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.
/ 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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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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/ Ancient, Bautain Bte opt-n de la Reine 8 Castiglione 16 Ste Avoye, binoculars, Captain Percival Eddy, convex, Cutts two-draw Spyglass, device, Dollond London, europeans, Faberge's, Features, France, Francois de Vaillou a Milan, Galileo, Galileo Galilei, Glasses, Historical, Hugh Powell, Imperial Japanese, ingenieur du roi, invention, inventions, Japanese, jealousy glasses, lense, lenses, London, magnification, magnifying lenses, Melody Amsel-Arieli, MET, metmuseum, Microscope, Middle East, Miniature Dollond Monoculars, monoculars, Nero, ocular, opera glasses, optics, oriental, P. Cutts & Sons, P. Cutts and Sons, Paris, Passemant, Personal, Pliny the Elder, Quizzing Glasses, reading stones, refractor, Roman, science, scientific, smaragdus, South Staffordshire enamel combined etui and spyglass, spyglass, swift, The Met, vintage, World War 2, World War II, world war two
Microscope: 3 convex lenses in the inner cylinder, fitting into shagreen (snakeskin)- covered tube, with gilt-bronze finial cap and tripod stand, optics by Passemant, ingénieur du roi, France, c. 1750 photo: metmuseum.org

The View From Where You Sit: Personal Magnification Devices

by Melody Amsel-Arieli Simple magnification devices, like water-filled spheres and rock crystal (quartz) “burning glasses” were known around the Mediterranean ...
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/ Aleck, Alexander, Alexander Graham Bell, Alexander M Bell, Anthony Pollok, Arizona Citizen, audiometer, Bell, Boston, Cambridge, Canada, Cape Breton Island, Declaration of Independence, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Scotland, Eliza, Emperor Pedro of Brazil, Features, Gardiner Hubbard, George Eastman, George Westinghouse, Graham, Helen Keller, Hydrofoil, inventor, John Douglas Parran, long-distance telephone, Lord Kelvin, Mabel Hubbard, Mabel Hubbard Bell, metal detector, Mr. Bell, National Geographic, New York City, Nova Scotia, Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, Phone, phones, Protophone, Saul Bass, Scotland, Smithsonian Institute, speech, speech elocution, Stefano Bianchetti, Technology, Telegraph, Telephone, Thomas Watson, University of Edinburgh, Washington DC, Western Electric Company, World Fair
Alexander Graham Bell made the first long-distance telephone call in 1892, reaching Chicago from New York photo: Stefano Bianchetti

The Genius of the Reticent Inventor – Alexander Graham Bell

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher “The Boston Advertiser prints an interesting account of an experiment in carrying out a conversation by ...
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The flyer for Sears’ Quilt Making Contest featuring the Century of Progress Building reached out to women by asking “You can ‘bake a sweet cake,’ but can you ‘sew a fine seam?’”

The Sears National Quilt Contest

An essay from Quiltindex.org by Merikay Waldvogel The Sears National Quilt Contest organized by Sears Roebuck & Co. in connection ...
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/ Atlantic seaboard, back-stitch, bestiaries, bouillon, British band sampler, british darning sampler, Brunswick Chariton, ceylon, chain stitches, couched, Crafting, cros-stitch, cross, detached buttonhole, double running, E.B. HMS, E.P. Church St. Louis, emblem books, English, Features, ferne-stitch, fisher stitch, flora and fauna motifs, floral design, Florentine, Frances Boyce, French, frost-worke, geometric design, German, gloves, herbals, herringbone, Holbein, irish-stitch, Italian, italian cut-worke, John Taylor, kesemary-stitch, laid worke, linen, linen foundations, Mary Pots, MET, MET Museum, Methodist, Missouri, montegrin cross, mowse-stitch, Museum, needle cases, needlewomen, net-worke, New England, pattern books, Pennsylvnia's Westtown quaker school, purles, Quaker, queen-stitch, Quilting, raisd-worke, Rebecca Marsh, samplers, satin, Shoes, Silk, silk on linen, smarting-whip-stitch, spanish-stitch, spider web, stomachers, Susan Bushey, tent-worke, The Needle's Excellency, tudor, Victoria and Albert Museum of Art and Design
British darning sampler, signed: Frances Boyce/1780, silk on linen, 20 ¹⁄₈ x 20 ¹⁄₈” framed, courtesy www.metmuseum.org

Samplers: An Evolution of Purpose & Design

by Melody Amsel-Arieli Samplers are pieces of fabric worked to demonstrate mastery of ornamental embroidery stitches and motifs. This fine ...
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/ AIDS Memorial Quilt, Baltimore, comfort, Diane Schweier Krail, Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell, Features, Judy Anne Breneman, Kentucky Historical Society, Memorial Quilt, memorial quilts, Mexican-American war, National Mall, Nina Aura Mitchell Biggs, nineteenth century, Quilting, Quilts, remembrance, San Francisco, Victorian Era
Civil War Memorial Quilt from the Quilt Index and the Massachusetts project. Each of the white strips and the stars are inscribed with the name of a Massachusetts soldier, his company and the date he enlisted.

Memorial Quilts: Expressions of Remembrance

Graveyard Quilts for Mourning By Judy Anne Breneman, womenfolk.com Before modern medicine the loss of beloved friends and family members ...
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/ Album, album quilts, autograph books, Autograph Quilts, bridal quilts, Chelmsford, Ella-Elizabeth Spaulding, Ellen, embroidered, Embroidery, Enoch and Mary, Enoch Worrall, Features, freedom quilts, Friendship, Friendship Quilts, fundraising quilts, Handmade Signature Quilt Antique, indelible ink, Linda Otto Lipsett, Ludlow, Main and Andover, Marilyn Cox, Mary Worrall, Massachusetts, Old Sturbridge Village, OSV Friendship Album, Pennsylvania, presentation quilts, Quilt Historians, quilting bees, Remember Me: Women & Their Friendship Quilts, Rolling Stone Friendship Block, sampler album quilts, Signatures, single pattern quilts, Starley Quilt Collection, Tradition, Vermont, Victorian Friendship Quilt Block, Willard Reed, Women's Work
Oak Reel block dated 1846, Enoch and Mary Worrall quilt, dated 1850. (Starley Quilt Collection)

Friendship Quilts: A Gift of Remembrance

by Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher In the summer of 1854, inside an enormous four-story brick house at the corner of Main ...
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/ America's First Lady of stitchery, Betty Ring, Beverly Gordon, Candace Wheeler, Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, Columbia Minerva, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Cynthia Fowler, Designs of the Times, Edith Lynch, Elizabethan Lady, Embroidery, Erica Wilson, Features, Girlhood Embroidery, Linda Eaton, Madison Avenue, Margaret Parshall, Marjorie P. McGraw, Millbrook, Mrs. Daryl, Nantucket, Needlework, needlework designer, New York, New York City, Painted with Thread, Paula Bradsteet Richter, Plain & Fancy, Royal School of Needlework, Samplers and the Modern Priscilla: The Images and Paradoxes of Colonial Revival Needlework, Spinning Wheels, Susan Burrows Swan, Textiles and Winterthur Museum, Vladimir Kagan, Walter Crane, Winterthur Musuem, Witherthur Porfolio, women's needlework
Crewelwork sampler, one of the early projects worked by Erica at the Royal School of Needlework. Their first few projects were designed for them. Students had to pay for their own materials and most proudly kept their projects for the whole of their lives. 2015.0047.004 A, B, Gift of The Family of Erica Wilson, Courtesy of Winterthur Museum

Erica Wilson: Sharing Joy through Embroidery

By Linda EatonJohn L. & Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections and the Senior Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum Until ...
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John James Audubon, Self-portrait, 1822-23

John James Audubon: A Short Reflection on His Life and Works

by Pat Raynock, Biologist and Audubon Collector As a career biologist, I have spent a lifetime looking at the beauty ...
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/ Concord Museum, Erica Lome, Features, Henry David Thoreau
Figure 2: Henry D. Thoreau, ambrotype by Edward Sidney Dunshee, 1862. Th33b, Henry D. Thoreau, Gift of Mr. Walton Ricketson and Miss Anna Ricketson (1929). photo courtesy of the Concord Museum

Collecting Inspiration: Henry David Thoreau & Nature

by Erica Lome, Ph.D. One April morning, when Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was fishing in a stream outside the center ...
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/ Alphonso Wood, American White Waterlily, Anacardium accidentale, Asa Gray, Blaschka Glass Models of Plants, Bohemia, botanical illustration, botanical illustrator, botany, cashew, Czech Republic, Donald H. Pfister, Dresden, Dresden Germany, Familiar Lectures on Botany, Features, George Lincoln Goodale, Germany, Glass flowers, glass plant models, glass plants, Glasswork, glassworkers, glassworking, Goodale, Harvard College, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Harvard University Herbaria, Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, How Plants Behave, Isaac Sprague, Jennifer Brown, Leopold, Lincoln Phelps, lithographic, Manual of Botany, Mary Lee Ware, model plants, New England Aster, Nymphaea odorate, Oakes Ames, oconee bells, Rudolf Blaschka, science, scientific, shortia galacifolia, Syphyotrichum novae-angliae, The Glass Flowers, Venice, Ware Collection, Wild Flowers of America
The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants on permanent exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Harvard University Herbaria. Photo by Jennifer Berglund

Inspired by Plants: The Glass Flowers as a Window into Botanical Education

By Donald H. Pfister and Jennifer Brown, Harvard University Herbaria Unless otherwise noted, all images courtesy of the Ware Collection ...
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/ Africa, Akeley, American Museum of Natural History, Animals, Anthropomorphic, Antique, Artistry, auction sites, cabins, Carl Akeley, CITES, Convention on International Trade in Engangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Deer, Endangered Species Act, EstateSales.com, exotic game, Features, Fighting African Elephants, Fish, Fox, foxes, game birds, gorilla, harmann ploucquet, Henry and Rowland Ward, Henry Ward, Hunting, James Gardner, James Hutchinson, John Cooper, John Cooper & Sons, John Hancock, Jumbo, Kary, Kary Pardy, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Milwaukee Public Museum, moose, Mounted Taxidermy Hare with Rifle, naturalist, New York, ornithologist, Pardy, Peter Spicer, Peter Spicer & Sons, preserving, PT Barnum's, Queen Victoria, Rachel Poliquin, Rowland Ward, rustic, sculptr, stuffed, taboo, taxidermy, The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and Cultures of Longing, The Field Museum in Chicago, Thomas Gunn, Trophies, US Fish hand Wildlife Service, Van Ingen & Van Ingen, Victorian, victorian mount, Virunga National Park, Walter Potter, Ward's Natural Science Establishment
Carl Akeley, considered the father of modern taxidermy, was also a talented sculptor, naturalist, and an inventor. He worked on these elephants at the Field Museum but also has a history of working with another famous elephant. While an apprentice at Ward’s Natural Science Establishment, he preserved P. T. Barnum’s beloved elephant Jumbo after a train accident. The project took five months. Fighting African Elephants, photo: Field Museum

Taxidermy: Exploring one of the Most Complicated Collectibles

by Kary Pardy Someone mentions taxidermy and a few main themes come to mind: trophies in hunting lodges, decor in ...
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/ adventurer, Africa, African Game Trails, Amazon, Amazon Expedition, American Museum of Natural History, , Antiquities Act, Audobon, Belgian Condo, birds, British East Africa, Candido Rondon, Cherry Kearton, conserationist, conservation, conservationism, Cowboy, Dakota Territory, Edgar Alexander Mearns, Edmund Heller, Egypt, expedition, fauna, Features, flora, Harvard University, hunt, Hunting, insects, John Alden Loring, John James Audobon, Kermit, Khartoum, Kruck Cherrie, Louis Agassiz, Mark Twain, Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, monuments, Movie, Museum of Comparative Zoology, national parks, natural, Natural History, natural world, naturalist, nature, New York, Nile, NY, politician, President, R J Cunningham, Rio da Duvida, River of Doubt, Robert B. Roosevelt, Roosevelt, San Francisco Museum, sea life, Smithsonian, Smithsonian Institution, sparrow wars, statesman, Sudan, taxidermy, Teddy, The Summer Birds of the Adirondacks in Franklin County, Theodore, Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Sr, Vienna, writer
A portrait of Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) in buckskin, without his trademark glasses. This portrait is dated 1885, the year he retired to his ranch in the Dakota Territory, following the death of his mother and first wife. photo: TIME

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.: A Naturalist Collector of Specimens

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher In 1867, Theodore Roosevelt began what he called the Roosevelt Museum of Natural History. It consisted ...
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/ amber, amberina, American decorative glass products, Amethyst, art glass collectors, Astra line, avocado green, barware, bluenique, charcoal, cherry glo, cobalt, Cobalt Blue, colonial blue harvest gold, Connecticut, crystal, crystal figurines, crystal glass, Dalzells, Dean Six, decorative glass objects, deep red, ebony, Epic line, evergreen, Features, Flamenco line, For use in American Homes, Fostoria glass, George Metheny, Glass, glass collectors, glass products, Hand Blown Glass, hand-blown, Handmade in America, honey, inkwells, Kenneth B Dalzell, Lamps, luxurious, magenta, Mark Johnson, Mid-Century Glass in America, Molded glass, New Martinsville, New Martinsville Glass Company, Noah's Ark, Noah's Ark animals, Noah's Ark birds, non-utilitarian, Ohio River, olive green, persimmon, pinwheel, ruby, Scandinavian Glass, sculptural items, Silver Glass Company of Meriden, sky blue, Sputnik, Star, traditional pressed patterns, Utilitarian, vanities, Viking, Viking Glass, Viking Glass Company, West Virginia, Yellow
Viking Glass Epic Line Rooster

Viking Glass – A Colorful History

Viking Glass grew out of its predecessor, New Martinsville Glass Company, which was established in 1900 by Mark Johnson and ...
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/ American Silvered Glass, Antique, Antique Glass, Antique Shows, auction, Bohemia, Boston, Boston Silver Glass Company, British Silvered Glass, Butler's ball, Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace Exhibition, Czech Republic, Edward Varnish, England, Engraving, etching, farmer's silver, Features, flint glass, Frederick Hale Thomson, Glass, glass jewels, Jewels, lead, Martha Stewart, mercury, mercury glass, Mirrors, painted enamel accents, poor man's silver, Sandwich Glass Company, silvering, silvering glass, Union Glass Company
Collection of seven antique mercury glass vessels selling for $750 at charish.com

Mercury Glass: Encasing the Brilliance of Silver

Mercury glass is not all it is wrapped up to be as there is no actual mercury used in the ...
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/ Andreas Wiemer, Annie Oakley, Archive, Aspinall, authentication, authenticity, Autopen Guide, Babe Ruth, Beatles, Ben-Gurion, Button Gwinett, condolence letters, document, Facsimile, Features, fidelity, forged sports memorabilia, forger, forgers, forgery, founders, founders archive, founders.archives.gov, George Washington, Heritage, Jacqueline Kennedy, Kevin Nelson, Mantle, Mickey, Mickey Mantle, Neil Aspinall, Operation Bullpen, penmanship, Provenance, Raab Collection, raabcollection, raabcollection.com, Radiolab, reference books, Robert Spring, Salutations, sign, signature angle, Signatures, Stephen Koschal, Tel Aviv university, unique signing pattern, University of the Negev, wrist flourishes
The Declaration of Independence boasts of a plethora of signatures from some of America’s most famous men, but whose do you think is the most valuable? The podcast Radiolab conducted in an investigation and the winner is Button Gwinnett! Surprised? Gwinnett’s obscurity increased the value of his signature. He only has 51 documented signature examples and was killed in a duel in 1777. photo: Andrea Izzotti/ Shutterstock and Reader’s Digest

Forged Signatures: Tips to Help Collectors Find the Real Deal

By Kary Pardy, writer of “Exploring Antique Technology” Mickey Mantle’s baseball, a celebrity-signed photograph, the copy of the Declaration of ...
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