Antique Steamer Trunks and Chests
Down the Rabbit Hole: How One Collector Discovered a World of Cast-Iron Doorstops
By Ben Marks — Scott Thompson has a lot of dogs, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 or more. With the exception of one dachshund that scampers around his home, Thompson’s canine companions have never been heard to bark, owing to the fact that they are made out of cast iron, aluminum, brass, or bronze. Accordingly, Thompson’s dogs tend to be heavy, weighing upwards of 18 pounds apiece, but weight is a key requirement for dogs trained to hold doors open or keep a shelf full of books from tumbling onto the...
Eames, Nelson, and the Mid-Century Modern Aesthetic
By Maribeth Keane — In this interview, Steve Cabella talks about collecting the work of designers Charles and Ray Eames, and about the mid century modern movement. As a teenager, I collected everything from vintage bicycles to Coca-Cola to Victorian stuff. Once I realized some of this stuff contained concepts of art and design, I started looking for vintage objects that also represented art or design movements that could hold my interest. I ran across Art Nouveau and then Art Deco and then Arts and...
The International Influences of Buffalo Furniture
By Maribeth Keane — About 11 years ago, my wife and I went on some architectural tours. We joined the organization that sponsored the tours, and I volunteered to be the Webmaster for them. I decided to take a few photographs to illustrate the tours, and realized it would also be good to describe some of the architecture, so I started an architectural dictionary. Then I decided it would be useful to have some Buffalo history, as background for the architecture, so I started working on that. Then I started...