Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. XI, no. 1, March 1958 by Laurence A. Johnson “Niddy-Noddy, Niddy-Noddy, two heads and one body” sang the proprietress of the antique shop in New England many years ago. I was pointing at a little gadget hanging on the wall. “What is it”, she asked? That’s what I was still …
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Vol. II No. 14, June 1940 By Joseph E. Sandford About two thousand two hundred years ago, the Greek comic poet Diphilus wrote a comedy called The Brick-Carrier. Only two lines of it have survived. This is symbolic of the lack of interest in this lowly and seemingly unimportant occupation and …
Excerpted from The Chronicle Volume 51, No 2, June 1998 by Debbie Henderson, Ph.D. The felting process is thousands of years old. Felt has been used for shelters, blankets, shoes, and fabric for all manner of clothing. In the case of men’s hats, felt in the shape of a cone was the beginning of blocking …
The Forming Machine: How the manufacturing of hats went from 6 to 600 per day Read More »
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Volume III, No. 10, March 1947 By Jared Van Wagenen The community tanner and cobbler have disappeared together. Both of them represented the same phase in our industrial development; each of them was to some extent dependent upon the other and both of them are only a memory. It is true …
From The Chronicle Volume XII, No. 1, March 1959 by Eloise Stedman Meyers When you broil that juicy steak over a charcoal fire in your backyard, have you ever thought what an important part this black vegetable fuel played in the history of this great country? Without charcoal we might even now be paying taxes …
Our Purpose: The Early American Industries Association Preserves and Presents Historic Trades, Crafts, and Tools and Interprets Their Impact on Our Lives The Early American Industries Association was founded in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression. The following is a summary of the early history of our organization. Loring McMillen who was Vice-President …
The History of the Early American Industries Association Read More »
On October 21st, 2014, I posted a blog on this website about the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s Order 210 regarding the importation, exportation and sale of ivory in the U. S. (You can read the earlier post here.). This order applied to revisions to the Endangered Species Act Special Rule for the African …
The New Rules for Ivory Containing Tools-Revisited Read More »
The 48th Brown Tool Auction was held at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania on April 2, 2016. Prices realized in this article include a 13% buyer’s premium. A 3% discount was available for cash or a good check. The condition of the items was taken from the auction catalog and does not reflect …
The Brown 48th International Antique Tool Auction, by John G. Wells Read More »
By John G. Wells Brown 47th International Antique Tool Auction was held October 30-31st 2015, at Camp Hill, PA Prices realized in this article include a 13% buyer’s premium. A 3% discount was available for cash or a good check. The condition of all items was taken from the auction catalog and does not reflect …
The Brown 47th International Antique Tool Auction by John G. Wells Read More »
Anyone who has picked up an old saw, plane, or knife soon looks for a trade mark or maker’s name. These can identify and sometimes date an artefact. But one often wants to know more about the history of the manufacturer or individual. Reference books and other published sources – such as newspapers and directories …
The Ironmonger – The King of Hardware Trade Journals By Geoffrey Tweedale Read More »