsel-Arieli, Metalworking
The Village Blacksmith by Thomas Hovenden (American (born Ireland), Dunmanway 1840–1895 Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania

The Blacksmith

by Melody Amsel-Arieli Under a spreading chestnut-tree The village smithy stands; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large ...
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/ American by Craft: The Furniture of Olof Althin, American Swedish Historical Museum, Antique Marketplace News, Erica Lome, Features, Olof Althin, Vintage Living
Dressing table made by Althin, 1900-1913 photo: private collection

Crafting a Legacy: The Life and Work of Olof Althin

by Erica Lome, Ph.D. Today, few people outside of the antiques trade recognize the name Olof Althin (1859-1920), a Swedish-born ...
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/ Features, Kary Pardy, pattern antique glass, Pitkin Glass
Rare Pitkin reverse swirl inkwell and flask

The Power of Pitkins: An American Classic Uncorked

by Kary Pardy If patterned antique glass has ever caught your eye, you’ve likely appreciated the flowing lines and swirling, ...
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/ Features, Glass Beads, Millifiore, Sarah Turnbaugh
West African peoples have adorned themselves with Venetian millefiori beads, intermixed with locally-made jewelry (left to right): blue-and-white “sand beads” made from powdered glass Vicks and Milk of Magnesia jars (Krobo and southern Ghana groups); reddish-brown bauxite, or aluminum ore, beads (Ghana); cast bronze bracelet (Baule); and cast bronze beads (Ashante).

Millifiore Glass Beads Glass: Gardens of “A Thousand Flowers”

by Sarah Turnbaugh Millefiori beads made in Venice, Italy, reached lofty technical and aesthetic heights in the late 1800s to ...
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/ Features, Jacquard Loom, Tapestries, Tarkhan Dress, weaving
A carpet loom by Carl Engel with a Jacquard machine on top, ca. 1860. Photo by Dmm2va7; CC BY-SA 3.0

A World of Weaving

by Mike McLeod Just imagine a world—if you can—in which the process of weaving was never discovered. Without weaving, people ...
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/ Features
Pacific “Elite,” New Zealand, 1934

Industrial Design and the Radio – When Art Met Industry

By Peter Sheridan When it comes to radio design, the years from 1930 to 1940 presented a pocket of opportunity ...
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/ Features
Amy Beach featured on the cover of Etude magazine in November, 1929.

Amy Beach: A Composer of Musical Firsts

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher “It has happened more than once that a composition has come to me, ready-made as it ...
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/ Features
An example of the Hohner Marine Band harmonica

The Harmonica: Musical Phenomenon of the Century!

By Judy Gonyeau, managing editor What do you think of when you see a harmonica? A blues player with hands ...
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/ Features
Reality … What a Concept, 1979 At the age of 27, Robin Williams was already considered comedy’s darling. He had just finished season 1 of Mork & Mindy and was on the cover of TIME magazine.

Vinyl Laughter

by Maxine Carter-Lome Some of the earliest albums recorded for commercial distribution were comedy albums. Various collections of humorous short ...
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/ Features
The first cover by Rea Irvin (Feb. 21, 1925) establishing the personification of the New Yorker as Eustas Tilly

Writing With Images: The Creation of THE NEW YORKER Humor

by Judy Gonyeau with heavy reference from Defining New Yorker Humor by Judith Yaross Lee Launched in 1925, The New ...
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/ Features
BOZO the CLOWN!

Wowie Kazowee! It’s BOZO the CLOWN!

by Maxine Carter-Lome In 1946, Capitol Records writer/producer Alan Livingston introduced Bozo the Clown to the world via a children’s ...
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/ Features
The cover to MAD No. 50 (October 1959), illustrated by Kelly Freas. While Mingo could produce endless identical versions of the Alfred E. Neuman face, Freas’s Alfreds were more impish and had much more expression.

Long Live The MAD-ness

by Grant Geissman By the spring of 1952, artist/writer/editor Harvey Kurtzman was exhausted from researching, writing, laying out, drawing for, ...
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/ Antimacassars, Erica Lome, Features, Victorian Age
Single example from one of two pairs of lace chair arm covers. Rectangular with lightly scalloped side and back edges and larger scalloped front edge. Inner rectangle with foliate decoration. Original to Castle Tucker (Wiscasset, ME). photo: Historic New England

Antimacassars: Then and Now

Erica Lome, Ph.D. "Necessity is the mother of invention.” This adage certainly applied to many of the domestic objects produced ...
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/ Features
At Nuttinghame, Comfort and a Cat

Wallace Nutting: Come Into The Parlor

by Mike Ivankovich The parlor was traditionally a gathering room where family members and friends would meet, eat, socialize, and ...
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/ Features
This gold charm bracelet of Elizabeth Taylor’s charts the milestones of her extraordinary life and sold at Christie’s for $326,500 in 2011

Charmed, I’m Sure: Big Dreams, Love, and Luck Come in Small Packages

by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor Evidence has been brought to light that charms were perhaps first formed as far back ...
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/ Agnini & Singer in Chicago, Berns-Friedman, costume jewelry, Eisenberg & Sons, Eisenberg belts, Eisenberg cosmetics, Eisenberg Ice, Eisenberg Jewelry Inc., Eisenberg Originals The Golden Years of Fashion Jewelry and Fragrance 1920s-1950s, enamel detailing, Fallon & Kappel, Features, jewelry line, Jonas Eisenberg, Julius Eisenberg, Laura Sutton, Of Times Gone By, rhinestone dangles, rhinestone dress accents, Ruby Lane, Ruth Kamke, Sam Eisenberg
Eisenberg Originals gold-plated Sinbad figural fur clip with turbaned head with pave and enamel detailing and multi-colored teardrop framed rhinestone dangles, circa 1940. Sold for $1,250

Eisenberg Originals

by Ken Hall Eisenberg Originals are the most beautiful and brilliant pieces of costume jewelry no one’s ever heard of ...
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/ agate, Alta Gioielleria Collection, Anna M. Miller, Antique Cameos, Antique Store Rowan & Rowan, Authentic carved cameos, brooch pin, Bullmouth shell, cameo bracelets, cameo brooches, cameo collector, cameo pendants, cameo rings, Cameos, Cameos carved in mother-of-pearl, Cameos Old & New, cameos on breastplates, cameos on helmets, cameos on sword handles, carnelian shell, carnelian shell cameo brooch, Caroline Bonaparte, Carvings, Conch shell cameo, coral, decorative women's jewelry, Dolce & Gabbana, Edwardian pendant necklace, Empress Josephine’s shell cameo diadem, Features, gemstones, Glass, Italian carved shell cameo, Ivory, Jewelry, lava, lava stone cameos, Michelle Rowan, Mother of Pearl, Museum of Fine Arts, Nicolo Morelli, Nineteenth Century Cameos., onyx, plain “c-clasp”, Porcelain, Portrait cameos, Queen Victoria of England, relief image, shell, shell cameo portraits, Victorian Era, white onyx
Cameos come in all sizes, forms, materials, subjects, and colors. This is an example of a carnelian shell cameo brooch

Cameos – Wearable Sculpture in Relief

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher Cameos are one of the most widely recognized types of jewelry. Many of us may even ...
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/ Addis Brush Company artificial trees, Albert Sadacca, Alexis Bittar’s jeweled Lucite trees, Art, artificial trees introduced in 1950, Christmas, Christmas Tree, Christmas tree pins, Christmas tree tradition, costume jewelry, Edward Johnson, Edward Johnson a Thomas Edison employee, Eisenberg, Features, fine jewelry pins, Gale & Friends, Gerry’s Creations, Hattie Carnegie, Hobé, holiday decorating, Hollycraft, J.J. (Jonette Jewelry), Kenneth J. Lane, Kirks Folly, Lisner, Liz Claiborne, Lunch at the Ritz, Martin Luther, mid-twentieth century, Miriam Haskell, Monet, Mylu., NOMA Electric Company, Pins, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria, rhinestones, safety Christmas light, Silver Pine Brush Tree, silvery aluminum tree with pom-pom branches, Swarovski, Tancer-II, tree with electric bulbs in 1882, twinkling lights, Weiss
Art tree with sweeping branches, $20-30

O Christmas Tree: And the Inspired Collectible Christmas Tree Pins

Story & Photos by Donald-Brian Johnson What do you do on the day after Thanksgiving? Some folks start baking Christmas ...
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/ American Revolution, Amos Barrett, artistic tradition of horn carving, Boston, British Regulars, Captain James Hawell powder horn July 14 1760, Concord, Concord Minute Company, decorated powder horns, Don Troiani, Erica Lome, Features, Fight at Concord Bridge April 19th 1775, French and Indian War, historicalartprints.com, horn carver John Bush, John Bush free man of color from Shrewsbury Massachusetts, Jonathan Gardener, King George’s War, Lake George School, Lexington, Massachusetts militia, Massachusetts Provincial Congress 1774, North Bridge, northern New England, powder horn, Powder Horn of Amos Barrett, Powder Horns, Stephen Parks Powder Horn c.1747, Thomas Smith Diamond powder horn October 23 1756, Thomas Williams army surgeon, William H. Guthman Collection of American Engraved Powder Horns, William Williams Jr. Powder Horn
William Williams Jr. Powder Horn attributed to the carver John Bush. Historic Deerfield, 2005.20.6

Horns of Plenty: Decorated Military Powder Horns in Colonial America

by Erica Lome, Ph.D. On a cool April morning in 1775, Amos Barrett readied his musket and prepared for combat ...
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/ Antique Advertising Association of America, Black Cat cafês, Black Cat Cigarettes, Black Cat detective book series, Black Cat Dominoes, Black Cat Fireworks, Black Cat Fortune Telling game, Black Cat Hosiery, Black Cat Safety Matches, Black Cat Stove and Shoe Polishes, Black Cat Whiskey, Cat Tongues cookies, cat-themed postcards, Cat’s Paw rubber heels, Catchy, Catlin’s, cats, cats in advertising, celebrating Halloween with black cat imagery, Chat Noir Coffee, Clark’s, Corbett, Corticelli, Ephemera advertising, Features, Goodrich rubber boots, Kilkenny Cats game, Kitty Kat Shoes, Langues de Chat, Louis Wain, McLoughlin Brothers’ game Black Cat, Mr. Thomas cigars, Old Tom Gin, Robber Kittens game, Tabby, The Black Cat magazine, The Game of Black Cat, the late 1800s, Two Toms cigars, Willimantic
The Game of Black Cat

Two Collectors, One Passion: Pawprints on Paper

By Margaret Carpenter and Alice Muncaster Is it possible for cats to spark a friendship between two people miles (and ...
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/ Albert Hallan, Animal Figures, Animal Figurines, Arthur Gredington, Batemans of Stamford, Beswick animal figurines, Beswick Beatrix Potter collectibles, Beswick England, Beswick Ware Made within England, Features, figurine collections, Harvey May, James Wright Beswick, John Ewart Beswick, Misc, Peter Scott Wildfowl collection, porcelain figurines
Rare Beswick model of a girl on grey pony 1499 with light green jacket – top auction estimate was $1,000, sold for $1,600 in 2018.

Beswick: A Special Breed of Porcelain Animals

by Maxine Carter Lome, Publisher From 1896 when James Wright Beswick and his sons John and Gilbert first established their ...
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/ Alexander T. Stewart, Antoine-Louis Barye, Erica Lome, Ernest Gambart, Features, French art, George Stubbs, internationally renowned French artists, Le Marché aux Chevaux, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Painting, Paris Salon, Ploughing in the Nivernais, Realism movement, Rosa Bonheur, Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899), Sheet of Studies for The Horse Fair, The Horse Fair painting, Victorian, William P. Wright
Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) The Horse Fair, 1852–55, Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Horse Fair: A Celebration of Rosa Bonheur’s Equestrian Masterpiece

By Erica Lome, Ph. D. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) The Horse Fair, 1852–55, Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art If ...
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/ Barbara Hutton, Cartier flamingo clip, Cartier Panthère wristwatch, cigarette cases, Coco Chanel, compacts, contemporary jewelry, Daisy Fellowes, Dame à la Panthère, diamond panther bracelet, Dutchess of Windsor, Features, George Barbier, handbags, Jeanne Toussaint, Jeanne Toussaint (1887-1978), jewelry designer Jeanne Toussaint, L’Odysée de Cartier, Louis Cartier, Pierre Lemarchand, Princess Nina Aga Khan, Wallace Simpson, Wallis Simpson Jewelry Collection
Diamond, Emerald, Onyx Panthére ring by Cartier

Jeanne Toussaint: Cartier’s Petite Panthére

by Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher “A woman who revolutionized contemporary jewelry” is how Cartier describes jewelry designer Jeanne Toussaint in the ...
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