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J.E. has a great-looking plaster sculpture of a lovely camel standing squarely on four skinny legs, bending his neck to gaze at his viewers. This 3-foot unsigned piece is painted …

I have often been tempted to photograph an antique I myself have found, and last week, returning to Santa Barbara from an appointment in Calabasas, I stopped at an industrial …

J.H. sends me a ceramic fumigation pot, alongside a photo of her grandmother’s house, in the first quarter of the 20th century set in an unincorporated area of West Covina. …

LS sends me a photograph of a dough box, which, in its heyday (1850) would have weekly felt the weight of “three pecks” of flour to make the family’s bread. …

North Carolina is known for its beautiful forests, and since the 19th century was the state known nationwide to produce serviceable wooden furniture. My son lives there now, and some …

The week before the Thomas fire roared into Santa Barbara County, a new client asked me for an appointment for an appraisal for insurance purposes. On Dec. 5,, my photographer …

C. from Santa Barbara has an old violin bearing a paper label in the interior of the waist behind one of the F holes. I am not a violin expert, …

Old folks always have the best stuff. A framed piece of sheet music on paper always hung next to Mom’s piano, given to her by my Aunt Ann. The title …

The year was 1962 and D.’s mom spotted a great-looking, modern-style, green-, blue- and gold-trimmed vase at Ott Hardware in Santa Barbara. She displayed it for 55 years on her …