Innehållsförteckning för November 15, 2022 från Kovels Antique Trader

Way back in the Dark Ages of 2007, when the smartphone was not yet as important to our lives as oxygen, Apple introduced the first iPhone, forever changing life as we knew it. Hyperbole? Of course, but maybe not as great as you might think when you consider an unopened, first-generation iPhone sold for nearly $40,000 Sunday at LCG Auctions. When it first debuted in June of 2007, the iPhone cost $599. “We expected the bidding for this item to be fervent and it did not disappoint,” said Mark Montero, Founder of LCG Auctions. Tech collecting has jolted the hobby lately. In August, a rare Apple-1 computer prototype sold for $677,196, or about 1,000 times more than the hardware’s original cost, while last year a sealed Super Mario Bros video…

There once was a time when mere pocket change could buy you an entire afternoon of entertainment. By simply dropping a penny, nickel or quarter into the slot of a coin-operated machine, turn-of-the-century fun seekers could have their fortunes told, watch primitive motion pictures, listen to rhapsodic tunes from a mechanical band, or try their luck at gambling devices or games of chance. Once found at saloons, hotel lobbies and oceanfront boardwalks all across America, antique coin-op machines are now sought-after collectors’ items - quaint reminders of an era when radio, television and video games were still mysteries of the future. Morphy’s in Denver, Pennsylvania, has catered to pennywise collectors of mechanical music, gambling and vending machines since they opened their doors in 1997. Their next big coin-ops specialty sale,…

A centuries-old folding chair from China sold for a stunning $15.9 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in October. The price is not only a record for a Chinese chair but is also the third highest amount paid for any chair at auction. The piece, a huanghuali folding horseshoe-back armchair from the late Ming dynasty (1368-1644), was part of the auction house’s sale of objects from the collection of the late Hong Kong businessman Joseph Hotung. Exceedingly rare due to their fragility, folding horse-back armchairs - or jiaoyi - are among the most prized pieces of furniture from the Ming era. They were developed by Chinese carpenters in the 12th century and often reserved for visiting dignitaries and other VIPs. The example in Hong Kong features a pivoting footrest, S-curved arm…

from the editer It’s Sunday evening, the fall of 1984. Or maybe it’s 1985. Could be later. Truth is, the exact year doesn’t really matter because the routine is always the same. Dad is in his recliner, an afternoon of football under his belt - along with an impressive array of snacks. Mom is bustling about in the kitchen, pulling a Roma frozen sausage pizza from the oven. Sunday evening is Mom’s reprieve from cooking a big meal. They sell the frozen pizzas two-for-$5 at the local Piggly-Wiggly. Sausage. Pepperoni. Even a Roma Supreme for special occasions. It’s quite the deal, and I would tell you more about it but the “60 Minutes” stopwatch is tick, tick, tick, ticking and there isn’t much time left for my parents - or…

When a Victorian woman (let’s call her Clara) was doing housework around her English manor one day in the 19th century, she noticed that a button was coming loose on her blouse. She reached for the small sewing kit hanging at her waist and mended it lickety-split. Making afternoon tea, she saw the sugar supply was running low, so she reached for a tiny notebook and jotted down a reminder to buy more. When she got a splinter, she grabbed a magnifying glass and easily plucked it out of her finger. That night when Clara went to check on her oldest daughter and a gentleman caller in the parlor, clanging sounds announced her approach, and they broke apart before she could catch them holding hands. Thanks to her fashionable accessory…

CALIFORNIA Every first Sunday of the month, Alameda. Alameda Point Antiques Faire, 3900 Maine St., Alameda, CA. The Alameda Point Antiques Faire is the largest antiques show in Northern California, boasting 800 dealer booths. All items 20 years old or older. For more info, visit alamedapointantiquesfaire.com Every first Sunday of the month through May, Palm Springs. Palm Springs Vintage Market, PS Cultural Center at the Camelot Theater, 2300 E Baristo Rd, Palm Springs. For more info, visit palmspringsvintagemarket.com. Every second Sunday of the month, Pasadena. World's largest flea market at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. More than over 2 million items offered for sale by more than 2,500 vendors. Shop for rare and unusual, vintage collectibles, antiques, new items, arts and crafts and second-hand items. SH: early birds, 5-9am; regular admission:…

Terry and Ralph Kovel were married in 1950 with Harry Truman in the White House and the Diner’s Club introducing a newfangled financial tool called the credit card. It was a heady time for young lovers, one in which a sign reading “The Buck Stops Here” sat on Truman’s Oval Office desk while consumers were discovering the perils of pushing the buck down the road in minimum monthly payments. Honeymooning in Bermuda, the Kovels were captivated by the pottery and porcelain they saw in antiques shops, giving rise to both their collecting passion and their first book, 1953’s Dictionary of Marks - Pottery and Porcelain. That one title positioned the couple as pioneers in the wilderness that was the antiques and collectibles field at that time. The Marks book went…

on the ROAD with rick Imagine holding a game-used baseball bat once swung by Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, or Babe Ruth (“The Great Bambino”). That’s exactly what my wife, daughter and I got to do during a recent travel trailer road trip. Hundreds of thousands (more likely millions) of people collect baseball memorabilia. To them, Cooperstown, New York, is Ground Zero, home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. That’s not where I took my family. Instead, we visited a lesserknown, secondary Ground Zero - the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory in Louisville, Kentucky, where visitors are allowed to hold bats once used by a few of baseball’s greatest stars. In 1856, a small woodworking shop, J. F. Hillerich Job Turning, was started by J. Fred Hillerich in…

With the wave of his hand, the magician takes a dollar with your signature from you. Later in his act, he cuts open a juicy lemon. Inside the lemon your signed dollar appears. Your mouth opens in amazement. Magicians have enthralled and tantalized us for decades with their sleight of hand, their knowledge of science, their play with new technology and psychology of the times, and their love of film. Many of them, brilliant, contributed greatly to the culture of the world through their inventions and creative thinking, inspiring others to reach beyond the usual. At the American Museum of Magic (AMM) in Marshall, Michigan, founded in 1978, by Robert Lund and his wife, Elaine, you can find the largest collection of magic memorabilia open to the public in the…