By Ben Marks — The blogs are buzzing this morning with news that a 1939 Plexiglass body Pontiac made by General Motors for the New York World's Fair, sold at auction for $308,000. In fact, a lot of manufacturers of traditionally opaque goods made see-through versions of their products. Here are a few of our favorite clear things. The Ghost Car. This 1939 Pontiac Deluxe Six was one of the highlights of the 1939-40 New York World's Fair (see above), which was focused entirely on the future. GM worked...

Carole Tanenbaum on Costume Jewelry's 'Wow' Factor

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — My husband and I have many collections. We were in London at one point in the ’80s, and I saw a fabulous collection of vintage costume jewelry. Each item was like a little object of art. I bought about two dozen pieces, including some wonderful early Chanels that are virtually impossible to find today, and several pieces by Dior and Hobe. That really got me started. Because I had begun at the high-end, but didn’t know it, I developed an eye for pieces that had great integrity. As a...

Christie Romero on Differences Between Fine and Costume Jewelry Over the Decades

By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis — I started out with general antiques and collectibles... I was a dealer for a while and bought and sold all kinds of things. Gradually jewelry became my focus. In the mid-1980s I started getting serious, and in 1988 I started teaching small classes, workshops, and seminars, primarily on costume jewelry but also some fine jewelry. Vintage costume jewelry was just beginning to take off as a collectible. Up until that time, most people thought it was junk. They didn’t understand what it was...