Antique Trader Blog with editor Noah Fleisher - Antique news odd

While we're in the Middle East: Go Tiberias! Go!

Noah — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:13:43 GMT

How could I possibly resist a headline like this:

Ancient Tiberias making a comeback

Tiberias deserves a comeback, right? If Fleetwood Mac can do it, and The Who can do it - and The Stones, who have never even quit - then why not Tiberias?

Man, those guys rocked.

When a penny ain't worth a penny, it's an antique!

Noah — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:07:53 GMT

I believe this originated with the Chicago Tribune, and seems to be an editorial, but it came to me via The Valdosta State Spectator in GA, certainly one of the more obscure sources I've dug around on. I worked on my college paper and, let's face it, a lot of them are pretty bad.

It is, actually, an argument you can dig up most anywhere. I just couldn't resist a link with something from Valdosta State.

This, however, I happen to agree with. When it costs more than a penny is worth to make one, then it ain't worth it, plus the good, collectible ones that are out there will become that much more valuable, which is good for the business of coins.

Numismatics and antiques unite! Down with the penny!

The Guru and the Auction House

Noah — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 21:28:24 GMT

This has been very interesting to watch - somewhat obscure, perhaps, bubt a lot of fun.

Sotheby's claimed some armor being sold belonged to a very important Sikh guru. Sikhs got angry, and Sotheby's claims that the armor is not actually the Guru's, but one of several sets he had made, as he was involved in many wars and military campaigns.

The post linked to above is from a post to WorthPoint.com out of India.

The whole thing is interesting, as I have always associated Sikhism with dervishes and mysticism, a la the sublime poetry of Rumi ("Dissolver of sugar, dissolve me."), not necessarily with warring kings. I'd love to see the armor, but no pics have been released. Check it out if this sort of thing interests you, which it does me, which I bet you've already figured out.

Where did they get that?

Noah — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:26:59 GMT

No, really posted by Karen pretending to be Noah ...

Well, it happened this morning. After limping along on life support for months, my Mac finally gave up its ghost. While IT is diligently readying a replacement, I'm taking advantage of the disruption and putting it to good use...I'm catching up on (or at least chipping away at) my news alerts from the past couple of weeks.

Have you ever watched a period movie and saw a piece of furniture or an item that caught your eye and thought to yourself, "Where did they get that?"

Well, I read an interesting article this morning about a shop in Haverhill, Mass., that has supplied a number of production companies with props.

You can check the story out here ...

omg, can u believe it? spoilt singer demand $140K antique table for signing

Noah — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:06:00 GMT

Okay, so I couldn't resist this gossip. Some spoiled singer, who's been told for some time now that the sun rises and sets out of her... eyes... demanded that a $140,000 table be flown from NY to London, and covered with silk, so she could do her signings...

I remember Maria Carey from the early 1990s, when she would hit her signature high-C note in every song. I'm a music snob, so I have to admit I literally cannot stand to be in a room where her music playing. She's worth a ton, and has had fools bow to her whims forever and a day, so of course she's going to continue to think that her money gets her anything she wants. I guess it pretty much does. Considering she makes more than the GNP of many small countries, however, I think she should be mortally ashamed of her behavior. That's all any pop star really needs, isn't it? A good talking to...

I would, however, like to see the table.

Lincoln letter goes for more than $3M

Noah — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:16:45 GMT

And to think that I was willing to take a triceratops over this, if given the choice...

I love Honest Abe, but I stand by my decision. Besides, I just spent that last $3.4M on a new yacht. I'm a bit tapped at the moment.

This is the Yahoo story, just breaking. Pretty cool, I have to say.

Papa's Brand New Bag on the auction block

Noah — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:57:43 GMT

When James Brown died on Christmas Day 2006, he left behind a lot more than one modern music's greatest catalogs of work, he left behind a life filled with turmoil and an estate that has been the subject of constant wrangling between his family, his adult children, his ex-girlfriends and his ex-wives.

Finally, Christie's has stepped in and said, "That's enough!"

I actually don't know if that's what Christie's did, but either way, the venerable auction house will be auctioning of the possesions of the Godfather of Soul sometime this summer. This sale will include Brown's awards, instruments and all kinds of various posessions.

No matter what you think of the man personally, his influence on music was, and is, undeniable. He blended together many sounds and came up with something that was totally original, and musically, in his prime, there was absolutely no one more important. The interlocking parts of his songs were pure genius and made countless millions of people understand not only how music worked, but that they too could follow a few simple rules and enjoy playing music. For that, I do have to say, I miss Brown greatly.

To see him covered with a jacket and walked, exhausted, off stage accompanied by one of his crew, only to ruh desperately back to the mic for one last chorus, or word - then to hear the crowd shriek with delight - makes you understand that he truly was... the hardest working man in show business.

And I'd love to get me one them guitars...

This wood's no good! Dealer in fake antique wood busted in MO

Noah — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:11:22 GMT

Interesting, but probably not as rare as we'd like to think.

This St. Louis dealer in supposedly antique wood is going to be paying a hefty fine and maybe seeing the inside of Club Fed for a while. It just goes to show that you have to be wary of who you buy from, and alays do you research, even if your next antique is going to be your floor.

This story comes via the St. Louis Business Journal.

The last I'll post about the most stupid eBay auction ever...

Noah — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 16:40:27 GMT

I think this guy, at a site called Blorgable, sums it up as well as my not-so-well-hidden cynicism ever could.

You will never hear about corn flakes on this blog again, and that's a promise from me to you...

"Something really dramatic just happened with our cornflake."

Noah — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:21:50 GMT

I posted about this the other day, the corn flake shaped like Illinois...

The AP is reporting that eBay pulled it for some violation or another. Not to worry, though, it's been taken care of and is now back online for all the people dying to have it...

I was a little worried, myself, but am now happy to report that you can get the Illinois flake, as well as one that looks like Hawaii and a couple other states...

The line, "Something really dramatic juts happened with our cornflake" is one of the best I've ever heard...

Just what I've always wanted! A corn flake that looks like Illinois...

Noah — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:19:13 GMT

Um... I'm... I'm just not sure what to say about this, or why I'm even posting it...

I feel a little confused, and fragile... Somebody hold me...

Retiring eBay CEO Whitman joins McCain campaign...

Noah — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:52:35 GMT

This is posted, from the AP Wire, with absolutely no bias either way on behalf of Antiques Trader. It's just simply an interesting bit of news about that dear friend of all online antiques... Meg Whitman.

Retiring eBay CEO Whitman joining McCain campaign
Source: AP - AP Wire Service

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Outgoing eBay chief executive Meg Whitman is joining Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign as national co-chairperson.

The McCain campaign said Friday that she will help raise money and policy development and travel the country on his behalf.

Whitman also helped former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney during his bid for the Republican nomination.

She announced in January that she would retire from the online auction company after a decade at the helm.

She is leaving as eBay Inc. faces slowing growth.

Like I said, Trader has no opinion. It's just interesting...

A divergent tale of Modern architecture: the classic and the... um...

Noah — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:09:53 GMT

Okay, so indulge me my love of architecture. A great building that has survived the test of time - structually and philosophically - carries the value of a great antique, in my book. And then some.

Two stories came across my path at the exact same time and they tell a very interesting story.

One is a story from the NYT on the sale of a houe designed by Louis Kahn - truly an amazing masterpiece of "Modern" architecture - being auctioned later this spring by Wright auctions in Chicago. Richard Wright is one of a handful of guys that knows Modernism,

Image by Ezra Stoller

The other is a story circulating across the AP wire and beyond - all around the blogosphere - about a famous Chatanooga, TN house shaped like a flying saucer.

Image by Greg Brown

There's something here, in the connection between these two structures, that speaks to the deep love Americans have of their personal space and their once-upon-a-time penchant for personal architecture.

On one hand, we have the Esherick house, which Kahn designed, and which is - simply put - a masterpiece. It's a one bedroom in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia, that represents only one of three - THREE - homes that one of the 20th century's most famed architects ever designed and built. Look at the NYT story, see the pics; you can feel the excitement of Mid-Century America and the need for redesignation of personal space. It's small-ish, but wide open, with big windows and that undeniably classic Modernism look and feel. It's expected to go for a few million buck. A steal, I'd say, given what the house means philosophically.

Kahn made no efforts to hide the structure, weight or design of his buildings. They are wide-open, honest and inspiring in the way that the best of American modern architecture is/was. Kahn wanted inhabitants of his buildings, and the appreciating looks of passersby, to be totally immersed in the fullness and "heaviness" of a structure. You cannot help but be sucked in by such simultaneous ideas, such disinterested interest, if I can go a little Zen on it...

The Flying Saucer house in Tennessee? Well, while maybe not a "classic" in the sense that classic means "judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind," but it's a real eye-catcher, huh? I mean, you're not likely to see a house that says so clearly, "HEY! I WAS BUILT IN THE LATE 1960s/EARLY 1970s!" anywhere.

This thing came about, evidently built by two quite normal folks, about the time that Star Trek was cancelled and just as the U.S. was dominating the space race and putting its flag on the moon - which, if you didn't know, means that we own it. Somebody put enough thought and time into this place to make a decent enough house to stand almost 40 years now, which means it will soon be eligible for historic preservation. Let me tell you, if the thing could actually take off, I'd buy it in a heart beat. I'm still waiting to hear back from the realtor if it has booster jets somewhere underneath there...

You can bid on both, you could own both, you could be the ultimate post-modern homeowner.

If I had to choose though - and I know this will surprise those of you who know my penchant for kitschy 1970s stuff that makes me feel like a kid eating cheerios to the 6 a.m. glow of Saturday morning cartoons as our Standard Poodles, Chauvinist and Nischi, wait for the few that would inevitably drop (was that really worth the time it took to write?) - I would go for the Kahn house in a second. Just look at it. What a beauty.

I would, though, love to get a look inside the Saucer house, and to see if the warp drive is fully functioning. That could change things quite a bit...

Antique declared typhoid free!

Noah — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:41:20 GMT

Made you look!

Oh man, if I could get this mastadon and that triceratops... No one would mess with me!

Noah — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:00:42 GMT

The untold 10s of you - 10s, I say - that read this blog regualrly, might remember earlier this week when I posted about competing antiques auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's between a letter from Abe Lincoln and Triceratops.

Like the child of the 1970s that I am, raised on countless episodes of Land of the Lost - remember the slestaks, anyone? - I shamefully chose the triceratops over Honest Abe's historical letter. I'm still carrying the shame with me, oh yes, but check this out:

A family in the san Francisco area is selling the fossil of a complete Mastadon, found on their property, on eBay(!) for a starting bid of $115,000. This is a rather humorous article from the SF Chronicle on it; an entertaining read for a few minute distraction.

I have to agree with the writer's point: You can get mastadon bones on eBay for anywhere from .99 cents to $10, which is probably enough to satisfy the type of person looking for mastadon bones on eBay.

Still, if I could afford it, I'd do it in a second, and along with my triceratops, I'd rule the playground!

An unfortunate career choice - Mummy smuggler

Noah — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:44:06 GMT

How, exactly, does one decide that this is the course they are going to take in life?

Me, I became an editor and journalist because I had spend years laboring - unhappily - to be a playwright in NYC. I had some small success, but was miserable. I then became an advertising creative, which made being an unsuccessful NYC playwright look like a day at the beach. Woof.

But the guys mentioned in this story from the AP, a couple of Mummy Smugglers, must've had to dig really deep to decide on this career path, but... I know smuggling antiquities is an old profession, but I'm just assuming that selling ancient bodies, wrapped in linen, dessicated, and decorated with heiroglyphics has got to be a rough way to make a buck... Not to mention the bad karma that must come with it...

And with your antique glassware, a little foul play anyone?

Noah — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:56:17 GMT

Unfortunately, it's not too uncommon for an antiques shop to catch fire. Gather so much old stuff together in a small place, old itself, with old wiring and not a lot of maintenance, and, well, it can go up like a mob-owned restaurant in Jersey (sorry, I've been watching alot of Sopranos reruns on cable late at night as I troll for blog content...).

It all gets a little more interesting, and sinister - Sopranos again? - when, after a fire, a body is found in the debris.

This is a story out of a TV station in South Carolina about just such a thing. It happened at The Old Mill Antiques Mall, and, as far as this report goes, there is a suggestion it could either be murder or a thief who broke in and started the fire. The report says nothing about cluthcing a piece of Red Wing to their charred body, so a pottery dispute is probably not the motive...

Seriously, though, I hate to see a place destroyed, and I hate to think about the cultural value of the material that burned with the building.

Letter from Lincoln on the block

Noah — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:28:16 GMT

Honest Abe wrote to a group of schoolchildren asking him to "free the poor slavechildren," and told them of how moved he was to get their letter.

That letter will be on the block in early April at Sotheby's, and could well bring $5M.

It's hard to say which I would rather have; this, or the Triceratops that Christie's will auction off in three weeks.

On one hand, you have a letter from Abraham Lincoln addressing the seminal issue of emancipation - a decision on his part that has effect even today, and on the other you have a Triceratops...

I'd have to go with the dinosaur. Does that make me a bad person?

Ruby's gun, Guernsey's and mixed feelings

Noah — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:46:30 GMT

I should probably preface this with saying that I spent the first 18 years of my life in Dallas.

The days of my youth were spent in downtown Dallas, in Deep Ellum and all around the Texas State Fairgrounds. I went to high school right down there, and it was a great landscape for young minds.

I drove that city for all those years, at all hours of the day and night, and worked at The West End Marketplace, a stone's throw from the book depository building where Oswald made his shot.

It was not, however, until the week before I left for college that, driving through Dealey Plaza with some friends that I realized that this was the road where Kennedy was killed, and there was the grassy knoll. Hundreds of times, I drove that road, used it as a landmark. Never, though, did I make the JFK connection.

It it thus that I've been reluctant to report on Jack Ruby's gun being on the auction as part of Guernsey's superb Pop Culture Auction, March 15 and 16, in Vegas - only appropriate somehow.

Here's a link to a story from the Dallas Morning News , via Denton - which used to take 45 minutes to get to and was nothing but open fields on either site of the expressway - about the gun and the sale.

I grew up in Dallas in the 70s, when the city was still smarting from the assasination and, really, nobody talked much about the JFK assasination, and your certainly never ever joked about it. I still wouldn't.

All the same, it is an important piece of history, and it's probably going to bring a fair amount of cash. And that's what's important, isn't it?

ART POTTERY THEFT IN OHIO - Be on the lookout

Noah — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 18:00:41 GMT

APPROXIMATELY 175 PIECES OF AMERICAN ART POTTERY STOLEN

HILLARD, OH - Between 3:15 P.M. on Monday, February 25, 2008, and 8:30 A.M. on Tuesday, February 26, 2008, approximately 175 pieces of American Art Pottery were stolen from Belhorn Auction Services, LLC in the Columbus suburb of Hilliard, Ohio. Also stolen was a cargo trailer in which the pottery was loaded, which was secured and locked at Belhorn Auctions’ office.

Pottery stolen includes various examples of Weller, Roseville, Rookwood, Owens, Van Briggle, Hampshire, Pillin, Fulper as well as others. Also stolen was an exhibit of fake and reproduction pottery assembled by the American Art Pottery Association for educational and presentation purposes. The trailer is an unmarked, white American Hauler cargo trailer with fold-down rear ramp and a system of shelving on the inside.

“We are working closely with law enforcement and our property management company to review security tapes covering the area during the time of the theft,” said Belhorn Auction Services, LLC President Greg Belhorn. “All consignors affected by this incident are fully covered and will be reimbursed for any financial loss. However, I do remain hopeful that the items will be recovered.”

Nearly all of the stolen pieces were slated for the American Art Pottery Association’s 2008 Auction to be held in conjunction with the organization’s Annual Convention on April 23-27, 2008, in the Greater Philadelphia area. Belhorn Auction Services, LLC donates its time and resources to conduct this auction, which benefits the Association and its endeavors. The full commission and buyer’s premium generated from the auction serve as an important revenue source from the American Art Pottery Association.

A general list and photos of the stolen pottery will be made available at Belhorn Auction Services, LLC’s website at www.belhorn.com. Anyone with information regarding this incident or who is approached by an individual with pottery for sale matching the description of stolen items should contact the Hilliard (Ohio) Police Department at (614) 876-7321 or Belhorn Auction Services, LLC at (614) 921-9441. A reward is being offered for any information leading to the recovery of the stolen property.

Antiques Humor? So un-PC...

Noah — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 16:04:19 GMT

This is truly one of the funniest things I've seen online in a long time and is a good - if somewhat amateurish - spoof of Roadshow, but dead-on in many respects and, if I didn't say it before, funny funny funny.

Check it out and enjoy. It's about five minutes long and is The Roadshow we've all wished we could see from time to time.

The best part is the end: "Don't give money to PBS! We're all going to die!"

These things were old when the pyramids were just being mapped out on papyrus

Noah — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:41:38 GMT

This is just cool, plain and simple.

An Asheboro, NC man is displaying his massive, and ancient, arrowhead collection this weekend at the Asheboro public library. Some of these things are more than 6000 years old - making them ancient when the pyramids were being built... This event is annual in ASheboro and routinely brings out hundreds of folks.

I'd love to see this collection tour. It's a testament to human ingenuity and the incredible craftsmanship of Native Americans. Check it out. the pic below is of the gentelman with a particularly old example. If you're going to be in Asheboro this weekend, let me know how the exhibition is.

Very cool.

Credit: Joseph Rodriguez/ News & Record

In Case of Apocalypse, break stylish glass

Noah — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:26:16 GMT

This was widely covered, and hailed in the MSM the last few days. I don't know... Philosophically speaking, I find it a little daunting and frightening. A tangible reminder of the damage that humans are wreaking on the planet at alarming places.

It's the Svalbard Seed Vault in Longyearbyen, Norway (nice name). You can see the below pics here.

Architecturally, though, I think - in fine Scandanavian Moderne fashion, I might add - the building is pretty awesome, a real tribute to the modern aesthetic, not that visitors to the planet eons from now will appreciate the differences in Lloyd Wright and, say, Gropius...

It's as if, in a million years or so - hopefully longer - if the planet is rid of humans and retakes everything, then we're visited by our future progeny returned to the homeworld to see exactly where they sprang from - stick with me - thart they would find not only the seed as proof that we wanted to preserve our existences, but a really cool building refelctive of the best of modern design of the time. Man... Won't those bionetic cyborgs be impressed.

Most importantly, the American eggplant will survive.

From the Web site:

Svalbard Global Seed Vault: Arctic Seed Vault Opens Doors for 100 Million Seeds

Ceremony Marking Unprecedented Effort to Protect Global Agriculture Draws World Leaders and Seeds from Over 100 Countries

LONGYEARBYEN, NORWAY (26 FEBRUARY 2008) - The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened today on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, receiving inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds that originated in over 100 countries. With the deposits ranging from unique varieties of major African and Asian food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea, and sorghum to European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley, and potato, the first deposits into the seed vault represent the most comprehensive and diverse collection of food crop seeds being held anywhere in the world.

$3M record collection buyer a fraud - eBay bumming again

Noah — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:03:58 GMT

That record collection - easily the best record collection in one single place - was being sold by Paul Mahwinney out of Record Rama in Pittsburgh, PA (is there ay other?), which sold for $3M to an a buyer in Ireland on eBay last week?

Fraud.

I can't imagine that eBay, who has suffered so much bad press lately, can be terribly happy about this.

The "buyer" said that he was the victim of identity theft and that he got the invoice and couldn't believe it. I reckon that's possible, and a terrible email to get from PayPal, which is already such an unpleasant system.

Furthermore, it's reported that a rare Stones album, that Mahwinney has valued at $10,000, can be bought elsewhere on eBay for $599. Ouch.

A great piece of architectural glass gone in NYC

Noah — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:10:23 GMT

Living for so many years in NYC, I had more than my share of opportunities to check out the Robert Sower's window at JFK Airport's American Airlines terminal. It is - was - truly- an architectural masterpiece and a piece of Modernism that never lost its glory.

As an entry point to NYC and America for many millions of flyers, it spoke philosophically of the American spirit, its artistic soul and its ability to make the seemingly impossible possible. As a piece of art, I love this thing.

Now it's gone. Or going, at least, as reported across the nation and against the best efforts of the good folks at Save America's Window.

They did their best to get a sponsor to get behind the project, but many musuems said it would be too hard to keep the piece intact. Personally, I don't believe it and think it's a damn shame the window is coming down, piece by piece, to be scattered across the nation and possibly the world.

Often, traveling through JFK, the airport was so hectic to get into or out of that the only respite I was given, the only moment of zen and calm, was when I could walk out and see the sun streaming in distinct blades through those colored panes, or reflecting the light of night time, reminding me I had indeed just come home.

Goodbye to the Sower's window and goodbye to a distinct American art treasure.

Buying stolen antiques online - a cautionary tale

Noah — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 17:01:18 GMT

Bad things do happen, even to antiques people and even in the South.

This is a story from a Nashville TV station - Newschannel 5 - about a guy whose rental was broken into, in Nashville, and who had $3,000 worth of antiques stolen from his house. A few months later he finds a listing for his property - as someone else's property, of course - on Craigslist.

The address associated with the sale ended up being on the same street!

The police, however, do not think the seller knew he was selling stolen goods, let alone stolen goods from a house on the same street he lived on. I guess the thief, or thieves, took off that piece of yellowed and peeling masking tape with "In case this valuable antique is stolen please return to..." written in Sharpie on it.

"What? This stuff is stolen? And it belongs to you? And you live next door? Man, do I feel stupid..."

Chances are that stuff like this happens quit a bit, really.

The report does contain the rather ambiguous statement from the police that: "We're hopeful this incident will get us to a major player in antique business in the area."

For what, exactly?

Maybe the police are simply looking for some vintage posters to decorate the precinct...

Ephemera your thing? Here's a good site...

Noah — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:07:21 GMT

I've been enjoying Marty Weil's ephemera blog for quite awhile now.

Being a great fan of ephemera, especially the really obscure and cool stuff, this site is a breat of fresh air. Marty's a good writer with a keen sense of humor, an excellent touch as a blogger, and he doesn't take himself or his subject matter too seriously - as the Buddha said, or perhaps it was Oscar Wilde, seriousness is the last refuge of the shallow - which allows for good stories and excellent interviews with prominent collectors.

Check it out and enjoy. It's worth a daily click or two...

Save the suburban ranch house!

Noah — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 16:14:09 GMT

Growing up in the Dallas suburbs, the ranch house was ubiquitous. It's what the word "suburb" means to me. I see a ranch house and I see yellowed summer days, neat little lawns, abutting fences and paved driveways with little pieces of broken glass just waiting to lodge in the unsuspecting foot of a kid running to the front door for lunch - baloney sandwiches on Wonder with yellow mustard. (Forgive me, but there has been steady snow, more than a foot, over the last 24 hours and I am a bit snow-blind, desperate for a warm day, if only in memory.)

This is an article from the Arizona Star Net about Tucson's vast tracts of ranch houses, and whether some - or all - of them could be considered historic and worth of preservation.

For the record, seeing the proliferation of McMansions that have sprouted like weeds across the nation, I do believe these houses are worthy of preservation and historical designation.

I've been to Tucson a few times, and find it to be a pretty groovy - if funky - little town. It rambles and has a certain endearing shabbiness to it. It also has some of the coolest looking post-war neighborhoods you'll ever come across, with bright colors and - believe it or not - totally pleasing ranch architecture.

I've always found that the ranch house spoke to the American boom of the the 1950s, when millions of Americans were able to buy houses and settle areas that were pretty inhospitable, at least by today's suburban standards. The best of ranch house architecture embodies the Usonian ideas of Frank Lloyd Wright, and speaks to the master's philosophy. They have open living spaces, open fire places and large windows onto the backyard, even if it's just scrub or hardpan with a rusting swingset. The worst have that horrible peeling green carpet that everything in the 1970s seemed to have.

Take a look and decide for yourself.

Antique gun mishap? How 'bout drunken fool...

Noah — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:17:19 GMT

The Cape Cod Times - daily sentinel to a place that is always fun to be smack dab in the middle of February, right on the ocean and facing some of the stiffest winds you can imagine - is reporting about a guy who shot himself in the leg with an antiques black powder colt.

Seems he was cleaning his gun when the thing went off. Police received a 911 call at 6 a.m., which means he was doing his business somewhere around 4 or 5 a.m.

Um...

First, I don't think anybody's going to set the alarm for 3 a.m. to get ready for a good gun cleaning, and second, I reckon the first thing I would do would be to make sure that the gun I was about to clean wasn't loaded. Just saying...

Methinks this guy was loaded himself, and thought it'd be fun to clean his gun by the soft glow of some 24 hour cable tv news. The comments attached to the article are pretty good, too.

One banana, two banana, three banana four!

Noah — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:48:42 GMT

It is snowing again here in Central, WI, making it a record setting year for snow - In Wisconsin. Did I mention that? At least in Madison, about 90 minutes to the south. Somehow, here in Central WI we manage to dodge a lot of the severe weather just above and just below this.

Going through Heritage Auctions' Web site I cam across a sale that speaks so directly to a Gen-Xer like myself that I had to mention it here. Part of the Dallas Auction firm's current online comics sale.

Man, I remember the Banana Splits like yesterday, along with the freaky cartoons that went along with it. They had a very bizarre version of Tom Sawyer that mixed a live Tom and Becky - maybe Huck - with the rest of the characters being animation. I used to watch in the afternoons - The Banana Splits, that is - as part of a show with an eerie clown who broadcast from a central Ohio amusement park and was always pushing some kind of red frozen treat, whjich I desperately coveted but never got. We moved from Cincinnatti long before the summmer... But I digress.

As you might be able to tell by this Wiki on the Splits, the show and its immortal characters - Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper and Snorky - had quite a history, part of which was filmed in my hometown of Dallas. I also remember Bingo had a thing about hitting Fleegle.

Check out the sale, and that Banana Splits comic. A steal for $100, and my birthday's comin' up...

World's longest arch bridge to be built in Dubai

Noah — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:27:36 GMT

You just have to wonder why...

And you have to wonder what future alien civilizations will think of our cultures when they excavate our defunct planet millions of years from now. They'll find this bridge, and a building or two from Las Vegas...

I do have to admit that the picture is pretty funky and space age, but I have to wonder about the water in the pictures. Dubai is a desert, no? Also, Dubai? It says that the bridge will allow passage of 2000 cars an hour, that 48,000 a day, right? I guess there will be plenty of men busy driving back and forth on that thing, because they don't allow women to drive over there...

The info above came from a blog called Rocket Boom. Fun stuff.

The greatest art thefts of all time?

Noah — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:54:03 GMT

The recent theft of more than $160M in art from the Beuhrle Collection in Zurich has had me quite interested in how such a thing did, and continues to, happen.

Time and time again these little museums or collections have hundreds of millions of dollars worth of great art, and they protect them with the security equivalent of wet paper bags. They take no real precautions, then wring their hands and pull their hair when it happens and cry," How did this happen?"

Forbes magazine posted this great article about what it thinks are the "greatest" art heists of all time. I think, in these terms, that the theft at the Beuhrle ranks up their, though none of them actually have that Cary Grant "To Catch a Thief" thing to it, no sneaking in at night, avoiding laser alarm systems or dropping in on a caribiner from the cieling to cut a delicate hole in the glass with a glass-cutter.

They also mention the 1990 theft at the Gardener in Boston, America's greatest unsolved heist. That art is worth about $300M.

I have better security in my house for nothing more than a Victorian child's tea cup set. My security's name is Fiona. She's two, and she's a mean shot with a stuffed monnkey. So beware...

Just can't resist this - American Roadside Architecture as serious art...

Noah — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:23:38 GMT

This is about an exhibition of mid-20th century American Roadside architecture - pictures of it, at least - making its way across... are you ready?... Macedonia.

Yes, one of the most ancient places on the globe is getting a good look at how American represented itself architecturally in the era of post-war business hedonism.

Personally, I love this kind of architecture and remember fondly many roadtrips as a kid in Texas and in my 20s - during those blissful summers when i had nothing to do and a car to take to do it - when my friends and I would literally set out for a few days at a time and seek out these places. The more dated the better. I truly believe that America's rapidly dissapearing roadside architecture is replete with gems and they should be saved, if only for the enjoyment of the world and the throngs of Macedonian tourists that are bound to be flocking to our rapidly decaying rural highways...

When Antiques Get Dangerous!

Noah — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:46:52 GMT

We all know that buying antiques contains an inherent risk, and that's all part of the game. The least I believe we can expect, however, at whatever venue we're shopping at, is to expect that the site itself is not going to do us any damage...

Ellen Schroy, antiques price guide writer extraordinaire and intrepid correspondent to Antique Trader, brought this little story - hot out of Palmyra, NJ - about a flea market site that was a former firing range and the military's surveying for possible live munitions long buried when a drive-in movie theater was put up after World War II.

Talk about a bang for your buck....

Okay, I'm sorry for that...

More stolen Art in Europe - $160M worth

Noah — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:41:14 GMT

Just what exactly will it take for owner's of private, important collections of art - especially those on public display - to add security?

This is an unbelivable story, reported widely across the world this morning, about more than $160M in art stolen from the Beuhrle Collection in Zurich. I like the New York Times coverage best, so I linked to it here.

Chances are the artwork will go underground and decorate the home of some one who doesn't care that it's stolen goods. The market in art theft if huge, and the paintings are re-sold at hugely below actualy value. You could pick up one of these paintings, the Cezanne for instance, for a song... Say $15 million...

Let me just go check that shoebox in my closet. Maybe I'll cash in those bonds I got for my bar mitzvah so long ago.

Hey Beuhrle Collection! Get a lock on those doors and a connection to the police. Then maybe those priceless paintings will remain where they are and you'll be proven worthy to own such cultural treasures!

Is calling someone a stupid thief an oxymoron?

Noah — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:49:33 GMT

This story came across the AP wire last night, and is being reported as an odd news story in various media outlets across the country, of which we are now one.

What an idiot this guy had to be...

Honey, are we insured for this? Wife's vandalism complaint leads to husband's burglary arrest

SUTHERLIN, Ore. (AP) _ They say problem gamblers never quit while they're ahead, and one properly insured Oregon man apparently didn't, either.

Authorities recovered a stolen antique slot machine worth $4,000 and arrested the 30-year-old, who they said asked his wife to help file an insurance claim to cover damage done to his van during the heist.

The slot machine was reported stolen in a burglary Monday night at a home in Sutherlin, 170 miles south of Portland, Douglas County sheriff's deputies said. Investigators learned that the victim's housekeeper filed a police report a day earlier claiming someone had thrown a piece of sheet metal through the window of her parked van.

The sheet metal turned out to be from the back of the stolen slot machine, with the serial number attached.

Deputies said the housekeeper's husband stole the machine, which tipped over as he drove away, breaking the van window. He told his wife the van had been vandalized and asked her to report the damage so insurance would cover it, deputies said.

The husband and a 25-year-old man were charged with burglary and theft, but the wife wasn't charged.

The case was still being investigated.

Wow.

Online auctioneers divide eBay exodus booty

Noah — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:52:00 GMT

I've always wanted to use the words exodus and booty in a headline, and today was my chance. Just look at it... Marvelous in its simplistic complexity... Or maybe I just need another couple of hours of sleep - my two-year-old daughter has been up sick for most of the last two nights, so my mind is a little hazy...

Anyway...

I like this story from over at CNN Money, talking about how a lot of other online sites are already picking up the pieces of the shattered eBay buying coalition. Hardcore eBay-ers will stick with the compnay through thick and thin, but many others are leaving, or simply cutting back and "diversifying," if you will, in other online markets. Certainly a good idea given looming economic issues and a highly unorthodox presidential election.

The article also contains links to all of the Web sites it discusses, giving you a good chance to check them out and decide what, if anything, you like.

Arson takes an historic Queen Anne in Mass.

Noah — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:06:35 GMT

Hate to see something like this, as reported by The Preservationist Online.

These lovely old houses in Massachusetts are amazing and this one was all set for restoration... Someone decided to toss a match on it... I wonder how they can sleep at night, or if they do at all. Maybe it was an organized thing. Maybe it was a bunch of idiot kids, and maybe it was a crackhead who dropped their pipe... Hate this, especially when it was going to be brought back to life...

Check it out.

"It's about the antique bottle, I swear!"

Noah — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:56:22 GMT

I do have to say that I hate to see this, especially if authorities do actually have to dump the bottles of whiskey in this report out of Tennessee. The story is from the Shelbyville (TN) Times-Gazette, but has been national news for a while.

Seems this man was indicted and faces possible prison time for possesing a whole bunch of Jack Daniels. He says that he's a bottle collector. Seems reasonable enough to me, given that one of the bottles in the collection mentioned in the link above is worth $10,000 and dates to 1914.

I'm no fan of Jack Daniels, but if bet it tastes pretty good if it's been aged the right way...

Worst Building Ever?

Noah — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:40:26 GMT

I am, at heart, a a great lover of groundbreaking architecture - Modern, post-modern, post-post-modern - you name it, I'm an adherent and a seeker.

Esquire Magazine's Web site regularly features some of what it considers the worst architcture on the planet, and I have to frequently agree with the choices of its writer(s). The alert for the column that came across the Web today is for what writer Eva Hagberg calls "The Worst Building in the History of Mankind," it's the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, and I'm not necessarily discinclined to agree, though there is something amazingly thrilling and strange about this monstrosity that was abondoned 2/3 of the way through building, and has sat vacant for the last two decades.

It's a great little essay, with a great couple of videos - totally sci-fi and futuristic in a retro, steam punk kind of way.

From the article:

"A picture doesn't lie -- the one-hundred-and-five-story Ryugyong Hotel is hideous, dominating the Pyongyang skyline like some twisted North Korean version of Cinderella's castle. Not that you would be able to tell from the official government photos of the North Korean capital -- the hotel is such an eyesore, the Communist regime routinely covers it up, airbrushing it to make it look like it's open -- or Photoshopping or cropping it out of pictures completely."

Somehow the cleresy of the North Korean government in the 1980s must have thought that the hotel would be a shining beacon of communist architecture, anticipating the flood of visitors to Pyongyang when capitalism fell. Now, simply, they are saddled with it.

I have to say, though, there is something awe-inspiring - and frightening in a totalitarian sort of way - about it. Read the link above and see what you think.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

Noah — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:50:30 GMT

Um... The world's largest pencil. 22,000 pounds, a a 450 pound eraser, a 4,000 pound lead, and it works. Tell me, though, who's going to sharpen it?

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Good for St. Louis... I guess...

They have the arch and the bowling museum... Now this...