Features

Curated articles that explore the rich intersections of history, craftsmanship, and collecting culture. These long-form pieces are your gateway to learning something new, seeing the familiar in a fresh light, and connecting with the past meaningfully.

Vintage Accessories that are Trending Today

Reprinted with permission from Wardrobe Shop, www.wardrobeshop.com Vintage accessories have become all the rage once again, thanks to the change in consumer attitudes toward buying and wearing second-hand goods. The ...

Vintage and Men: Show Your Style, Gentlemen!

Features, vintage fashion, vintage men's fashion

At right: Inspired by a late-1940s motorcycle jacket from Mr. Lauren’s personal collection, this 1970s vintage jacket is made from vegetable-tanned cowhide with a black-over-brown hue. Distressed finish achieved through a multistep process that allows the piece to continue to age with wear. Padded shoulder and elbow patches. Café racer–style stand collar. Fully lined with twill. Selling online for $2,290 at uncommon-threadz.com

By Judy Gonyeau The craze for vintage continues to rev up the popularity of reclaimed goods, regardless of if the buyer is young or old. However, it is not a ...

Keli Goff’s Meaningful Fashion: Collecting Clothing with a Story

Features, Keli Goff, vintage fashion, Vintage Living

Stephen Burrows 1971 dress coat color block yellow purple green rainbow designer vintage.

This article was inspired in part by the original Town & Country feature, “Dress for Success: Keli Goff on Collecting Vintage.” All historical references and subject matter are inspired by ...

Ragtop Summer: Taking a Look At Convertible Toy Cars

Features, Toy Cars, Toys From The Attic

The Minic Streamline Sports was as English as can be, despite being loosely based on the Chrysler Airflow of the 1930s.

by Douglas R. Kelly Here in New England, winter loosens its grip reluctantly, often over-staying its welcome deep into the month of April. So when I learned in February that ...

Vintage Fans That Define Summer Décor

Antique Marketplace News, Features, vintage fans, Vintage Living

Original 1918 Menominee Stationary "Clamshell" Desk Fan

There’s something undeniably nostalgic about the slow, rhythmic hum of a vintage electric fan. Before central air conditioning became standard, these elegant machines stood as the ultimate symbol of summertime relief. Today, ...

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream! The Sweet History of Ice Cream

Features, history of Ice Cream

Inspired by a personal essay circulated initially in a 2014 Article “Kitchen Collectibles: Ice Cream Freezers” by Diana Bulls, this article has been updated with verified historical references, expanded historical context, and ...

Sick Glass and Ways to Deal With It

Antique Glass, Antique Marketplace News, Expert Insights, Features, glass disease, sick glass

Content from Antiques Arena, antiquesarena.com. Used with permission. Edited by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor, Journal of Antiques Glass, a material celebrated for its beauty and durability, is not immune to ...

The Summer Treasures Trail: A Cross-Country Road Trip Through Vintage America

Antique Marketplace News, Antique Shows, Expert Insights, Features, Vintage Living

For antique enthusiasts, summer marks the beginning of an exhilarating season packed with opportunities to uncover hidden gems. Picture the quaint fields of New England, where charming local fairs revive ...

Collect the Orchestra: Instruments of Renown

collecting instruments, Features, music memorabilia, vintage instruments

The overall size of Guadagnini’s cellos stays fairly constant, slightly undersized by modern standards but extremely effective for modern soloists. Centuries-old scratches from errant bow strokes in this cello testify to its substantial width in the center section.

By Judy Gonyeau, managing editor On February 7 of this year, a 311-year-old Stradivarius violin sold for $11.25 million at Sotheby’s New York. This is not the auction news you ...

Picture Perfect: Vogue Picture Records

Features, vogue picture records

#R714, Doodle Doo Doo shows one of the turntables especially designed so that stores could highlight Vogue records. Rather than being on a standard horizontal plane, the Vogue turntable was tilted. The disc’s picture could then be enjoyed as the record spun. $40-50.

Article and photos by Donald-Brian Johnson Downbeat magazine called them “the discs that sparkle with color.” Gimbel’s trumpeted their “new and wonderful” arrival with a full-page ad in The New ...

The Next Big Hit? Music Trading Cards & the New Wave of Collecting

Antique Marketplace News, Features, Music Trading Cards, Retro Collectibles

Beatles bubble-gum in display box sold for $4,000 in 2019 at Heritage Auctions.

By Laurence Carpenter, Music Memorabilia Expert From vintage concert posters to stage-used guitars, music memorabilia has long captured the hearts of collectors. But a new format is quietly gaining traction ...

Stories of Buried Treasure: History Unearthed

buried treasure, Features, hidden history

The crowns were buried with kings and queens of Poland, who were also grand dukes and duchesses of Lithuania. Found among the royal accessories were insignia made for these rulers’ burial chambers. As Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas said, “These crowns were not worn while the rulers were alive but were made after their deaths and were intended to be part of their tombs,” per TVP World.

2,300-year-old bronze statues unearthed in Italy Archaeologists in Italy discovered more than two dozen beautifully preserved bronze statues from San Casciano dei Bagni, a hilltop town in the Siena province ...

Time Capsules

Features, time capsule

Museum of Fine Arts Boston Head of Objects Conservation Pam Hatchfield, right, displays objects removed a time capsule, Jan. 6, 2015, as Mass. Secretary of State William Galvin, left, and Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick, second from left, look on at the museum, in Boston.

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher A time capsule is a historic cache of goods or information, usually intended as a deliberate method of communication with future people, and to help future ...

There Are Spies Among Us: 18th, 19th, and Early 20th Century Military Espionage As Told By its Hierarchy, Spies, and Gadgets

Features, Militaria, Spyware

By Judy Weaver Gonyeau, managing editor The spies from the earliest days of America may not have had the level of “toys” and methods used by a 21st century James Bond ...

The Rise and Fall of the Army Surplus Store

army surplus, Features, Militaria

Woodside’s Surplus City closed after being open since 1946.

By Brett and Kate McKay, artofmanliness.com You’ve probably been to an army surplus store. They all look pretty much the same wherever you live. Surplus stores can be found in ...

An Interview with John Sexton, The Civil War Collector

Antique Marketplace News, civil war enthusiasts, civil war memorabilia, Features, Retro Collectibles

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher When it comes to Civil War memorabilia, John Sexton is the go-to guy. His decades as a consultant and independent appraiser of Civil War memorabilia make ...

The United States Postal Service Turns 250

Features, United States Post Office, USPS

First Continental Congress, 1774 Commemorative Stamp issued in 2024

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher During the Revolutionary War, instantaneous communication was non-existent, especially over great distances. News and personal correspondence were either delivered by land on foot or horseback, or ...

The Grand Ole Opry® at 100: The Church of Country Music

Features, The Grand Ole opry

Elvis and Hank Snow Grand Ole Opry promotional flyer.

By Judy Gonyeau, managing editor Name any country music star and chances are they are a member of one of the strongest and most influential organizations as it applies to ...

Turning 100 in 2025: 5 Origin Stories

Features, Turning 100

Introduced in 1924, the Chrysler Six boasted only 201 cubic inches but its 4.7:1 compression ratio engine delivered 68 horsepower. Chrysler was one of the first to adopt 4-wheel hydraulic brakes and the Chrysler Six also had full pressure engine lubrication. No wonder Chrysler sold 32,000 of them in its first year.

By Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher Behind every major company and brand launched in the early decades of the 20th century was an innovator with a vision. Nineteen twenty-five saw more than ...

White House Christmas Traditions

Features, Holiday Traditions, The White House

George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25-26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, was the first move in a complex and surprise military maneuver organized by George Washington, the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, which culminated in their attack on Hessian forces garrisoned at Trenton.

from www.whitehousechristmascards.com This website offers a treasure trove of information on the White House Christmas Cards and how the presidents celebrated the Christmas season. Here, we have selected a few ...

Let it Snow! Those Sensational Snow Globes

Features, Holiday Traditions, Snow Globes

Saluting one of the first snow globes: the Eiffel Tower, recreated in a souvenir snow globe from the Paris resort, Las Vegas.

by Donald-Brian Johnson “Rosebud …” And with that muttered word, the classic movie Citizen Kane opens. As publisher Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) breathes his last, a snow globe falls ...

Department 56 Collectible Villages

Department 56, Dept. 56, Features, Holiday Traditions

The Original 1976 Department 56 Snow Village. In 1976, Department 56 introduced a series of six hand-painted, ceramic buildings.

by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher “One Christmas evening, a group of friends set off to enjoy a dinner of celebration at a small country inn nestled in a quiet river town ...

Your Tools For Better Online Searching: What’s In Your Toolbox?

Antiquing Online, Features, online price guides

by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor When scrambling online to search for information on your antique/vintage/collectible item, the key to success is in how you choose to describe it. Here is ...

Online Resources To Turn To When Antiquing

Antiquing Online, antiquing websites, Features, online antiquing

by Judy Gonyeau, managing editor You’re at a vintage or antique show/shop/sale/auction and you just came across something you want more information on before you buy it or pass on ...

Online Platforms that are Transforming The Antiques Marketplace

Antiquing Online, Features, online Platforms

By Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher While most of us are familiar with or accustomed to sites such as eBay, which pioneered the online antiques marketplace, today, buyers and sellers have hundreds ...