By Joyce Slaton — For people of a certain age, one iconic image screams “Florida”: A dolphin, leaping majestically into the air, to the delight of an enthusiastic crowd—cameras snap, everyone smiles. The 1950s and '60s craze for Florida dolphin shows has left us with boatloads of appealing collectibles. Postcards, brochures, and souvenirs such as flying dolphin salt-and-pepper shakers convey a sunny nostalgia for family vacations spent on Florida's beaches. "It was so much fun sitting in that stadium and...

From Rubble to Riches: The World's Fair That Raised San Francisco From the Ashes

By Hunter Oatman-Stanford — When the Panama-Pacific International Exposition opened in 1915, San Francisco looked fabulous: Bedecked with ornate, European-inspired architecture and an array of technological wizardry, the city resumed its role as a West Coast powerhouse less than a decade after near-total destruction. Block after block of property flattened by the 1906 earthquake and ensuing fires had been transformed to make way for glitzy new hotels, sturdy apartment buildings, landscaped parks and courtyards,...

The Relic Hunters Who Saved American History

By Hunter Oatman-Stanford — Before souvenirs became synonymous with cheap, mass-produced tchotchkes and T-shirts, they were more akin to holy relics—a lock of hair cut from the head of a former president, a chunk of carved wood taken from the construction of an impressive building. These artifacts acted as primary documents, proof of a holder's connection to a celebrated person, place, or event. “I was here; I touched this,” early souvenirs seem to say. “They’re just rocks and pieces of wood. Without a story,...

The Disappearing Art of Porcelain Signs

By Dave Margulius — I liked to collect things even as a child. Things that didn’t cost anything, like different colors of stones. There was something about the advertising that I liked, so in the mid-1970s, I started to pick up porcelain signs. I got heavier and heavier into that, and by the 1980s, I had a fairly substantial collection. As a result of collecting telephone signs, I would run into other advertising specialists, and I started seeing the kind of stuff that other people were buying and looking...

Signs, Tins, and Other Advertising Antiques

By Maribeth Keane — How did I get started collecting advertising antiques? My dad was a lecturer and tutor in graphics and art from the 1960s onwards, and was into vintage automobiles and advertising, like vintage signs, pumps, and globes. So I spent the large portion of my childhood going to auto swap meets and antiques fairs, I think it all started from there. The first thing I collected was old bottles. In one of the books I read as a child, there was an aqua green bottle and I thought it was great and I...