The vintage connoisseur is not limited to the collection of old things. The true connoisseur will also collect the stories of old people. When I said I wasn’t sure about taking the time to go to a Friends of the Library book sale last weekend, my eighty-year-old neighbor, Mrs. Boaz, a dependable font of discriminating…
I must say, Lady Bricabrac and I thought that we knew, if anyone did, what the New Eclecticism was. We assumed (naturally) it referred to the recent mushrooming of curiosity shops in all their guises: antique shops and malls, vintage markets, consignment stores, and even the so-called “eclectic” co-ops. By offering alternative (repurposed, refinished, rediscovered,…
The place … was one of those receptacles for old and curious things which seem to crouch in odd corners of this town, and to hide their musty treasures from the public eye in jealousy and distrust. There were suits of mail, standing like ghosts in armor, here and there; fantastic carvings brought from monkish…
If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on any one point, it is this: the surest way to arouse and hold the reader’s attention is by being specific, definite, and concrete. The greatest writers–Homer, Dante, Shakespeare–are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter. Their…
Oliver Douglas: Mr. Haney, that pile of junk isn’t worth $8. Haney: To the unappraiseable eye, yes. I had each and every one of these objects de art evaluated by an in-unpeachable source: the county tax assessor, or as we sometimes call him, Cousin Joe. Before Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz of American Pickers, there…
There’s something sad about an estate sale. I can’t go to one of these things without feeling a little bit vulturous, jostling with the other vultures and swooping down to retrieve the scraps of a life from a folding table of knick knacks. In fact, it might be impossible to go to an estate sale–or…
I’ve been looking for a dresser for what’s known affectionately as my Totally ’80s Guest Room–for months. Dear Lady Bricabrac is known to quip that there’s no real rush to buy, that most of the pieces I’m interested in aren’t going anywhere—because, after all, who else wants them? This is often true. My friends these…
The Old Curiosity Blog 