Journal — Object Lesson

The writing of...Chewed Paper

April 15, 2026

"There’s that classic question: if you replace the pieces of a boat board by board, at what point is it a new boat? A similar question could be asked of nineteenth-century papier-mâché furnit...

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The writing of...Carousel Horses (N/D '25)

November 16, 2025

Writing this piece and interviewing carousel experts and dealers was a joyful journey through a field grounded in joy.

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The Writing of...The Birth of the Travel Memento

September 17, 2025

Call us magpies, and you wouldn't be far off. For the September/October 2025 issue of the Magazine ANTIQUES we examined collecting as an art through the frame of the rise of the European Grand Tour. 

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The Writing of...Blowin' in the Wind and Whirligigs (MagAnt July/August 2025)

September 3, 2025

We can all use a little whimsy these days, after all, and whirligigs hold a fascinating past. Invented as fun yard ornaments and tourist souvenirs, whirligigs were often carved by fishermen in the...

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The Writing of...String Theory (May/June 2025)

June 20, 2025

Do you know what a salterio is? Really, do you? Well, we aren't surprised. We hadn't either when Michael Diaz Griffith brought the idea of writing our May/June 2025 Object column on a musical instr...

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The Writing Of...Jazz Age Chainmail Purses

March 20, 2025

We are not “fashion people.” Luckily, we had a guide for our piece on Jazz Age chainmail purses for the Magazine Antiques. The collection we dove into is specific, and quite possibly singular.

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The Writing of...Masters of Disguise (Tea Caddies, Antiques J/F 2025)

January 12, 2025

With tea caddies as our jumping off point, we knew we had to zoom in closer. The form is so varied — from Chinese porcelain caddies to European wood to American metal — that writing about them all ...

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The Writing Of...Ostrich Eggs in Dress Up (Magazine Antiques Nov/Dec 2024)

November 3, 2024

The egg came from my grandmother's home after she'd passed. It was wrapped in tissue paper, but already broken. The shards removed, there was no hope of a patchy glue job. A new egg would, my mom s...

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The Writing Of: Bringing Stained Glass Up Close (Magazine Antiques July/August 2024)

June 27, 2024

We had been looking for a way into Tiffany, and especially Tiffany glass, for a while. We didn't want to go the lamp route, as neither of us is particular taken by the lamps that were designed by L...

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