Pocket Bibles, chaplains, tracts, prayer meetings, and revivals brought Christianity close to Civil War soldiers living close to death. From Father Corby at Gettysburg to Lincoln’s Second Inaugural, this is the story of faith, fear, and a nation reckoning with its sins.
A railroad spike doesn’t look like much. It is not as sleek as a cavalry officers sword made by renowned jeweler Tiffany & Co., as deeply personal as a soldier’s ID tag, or display-worthy as a rare Confederate belt plate. Most are heavy, scarred, rust-pitted, and beautifully plain. The kind of relic you might pick […]
There are a few things in this world people agree not to mess with. Grandma’s recipe. A man’s fishing spot. And, apparently, Banksy’s anonymity. Reuters decided to test that last one. They published an investigative piece aimed at identifying the world’s most famous anonymous artist, Banksy, and in doing so kicked off a debate that […]
By 7:00 p.m., the parking lot behind the little brick church was full of pickup trucks, aging SUVs, and one nervous sedan sagging suspiciously in the rear. The sign on the door read “Fellowship Hall,” but the people filing in were carrying Riker cases, ammo cans, and cardboard boxes that clinked with the unmistakable sound […]
History is full of ironies, but few are as deliciously contradictory as Prohibition (1920–1933). The U.S. government declared alcohol illegal, yet America somehow managed to drink more than ever. ‘Merica! Speakeasies thrived, bootleggers got rich, and law enforcement often looked the other way (or raised a glass of their own). But the real survivors of […]
Every collector eventually faces the same gut-check moment. You stumble across a piece that looks… let’s call it, sultry in its age. And if you’ve ever read the descriptions from some of my favorite historical artifact dealers, you know they could moonlight as trashy romance novel authors. They wax poetic about patina in ways that […]
The first settlers in Hawaii introduced sugarcane to the islands around 600 A.D. Natives harvested sugarcane, or kō in Hawaiian, and consumed it as food and medicine. They chewed it for its sweet juices and the coarse stalk helped to keep their teeth and gums clean. Other parts of the plant were used as food […]
At the intersection of advertising, tobacciana, and numismatics, tobacco tags, also known as tobacco tin tags or tobacco can tags, are a collector’s delight.
Digging bucket and gear in hand, I took a moment to enjoy the expansive views from atop the northeastern slope of Chief Mountain, a stone’s throw away from scenic Pala, California. I was there to rummage through old mine dumps from the Pala Chief Mine and its various nearby prospects. Specifically, I was on the […]
While Tennessee toasts Jack Daniel’s Whiskey, and Kentucky cheers Jim Beam’s Bourbon, neighboring South Carolina runs dry on notable liquor royalty. As America’s whiskey and bourbon men were mashing their way to fame and fortune at the turn of the 20th century, a conniving, one-eyed politician was cooking up his own elixir: a state-run monopoly […]