Lifelike Soulful Saint Francis Santos
I want to tell you a personal story of an object my partner gifted me this holiday season. This Santos figure of Saint Francis stands thirty-two inches tall. Although I …
Almost Complete Works by Ruskin
GH owns a collection of twenty-three volumes of The Collected Works of John Ruskin, NY: Frank F. Lovell & Co., 1920, bound in tan calfskin with gilt decorated spines. GH …
Moving Abraham Lincoln Biography
FG owns the first complete contemporary biography of Abraham Lincoln. The book includes copper plate engravings, and a frontispiece of a bearded Lincoln, by Joseph H Barrett, a close personal …
Creative Repurposing
2022!! After the holidays, you have more stuff, no doubt. Because of the pandemic, and the global supply chain shortage, I rethought buying ‘new’ this past season. I either bought …
Native American Points…HELP!
LS inherited a small collection of Native American points and tools. He believes them Southwestern in origin. This is not my area of expertise so this article serves as a …
Fussing Over Forks
Furca (Latin: Pitchfork), the original name of the common table fork, originated at least 4,500 years. Forks marked civilization and “class” since then. I learned much in Giovanni Rebora’s book …
Warming Up Under a Coverlet
JU sent me an American Jacquard coverlet from the 1840s when almost all rural households owned one of these blankets. Quilts took a long time to make, and NOT from …
Saint Barbara Patron of Gunners
I begin my story of a 20th century two-foot long porcelain plaque of Saint Barbara, owned by JS, with this poem celebrating our city’s patron Saint, written in 1922 by …
American Brilliant Cut Glass Only a Fad?
It all began in 1876 with a rich dinner party hostess who viewed the Centennial Exhibition in Pennsylvania. There American glass blowers and cutters exhibited exquisite American Brilliant Cut Glass. …
The Book of Form and Emptiness
Have YOU experienced the phenomenon of psychometry? This is the ability to sense the ownership, relevance, and history of an object by TOUCH. If so, I want to hear from …