Category: News & Views

Loved To Death Or Irked To Death?

new oddities san francisco

Is anyone else annoyed by this season of Oddities: San Francisco?

Along with a new cast member (Lincoln Smith replaces Korrie Sabatini), the Oddities spin-off (which has fared better than the other spin-off, Odd Folks Home), has been tweaked for season two. Among the tweaks: lots of smirks, fake looks of horror and shock, and, I kid you not, actual “boing” and “doing” noises to emphasize them.

These “shock-pas”, as I like to call them (fake shock that reads like a faux pas), are utterly unnecessary, irritating, and quite rude. Are we to believe for even one second, that the proprietress and “staff” of the store — the females, of which, dress like today’s version of goth witches or vampires, are going to arch their eyebrows and grunt in fear or smirk in the faces of their clientele? No. Are we, the viewers, to be treated as if we are dumb enough to believe it? And the boings-and-doings — why use such corny sound effects to highlight the awful stuff?! We all know reality shows are not real; that the stuff is planned and filmed and edited and whatnot. But why would anyone expect that a woman dressed like a modern-day Morticia Addams, self-dubbed Wednesday Mourning, would actually raise her eyebrows and have a “boing!” reaction to someone looking for a fetish item or a skull?

I’m a fan of the show, and the shop; of imperfect things, misfit collectibles, and the macabre. But seriously, now. Enough with the smirks and “doings” already.

The Black, White and Shades of Grey in Collecting Black Americana

According to Howard Dodson, director of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, “There are two kinds of collectors of black Americana: those who are interested in collecting as a financial investment and those with a passion for finding ‘the missing pages of history.’”

 

…There is also some concern that part of the drive in purchasing black Americana is pimpin’ black culture.: that this adoption of old images and negative stereotypes is being glamorized in a perverse way. Like hip-hop’s bad ‘rap’ (pun intended), collecting black Americana is sweeping the nation in a concerning way.

 

Deanna Dahlsad‘s insight:

As a white chick, I don’t dare collect this stuff — even if I, as a collector of similar negative sterotypical items about women, understand the desire to document the horrible past.

See on www.collectorsquest.com

About Antique & Collectible Appraisals

With all the work we do in antiques and collectibles, we are often asked about appraisals. Here’s what we know, and what we do.

First of all, it is important to note that there is no such thing as a licensed appraiser in the United States of America.

See on www.wehaveyourcollectibles.com

I Am TOM. I Like to TYPE. Hear That?

For less important doodles in text, the kind that go no farther than your desk or refrigerator door, the tactile pleasure of typing old school is incomparable to what you get from a de rigueur laptop. Computer keyboards make a mousy tappy tap tappy tap like ones you hear in a Starbucks — work may be getting done but it sounds cozy and small, like knitting needles creating a pair of socks. Everything you type on a typewriter sounds grand, the words forming in mini-explosions of SHOOK SHOOK SHOOK. A thank-you note resonates with the same heft as a literary masterpiece.

The sound of typing is one reason to own a vintage manual typewriter — alas, there are only three reasons, and none of them are ease or speed. In addition to sound, there is the sheer physical pleasure of typing; it feels just as good as it sounds, the muscles in your hands control the volume and cadence of the aural assault so that the room echoes with the staccato beat of your synapses.

See on www.nytimes.com

Original 1885 Chesapeake Lighthouse Photographs Mounted Albumen Prints

Looking for some assistance in pricing and marketing a set of 9 mounted albumen prints of Chesapeake Bay lighthouses.

Prints are part of a series of photos taken by Major Jared A. Smith for the US Lighthouse Establishment in 1885. Research has shown that the USCG Historian’s Dept has copies of some of these prints but for other locations the reference shows “Photo Unavailable”.

Deanna Dahlsad‘s insight:

Have any info to share?

See on iantiqueonline.ning.com

Antique Campbell’s Soup advertisng tin sign expected to reach $40,000-$60,000

The lifetime collection of Don and Diane Sayrizi – advanced collectors in many categories, but especially antique advertising – plus consignments from over 100 other advanced collectors from all over the country will be offered Oct. 4-6 by Showtime Auction Services, at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds in Ann Arbor, located at 5055 Ann Arbor/Saline Road.


“By far this is the best collection of antique advertising we have ever had the privilege of selling,” said Mike Eckles of Showtime Auction Services, based in Woodhaven, Mich. “We’ve held big auctions in the past, many of which featured advertising items, but never like this. The antique signs, in particular, are highly desirable and would be fine additions to any collection.”

I Bought it “Ratty” and Left It Alone

Not all dealers where happy with my championing of “Buy It Ratty and Leave It Alone.” I had recently been director of The Rhode Island Historical Society and curator of American decorative arts at the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design. When I lectured to Providence audiences I stressed the importance of condition, form, and surfaces, and before long a local dealer took me to task for diminishing the number of customers who had previously been happy to purchase refinished furniture. He changed his words, however, when he realized he could put an object with a good early surface directly into his showrooms, without the labor of cleaning off the paint, and charge more because it was “untouched.”

See on www.skinnerinc.com

Fashioning standards for industry conduct (Art & Antiques)

Doctors have the American Medical Association; lawyers are represented by the American Bar Association, car dealers, teachers, religions, and even countries have organized representation to promote their best interests to the public and government. Art and antiques dealers, one can categorically say, do not have any form of an umbrella organization that can advocate for its interests.

The many organizations that do attempt to be representatives of the industry are narrow in focus and small in membership. Whether it is the Art and Antiques Dealer’s League of America (AADLA), Antiques Dealers’ Association of American (ADA), National Antiques & Art Dealers Association of American (NAADAA), or the various state and local associations, they all have limited membership, finances, and interests. Individually they are just groups that attempt to create their own exclusivity of membership and can’t look at industry issues, be it a simple standard form of invoice or other business documents that have dealer and customer interests in mind; how about the larger purpose of the public’s image of dealers?

See on art-antiques-design.com

Lomasney Pop Film Art Poster Auction

The Lomasney Collection consists of over 800 hand-painted film posters originally displayed in the The Royal Hawaiian Theater in Honolulu. Painted in gouache on 44 by 28-inch artboard by artist John J. Lomasney (many incorporating actual studio film cells) these posters span over 50 years of cinematic history. The collection was acquired by tennis legend John McEnroe and displayed in his Soho, NYC gallery until McEnroe donated the collection to Lifebeat, Music Fights HIV/AIDS. The organization raises funds to support HIV prevention efforts by auctioning-off the pieces. The most recent offering is at Heritage Auctions, where bidding closes August 4, 2013 at 10:00 PM CT. Below are a few of the pieces up in the latest offering; however, the entire collection can be seen at Lomasneymovieart.com.

josephine baker lomasney JOHN J. LOMASNEY movie art poster sophia loren Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Flight from Ashiya The Beatles Come Home 1964

Design Ideas: Auctioning a little house and library chairs

During her lifetime, Mary Griggs Burke, one of the most important private collectors of Japanese art in the world, kept an extra apartment on New York’s Upper East Side, right next door to another where she lived, for her beloved art objects. She died in December at age 96.

But one of her treasures remains at her historic summer estate in Cable, Wisconsin, which was donated to the Chequamegon National Forest. While small, for what it is, the historic cottage is not so portable.

The tiny home had been in Burke’s family since her father bought it in the early 20th century. It was used as a children’s playhouse and remains outfitted with child-sized furnishings. The historic prefabricated cottage will be auctioned by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Milwaukee on July 25.

…Also to be auctioned by Hindman on the same date are a selection of chairs designed by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller, which were in use at Milwaukee’s East Side Library until it closed recently.

See on www.jsonline.com

Friday’s WHY IN DESIGN: how to incorporate antiques into your modern home

What do I collect? 
And, how can you collect and incorporate antiques into a modern aesthetic?  
I love anything for tabletop – like plates, sugar and bowl sets, tea sets and vintage cutlery, salt cellars (a fancy word for salt dishes) or glass ware.  Because many of these items were made beautifully and some by hand, the antique tabletop accessories tend to be high quality and durable.  I also enjoy collecting chairs (because you can never have enough chairs and especially when entertaining — there’s always a need to pull up extras), antique prints and botanical, outdoor furniture/ornamentation and lighting.  
Let’s focus on how to incorporate items that may be over one hundred years old into our modern day interior design in a way that highlights the pieces but with a fresh perspective.

Deanna Dahlsad‘s insight:

5 tips on what to look for & how to incorporate antiques into your home decor

See on nestnestnest.blogspot.com