Steampunk isn’t just a new type of decorating with an influence on all sorts of collectibles, especially fashion and sculpture. It’s a lifestyle. We asked people at flea markets and fashion events, and almost no one has discovered this subculture. We predict the steampunk collectibles will become easier to find, and the best will rise in price and even be part of museum collections.

Our introduction to steampunk started at the antiques show at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. There were the usual booths filled with antiques and collectibles and a center display of steampunk art. The exhibit of steampunk art fascinated me, a science fiction, Jules Vern, Star Trek addict. Four years later, while on the road at Lehigh, we visited the local historical society and saw Victorian furniture, rugs, tools, accessories, and, to our surprise, a room filled with steampunk objects and information. Our guide was in a steampunk dress she made, a form fitting dress with the corset on the outside, a long skirt with heavy brass hardware chains and padlocks worn as a belt, a Victorian bolero jacket trimmed with ruffles, and boots.

Steampunk is a way of life, blending modern technology and items with a view of the Victorian past. The culture includes beliefs, parties, artistic styles of clothing and jewelry, and amazing creations made from reimagined new and old parts. Prices for sculptures, complicated puzzles by out-of-the-box steampunk artists, are rising as this new movement grows in popularity. Kovels’ is about buying things from the past to use in the present. But collecting steampunk is finding things from the present to use in an imaginary past.

Photos courtesy of Ed Kidera, TheSteamEmporium.com. Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites.