One of the hottest shows on TV right now is AMC’s Mad Men, which revolves around the exploits of Don Draper (John Hamm), the hard-charging creative director of a prototypical Madison Avenue ad agency, Sterling Cooper, circa early 1960s. The show has won numerous Golden Globe awards, a prestigious Peabody, and has received mountains of serious critical acclaim for the way in which it captures the Kennedy Camelot era for what it really was—the end of the 1950s. That’s all well and good, but it turns out that a lot of people are watching the prime-time drama just to look at the clothes.

Spend five minutes with the show, and anyone with even the most minimal shred of fashion sense (I barely qualify…) will immediately notice the parade of men’s hats, coats, and slacks on display. Though the series is ostensibly guy-oriented, the female characters also get a chance to strut their stuff, in particular, and as you’d expect, in vintage 1960s dresses worthy of Audrey Hepburn. All that chiffon and form-fitting office wear! And don’t get me started on the cashmere sweaters.

In most dramas, even very good ones, clothing and props …

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The other day a friend confided that he never got, and still doesn’t get, Andy Warhol. “What’s the deal?” he asked. In the spring of 2009, I wrote a glowing review of the pop artist’s show in San Jose for kqed.org, so I guess he thought I might be able to shed some light on this weighty subject. Let’s find out.

We were talking about Warhol because a 1984 Warhol painting/silkscreen of Michael Jackson had just sold for more than a million bucks. That’s a lot of money for a piece that, according to an employee of the …

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By Elisabeth Horth (Copyright 2009)

Elisabeth Horth is a coordinator with the Réseau Art Nouveau Network in Belgium. Founded in 1999, the Network was established to help preserve Art Nouveau buildings in Brussels, Barcelona, Nancy, and other European cities. Today, the Network holds conferences, promotes traveling exhibitions, maintains an online database, and hosts scientific articles for use by scholars and the general public alike. For more information, visit their site at www.artnouveau-net.eu.

Art Nouveau was a huge movement. It wasn’t only about architecture; it touched every artistic discipline. It dealt with architecture, of course, but also with furniture, pottery, …

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By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis

Cherie Federau talks about vintage dresses, discussing the various types of dresses and how to identify the eras they originate from, as well as noting celebrity and cultural influences. Cherie can be contacted via her blog, The Shrimpton Couture Blog.

I’ve pretty much always been a little bit fashion-nutty, ever since I was about 16 years old and I discovered Vogue. I started like a lot of other people, buying vintage to recreate the looks that I saw but couldn’t afford as a teenager. Then slowly over the years, as my hobby turned into more …

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This weekend, on Saturday August 15, 2009, the Antiques Roadshow rolls into the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose. It’s the first visit to the Silicon Valley for the popular WGBH-produced PBS series, in which people from all walks of life are invited to clean out their attics and basements to have their family heirlooms appraised by some of the 70 or so experts who will be on hand. In the past, folks have brought in everything from Trifari costume jewelry to Fender Stratocaster …

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By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis

Jim Schottenham talks about antique fishing reels, discussing their history, the different styles and designs, the materials that were used, and some tips on how to identify your reel. He notes prolific reel makers, such as Pflueger and William Billinghurst, and acknowledges lesser-known craftsmen. Jim works for Lang’s Sporting Collectibles and is the president of the Old Reel Collectors Association. He can be contacted via his website Side-Mount Reels, which is a member of our Hall of Fame.

I got into bass fishing in my late teens, early 20s. I was rooting around my …

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Andrew and I were at Alameda last weekend (he’s our resident tech guru and wanted to see a real live antiques show). In case you haven’t heard of The Alameda Point Antiques and Collectibles Faire (I hate that extra ‘e’), it’s one of the largest and best get-togethers on the West Coast for people who want to browse, buy and sell a wide range of antique and vintage items. It’s held monthly, rain or shine, on one of the WWII era runways of the old Alameda Naval Air Station. …

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By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis, Collectors Weekly Staff (Copyright 2009)

Carole Tanenbaum talks about vintage costume jewelry, discussing the major designers (such as Coco Chanel, Schiaparelli, Trifari, and Schreiner), popular fashion trends, and the origins of costume jewelry. She can be contacted at her website, caroletanenbaum.com.

My husband and I have many collections. We were in London at one point in the ’80s, and I saw a fabulous collection of vintage costume jewelry. Each item was like a little object of art. I bought about two dozen pieces, including some wonderful early Chanels that are virtually impossible to find …

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This year, 2009, marks the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth (February 12) and the 100th anniversary of the Lincoln penny (August 2), the longest-circulating coin in U.S. history. To celebrate these milestones, the U.S. Mint has been releasing redesigned Lincoln pennies all year long. It is the first redesign of the penny since the reverse of the original Lincoln wheat penny was replaced with a picture of the Lincoln Memorial in 1959….

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By Ellouise Baker Larsen

This article discusses how the author became interested in china, describing auction procedures, the images represented on china items, and specific items in the author’s collection. It originally appeared in the August 1947 issue of American Collector magazine, a publication which ran from 1933-1948 and served antique collectors and dealers.

I have long since become familiar with the query: “How did you start collecting historical Staffordshire china?” I was casually introduced to the subject 27 years ago but at the time it did not seem to be a momentous occasion; neither did a number of unrelated …

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By Dr. Hugh Grant Rowell

This article discusses popular clockmakers in New York in the 19th century, describing their craft and the types of clocks they made. It originally appeared in the May 1938 issue of American Collector magazine, a publication which ran from 1933-1948 and served antique collectors and dealers.

Before the Revolutionary War, New York consisted chiefly of the Hudson River Valley. The Mohawk Valley and the rest of Central and Western New York remained in the possession of the Indians.

But with peace there began a western surge. This was augmented by the construction of the Erie Canal and …

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