By Barry Krause    Letter openers have been known since the 18th century, but became a popular tool after envelopes were mass produced starting in the mid-19th century when postage rates were reduced for letters mailed inside envelopes.    Before that time, almost all letters were simply folded to leave a blank portion where the address was written and postmarks applied, and […]

By Tom Cotter Cambridge, Diamond, Fenton, Tiffin photos by Barb Garrison Fostoria photo by Alex Kizewski, Cambridge Rubina photos by Tom Cotter    The grand and glorious 1920s. The United States dominated the world in nearly every phase of life. Glass was a big part of that dominance; glass for automobiles, airplanes, trains, homes, radios, and on and on. 1920 marked […]

   Debra Van Wyhe has put togetter a great new shop in Pine, Colorado. It is on 285 just one block South of Shaffers Crossing. (The actual address is 13028 S. Parker Ave. in Pine.) Debra certainly has a way of presenting her antiques. They are all arranged in such delightful settings. You can imagine just taking the whole arrangement and bringing it home and making it yours.    The […]

By Maureen Timm    There are many theories in regard to how Toby Fillpot was brought into the world as a character. The name “Toby” was used originally to describe jugs which were made in the form of a seated male figure in a tri cornered hat. He usually held a beer jug on his knee and sometimes held a pipe […]

By Anne Gilbert       Whether your collection is large or small, over the century’s furniture was made just to display it. It began in ancient Rome with royalty and the wealthy who used table tops to show off small treasures. However, it was more common for them to use an entire room devoted to their collections. Wealthy Greeks built rooms to house their […]