The funky ’50s eyeglasses with rhinestone trim or cat’s-eye frames are back in style. Old ones sell well at flea markets, vintage clothing stores and online. New ’50s-style frames are being offered in eyeglass stores. (Antiques & Collecting, May)

Willow collectors may want to buy the new Wedgwood designs that feature enlarged sections of the Willow pattern spread across plates to create a modern-looking design. Wedgwood also makes modern reinterpretations of Blue Fluted Royal Copenhagen and some Staffordshire transfer designs from the early 1800s.

Player pianos no longer sell well, unless they’re already rebuilt and working. It costs about $2,000 to rebuild one. Old player pianos will need rebuilding sooner or later, so even if they’re still working, buyers worry about the future expense.

A mid-20th-century Chippendale-style slant-front secretary-bookcase used by President Kennedy, appraised for $6,000 to $8,000, sold for $452,800 at the Sotheby’s sale of Kennedy property. Could it be because the bookcase doors were inlaid with the initials JFK and a version of the United States seal?

A couple paid $5 for some insulators they found at a yard sale. They took pictures and put one insulator up for auction on eBay starting at $5.99. Within hours the sellers had 22 bids and the price had topped $5,000. The auction closed at $10,313. The insulator, a CD 180.5 known as “The Fluid Insulator,” is so rare most collectors have never even seen a picture. (The Stumptown Report of the Oregon BCA, reported in Bottles and Extras, Spring 2005)

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