The word “ephemera” is the plural form of the Greek word that means something that lasts through a single day, such as a winged insect. Today the word refers to something minor, usually paper, that was made to be used…
Paperweights with single flowers, nosegay bouquets, and intricate mosaics captured in glass have caught collectors’ eyes since the nineteenth century. Glass paperweights debuted at an 1845 industrial exposition in Vienna. A Venetian glassmaker, Pietro Biaglia, made spherical souvenirs meant to…
Pottery, porcelain, bone china, ironstone, majolica, stoneware, and dozens of other kinds of dishes have been made through the centuries. But each of these is different, with its own characteristics, strengths, and flaws. Pottery is opaque. You can’t see through…
Designing a clock has always been a challenge. A seventeenth-, eighteenth-, or early nineteenth-century clock had a swinging pendulum. The case had to be large enough to allow the pendulum to swing. The nineteenth century was a period of invention…