As an ephemera collector, I find lots of old clippings inside my vintage magazines, retro catalogs, and even in my antique books. While the acidic old paper may be a threat to already fragile old paper, I am delighted by what I find. It’s somehow comforting to know that we humans have always clipped and [...]

This vintage wire photo was sent out to news outlets to promote the Harry Winston “The Court of Jewels” tour, which traveled to major American cities during 1949-1953. The traveling jewels tour showcased the Hope Diamond. From the back of the photo: New York: Lovely Margaret Wallace is just displaying her own charm enhanced by [...]

My mom has listed these pair of Julia Marlowe boots. Julia Marlowe (August 17, 1865 – November 12, 1950) was a famous stage actress. But why would a famous Shakespearean actress lend her name to a shoe? Was she just a heel? *wink* The best I can do share the following tantalizing tidbits… One, as [...]

My parents will correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t have a doll house when I was little. At my grandma’s house, there was my aunt’s old metal dollhouse… And I had Barbie houses and the like. But I never had a real dollhouse, a real miniature world of my own… Until now. At [...]

Grin: I decided to clean out some desk drawers and filing cabinets. Trash collection is tomorrow and I can’t seem to close some of my drawers anymore. Pick: You never could keep your drawers closed. Grin: I resemble that remark, and blame you for my condition. But to the point, I have trashed some stuff [...]

Often when a new collector finds unworn lingerie in a box clearly not its original, they shy away from the purchase, concerned the lingerie is not authentic vintage. While there are unscrupulous sellers, finding panties in a slip box is not uncommon; on the contrary, it is quite common. Those who collect vintage lingerie — [...]

I know next to nothing about hot rods, dragsters, automobilia or even cars in general, but I do recognize the value of vintage car part catalogs, like these Almquist “Equipment of Champions” catalogs, to fans and collectors of such things. And I’ll admit, looking at old hot rod custom sport bodies, kits, 3-D chrome emblems, [...]

We purchased a lot of ephemera from a dealer going out of business — and when I say “a lot,” I mean “a lot of boxes.” So many that we almost couldn’t fit boxes and the one slender child we had with us that day into the van. While we did manage to get all [...]

Thinking of taking a family vacation by car this year so you can go antiquing along the way? Getting there is half the fun — or at least half the story you and the kids remember (complain about?) years later. Below are 10 tips for creating a great family road trip — with a heavy [...]

February 20th and 21st there’s an online event which is rather like a Valentine’s Day celebration for collectors: The first annual Bookmark Collectors Virtual Convention. This two-day event you can attend in your jammies sitting at your computer is obviously focused on the collecting of bookmarks, but the rest of us can learn something too. [...]

Then check out this vintage sugar packet featuring the famous boxer. This packet of Jack Frost Tablet Sugar not only features the famous sports figure (and his “Best Wishes”) but it’s from his restaurant, Jack Dempsey’s Restaurant Bar & Cocktail Lounge located on 49th & Broadway in New York City (there were apparently several locations). [...]

After recently acquiring a batch of 1935 Movie Star Dixie Premium Photos … and, of course, making them available for sale … I wanted to revisit the popular collectibles one more time, something I see I most recently did last April on the VintageMeld. That post is more centered around Tom Popelka’s excellent Dixie Premiums [...]

When I was a kid, our big family gatherings had the traditional kids’ table. At first it was fun to hang out with your cousins, having those chocolate-milk-bubble-blowing-contests without garnering parental stink-eye; but eventually you wanted to age-out of that table and join the grown-ups because you weren’t a kid anymore. And then one day [...]

What I like about these Lil Davinci Art Cabinets is the fact that each cabinet is a storage container as well as a display piece, holding up to 50 sheets at a time with a spring-loaded pocket. That means you can store multiple pieces of artwork — and ephemera — in one place, with the [...]