A Shocking Collectible Theme: The Death House Electric Chair
When Dr. Alfred Southwick of the New York State Legislature’s death penalty commission called Thomas Edison in 1887, his purpose was to get Edison’s advice […]
Operator, Get Me MUrray Hill 5-9975: Collecting Candlestick Telephones
The eBay description is succinct, if not grammatically correct: “(sic)…the price is right 2 years ago I sold one for $4500 at a telephone show […]
A Collecting Category with Built-In Ups and Downs: Yo-Yos
QUESTION: What do Good Humor ice cream bars, parking meters and yo-yos have in common? ANSWER: Donald F. Duncan (1892-1971), American entrepreneur. It was Duncan’s […]
How to Bequeath Your Collection and Keep it out of Probate
To some, leaving behind a meaningful legacy upon death is important. To have built a house, written a book, created a business or performed a […]
Collectors Snap to Attention for Historic Field Drums
Church-bells ringing on Sunday morning are a familiar sound in communities all over America. There was a time, though, that the faithful were called to […]
Naughty or Nice: ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ Capra, Commies and the FBI
“He’s making a list, checking it twice; gonna find out who’s naughty or nice…” When Coots & Gillespie’s famous Christmas song debuted on Eddie Cantor’s […]
Sounds of a Victorian Christmas: Original Carols Played on Original Instruments
If I had to admit to a Christmas-time pet peeve, it would be this: I’m a Scrooge when it comes to cover versions of classic […]
Guns of the Mayflower: Not a Blunderbuss to be found
It seems that each Thanksgiving I happen upon a picture of a somber Pilgrim dressed in black, big buckles on his shoes, belt and hat, […]
The Sony Cassette Walkman Changed How and Where We Listened to Our Music
“No invention in my lifetime has so changed an art and cheapened it as the Sony Walkman, which first infiltrated our culture 25 years ago […]
Philco Predicta was the most Advanced Television of our Time (for a very short time)
“It’s truly TV today, from the world of tomorrow… it’s 1965… today!” This line from the 1958 Philco television ad exclaiming that the new Predicta […]