Dreaming of a Brite Christmas

 

QUESTION: For several years I’ve been searching for older ornaments for my Christmas tree. I’ve seen a good number at flea markets and antique cooperatives. Many of these are still in their original boxes marked “Shiny Brite.” I’d like to know more about this company. When did they produce ornaments and what kind did they produce?

ANSWER: Today, the trend is to decorate Christmas trees with handcrafted ornaments, from simpler ones sold at church bazar to finely crafted ones of wood, silver, and gold sold at Christmas markets throughout the world. But some people prefer to decorate their trees with nostalgic glass ornaments from their childhood.

Ornaments that decorated yesterday’s trees continue to create holiday traditions. Shiny glass orbs hang from branches in bright, shiny colors, and sparkly patterns. Shiny Brite was a mid-20th-century brand created by German-American immigrant Max Eckardt.

Blown-glass Christmas ornaments with hand-painted accents got their start in the German village of Lauscha in the 1840s. Glassmakers blew molten glass into molds shaped like fruit and nuts, then silvered the inside with a special compound of silver nitrate and sugar water. 

As a native of a small village near Lauscha, Eckhardt knew the appeal of glass ornaments and also saw their potential in the American market. He had been importing hand-blown glass balls from his homeland since the early 20th century. He had the foresight to anticipate a disruption in his supply of glass from Germany from the upcoming World War II and in 1937, he established the Shiny Brite Company in New York.  The silver nitrate coating on the insides of his ornaments inspired him to name his company Shiny Brite.

To keep his company afloat, Eckhardt sought the help of New York’s Corning Glass Company, with the promise that F.W. Woolworth would place a large order if Corning could modify its glass ribbon machine, which made light bulbs, to produce ornaments. This machine, built in 1926, produced 2,000 light bulbs per minute. The transition was a success, and Woolworth’s ordered more than 235,000 ornaments. In December 1939,Eckhardt shipped the first machine-made batch to its 5-and-10-Cent Stores, where they sold for 2 to 10 cents each.

By 1940, Corning was producing 300,000 unadorned ornaments per day, sending the clear glass balls to outside artists, including those at Eckardt’s factories, to be hand decorated. After being lined with silver nitrate, the ornaments ran through a lacquer bath, received decoration from Eckardt’s employees and packaging in brown cardboard boxes. According to a LIFE magazine article from December 1940, Corning Glass Works expected to produce 40 million ornaments by the end of that year, supplying 100 percent of the domestic ornament market.

Originally, the ornaments were plain silver, but eventually Eckardt produced them in a large variety of colors: with classic red the most popular color in the 1940s, followed by green, gold, pink and blue, both in solids and stripes. The company also offered Shiny Brite ornaments in a variety of shapes besides balls, including tops, bells, icicles, teardrops, trees, finials, pine cones, and Japanese lanterns, and reflectors. Workers decorated some with mica “snow.”

Through the 1940s and 1950s, Shiny Brite ornaments became the most popular tree ornaments in the U.S. Eckhardt stressed that they were American-made as a selling point during World War II by featuring Uncle Sam shaking hands with Santa on the front of the original 1940's boxes.

Corning continued to crank out Shiny Brite ornaments, and by the 1950s, production reached a rate of 1,000 per minute; with machines also painting them at that time. The 1950s was the peak of Shiny Brite production and popularity, with Eckardt operating four New Jersey factories to keep pace with the demand.

Shiny Brite ornaments dangled from trees through the early 1960s, until plastic ornaments became more popular. But over the years, vintage Shiny Brites have remained popular with collectors for their beauty and nostalgia, and acting as a sort of time capsule of American holiday history. They are some of the most sought after vintage ornaments from the mid 20th century and are the perfect decoration for those Space-Age aluminum trees.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Age of Photography" in the 2023 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Buckets of Fun at the Seashore

 

QUESTION: As I was browsing a local antique mall, I noticed an old tin sand pail sitting on a shelf along with a variety of other old toys. Seeing it brought back a flood of memories of vacations at the seashore with my family. Every summer, my father would pack up the car for our week at the New Jersey shore. Two items I made my father pack were my tin sand pail and shovel—indispensable for building sand castles. I never thought of sand pails as collectibles and seeing one on a shelf with other old toys was a surprise. What can you tell me about how these little pails got their start?

ANSWER: Sand pails appeal to both boys and girls around the world. Even those living  from the seashore played with their pail and shovel in a sandbox at school or at home in the backyard or by a lakeside. Sand pails weren’t expensive; costing just a few cents, a small price to pay to set a child's imagination off on an adventure. 

Originally, craftsmen made sand pails of wood, decorated with either a simple designs or lettering hand-painted or stenciled around them to appeal to children. After about 1840 tinsmiths started to use tin to make toys. Initially, they made pails from 12 by 14-inch sheets of tin plate imported from Wales. The small size of the sheets restricted the size of these early pails to about 4 ½  inches in diameter. As tin plate technology developed, larger, thinner sheets became available and tin plate started to be produced in the U.S. 

The designs on the earliest tin sand pails were simple, following the pattern of the earlier wooden pails with few bands of color or some letters applied free hand or stenciled over a japanned finish. Japanning consisted of several layers of paint followed by a coat of lacquer. As the market grew the decoration became more complex, a process imported from France in which tinsmiths employed a mixture of varnish and paint burned on in alcohol, then baked to produce a thin translucence to the finish.

They also used embossing on other pails to accentuate the design or lettering. It usually involved a stamping or rolling process so that parts of the surface were raised up while the pail was still in sheet form. It was then very easy to enhance the raised portions with a second color, using a paint pad or roller. 

A major technological advance came in the late 1880s with developments in lithography allowing this printing process to be applied to thin tin sheets. This innovative process printed with a detail that had previously only been possible on paper. This transformed the making of toys, as well as tin food cans and tin advertising signs. It was then possible to use multiple colors and produce fine detailing and a smooth, relatively hard wearing, durable finish. A lithographic press printed the designs and colors on flat sheets of metal from which toys could be formed using tools and dies.

By the turn of the 20th century a family visit to the seashore had become very popular.  America was on the move on weekends and took annual vacations in places like Coney Island, Atlantic City, Asbury Park, or Cape Cod.

Additionally, developments in the technology of printing processes in the 1930s enhanced the colors and details possible on tin pails, and several of the toy manufacturers employed famous illustrators to design the graphics.

The 1930s and 1940s with the popularity of radio and the movies created new heroes, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Snow White along with the Seven Dwarfs all appeared on pails, spades, sprinkling cans and water pumps. The traveling circus was extremely popular. Exotic animals performing amazing acts along with daring performers and clowns with their crazy antics all have their place on beach pails.

As the years passed, cowboys chasing Indians across the range and other Western themes became popular from the influence of television programming. Then the atomic age with space travel captured the imagination and took its place on sand pails.

Tin sand pails and shovels offered a designer a large surface on which to tell a story. Children could identify with the events depicted on pails by The Ohio Art Company of Bryan, Ohio, Kirchoff Patent Company of Newark, New Jersey, T. Cohn Co. of Brooklyn, New York, or U.S. Metal Toy Manufacturing Company of New York. Toddlers could recite favorite nursery rhymes as they looked at the four sides of a beautifully illustrated square sand pail by Julius Chein and Company of New Jersey, or delight in the exploits of Disney characters.

Children delighted in swashbuckling heroes and pirates and acted out their own stories, their pails becoming little treasure chests to transport shells from the water's edge to their ever growing sand piles. 

People are often surprised at the higher prices collectors pay for Victorian and early 20th-century sand pails. This is particularly true of examples showing early airplanes, dirigibles, steamships, Old Glory, the American Eagle, early teddy bears, early Disney characters. 

Condition is everything when collecting tin sand pails, as with other tin-lithographed toys. The design may be worth $500 or $5 the only variable with be condition. Rust, dents, missing parts and major scratches have a serious impact on value.

In establishing an antique or vintage sand pail’s value, subject matter of the illustration on it is also extremely important. Size has no real effect on value. Some collectors like large pails to display on shelves or hang from ceilings, while others prefer the mid-size ones to exhibit in small cases. Many more collect all sizes and include the minipails that were first candy containers, grouping them eclectically.

As with any toys, the best examples of tin sand pails, in mint or excellent condition l always sell for the highest prices. Considering what children did with their sand pails, it’s a wonder any survived at all.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Coffee--The Brew of Life" in the 2023 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Plastic That Shaped the Future

 

QUESTION: Recently I purchased a box of assorted costume jewelry at a flea market. What intrigued me was the variety of colorful plastic bracelets in the assortment. While these look like they’re made of regular plastic we know today, the dealer told me they were Bakelite. My grandfather once told me that Bakelite was the first plastic. He had an old radio that seemed to have a plastic case. At the time, I didn’t believe it because I thought plastic was a mid-20th century invention. What can you tell me about Bakelite? Who invented it and when?

ANSWER: Without knowing it, you’ve discovered a treasure of the early 20th century. Bakelite was a chemical miracle of the 20th century. It enabled manufacturers to make a variety of items—children’s toys, kitchenware, pipe stems, wall switches, appliance and cutlery handles, colorful radio cases, and yes, jewelry. Dubbed the “Material of a Thousand Uses” by the Bakelite Corporation, Bakelite was versatile and nonflammable.

Leo Baekeland developed this innovative form of plastic in his backyard laboratory in Yonkers, New York, between 1907 and 1909. He attempted to create a synthetic shellac when he discovered that phenol, or carbolic acid, and formaldehyde, when combined under certain conditions, resulted in a molasses-colored resin with unique and exceptional properties.

Once cured, the phenol formaldehyde resin could be ground into powder and mixed with a variety of fillers to create a molding compound that was practically indestructible. Slate dust, asbestos, wood flour and ground walnut shells were all used for this purpose, but because of their dark color, molded Bakelite was limited to shades of black, maroon and brown.

In1911, he founded the General Bakelite Company in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, which produced up to 200,000 tons of the plastic each year. Because it was resistant to heat, moisture, and chemicals, it became a component of the electrical industry. It also had excellent insulating properties, making it perfect for use in electrical insulators, switches, plugs and sockets. 

Making Bakelite was a multi-stage process. It began with the heating of phenol and formaldehyde in the presence of a catalyst such as hydrochloric acid, zinc chloride, or the base ammonia. This created a liquid condensation product, referred to as Bakelite A, which was soluble in alcohol, acetone, or additional phenol. Heated further, the product became partially soluble and could still be softened by heat. Sustained heating resulted in an "insoluble hard gum." 

However, the high temperatures required to create this tended to cause violent foaming of the mixture when performed at standard atmospheric pressure, which resulted in the cooled material being porous and breakable. Baekeland's innovative step was to put his "last condensation product" into an egg-shaped "Bakelizer." By heating it under pressure at around 300° F, he was able to suppress the foaming. The resulting substance was extremely hard and both infusible and insoluble. The range of colors available included black, brown, red, yellow, green, gray, blue, and blends of two or more of these. 

Bakelite came in various forms to suit varying needs, including clear material, for jewelry and smokers' articles, cement, used in sealing electric light bulbs in metal bases, varnishes, for impregnating electric coils, lacquers, for protecting the surface of hardware, and enamels, for giving resistive coating to industrial equipment. In addition, there was laminated Bakelite, used for silent gears and insulation; and molding material, used to form items of utility and beauty.

When Bakelite’s patent on phenol formaldehyde expired in 1927, other companies using the chemical came on the scene, including the American Catalin Corporation which pioneered a purified form of phenolic resin that did away with the dense fillers used in molded Bakelite. The company introduced casting resins in 20 different colors.

The Bakelite Corporation quickly developed its own phenolic resin, producing it in thousands of colors. In reality its recipes were exactly the same as American Catalin, except they experimented more with dye saturation and mixing colorants with clear resin to create mottled and swirled effects.

By the mid 1930s, several competitors had begun producing phenolics which forced the price of both Bakelite and Catalin down. One of these other companies, Fiberloid, introduced Opalon in lapis lazuli, mottled red, alabaster, onyx and mottled walnut, fabricated into board game pieces, jewelry, and umbrella and knife handles.

The introduction of electrical power gave rise to a wide range of labor-saving devices that utilized Bakelite and Catalin in one way or another. The modern appearance, durability and hygienic qualities of plastic made it superior to traditional substances.

Bakelite quickly replaced wood and metal in telephones, clock and barometer cases, as well as knobs and handles on small appliances like electric irons, toasters and cookware. Colorful Catalin cutlery handles and novelty napkin rings dressed up the table and brightened the kitchen.

In 1933 the Bakelite Corporation began to produce wood-tone radio cabinets of compression-molded phenolic resin. Thermosetting plastics resisted the heat generated by radio tubes, making Catalin ideal for radio cabinets. It wasn't long before colorful, modernistic Catalin radios began to make their appearance.

By 1936, various companies made two-thirds of all costume jewelry produced in the U.S. by fabricated molding and fabricating cast phenolic resin. The fabricating process, however, was labor-intensive and lengthy.

First, molds had to be made by dipping a steel master into molten lead. Once workers  assembled enough molds, others prepared phenolic resin and carefully poured it into each mold by hand. A technician carefully combined resins as casting occurred if special swirled or mottled colors were desired, the technician needed to carefully combine resins as they were being cast.

Once filled, workers wheeled the molds into a huge oven to be baked  at176 degrees F. until the resin cured. Curing time varied. Dark red and blue cured in three to four days while whites took six to eight days. Once the cast resin cured, workers removed it from the lead molds using air hammers. This always resulted in damaged molds. Other workers tossed the broken pieces back into the vat of molten lead to be melted down for reuse.

To make jewelry components, workers cut shaped or hollow phenolic rods into individual pieces, much like slicing a loaf of bread. Then they carved and machined by hand them for added adornment. Once they completed the decorative carving, they finished the pieces by tumbling or buffing on a polishing wheel.

Bakelite became a symbol of progress and modernity as the streamlined Art Moderne style overtook the chic style of Art Deco. The sharp-stepped sides of skyscrapers softened into curves, while boxy trains and automobiles became sleek, with fluid lines that created the illusion of speed and motion.

By the late 1930s, plastic moldings reflected the streamline design trends. Shiny surfaces, modernistic curves, waterfall fronts and facades, made to look like car grills, all found their way into jewelry, small home appliances and decorative household objects.

Perfectly suited to Bakelite and Catalin molds, the Art Moderne style enabled the resin to easily flow inside a curved mold. In addition, it was easier to mold, fabricate, and polish the resulting casts than the boxy, stepped sides and sharp corners of Art Deco designs.

Cast phenolic resins weren’t as durable as compression molded phenolic compounds because they shrank over time, often resulting in cracks. Catalin averaged a 4 percent shrinkage in the first 10 years. Cracks developed in radio cases because the parts were bolted to the housing, leading to stress as the plastic shrank.

Though companies produced Catalin in 20 opaque and translucent colors, engineers limited the color range because they felt all other dyes would cause instability in the plastic.

Unfortunately, Catalin reacted to ultraviolet light by converting to phenyl alcohol, which was brownish in color. That was why so many Catalin items are amber colored. The effect turned original white to butterscotch, bright blue into drab olive, green into butterscotch, and brilliant red marble into brown.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "folk art" in the 2023 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

It's All in the Packaging

 

QUESTION: I’ve been fascinated with food containers, especially old ones since I was a young adult. When I go to the supermarket, I’m amazed at the variety of the packaging. In that sea of colors and textures, I wonder how I find the items I need. I like to browse through antique cooperatives. Many of the booths selling old kitchenware also have a variety of old food containers—cans, boxes, and tins. What is the origin of food packaging? How did it develop over the decades? And how collectible is it?

ANSWER: Food containers have been around for over 200 years. At first they were basic but over time food packaging developed into a necessary form of distribution. Not only did the containers keep the food fresh, the labels on the outside helped to advertise the product on store shelves.

Because the focus of the Industrial Revolution was on mass production and distribution, food packaging had to be durable, easy to produce, and accessible. Food preservation was also a high priority, as new transportation methods allowed businesses to ship it further.

Back in 1875, French General Napoleon Bonaparte offered 12,000 francs to anyone who could preserve food for his army. This led confectioner Nicholas Appert to invent the first “canning” technique that sealed cooked food in glass containers and boiled them for sterilization.

Later in 1810, British inventor Peter Durand patented his own canning method using tin instead of glass. By 1820 he was supplying canned food to the Royal Navy in large quantities.

The second half of the 19th century brought further developments in manufacturing and production—among which included food packaging. In 1856, corrugated paper first appeared in England as a liner for tall hats. By the early 1900s, shipping cartons made of it replaced wooden crates and boxes.

In 1890, the National Biscuit Company, now known as Nabisco, individually packaged its biscuits in the first packaging to preserve crispness by providing a moisture barrier. Kellogg’s introduced the first cereal box for corn flakes in 1906, eighty-nine years after the first commercial cardboard box appeared in England.

Leo Hendrik Baekeland invented the first plastic, known as Bakelite, based on a synthetic polymer in 1907. It could be shaped or molded into almost anything, providing endless packaging possibilities.

Eventually, food manufacturers began using packaging containers that consumers were reluctant to discard. A tin of Sultana Peanut Butter, which came in a large pail with wire handles, made the perfect sand bucket to take to the beach in summer. Other similar containers included the log-cabin-shaped tin holding Log Cabin Syrup. People reused biscuit tins to hold everything from petty cash to old buttons and homemade cookies.

Lambrecht butter, found primarily east of the Mississippi, came packaged in an attractive gray or white stoneware tub with blue script while Kaukauna Klub cheddar cheese came in a clay crock with a heavy wire clamp.

By the dawning of the 20th century, package design was an important way to draw attention to a product. Manufacturers of drugs, paint, oil, as well as food items worked to establish a visual logo or trademark. Labels and magazines ads were the only means of communicating the goodness of a product.

One of the first national trademarks was the Uneeda boy, a little boy in a yellow slicker that represented freshness from the elements. Soon after came the Morton Salt girl, Aunt Jemima, Dutch boy, the Fisk Tire boy in Dr. Dentons holding a candle, and many other memorable logos. These symbols are all very collectible today. 

The widespread practice of packing food in tin cans and containers was a direct result of the public's acceptance of the Germ Theory of Disease. In the 19th century, many Americans were still oblivious to the research done by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in food preservation.  

Today, some people look down on those who eat canned or processed food as something people without access to fresh food eat. But in the late 19th century, food in tins was highly desirable. Consumers considered it more sanitary, and therefore healthier, than food offered in bins or barrels at the General Store. That’s when branding became particularly important; customers learned they could expect a certain level of quality from, say, Kellogg’s.

At first, manufacturers covered tinplate containers with paper labels, which had a product’s pertinent information and advertising stenciled or printed on them. Machines that could trim and stamp sheets of tin had been introduced around 1875, and between 1869 and 1895, manufacturers developed a process that allowed them to use lithography to transfer images directly onto the tin containers. Coffee and tea, as well as tobacco and beverages and snack foods came packaged in tins.

Today, all sorts of historic food packaging is collectible. In fact, it’s one of the most affordable and pleasurable of collectibles. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the "Pottery Through the Ages" in the 2022 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

The Ultimate in Danish Design

 

QUESTION: When I was a kid, I remember sitting on my grandfather’s lap in a very comfortable chair. It was designed like a big glove and swiveled on a chrome base with four legs. I don’t know what it was called, but I remember him referring to it as Danish modern. Can you tell me anything about this type of chair?

ANSWER: You were very lucky indeed, for you got to experience the ultimate in Danish design, the Egg Chair, designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1957. But before we explore this chair further, it’s important to know how this design style came into existence.

In 1924,. Danish architect Kaare Klint was asked to teach a newly class in furniture design at the Royal Academy's School of Architecture in Copenhagen. Considered the originator of the modern Scandinavian style of furnishing and furniture design which thrived from the 1940s to the 60s, Klint’s influence on even today’s designs is great. 

Using teak, which was plentiful in Denmark, the Danish Modern style began to emerge in the 1920s and soon gained popularity with cabinetmakers in Copenhagen.

After 1945, this unique style achieved worldwide recognition and by the mid-20th century, Danish modern had officially arrived.

The son of Peder Vilhelp Jensen-Klint, the leading Danish architect of the early 20th century, Kaare Klint studied painting and apprenticed to several architects, including his father, before opening an independent furniture design studio in 1917.

He became the first Danish designer to combine function with Danish hand-craftsmanship. His drawings revealed an attention to the needs of the human body, long before the science of ergonomics came into being.

For instance, in order that his sideboards would be the most efficient, he determined the average dimensions of the cutlery and crockery used in a Danish home. Klint then created a case containing the smallest space required for the maximum amount of cutlery needed by a household. Aesthetically, he allowed the unvarnished teak to speak for itself, maximizing its clean beauty by waxing and polishing. And so Danish designers began using natural finishes for their pieces.

Klint is known as the grandfather of modern Danish design. He, more than any other Danish furniture designer, felt that it was important to understand the craftsmanship of the furniture of the past.

He pioneered in anthropometrics, which correlates measurements of the human body to make furniture better suited to man’s physical characteristics, essentially the essence of today’s ergonomics. In 1933, he created a deck lounge chair, which he outfitted with a removable upholstered mat and pillow. 

America's initial fascination with Danish modern furniture was largely the result of Edgar Kaufmann Jr. of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He returned from Europe in 1948 with photographs of chairs designed by another Danish  architect, Finn Juhl. The interest in Juhl's furniture led to a collection designed by him for the Barker Co.

Presented in 1951, the collection introduced American designers to the structural and decorative combining of woods of various colors and grains. Highlights included a teak armchair.

Fruitful collaboration between designers and cabinetmakers led to more industrialized production. By 1950, a few factories in Denmark began producing furniture using purely industrialized methods. The new generation of designers included Arne Jacobsen, whose creations, while organic in nature, used materials such as light metals, synthetic resins, plywood, and upholstered plastics.

Graduating from the Royal Academy in 1924, Jacobsen soon demonstrated his mastery of both architecture and furniture design. With the completion of his Royal Hotel in Copenhagen with all its fittings and furniture in 1960, his talents became widely recognized.

Jacobsen's most commercial success was the Ant Chair, which was available in a number of materials, including natural oak, teak and rosewood veneers, colored finishes or upholstery. Inspired by American legends Charles and Ray Eames, this unique chair was considered revolutionary in 1952, having only three spindly legs, no arms, and a one-piece plywood seat and back. The design of this chair became the basis for the stackable chairs used in hotels and conference centers today. Jacobsen followed the Ant with Series 7, a chair that had four legs and optional arms. Initially designed in 1955, and still being produced today.

Most of Jacobsen’s designs were the direct result of his belief that architecture and furnishings should be totally integrated. Two of his commissions—the Scandinavian Airlines Terminal and the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen—resulted from the creation of the uniquely shaped chairs, the “Egg” and the “Swan.” Designed in 1957, these modernistic chairs featured hi-density, rigid polyurethane foam, upholstered on single-seat shell construction. Both are extremely comfortable while being ergonomically sound and pleasing to look at.

There was a period of time in the middle of the 20th century when Danish designers were the world's most admired. Some of the most talented earned prizes at major competitions, and their works were quickly acquired by top European interior designers and collectors. Today, American designers see them suited to many different kinds of interiors.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about the "Antiques of Christmas" in the 2021 Holiday Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.