Odd Lots

Any Grateful Dead fan will attest to Jerry Garcia’s power as a musician, but the legendary guitarist and singer was also an accomplished visual artist, a fact known only to a small group of devoted…
As bubonic plague ravaged seventeenth-century England, the afflicted would find a red cross painted on their door, a warning for visitors to stay out. If, on the other hand, a house had been shown…
The inaugural “Oddities” auction at Doyle on May 7 is headlined by a sign–an enamel-painted wooden placard beckoning visitors into “Mr. Potter’s Museum of Curiosities,” the twice defunct museum in…
As one would expect, the semi-annual Oak Interior auction at Bonhams London is chockful of sturdy chairs and clunky chests. There’s also plenty of antique iron, brass, pewter, stone, and copper–if…
Moove over, Manhattan, cow coming through! And not just any cow, this one’s a molded plaster bovine sculpture drawn and painted by beloved children’s author/illustrator Maurice Sendak in the manner…
This month, auction houses have a plethora of romantic items available for those looking for something unique for that special someone.
What looks to be an antique medicine chest stuffed with sticks and seeds is, it turns out, an object that bridges the divide between science and religion. Many Victorians wanted to stick to their…