Innehållsförteckning för August 26, 2020 från Kovels Antique Trader

Laura Beth Love sees opportunity and potential in the broken and discarded. Founder and owner of Dishfunctional Designs, based in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, she’s spent more than 30 years crafting one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry, with a twist. She makes her masterpieces from fragments of china, pottery, glass and textiles. What started out as a way to make some money while in college blossomed into a successful business. Her jewelry-making endeavors began in 1989, the year after she graduated from high school. She earned an associate’s degree and then completed her undergraduate education in English and professional writing from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Love’s first creative interest was stained glass. “Stained glass is heavy and very breakable — it’s hard to cart around,” she notes. “I used to use scraps of the…

TRUMBULL Conn. — Marble enthusiast and author Stanley A. Block, 87, of Trumbull, Conn., passed away at home surrounded by his loved ones on July 17, 2020. Stanley was the founder and chairman of the Marble Collectors Society of America, from its inception in 1975 through 2015. He was also a collector, antiques dealer and auctioneer. Block enjoyed numerous hobbies and pastimes. In addition to his professional career as an executive vice president of one of Connecticut’s premier liquor wholesalers, Connecticut Distributors, Inc. of Stratford, Conn., Stan collected and dealt antiques, running an antiques business and mail auction company, Block’s Box, for many years. Throughout his life, he had a special affinity for antique marbles, paperweights and philately. Stan and his wife, Claire, spent decades collecting and attending antiques shows,…

An ultra-rare Pokémon card given out as a prize in 1998 has sold at auction for $233,578, establishing a new world record for the white-hot Pokémon card secondary market. The PSA-graded mint-9-rated Pikachu Illustrator card shattered the previous record for such a card, $195,000, set just last year. What began as a simple card trading game has quickly evolved into a serious collector’s game. Featuring an illustration by Atsuko Nishida, one of the chief Pokémon graphic illustrators, the card depicts Pikachu holding what appear to be drawing tools. It is considered the most iconic and valuable card to Pokémon collectors. Originally, the promotional Pikachu Illustrator card was given out to winners of an illustration contest held in Japan in 1997-98. At the time, thirty-nine such cards were awarded, but only…

The American singer Tony Bennett is quoted as saying, “If you follow your passion, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Ever the enthusiast about antiques and history, I find myself active in a career that doesn’t feel like work but rather, feels like an adventure. Every day brings new clients that have interesting artwork and antiques, each with their own story. Whether it is framing, a light cleaning, conservation or a referral for another specialist, there is always a puzzle to solve. I am often asked how I got into this field. Many see my passion for the industry and assume I went to school with this career in mind. This career was built by following my passions. My parents were entrepreneurs who owned a jewelry store. My…

WHEN AMY STURGIS was a little girl, just a smidge taller than the shrubs by her house, she dressed up like Princess Leia for Halloween. That’s what happens when your parents take you to see Star Wars six times even though you’re only five years old and can barely see over the theater seats in front of you. Of course you do see, somehow, because everything about Star Wars – the orchestral music bursting into your head, the dizzying special effects, the timeless story of good vs. evil, everything – is all served up with popcorn in the darkness of a movie theater in the summer of 1977. And in your imagination. The imagination of a five-year-old is wonderfully pliable. Star Wars stretches it this way and that way, shaping…

As a teenager, I collected Navajo turquoise and silver jewelry and stone carvings. Over the years, my collecting areas and objects increased as I discovered the wide diversity of technical skills and creative innovation of Native art both in my travels and as a volunteer at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustave Heye Center. In my career as a photo editor, researcher and photographer, I was responsible for obtaining and organizing illustrations for textbooks and trade books and I was familiar with the importance of choosing the best quality and visually informative image to supplement the text and enhance the reader’s understanding and appreciation. But when a jewelry dealer first offered me early picture postcards of Southwest silversmiths, I wasn’t interested, preferring the actual object rather…

Despite their fugitive nature, the life of photographic materials can be prolonged provided that some basic care and attention is given to their preservation. The conservation staff of The Henry Ford offers the following to help individuals care for their objects and collections. The first step in the care of collections is to understand and minimize or eliminate conditions that can cause damage. The second step is to follow basic guidelines for care, handling and cleaning. In general, photographic prints are composed of at least two distinct layers. The uppermost layer is referred to as the emulsion layer. The emulsion layer generally consists of metallic particles or dyes held in binder such as gelatin. This layer forms the image of the photograph. The lower layer or “support layer” is usually…

To list your antiques-related event (show, auction, convention, etc.) for free in Antique Trader, send event information (date, location, contact information, times) at least six weeks in advance to: AT Calendars, C/O Antique Trader Editors, 5225 Joerns Dr., Suite 2, Stevens Point, WI 54481 OR email to ATNews@aimmedia.com. Listings will be included on a space available basis. Antique Trader assumes no responsibility for any show not listed. EDITOR’S NOTE: The cancelations or postponements that we have received are marked with asterisks. Be sure to check if events you are interested in are still on before you go. We will be updating this calendar and the one online as we receive official notification of any cancelations/postponements. ARKANSAS Ongoing, Rogers. Outside the Box NWA, 1225 W Hudson Rd., Rogers, AR 72756; 479-631-8974;…

From charlotte’s Web and Where the Wild Things to fairy tales and Little Golden Books, nothing can spark nostalgia quite like your favorite books from childhood. Sharing your favorite stories with a child in your life, or just re -reading them yourself, can not only be therapeutic for you, it can stimulate their imagination and expand their understanding of the world. So curl up with any of the many vintage children’s books you can fi nd at Ruby Lane. Trending aRubylanee.com…