The Killer Mobile Device for Victorian Women
Adrift in a sea of digital apps for every imaginable function, we often feel our needs are met better today than in any previous era. But consider the chatelaine, a device popularized in the 18th century that attached to the waist of a wo…
If These Shirts Could Talk: The Tantalizing Tales Behind Used Clothes
The mysterious packages kept arriving, some from eBay, others from the Home …
Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
The meerschaum pipes carved in Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th century are among the most bizarre and improbable concoctions in decorative art. Some feature …
In the Hot Seat: Is Your Antique Windsor a Fake?
While researching her book, "Killer Stuff and Tons of Money," Maureen Stanton came across all sorts of characters. For years, she shadowed her antiques-dealer friend …
Bizarro Beauty Products, from 1889 to Now
We tend to think of the union of vanity and technology as a particularly modern affliction. It's only recently that science brought the world botox and collagen injections, skin peels, liposucti…
Love at First Kite: How Pizza and Pente Led to One Oklahoman's High-Flying Obsession
Vintage kites from all over the world hang from the ceiling and walls of Richard Dermer’s popula…
Pin-Up Queens: Three Female Artists Who Shaped the American Dream Girl
It’s easy to think of pin-up art as a charming relic of the old boys’ club—images that might line the walls …
Say Ahhh: An Oral Surgeon's Quest to Reimagine the Garage-Band Guitar
It’s not unusual for men of a certain age to have a soft spot in their hearts for the look of vintage guitars and the sound…
Tokens for Sweethearts, in Times of War
A keepsake, an item that recognizes a loved one, strikes a deep, sentimental chord in each of us—particularly that of a sweetheart. The popularity of keepsakes grew in the United States during the period from 1917 to 1919 as our country ent…
American Picker Dream, Part I: Mike Wolfe On His Love Affair With Bikes
I was walking to school one day and saw all these bikes in the garbage. I was just amazed because I didn't have one and I found it incredible that anyone was throwing them out. So I gathered…
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I’ve always been interested in antiques. As a kid, I collected a variety of stuff – fossils, rocks, minerals, natural history stuff, Indian artifacts and antiques. I grew up … Read more
My maternal grandfather and uncle got into bottles in about 1965 or ‘66 when I was in high school, and we started digging. My uncle was in Arizona, near some of the old minin… Read more
Like everybody else, I started collecting coins when I was probably around 10 years old—going to the bank, buying a roll of Lincoln cents, and trying to fill those Whitman fo… Read more
I’ve been a beer stein collector for about 25 years. About 10 years ago I sold my business, a specialty database provider. At that point, I had some experience in compiling d… Read more
The double eagle is really a result of the California Gold Rush. Prior to the California Gold Rush, the biggest gold discoveries were relatively small strikes in Georgia and … Read more
I got interested in stock certificates by happenstance, really. I collected stamps at one point, and sold my collection to put a down payment on the house. I tried to get bac… Read more
The period of English history from 1770 to 1820 was a time of great change and great prosperity for England. As a result it was a growth period for silver table-ware, much of… Read more
About 11 years ago, my wife and I went on some architectural tours. We joined the organization that sponsored the tours, and I volunteered to be the Webmaster for them. I dec… Read more
Compared to their Colonial neighbors, Vermont silversmiths got a late start. That’s because the first permanent non-Native American settlement in Vermont (Bennington) was not… Read more
Special collections is where we keep non-circulating rare materials which have to be used in the reading room. Our holdings range from one of the world’s finest collections o… Read more
While flasks have had a variety of uses over the years, such as the storing of gun powder, their primary purpose has long been to … (more)
The first official US stamps were issued in 1847, depicting Benjamin Franklin and George Washington (5 and 10 cents). These were f… (more)
Most bottles made in the United States before the 1850s, when the snap case tool virtually replaced the pontil rod (also called th… (more)
Victorian trade cards are an early form of collectible advertising. Popularized after the Civil War by businesses, they offer a co… (more)
Probably since humans have been making clothes out of fabric, they’ve made dolls for their kids. In fact, the British Museum posse… (more)
Rolling pins are perhaps the earliest known kitchen baking utensils, documented in the hand of a baker in a 17th century illustrat… (more)
The Taunton, Massachusetts, firm of Reed & Barton began in 1824 as Babbitt & Crossman, which produced a cousin of pewter known as … (more)
Samuel Kirk apprenticed as a silversmith in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before opening his own shop in Baltimore, Maryland, in 181… (more)
Invented by Frederick Scott Archer as a cheaper alternative to the daguerreotype, the ambrotype was popular from the 1850’s to 189… (more)
Colonial coins refer to all coins in circulation in the British American colonies before the U.S. Mint opened for business in 1792… (more)
The term ink blotter refers either to a handheld rocking device or simple blotting paper, both used to absorb excess ink when writ… (more)
Robert Wallace is considered the first metalsmith to make a spoon out of German silver, which is also known as nickel silver, even… (more)
A Frenchman named Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre invented the daguerreotype in 1839. Despite its European lineage, the daguerreotype… (more)
Victorian antique furniture refers to pieces made during the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901), and includes both mass produced … (more)
The Georgian period refers to a time of political upheaval between 1714 and 1837 during the reigns of four English kings named Geo… (more)
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