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…
December 15th, 2010
This morning, our pals at BoingBoing alerted us to the beauty of typewriter ribbon tins, which were highlighted by a site devoted to packaging design called The Dieline.
Up to now, I thought only antique typewriters such as Martin Howard’s gorgeous 1886 Crandall could be considered works of art, but after browsing the source of the BoingBoing post, a set of 36 images at uppercaseyyc’s Typewriter Ribbon Tin Collection on Flickr, I think I may have found a new thing to collect!
Pin-Up Queens: Three Female Artists Who Shaped the American Dream Girl
The Killer Mobile Device for Victorian Women
'The Great Gatsby' Still Gets Flappers Wrong
If These Shirts Could Talk: The Tantalizing Tales Behind Used Clothes
Before Rockwell, a Gay Artist Defined the Perfect American Male
Gloriously Grotesque 19th-Century Pipes
Jockeying for Position: How Boxers and Briefs Got Into Men's Pants
Everything You Know About Corsets Is False
How Collecting Opium Antiques Turned Me Into an Opium Addict
Blood, Sweat, and Steel: My Afternoon with the Ace of Swords
Getting Lost in Strathearn Art Glass Paperweights
At Home with the Maharajas
The Quilts of Winterthur
TypewritersWhen you think about it, typing on a computer is a magical thing—just hit t…
Typewriter Ribbon Tins are a wonderful collectible: many are very inexpensive like the ones shown here as they are quite common; they are small & displayable; they have many intriguing designs that cover a 100 year period in our history & they were made in great quantities so they are readily available. Whats not to like??