Wrought Iron Very Right
CG owns a pair of gorgeous tall, three-foot candelabras. She kept them for thirty years on her back porch on an old stone garden table in Santa Barbara. I saw …
Tips for Making a Fireproof Inventory
The dry wind blew in my bedroom as the clock radio (yes I still have one of those) spoke to me this morning. The Santa Barbara County Fire department today …
Gypsy Pot: Brilliant Piece of Engineering
JF sent me a heavy cast iron gypsy pot for cooking, a saucepan, with a VERY long hollow handle. Black, with a slight curve to the inside of the vessel, …
Porcelain Dresser Box an Intimate Gift
Susanne sent me pictures of a lovely little porcelain dresser box with ormolu surrounding the lid joint. She inherited it from her German grandmother. Under the box we see a …
Fascination with the History of the Crusades
E sent me two volumes of the History of the Crusades Illustrated in One Hundred Grand Compositions by Gustave Dore, written by Joseph François Michaud, published by George Barrie, Philadelphia, …
A Nod to this Porcelain Nodder
In the 21st century we know a nodder as “bobblehead,” or figurine, often in the form of characters or sports stars, with bobbing heads. But who will forget the famous …
Warmer with Wonderful History
RT sent me a unique silverplate revolving round buffet supper server set, large at 18 inches high by 24 inches diameter. She asked: WHY did they call it a warmer? …
Geoffrey Holt Owed a Lot to Bradstreet
Bet we all hold favorite memories of a job that shaped our future in our early 20s. Mine involves working for Andrea, a scatterbrained but completely confident “older” (the 32) …
The Koi Saru in the Kitchen
TR owns a big carved wooden fish she bought when a Long John Silver’s Restaurant closed about 25 years ago. She hung it on her garden wall for many of …
Provenance and Tall Tales of Your Treasures
This article underscores the important issue of provenance – which means, basically, from whence an antique comes. I hear many fantastic stories about where things came from, and I hear …