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Collectibles and Curiosities For Sale
Color:  Orange
"La Terre, " Copper Art Deco Ashtray, France
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Rare and unusual, this copper ashtray celebrating the pottery industry in France is reminiscent of bronze and copper pieces designed by Paul Manship and other major sculptors in the 1920s and 1930s. This example, made of copper painted gold, depicts a nude potter at his wheel, surrounded by symbols of his industry, including kilns, planting pots and...
Category

1930s French Vintage Collectibles and Curiosities

Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design by Paola Antonelli 1st edition 1995
Located in London, GB
Published but The Museum of Modern Art, New York 1995. Illustrated in b/w and colour. Orig. clothbacked boards with colourful resin cover designed by Gaetano Pesce affixed to front ...
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1990s Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Resin, Paper

Rankin Works with Interview by Jefferson Hack1 st ed. 2000 (book)
Located in London, GB
Published by Booth Client 2000 h/b interview by Jefferson HackThis books delves into Rankin's work during the 1990s: over 200 of the very best of his early anti-fashion shots for the...
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Early 2000s Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Vintage French Red Cross WWI Poster, circa 1918
Located in Colorado Springs, CO
This WWI poster features a woman wearing long robes holding a red cross symbol in her right hand and an American flag in her left. The figure is set in fro...
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1910s French Vintage Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Vintage Leather Markwort Boxing Gloves c.1950 (FREE SHIPPING)
Located in San Francisco, CA
About Original boxing gloves with reddish brown leather filled with horse hair. The leather is very soft and in good condition. Original label on each glove. Creator Markwort S...
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Early 20th Century American Industrial Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Leather, Natural Fiber

Rare Yellow & White Suffrage Parasol with "Votes for Women" Text
Located in York County, PA
EXTRAORDINARILY RARE, YELLOW & WHITE, SUFFRAGE PARASOL / UMBRELLA, WITH “VOTES FOR WOMEN” TEXT, DISTRIBUTED BY THE NATIONAL AMERICAN WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION UNDER ANNA HOWARD SHAW’S LEADERSHIP [HEADQUARTERED IN NEW YORK], CIRCA 1913-1915: In the world of Suffrage memorabilia, parasols and umbrellas are known to have been produced, but hardly any exist. Made in both Britain and America, most of the organizations known to have commissioned them did so with white or purple, green, and white, utilizing the traditional British colors. In America, some of these can be identified to the Women’s Political Union of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. As for those in the traditional American colors of golden yellow and white, typically with black text, examples are known to have been produced and sold by the National American Women’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA), beginning in the summer of 1913. According to author and expert Ken Florey, the organization peddled them for “one dollar each or ten dollars a dozen…[promoting] them as good for advertising the cause at street meetings, summer resorts, and county fairs. The design consisted of yellow and white in alternate sections, with “Votes for Women” in the white sections.” Florey goes on to explain how some umbrellas in this style are known with names of states hand-painted in the yellow panels. I am aware of Oregon and Idaho. Florey also indicates that one is known for Alaska. His discussion of the subject, and an illustration of the Idaho example, appear in his book, "Women's Suffrage Memorabilia" (2013, McFarland & Co., North Carolina), on pp. 192 and A8, respectively. The Oregon example, which have seen and held first-hand, is illustrated in "The Keynoter: Journal of the American Political Items Conservators," Summer/Fall/Winter 2008 (Women's Suffrage Special Triple Issue), Vol. 2008, No. 2-4, p. 110. In “Woman Suffrage Memorabilia,” Florey describes a heavy demand for parade accoutrements in the 19-teens. Despite the supposed numbers in which these yellow and white umbrellas were likely to have been produced, this is the only example that I am aware has actually surfaced with the “Votes for Women” text only and no state names. This makes it far more universally desirable. A period image survives in the Albert R. Stone Negative Collection, Rochester Museum & Science Center (Rochester, New York,) of a women carrying parasols in this style on Main Street West in that city on August 15, 1914. The marchers, masked, were described as wearing yellow dominoes (nun-style dresses) and carrying yellow parasols. According to museum catalogers, “The outside parasols are plain; those on the inside have the inscription, "Votes for women". The first group, in yellow and blue dominoes, advertised the speech and visit of Dr. Anna Howard Shaw [this would be members of the Empire Campaign Committee]. The second group carried placards with the names of equal suffrage states and the dates when they adopted votes for women. The Club Theatre, whose sign advertising "Burlesque" is clearly visible behind the marchers, occupies the premises at 75 Main Street West formerly occupied by the Shubert Theatre.” The National American Women’s Suffrage Association was formed in 1890. It represented a merging of the two largest Suffrage groups in America before that time. These were the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), formed in 1869 by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA), also formed in 1869 by Lucy Stone and her Husband, Henry Brown Blackwell, Henry Ward Beecher, and others. Stone’s daughter, Alice Stone...
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Mid-20th Century North American Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Cotton

Building by the Book Volumes 1 & 2 First Edition
Located in valatie, NY
Building by the Book Volumes I & 2, Building by the Book, by Center for Palladian Studies in America. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 1984-1986. Pair of 1st Ed har...
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1980s American Vintage Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Mobilier Savoyard et Dauphinois by Lucile Oliver
Located in valatie, NY
Mobilier Savoyard et Dauphinois by Lucile Oliver. Editions Ch. Massin, Paris, 1978. 1st Ed hardcover with dust jacket. Examines Savoyard and Dauphin period antique furniture. The are...
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1970s French Vintage Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Ferronnerie d'Aujourd'hui (Book)
Located in North Yorkshire, GB
A hardback folio with 42 black and white plates showing beautiful examples of Art Deco designs for metal ware, the vast majority are by two of the masters o...
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20th Century Collectibles and Curiosities

Materials

Paper

Antique and Vintage Collectibles and Curiosities for Sale

Antique and vintage collectibles and curiosities can bring whimsy and wonder to any interior. 

Decorating with old scientific instruments, historical memorabilia and vintage musical instruments, as well as other authentic collectibles and curiosities that can be found on 1stDibs, presents an opportunity to create a unique, natural history museum-like atmosphere in your home that can provoke conversation as often as it pays tribute to how far we’ve come in understanding our world. 

And bringing collectibles and curiosities into your space is actually on trend — Wunderkammern, or curiosity cabinets, were all the rage in Europe during the 1500s and continued to have adherents there and in the U.S. in the following centuries. Today, however, they’re experiencing a real surge in popularity and influencing how many interior designers are furnishing and decorating homes — combining contemporary with antique, scientific with tribal, earthly with extraterrestrial, Les Lalanne tables with Flemish tapestries.

The original Wunderkammern were entire rooms filled with objects demonstrating their owners’ worldly knowledge: A proper one included artificiala or preciosa (objets d’art); naturalia (such as skeletons, shells, minerals); exotica (taxidermy or dried plants); and scientifica (scientific instruments), frequently alongside religious relics and ancient artifacts.

Pay tribute to a history of rich and diverse musical traditions that have taken shape all over the world by decorating your home with a collection of antique and vintage musical instruments — with a little help from strong hanging wire or some wall hooks, vintage brass instruments such as a gong, French horn or trumpet can help elevate a home office or complement the efforts you’ve made to ensure a welcoming vibe in your home’s entryway. Bells or antique wind instruments can add provocative metallic contrasts to dark woods as tabletop decorative objects.  

Create an intriguing focal point with Georgian scientific instruments, such as stick barometers with mahogany cases or lacquered brass telescopes. These items stem from an era named for the monarchies of the four King Georges, who ruled England in succession starting in 1714 (plus King William’s reign, which lasted until 1837). Just as there was beautiful jewelry produced during the period that today is coveted by collectors, there is much to be found in the collectibles and curiosities realm too.

Wanderlust, nostalgia and a shared love of good design are contributing factors to certain trends in decorating — just as vintage trunks and luggage have reappeared as furniture or home accents in a bedroom or foyer, decorating with globes, maps or nautical objects is similarly rooted in the allure of travel and a penchant for the stylish finishing touch that collectibles bring to our homes.

Find a wide range of antique and vintage collectibles and curiosities on 1stDibs.

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