Tag archives: Elizabeth Stewart
The house and the barn, built in 1901, was located on a dreary plain on a frontier homestead, 169 acres that her husband chose near Rosette, Wyoming; a work-filled ranch of crops and livestock on the American Prairie which stretched as far as Zertta’s 24-year-old eyes could see. Ten years lay ahead of her, living […]
A plump grotesque porcelain figure in the Asian style – the head nods, the hands bob up and down, and the tongue lolls in the smiling mouth – this is a magot, which is a late 17th century term for such seated ‘oriental’ figures. Many of these figures were said to be modeled after the […]
You know what you look like every morning because you have a bathroom mirror. But until the 15th century no European had a glass mirror, and if you wanted to see yourself, one looked into a lake, or a piece of bronze. When did wall mounted glass mirrors come into existence? HH, who has a […]
JE has a beautiful wrought iron Spanish Colonial Revival Torchiere floor lamp, hand wrought in a time frame from the 1920s to 1930s. When it was created, electricity for lighting the home was a relatively new invention. The first commercial application of the first electric lightbulb was in the 1870s; because of the brightness of […]
KT doesn’t know it, but she has a 1930s ladies evening bag in the tradition of 17th-century Viennese petit point, a style of needlework that originated with the early French Court as a pastime for Royal women. As the Chinese style of needlework was slowly being discovered during the 17th century, the Petit Point stitch […]
How did a massive, ornately carved, reportedly uncomfortable sofa – shaped like a gondola with arms of carved walnut supporting a pair of winged sphinx figures – get to a remote farm in Buffelspoort, Rustenburg District of South Africa? This is a short story about how the most out of place objects are usually found […]
The ancient Olympic Games took place every four years between 776 BCE and 393 CE and ceased in the 3rd century because of “pagan” claims by a Christian Roman Emperor. The Games were reinvented and reinstated in 1896 by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin; his vision was to create “modern” Games that celebrated excellence in body […]
HT sends me a photo of a sterling silver tulip-shaped engraved vase, won by her great-grandfather for ‘Best Dahlias’ in the 1904 Santa Barbara Flower Show. HT’s great-grandfather was quite adept at winning flower shows, as he was a Master Gardener trained in the fine mansion gardens of England. Relocating, he lived and worked in […]
In HT’s great grandfather’s day, he farmed citrus and avocados on his ranch on Shepard’s Mesa in Carpinteria. He was an early 20th century businessman and had a hacienda adobe in mind for the main house at the ranch. He hired artisans from Mexico, and the house was built with bedrooms opening to a center […]
When I opened that antique dresser drawer, a stiff, corpse-like doll stared up at 12-year-old me. I reeled back in horror, and I have never liked dolls from that day. So as fate would have it, I have an online reputation as a doll expert. A case in point is a photo sent to me […]
This article is the brainchild of a reader who has a wonderful California ceramic collection; he sent me two of his Beatrice Woods (BEATO) bowls that entered his collection and I convinced him to “buy the best” and leave the rest. I polled ten of my favorite clients for their buying or selling regrets regarding […]
BL sends me a fabulous yellow Steuben glass set, a barware service designed and created in the late 1920s by Frederick Carder (born England 1863, died Corning, NY, 1963) who was head of Steuben glass from 1903 – 1930. BL wonders about the color of his glassware set – and the history. The pattern is […]
RH sends me a tin children’s ride-on rocking horse that has been living in his garage for years; he THINKS it belonged to his mom but he is not sure. I believe this horse was his mother’s mom’s or her dad’s, as I think this toy dates from the late 19th early 20th c. These […]
JJ has a wonderful goose-neck floor lamp, found at the Earl Warren flea market. The base is a naturalistic bronze – a round figure of a lily pad featuring a little crawfish with tiny minnows. The base is stamped R B and Co., with what appears to be two sets of numbers which likely indicate […]
RH has a Chinese style coffee table with a startling scene of ancient Chinese Court life, composed of applied carved semi-precious stone figures. Two of the six figures are battling: there’s a man wielding a bamboo stick and another kneeling, the other figures look on from an elegant pagoda. RH has always wondered about this […]
JS has a small painting on canvas purchased from a booth at the Earl Warren Flea Market. Those two figures are saints, but what else can I say about the work? She writes she has never before seen such an unfortunate looking canine and had to have this work!! First, congratulations JS; you scored. This […]
Years ago, RR inherited a tall pottery umbrella stand which was shattered in a recent wildfire; she had discovered two shards that, when put together like pieces of a puzzle, read RN 288102 and RN 284106. A trace of a word is above these marks, “Melbou-” possibly for Melbourne, more than likely the pattern name. […]
OS asked for a dollar estimate for her Barnaby Conrad signed lithograph. When an artist is a huge personality with a legendary past, “comparable sales” (prices paid of past works) will NOT accurately reflect the stature of the artist’s oeuvre. Artist, author, portraitist, cabaret owner, bar room pianist, bullfighter, friend to writers, one-time Vice Consul […]
PP has a weakness for vintage hats; for the past 10 years she has paid $300 a month to store her collection of 1950s hats. She sent me a picture of hat which is a cross between lime green and avocado, a cloche hat with a gold silk band. The interior is marked for Mousse […]
HG scored this flea market book: Daisetz Suzuki’s Zen and Japanese Culture – a classic printed in hundreds of languages. This 1959 edition was published by the Bollingen Foundation, known for publishing books of significant impact since 1940. This title has always been of value in the market since its first printing in 1938. In […]
