Story & Photos by Donald-Brian Johnson Editor’s Note: During the infancy of Hollywood Glamour photography, the studios wanted their audience to believe that their stars were born. But in reality, they were “made” – molded, refined, packaged – by the…
By Donald-Brian Johnson Photos by Leslie Piña Writer Dorothy Parker once declared that “men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses.” Judging by what, for many years, constituted eyewear fashion, Dorothy may have had a point. Although eyeglasses had…
By Donald-Brian Johnson Ever watch Mad Men? If you were one of the many fans of that series, which meticulously recreated American life in the early 1960s, after awhile you started to notice something: nearly everyone on Mad Men smoked.…
By Donald-Brian Johnson Abe Lincoln was there. So were the “Flintstones.” Michelangelo’s Pieta paid an exclusive visit. The enormous inhabitants of Sinclair’s “Dinoland” bid folks a toothy welcome. And, it’s where The Riddler executed a dastardly burglary during the pilot…
Vintage Seed Catalogs Story & Photos by Donald-Brian Johnson From the mid-1800s onward, many a wintry day passed faster as mailboxes welcomed colorful seed catalogs, chock-full of the latest seasonal offerings from Gurney’s, Earl May, Burpee’s, and other gardening industry…
Article and photos by Donald-Brian Johnson “Bend me, shape me, any way you want me …” Glass. You can bend it and you can shape it. You can also mold, slump, fuse, or crackle it. Pressed glass? Check. Blown glass?…
By Donald-Brian Johnson Photos by Leslie Piña “We have tried not to make novelty knick-knacks, but sturdy honest designs of good materials that will last from generation to generation, because taste is not a matter of fashion, but rather the…
Story by Donald-Brian Johnson – Photos by Leslie Piña Once seen, never forgotten – that’s a Moss lamp! These Plexiglas marvels first cast their unique glow on households of the 1950s, and have delighted collectors ever since. Perhaps that’s because…
Collectible Playing Card Art Story & Photos by Donald-Brian Johnson Mary Nastase has over five thousand playing cards. That’s right, five thousand. And for the most part, they’re all different. Well, the illustrated backs are, anyway. As for the “faces”…
Collecting Antique Snuff Boxes Story and Photos by Donald-Brian Johnson Hmmmm… Just what are those elaborate little boxes intended for, anyway? Trinkets? Change? Cufflinks and earrings? Breath mints? The answer: none of the above. These exquisite examples of design artistry…
By Donald-Brian Johnson Clocks. We rely on them to bring just a bit of order into our hectic modern lives. They keep things running like . . . well . . . like clockwork! For centuries, clocks had been reserved…
Christmas bone china Story & Photos by Donald-Brian Johnson Most of the year, it’s kept safely tucked away in drawers, or on display behind the locked glass doors of a dining room cabinet. And then the holiday season is upon…
