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.

September 4, 2018 / Features, Hand Saws, hand-crafted, Maxine Carter-Lome, metal, Neolithic Age, primitive hand saw, Saws, Stone Age, Tools

Hand Saws: A Primitive Tool on the Cutting Edge

by Maxine Carter-Lome One of the earliest and simplest of tools known to man is the hand saw. Its use ...

August 22, 2018 / Belt buckle, Coin, Concho Belt, Features, Hopi, Jim Olsen, melted coins, Native American, Navajo, shells, silver dollar, Silversmith, soldering, Western Trading Post, Zuni

Concho Belts: A Native Tradition

By Jim Olson, Western Trading Post. Photos Courtesy of Western Trading Post The word concho, sometimes spelled concha, comes from ...

August 14, 2018 / Ancient Egypt, China, copper, Features, Jewelry, Judy Gonyeau, Mineral, Native American, ritual objects, scarabs, silver, Southwest, Southwestern Jewelry, Stone, Tibet, turkey, turquoise

Turquoise: The Jewel of the Southwest

By Judy Gonyeau The very nature and character of turquoise has turned the heads of admirers from Ancient Egypt to ...

August 11, 2018 / American art, Art, Art Collection, Art Museum, Collecting Art, Colonial Williamsburg, exhibit, Features, Navajo, Navajo Weavings, Pat Lucke, Rex Lucke, Southwest, Southwestern American Art

Navajo Weavings: Tradition and Trade

A Unique Exhibit at Colonial Williamsburg Collecting and Living with Treasured Southwestern American Art For generations, anonymous Navajo women working ...

August 4, 2018 / Art, art shows, events, Features, gallery, gallery openings, Indian Market, New Mexico, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Indian Market, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts

The History of Santa Fe Indian Market

...& the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Courtesy of SWAIA, the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Adapted from "History of ...

July 21, 2018 / banners, Bottles, Features, Glass, Glass art, Glass Plates, Nationalism, Paperweights, Parlor Rooms, Patriotic, Pillows, plaques, POTUS, President, Presidential, Presidential Glass, Tapestries, United States, USA

Presidential Glass

Since at least the 1820s, North American memorabilia has appealed to the patriotic spirit by portraying the presidents who Americans ...

July 19, 2018 / Antique Shops, Auction House, bottle collecting, Bottle Dealers, Bottles, eBay, Features, flea markets, Glass, Glass Bottle Beach, Glass Bottles, glass collection, Maxine Carter-Lome

Diggin’ Old Bottles

By Maxine Cart-Lome Collectors will tell you it's the thrill of the hunt for what they love that drives their ...

July 11, 2018 / bottle, Coca Cola, Coca-Cola Syrup, Coke, Cola, Dennis Smith, Features, Jacob's Drug Store, John Pemberton, Kola, Kola Wars, Pop Bottles, Soda Bottles, Soda Brands, Soda Pop, Willis Venable, Yum Yum

Kola Wars

By Dennis Smith On an early May day in 1886, an Atlanta chemist named John Pemberton walked down Marietta Street ...

July 9, 2018 / American, American Flasks, Bob Strickhart, bottle collecting, Bottles, Christmas lights, Family, Features, flasks, General Collectors, Historical, Historical Flasks, Hobby, interview, Jars, Mark Vuono, perfumes, poison bottles, Specialty Collectors

All in the Family: A Collection of Historical American Flasks

An interview with Mark Vuono by Bob Strickhart In the world of bottle collecting, as is true in other areas, ...

June 22, 2018 / Akira, Anime, Astro Boy, Carrie Wood, collectors, Comic Book, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Eclipse Comics, fanatic, Fans, Features, First Comics, History, Japanese Comics, Manga, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Might Atom, niche market, Pokemon, reader, reading, Sailor Moon, Toba Ehon, Viz Media

Manga: A Brief History

A Brief History and its Place in a Collector's Market By Carrie Wood A significant chunk of the worldwide comics ...

June 14, 2018 / Comic Book, Comic Book Grading, comics, Fair Condition, Features, Gemstone Publishing, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Mint Condition, Near Mint, Poor Condition, Robert M. Overstreet, Spiderman, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Overstreet Guide

Comic Book Grading

Highly Collectible

A Visual Checklist By Robert M. Overstreet It remains a truism that you can't judge a book by its cover, ...

May 22, 2018 / Album, Amazon, Barbra Streisand, Broadway, Broadway Musical, Cast Albums, Dance, Donald-Brian Johnson, eBay, Features, Footlights, Hello Dolly!, Judy Collins, LPs, Music, musical, Musical Cast, My Fair Lady, Recording, records, Show Business, Sing, Sound of Music, Vinyl

Gotta' Sing! Gotta Dance!

Collecting Broadway Musical Cast Albums Photos and Article by Donald-Brian Johnson Get out those old records, Those old phonograph records, ...

May 12, 2018 / Broadway, Daniel Jay Grimminger, Features, Iconography, manuscripts, Marketing Icons, Medieval Illuminations, modus operandi, Music, Music Magazines, Musicals, performance, posters, printed page, Sheet Music Covers, Visual Arts

Music and Icon

The Broadway Poster By Daniel Jay Grimminger, Ph.D Music has always gone hand in hand with the visual arts. Iconography, ...

May 4, 2018 / Broadway, Broadway Cares, Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction, Costumes, Equity Fights AIDS, Features, Fiddler on the Roof, Lane Beauchamp, New York City, NYC, props, Shubert Alley, swag, Theatre District, Tony Award

Broadway Cares

Theater Collectibles from the Source By Lane Beauchamp, Director of Communications for Broadway Cares For one Sunday each September, the ...

April 25, 2018 / Allegiance, American, Daniel Jay Grimminger PHD, Features, Memorabilia, Nationalism, Patriot, patriotism, President, Presidents, Pressed glass, United States of America

Seeing The Presidents Through Glass

Pressed Glass as Patriotism Daniel Jay Grimminger, Ph.D. Since at least the 1820s, North American memorabilia has appealed to the ...

April 18, 2018 / bohemian, Contemporary Art, Crown Jewels, Features, flamework, Glass, Glass art, Glass Paperweights, glassworks, lampwork, millefiori, Modern Art, Paperweights, Paul Hollister, Retro, sulphides, vintage

The Crown Jewels

Glass Paperweights By Art Elder "The Crown Jewels for Collectors" - that's what Paul Hollister wrote about fine glass paperweights ...

April 17, 2018 / Crackle Glass, Dazzling, Donald-Brian Johnson, E.Y. Yip Harburg, Features, Finian's Rainbow, Glass treatment, Home Decorating, Leslie Piña, Mad Men, Magic, Modern Art, Style

Cracklin' Good

Captivated by Crackle Glass Story by Donald-Brian Johnson; Photos by Leslie Pina "Look, look, look to the rainbow- Follow it ...

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 ...