Dear Lee,

After a spring-like January, we had a North Pole February with snow over 18 inches in our backyard drifts. We have been stuck in the house, so we cleaned cupboards and file drawers. We look wonderful in 1980s photographs-very young and thin. We threw out carbon copies and word-processing punch cards from the past. We were amazed that the original offer for the newsletter was “12 issues for $10” in 1974. Two other “lost” bits we found:

· On the back of a September 20, 1959, newspaper clipping we spotted a May Company ad for “Pixieware servers-Conversation-starting ceramic servers for parties or regular use.” Of course, it doesn’t mention the importer, Holt-Howard. These now-very-collectible bowls with spoons attached to the top were offered for $1 each. Prices today for the seven pictured pieces: ketchup, $70; cocktail onions, $125; mustard, $125; jam & jelly, $80; cocktail olives, $200; cocktail cherries, $200; and instant coffee, $335.

· A clipping from a 1986 Sotheby’s auction shows a Cowan Pottery punch bowl by Viktor Schreckengost made about 1931-the famous Jazz Bowl-that sold for $6,875. One sold in 2004 for $254,400. Viktor, a friend, is now 100 years old. Recently he has been supervising the making of reproduction Jazz bowls that are selling for $15,000 each.

Do our discoveries mean we should buy cute tableware and save it for over 40 years? Or should we collect old, quality pieces of art pottery and wait 20 years? Maybe it’s like betting on horses-go with your hunches. If you’re lucky, you’ll be a winner. At least with collecting, you can enjoy your purchase, right or wrong.

P.S. Because a buyer’s premium is charged by nearly every auction we cover, we will no longer note that with each sale report. We will run a note if an auction does not charge a buyer’s premium.