You may have seen
Replacements, Ltd.'s print ads in the back of PARADE magazine (of
Howard Huge fame). Replacements, both a seller and a
resource for china and glassware owners, was one of the few North Carolina businesses to
publicly take a stand [NYT] against the state's vote to ban gay marriage.
As an employer, Replacements is one of only nine companies in the country to receive a
perfect score for ten years straight in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. But the company is also known for another surprisingly liberal policy: encouraging its 450 employees to bring their pets to work amidst millions of pieces of china and glassware. How many?
A whole lot. [more inside]
posted by Madamina
on May 29, 2012 -
31 comments
Urban archaeologist Scott Jordan has spent his whole life uncovering New York City's remains: I have been digging for New York's artifacts since 1969. My first dig was on Governor's Island, which was my father's duty station, and I stumbled upon a time capsule of New York's military history in the moat of old Fort Jay. In the dirt under the old drawbridge were relics dating from the War of 1812 all the way to the Civil War including buttons, musket balls and bullets, coins, pottery, and even a small cannon ball. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye
on Oct 9, 2010 -
13 comments
Antique typewriters. Welcome to the Martin Howard Collection of Early Typewriters. Comprised of typewriters from the very beginning of the typewriter industry (1880s & 1890s), it is the largest of its kind in Canada. The collection contains many rare and historically important typewriters, showing the remarkable diversity and beauty of the world's first typing machines. (
Via)
posted by Astro Zombie
on Mar 21, 2010 -
20 comments
In 2006 in the Fitzwilliam Museum three enormous porcelain vases from seventeenth or eighteenth century China were smashed by a museum visitor who fell down the stairs. This
presentation "follows the vases' progress from scattered fragments to their redisplay in the Fitzwilliam Museum. The site includes slideshows, film clips of the conservation process and a timelapse of one of the vases under reconstruction".
[more inside]
posted by paduasoy
on May 5, 2008 -
20 comments
Silver Bookmarks is a collection of images of over 1000 antique silver bookmarks. They can be browsed by category (e.g.
shape,
origin,
style) all of which are divided into myriad sub-categories (e.g.
Art Deco,
cat,
Shakespeare,
Iceland,
Tunbridgeware,
knife).
Stevengraphs has pictures of the famed bookmarks made by the firm of silk weaver Thomas Stevens as well as other products. Among my favorite Stevengraphs are
Ye Faire Ladie Godiva and Peeping Tom,
The Apostle of Free Trade, John Bright, MP,
Assassinated at Washington 14 April 1865 - The Late Lamented Lincoln,
Speed Well Remember Me and for cheap laughs there is the glorious duo of
Ride the Cock Horse and
I Love Little Pussy.
posted by Kattullus
on Apr 25, 2008 -
2 comments
The nkondi are the most powerful of the nkisi. They were used to identify and hunt down unknown
wrongdoers such as thieves, and people who were believed to cause sickness or death by occult means.
They were also used to punish people who swore false oaths and villages which broke treaties. To inspire
the nkondi to action, it was both invoked and provoked. Invocations, in bloodthirsty language, encouraged
it to punish the guilty party. It would also be provoked by having gunpowder exploded in front of it, and
having nails hammered into it. These fantastic Congo nail fetish figures are just one small, wonderful part of the impressive collection of images you can view at the content-rich, gratifyingly obsessive
Rand African Art, a site stuffed with nice large photos,
lots of lovely, lovely
links, and all sorts of intriguing nooks and crannies inviting exploration.
posted by taz
on Nov 13, 2005 -
14 comments
The most expensive $20 you’ll never see. (Unless you happen to be kickin’ it in
Long Beach next month...) The 1933 “double eagle”, a one oz. gold coin minted by the United States just prior to dropping the gold standard, is now worth approximately $10,000,000 and is the stuff of coin collection legend. A collector by the name of Israel “Izzy” Switt acquired and held on to 10 of them—just after the last “double eagle” had officially been melted down by the government in 1937. (
Timeline.) Now, decades later, the coins are the subject of an
intense legal battle between the US government and Switt’s descendants.
“It’s a hell of a story.”
posted by voltairemodern
on Aug 29, 2005 -
20 comments
'Antiques Roadshow' Expert Sent to the Pokey. "
Russell Pritchard III, a militaria expert, pleaded guilty to making the bogus TV appraisals. He also admitted defrauding artifact owners by giving them low appraisals on items, then reselling them at much higher prices and pocketing the profit." Pritchard was kicked off the show a couple years ago, when it was discovered that he was faking fabulous discoveries on the show in an effort to gain credibility. Fans of the US version of the show may remember the
civil war sword found in an attic and the owner claimed he used the valuable weapon to cut watermelons. Pritchard could have received up to 135 years in prison, and $5.3 million in fines, but only received a year in prison, and ordered to repay his bilked clients $830k. I've always wondered about the credibility of the experts on that show, and whether they've ever quoted inflated or deflated values for personal gain.
[via megosteve]
posted by crunchland
on Jul 13, 2002 -
7 comments
