One-of-a-kind collectibles are interesting and often not expensive. In the 1980s...

  Expensive woods like teak or mahogany, marble, stone and other materials used to make expensive furniture are often imitated by a painted surface.

American art pottery artists often painted pictures on their vases, pitchers and other pieces. They painted bats, frogs, rabbits, birds and other animals in their natural form, as well as fantasy animals represented as well-dressed humanlike figures.

Baseball may have been first mentioned in the United States in 1791, when city officials in Pittsfield, Mass., banned playing the game near the town meeting house.

Technology has changed the furniture we live with. Tables and desks had to change to accommodate modern, large and often clumsy electronics.

Wine spoils quickly if exposed to the air. In the 18th century glassblowers were able to make bottles with narrow necks that made airtight storage possible, When the English began to bottle wine in the 1700s, they also invented...

     Energy use and cost are big problems today, but our ancestors found some simple solutions.

Cameo glass is popular with collectors. Galle, Thomas Webb, Mt. Washington and Daum are well known, but some smaller companies that worked at the same time are almost unknown.

  “Ugly jar” is just one of the names for an antique memory jar—and it is often an accurate description. But a homemade memory jar is of interest because it tells a story.

Beaded purses of various shapes were in fashion for all of the 19th and 20th centuries. Colorful and sparkling glass beads imported from Europe added to the knit and embroidered purses that were in style.