The Auction Insider
The Kentucky Rifle- the “Build-a-Bear” of Historic Firearms
Iconic People today seem to love to throw around the term “iconic,” applying it to many things that are hardly iconic. Some things truly are iconic, though, and that includes the Kentucky or Pennsylvania long rifle. If you are old enough to have watched the “Davey...
Heraldry of Modern Militaria
Every area of life has its own language. I remember when my wife began working as a State Historian, she began using acronyms I had never heard before- and I had to ask for translations. By the way, TCP translates as “Traditional Cultural Property!” I have been...
Place in Collecting
Soon after moving to Sacramento, I began exploring Old Town, our historic district in Sacramento, right along the river front. I was intrigued by its combination of old and traditional, and new and touristy. I concluded that it had managed to keep a lot of its charm,...
A Third Thursday Discovery Feature: Happy Daze and The Tin Toy in the 20th Century
As an Art History major in college, I was asked to read a great deal of literary criticism and came to understand that a broad range of academic theory – be it philosophical, political, sociological, etymological – could and should be applied to art and material...
A Third Thursday Discovery Feature: “Another Little Piece of My Heart,” Handbills from Rock’s Greatest Era
It was around the time I was a sophomore in high school that I began to develop my personal taste in music. It was informed partially by the music I was exposed to growing up, a bit by the different genres and bands my brother (committed guitar player by the age of...
A Third Thursday Discovery Feature: Arts and Crafts Pottery and the Question of Taste
A thrift store, a flea market, an estate sale or even an unfamiliar driveway where someone is selling things out of their garage – this is the setting, now picture the scene: there are people milling about, maybe alone or maybe with a friend, but nevertheless with...
A Third Thursday Discovery Feature: Colorful Fruit Labels from The Golden State
The first time I ever lived, worked, and bought groceries on my own I was living Louisiana. At least once a week I would walk just over a mile and a half to a small, local grocery store in New Orleans called Langenstein’s to buy food and whatever else I might need for...
A Third Thursday Discovery Feature: The Great Comic Comeback! (or were they ever truly gone?)
Although this is only our second Third Thursday Discovery Feature, maybe some of you are sensing a theme. Like baseball cards, comic books are a fairly distinct part of 20th century America’s ephemeral culture with a unique and dynamic history. While initially popular...
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