Features
What a doll! Barbie continues to inspire after all these years
Barbie, seen here in her original design, made her debut at the North American International Toy Show in 1959. (Image courtesy of Flatiron Nomad)Apr 2024Cover Story What a doll! Barbie continues to inspire after all these yearsby Corbin CrableRuth Handler had seen it...
Landing Among the Stars NASA collectibles enjoy resurgence in popularity
The NASA logo, also referred to as “the meatball,” was designed by a NASA employee in 1959, the year after the organization was founded.Mar 2024Cover Story Landing Among the Stars NASA collectibles enjoy resurgence in popularityby Corbin CrableAmericans will be...
Pinball Wizard Pinball machines stay in the game even 100 years after initial release
Detail of a vintage pinball machine. (Image courtesy of Design Market)Jan/Feb 2024Cover Story Pinball Wizard Pinball machines stay in the game even 100 years after initial releaseby Corbin CrableClack! go the flippers as the ball is launched. Pop! go the bumpers as...
The Reason for the Season Nativity scenes from around the world depict birth of Christ
The Night Arch Nativity is beautifully hand-carved and painted by artisans in Indonesia. (image courtesy of TenThousandVillages.com)December 2023Cover Story The Reason for the Season Nativity scenes from around the world depict birth of Christby Corbin Crable For...
Posters’ Persuasive Power U.S. propaganda during WW II attempted to rally Americans around war effort
J. Howard Miller’s “We can do it!” poster was designed to boost morale among American women who went to work in factories and in shipyards during the labor shortage created by World War II. (Image courtesy of 1st Dibs)November 2023Cover Story Posters’ Persuasive Power...
Honoring the dead Dia de los Muertos has colorful traditions, history in both Mexico, U.S.
A row of colorful skulls sits surrounded by marigolds and other flowers. Both have been longstanding parts of the imagery and altar decoration during the Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos celebrated every Nov. 1-2. (Image courtesy of Getty) October 2023 Cover...
Action figures were toy industry’s answer to Barbie
Photo by D A V I D S O N L U N A on UnsplashApril 2024Everything Old Action figures were toy industry’s answer to Barbieby Corbin Crable As little girls in the late 1950s and early 1960s played with a new doll named “Barbie,” their younger brothers probably wondered,...
Space Age design dominated postwar America
https://firefly.adobe.com/generate/imagesMarch 2024Everything Old Space Age design dominated postwar Americaby Corbin Crable This issue of Discover Vintage America will present decades of vintage NASA collectibles, which have chronicled our fascination with space...
Pachinko is Japan’s answer to pinball
Photo by Emile Guillemot on UnsplashJan/Feb 2024Everything Old Pachinko is Japan’s answer to pinballby Corbin Crable In this issue of Discover Vintage America, you’ll read about the storied history of the pinball machine, from the controversy it faced in the game’s...
Stores shine spotlight on ethically sourced, sustainable items
https://firefly.adobe.com/generate/imagesDecember 2023Everything Old Stores shine spotlight on ethically sourced, sustainable itemsby Corbin Crable If you’ve ever taken a leisurely stroll throughout the picturesque, quaint downtown Overland Park, KS, you likely have a...
Holiday celebrations made special with cherished traditions
https://firefly.adobe.com/generate/imagesNovember 2023Everything Old Holiday celebrations made special with cherished traditionsby Corbin Crable Far too often, we don’t truly appreciate traditions when we’re living them in the moment. This is especially true for those...
Item tied to former Kansas mayor, his family
Wallet Photo by Jonathan Duran on UnsplashOctober 2023Everything Old Item tied to former Kansas mayor, his familyby Corbin Crable Last weekend I enjoyed my first visit to Merchant Square in Independence, MO, where I had the pleasure of interviewing Jace Sanders, the...
Prices vary for early Russel Wright-designed items
1927 - 2023ANTIQUE DETECTIVE Prices vary for early Russel Wright-designed itemsby Anne GilbertThe big hunt for Russel Wright (1904-76) Fiesta pottery, chrome objects and furniture that began in the late 1970s and ‘80s, has leveled off, as have prices. It all depends...
Would you recognize a Chinoiserie-finish antique?
May 2023ANTIQUE DETECTIVE Would you recognize a Chinoiserie-finish antique?by Anne GilbertJapanning or Chinoiserie Whether you call it Japanning or Chinoiserie, if it was made before the 20th century, call it expensive. Even some examples made in the early 20th...
Once-popular painted porcelain plaques can be pricey and reproductions
April 2023ANTIQUE DETECTIVE Once-popular painted porcelain plaques can be pricey and reproductionsby Anne GilbertPainted Porcelain Plaques Back in the 1970s and ‘80s, 19th-century small or miniature painted porcelain portrait plaques were hot collectibles. When they...
Tips for selling antiques for greater success
April 2024Good Eye Tips for selling antiques for greater successby Peggy Whiteneck Antique buyers have more types of buying options today than they did 15 or 20 years ago. The Internet and online auctions have revolutionized the antiques trade. However, that also...
Collecting Japanese Kutani and Satsuma Wares
March 2024Good Eye Collecting Japanese Kutani and Satsuma Waresby Peggy Whiteneck I generally prefer collecting Japanese to Chinese antique pottery and porcelain. This is because, in China, the practice of honorifics, in which late items are marked as being from...
Celebrating American Stretch Glass
February 2024Good Eye Celebrating American Stretch Glassby Peggy Whiteneck This year, the American Stretch Glass Society celebrates its 50th anniversary (stretchglasssociety.org). The group holds an annual convention and show, this year scheduled for Aug. 15-17 at...
Quilt history revisited: The Churn Dash or Monkey Wrench pattern
April 2024Covering Quilts Quilt history revisited: The Churn Dash or Monkey Wrench patternby Sandra Starley Have you been churning butter or fixing wagons recently? If not, you might appreciate a bit of background information on the origins of the two most...
Ocean Waves quilts revisited
March 2024Covering Quilts Ocean Waves quilts revisitedby Sandra Starley Nature has long inspired quilters. As American quilting developed in Eastern seaboard settlements, it is not surprising that early quilt designs and pattern names often carried a nautical...
Journeys in quilt history: Political patchwork edition
February 2024Covering Quilts Journeys in quilt history: Political patchwork editionby Sandra Starley Learning about the past can be fun! One of the things that I love most about collecting antique quilts, blocks, and fabrics are all the interesting tidbits of history...
Military collectors welcome to upcoming show
April 2024. Military collectors welcome to upcoming show The Kansas City Military Collectors Club once again hosts its upcoming Military Collectors Show, April 13 at American Legion Hall #370 in Overland Park. Weapons, uniforms, helmets, and other military...
Bates City Antiques is now Bates City Emporium & Antiques
April 2024. Bates City Antiques is now Bates City Emporium & Antiques Big changes have come to a beloved antique store in Missouri. The former Bates City Antique Mall in Bates City is under new ownership. Vivian Garrett took ownership of the property on...
Augusta’s Paramount East Antique Mall will close at end of April
March 2024. Augusta’s Paramount East Antique Mall will close at end of April Cynthia Branch, one of the owners of Paramount stores in Wichita and Augusta, announced on Jan. 30 that after 12 years of business, the difficult decision has been made to close...
Old magazine brought back memories of the 1950s
April 2024Vintage Discoveries Old magazine brought back memories of the 1950sby Ken Weyand Like many 15-year-old boys in early 1950s rural America, I was caught up in the popular culture of the times. In those heady days before the Internet killed off or reshaped...
Old geography textbook taught my ancestor the ‘basics’
March 2024Vintage Discoveries Old geography textbook taught my ancestor the ‘basics’by Ken Weyand A small and very old textbook turned up recently in the back of a bookcase. I thought it might have been something I had acquired from an antique shop, but it turned out...
Mother Goose book finds a new home
February 2024Vintage Discoveries Mother Goose book finds a new homeby Ken Weyand One of the “finds” in my collection of “old stuff” is a well-preserved “Mother Goose” book from my childhood. It isn’t guesswork on my part: the book has my name written discretely in...
“The Complete and Unauthorized Guide to Vintage Barbie Dolls” By Hilary Shilkitus James
April 2024Books for Collectors“The Complete and Unauthorized Guide to Vintage Barbie Dolls” By Hilary Shilkitus JamesBy Corbin Crable You’ve seen the more contemporary Barbie dolls everywhere, but Hilary Shilkitus James’ book “The Complete and Unauthorized Guide...
“NASA: Space Flight Research and Pioneering Developments” By Hans-Jüergen Becker
March 2024Books for Collectors“NASA: Space Flight Research and Pioneering Developments” By Hans-Jüergen BeckerBy Corbin Crable Those fascinated by what exists beyond Earth’s atmosphere are sure to gobble up Hans- Jüergen Becker’s tome “NASA: Space Flight...
One Hundred Years of Valentines
February 2023Books for Collectors"One Hundred Years of Valentines" by Katherine KreiderBy Corbin Crable Remember sitting at your desk in elementary school on Valentine’s Day and anxiously waiting for your crush to slip a small envelope into the box you had...