Featured Antiques
Water Organ
The water organ dates to 3rd Century BC Alexandria, and is thought to be the first keyboard musical instrument in history. Also known as the hydraulis or hydraulic organ, its invention is usually credited to the scientist Ctesibius. While the actual sounds from the organ pipes were produced much like today’s pipe organs, the air [...]
French Bebe Dolls
Bebe dolls originated in France in the mid 19th century. These dolls were created to represent children, which was quite innovative, as most other dolls up to this time period were modeled after adults. French Bebe dolls eventually would outgrow their competitive fashion dolls as far as popularity is concerned. Between the 1860s and 1880s, [...]
Pastiglia
Pastiglia refers to a method of adding a unique and fragile substance onto small metallic items, mainly during the Renaissance period. When lead and vinegar are mixed, along with some other choice ingredients, a white powder will form that is the basis for pastiglia. Most commonly, pastiglia is attached to very small coffins and then [...]
Revere, Paul
Paul Revere (1735 – 1817) would be famous today for his work as a silversmith even if he weren’t a hero of the American Revolution. The third son of the elder French-born Paul Revere, who had changed his name from Appollos De Rivoire, Paul Revere the younger came by his artistic skills honestly. Revere the [...]
Madame Alexander Dolls – Antique
Madame Alexander Dolls, first created by Beatrice Alexander Behrman, have a history dating to around 1923 in New York City. Beatrice, the daughter of a Russian immigrant, grew up surrounded by dolls, especially since her father had built a business as a “doll hospital” for repairing broken dolls. Born in 1895, Beatrice began at an [...]
Browning Firearms
Browning Firearms have produced some of the famous and well loved firearms in the history of the industry. The man behind the name, John Moses Browning, was the son of a highly qualified gunsmith. Born on January 23, 1855, in Ogden, Utah, Browning learned the secrets, as well as the art, of making guns within [...]
Winchester Firearms
The Winchester Firearms Company, based in New Haven, Connecticut, had a long and entangled history that began prior to the middle of the Nineteeth Century with Oliver Winchester’s purchase of a bankrupt firm that made firearms. Oliver Winchester, a clothing manufacturer, was the largest stockholder in the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company before its demise. The [...]
A Giraud Porcelain Marks
A Giraud Porcelain marks all seem to have included the word Limoges regardless of the time period in which they were used. From the A Giraud Porcelain factory’s beginnings in 1935, the mark read Giraud and Brousseau Limoges with the word and actually being an ampersand. From around 1967 until about 1979, the A Giraud [...]