Innehållsförteckning för January 1, 2023 från Kovels Antique Trader

Pulling out my cache of holiday jewelry is like visiting with a group of old friends. The memories those sparkling beauties hold is precious, and I can't let the season pass without wearing my favorites. This includes several designs by Dominique. The story of the Dominique brand is a poignant one for me as I knew the creator of this wonderful jewelry personally. I spent many good times around his dining room table poring over his dazzling creations while laughing with some of my other jewelryloving friends. I also had the pleasure of seeing how and where he crafted all those wonderful adornments in his home-based workshop. His name was Dominic Detora, but we knew him as Dom. Discovering Dominique I first discovered Dom's jewelry while shopping an antique mall…

Is there a more iconic doll than Barbie or a more recognizable living space than her Dreamhouse? Sixty years ago, the first generation brought the Dreamhouse into their homes — fostering creativity, teamwork and sparking imagination. Barbies sold today reflect a variety of cultures, abilities, interests and body types. The Inspiring Women Series features dolls in the likeness of Florence Nightingale, Rosa Parks, Helen Keller, Maya Angelou, Ella Fitzgerald, Ida B. Wells, Billie Jean King, Sally Ride and Laverne Cox. A Barbie Fashionistas doll can even be purchased to reflect the skin disease Vitiligo. Career Dolls lead eco-leadership teams, have art studios, teach, fight fires and work in labs. While the house and its accessories have changed over the years (remember the Yuppie-inspired Barbie?) Mattel's vision has remained the same:…

On February 3, 1959, on their way to way to perform at a show in Moorhead, Minnesota, early rock ‘n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) and Ritchie Valens, died in a plane crash shortly after takeoff from Clear Lake, Iowa. So devasting was the accident that it would become known as “The Day the Music Died.” A “Winter Dance Party” poster promoting the show in Moorhead sold for $447,000 at Heritage Auctions in November, becoming the most expensive concert poster of all time. The poster's final price shattered the previous record of $275,000 held by a Beatles 1966 New York Shea Stadium concert poster, which sold at Heritage in April. The musicians were en route to the Moorhead Armory as part of a twentyfour-stop tour known…

Many things make the holidays magical, but few produce a smile as quickly as the wonderfully kitschy line of starry-eyed Santas, angels, elf girls, snow babies and other whimsical Christmas ware from Holt-Howard. The brothers John and Robert Howard, along with college friend, Grant Holt, started Holt-Howard in 1949 with a family loan of $9,000 to import and sell decorative objects from Japan. Post World War II, Japan had the reputation of producing low-cost, low-quality products, but Holt Howard discovered that Japan had top-quality ceramic manufacturers if you were willing pay a little more for the product. Although well known for a slew of functional yet fun kitchen and tabletop products, the first wares Holt-Howard introduced were reimagined ceramic Christmas items. There were North Pole Jet Stream Santa Ashtrays, Candy…

More than twenty-five years after it was last published, Calvin and Hobbes remains a beloved comic strip. To illustrate the point, a Calvin and Hobbes Sunday strip sold for $480,000 at Heritage Auctions in November, setting a new auction record for the work by Bill Watterson. Calvin and Hobbes, a wildly popular daily newspaper comic strip running in more than 2,400 newspapers, was published by Universal Syndicate from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Created by Watterson, the comic strip follows six-year-old Calvin and his best friend, a stuffed tiger named Hobbes who, from Calvin's perspective, is a live tiger and as real as anyone else in his world. The original art for the Sunday comic strip, dated May 24, 1987, comes from the collection of Watterson's late editor…

Linda Smith and her husband, the late Curtis “Curt” Smith (1945-2021), amassed one of the most impressive of all Christmas collections. Started in 1980, the collection included candy containers, nodders, belsnickles and ornaments. The Smiths' ornaments were mostly the cotton batting type, and for a logical reason. “We had a dachshund who walked under the Christmas tree branches to try to drink water from the tree stand. When I saw that, I said, ‘That's it. Only non-breakable ornaments from now on. No glass,'” Linda Smith said. The Smiths' collection highlighted Bertoia's Annual Fall Auction November 17-18. For more information, go to bertoiaauctions.com.…

BOB STONEHILL, a Queens native, was a man of many interests, beginning as a boy with his love of local Queens history that evolved into his collecting passion: New York City postcards. Stonehill passed away November 23, 2022, at the age of 82. He was a renowned deltiologist with the most extensive, museum-quality collection of NYC postcard images in the world. It encompassed all five boroughs of New York and included every neighborhood in the city he loved. Stonehill, a member of the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York, amassed 30,000 New York postcards.…

When Louis Wain's wife, Emily, was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer in 1884, the couple's cat, Peter, was a great source of comfort to her. The Victorian artist would sketch photos of Peter's antics to amuse his wife, and after her death, Wain continued to draw cats. His anthropomorphized depictions became so popular that he achieved worldwide fame for creating an endearing cat world that put the animals in a new, positive light. In celebration of December being National Cat Lover's Month, we're taking a closer look at the illustrator who is credited with changing people's feline feelings, from viewing them as contemptible feral pests to cute and fascinating pets. Louis William Wain was born in Clerkenwell, London, August 5, 1860, the eldest of six children and only son. He…