Guest Column: Collecting Vintage Cigarette Lighters
Cigarette lighter collecting is a hobby that never gets boring. Just by browsing eBay auctions for ten minutes, for example, I recently found a lighter shaped like a lion’s… Read more
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| 1970s | 1960s | 1950s | 1940s | 1930s | 1920s | 1910s | 1900s | 1890s | 1880s | 1870s | 1860s | Pre-1860s |
Cigarette lighter collecting is a hobby that never gets boring. Just by browsing eBay auctions for ten minutes, for example, I recently found a lighter shaped like a lion’s… Read more
What got me interested in TV lamps? I’ve always had an interest in the tackier artifacts of the 1950s and 60s. The cheesy stuff, the kitsch. Old B movies, monster and sci… Read more
I didn’t really get into to pinball machine collecting until maybe 15 years ago, but when I was a freshman in college, video games were really big. I went to Purdue Univers… Read more
I don’t actually remember exactly when I became a Marilyn Monroe fan, I’ve basically been collecting Marilyn items my entire life. I started collecting Marilyn Monroe per… Read more
Perhaps you recently saw a picture of a cool looking pocket radio from the early 1960’s and were reminded of your carefree, youthful days? Maybe it was the pastel colors or… Read more
I grew up in upstate New York in Rochester, and started playing guitar when I was about 10 years old. We had this place in Rochester; called the House of Guitars. It was this… Read more
In the 1950s when I was a teenager I used to work for a television repair shop and we’d get sets from the 40s every once in a while and I was fascinated by them. So in 1999… Read more
The Parker "51," produced by the Parker Pen Company, is considered by many collectors to be the best pen ever made. Developed in 1939 and introduced in the U.S. market in 19… Read more
These wonderful snow-filled objects are a world of fascination in themselves. Just shake one and see if you can resist the silent magic it evokes, not unlike an actual snowfa… Read more
I’ve been interested in jewelry since I was in high school. I’ll be 60 in September, so that’s a lot of years. I wore jewelry and collected it. I liked the jewelry of o… Read more
I’ve been around Chevy cars my whole life and had them when I was in high school. It’s a lifetime thing. Some people do Fords; others Chryslers. It can be as easy as what… Read more
I’m 61 now, and I’m an engineer. I was thinking if I ever wanted to collect something, I would probably collect slide rules because they’re small, they don’t take up … Read more
As a teenager, I collected everything from vintage bicycles to Coca-Cola to Victorian stuff. Once I realized some of this stuff contained concepts of art and design, I starte… Read more
I started as a collector and I’m a web designer, so I thought I would design a website from my passion. I threw it up there and people just found me and it started to take … Read more
Collecting Paillard-Bolex cameras was something I started doing by accident. It was a combination of several interests I had, including, photography, broadcasting and even co… Read more
Mid-century Modern used the technology of mass production to produce good-looking pieces of furniture out of the latest materials. A number of these materials became commonpl… Read more
I collected football cards when I was a kid, back in the late ’60s, early ’70s. Then I set them in the closet for about 15 to 20 years and picked them up again in 1989. A… Read more
One of the earliest media and pop culture mega-stars, Marilyn Monroe left behind a wide range of vintage collectible memorabilia. … (more)
Even though Adolph Rickenbacker is credited with being one of the co-creators of the first electric guitar in 1931, the company th… (more)
The first neon advertising sign was used for a Parisian barber in 1912. Since then, neon has been used to add color highlights to … (more)
Vintage Mid-century Modern lamps are characterized by simple lines and a fun space-age feel. Whether designed by a big name like E… (more)
The Stratocaster was not the first Fender solid-body electric guitar—that honor belongs to the 1950, one-pickup Esquire, which w… (more)
95 watchersA very groovy phone concept imported from Europe: originally designed by Ericsson in Sweden, manufactured and distributed in the U… (more)
The lunchbox phenomemon began in the 1950's, the daytime equivalent of the TV dinner. Aladdin and American Thermos were the two ma… (more)
General Motors Chevrolet division produced the Bel Air from 1953 to 1975, initially as a premium car, then mid-range and ultimatel… (more)
64 watchers63 watchers77 watchers46 watchers51 watchersBlue Note Records was founded in 1939 by Alfred Lion, who was soon joined by associate Francis Wolff. Lion signed the prime jazz a… (more)
Pedal cars, first developed in the 1890s, reached the height of their popularity in the 1920s and 30s, and saw a resurgence in the… (more)
13 watchersThe Ford Thunderbird was introduced in 1955 as a sporty, luxurious two-seater car and then went through several design iterations.… (more)
66 watchers5 watchers82 watchers62 watchersCharles and Ray Eames, who pioneered modern chair design in the 1940s and '50s, were responsible for some of the most innovative c… (more)
The most famous switch-hitter of all time, Mickey Mantle holds a notable record: the longest home run ever. At 565 feet, many thin… (more)
65 watchersThe Ford Fairlane, produced from 1955 to 1971, began as a premiere full-size car with curvy lines and a distinctive stainless stee… (more)
24 watchers49 watchers85 watchers168 watchersIn the 1950s, the first decade of mass television adoption, there was a common belief that watching TV in low light could damage o… (more)
Chevrolet introduced the Corvette in 1953, and continues to produce it today. As with many sports cars, the 1960s Corvette models … (more)
66 watchers7 watchersThe first coin-operated phonograph made its debut at the Palais Royale in San Francisco in 1889. The brainchild of Louis Glass and… (more)
Gibson vintage guitars have their roots in Kalamazoo, Michigan where, in 1894, an eccentric, self-taught luthier named Orville H. … (more)
The model 500 was the Bell System's mainstay phone for decades (1950s through 1980s), first as a rotary dial and then push-button.… (more)
In the 1950s, selling singles was a bigger deal for up-and-coming rock ’n’ rollers than selling albums. That’s where the mon… (more)
The Zippo Manufacturing Company was founded by George Blaisdell in Bradford, PA, in 1932. That same year he created the first Zipp… (more)
17 watchersDuring World War II, Lionel’s Irvington, New Jersey factory was kept busy fulfilling government war contracts for binnacles and … (more)
As with most Eames-influenced designs, lamps of this period are far simpler than their predecessors. Long, narrow stems and metal … (more)
Known for her classic beauty and ballerina figure, Audrey Hepburn was a leading actress in the 1950s and 60s, starring in such fil… (more)
Danish Modern tables and chairs, desks and dressers, and other types of furniture from the post-war period are recognizable for th… (more)
29 watchersMid-century Modern describes an era of style and design that began roughly in the mid-1940s and continued into the mid-1960s. It i… (more)
RCA Victor developed and marketed the 45 rpm (rotations per minute) phonograph record format in the early 1950s, and it became syn… (more)
The transistor, forerunner of today’s microprocessor, was invented in the early 1950s by Texas Instruments. After Emerson, Philc… (more)
After World War II, design evolved from Art Deco and Streamline Moderne to Mid-century Modern, which reigned from the mid-1940s un… (more)
Tin toy cars saw their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, before being displaced by diecast models in the 1970s. One of the first manu… (more)
| 1970s | 1960s | 1950s | 1940s | 1930s | 1920s | 1910s | 1900s | 1890s | 1880s | 1870s | 1860s | Pre-1860s |