ON THE COVER -
December Issue 2004
The Nimble Nicks of Christmas Land...by Roy Nuhn
The publishing company founded by Civil War veteran George Whitney in his hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, has long been dear to the hearts of collectors everywhere because of its beautiful 19th-century valentines. But Whitney has also gained much admiration and respect for having made the Yuletide, in the years before World War I, a happier, more colorful holiday.

Common Sense Antiques...by Fred Taylor
Not Empire? What Is It Then?
There is a style of American furniture that is consistently scorned by the upper crust of collectors and academics. Yet to its followers the style is among the most innovative in history. It has retained enough popularity through the years that it has been  constantly reproduced in almost every succeeding period of American furniture history.

Ornaments From The Past......by Maureen Timm
Nothing can match the fantasy of a Christmas tree glowing with old glass globes and whimsical glass figures, reflecting the brilliance of the Christmas tree lights.The first recorded account of a decorated Christmas tree is found in a  Strasburg, Germany manuscript dated 1605 which reads: "They sat up fir trees in the parlors. . . and hung upon them roses cut from many colored paper, apples, wafers, gilt-sugar, sweets..”

THE ANTIQUE DETECTIVE -
Old Silver Pieces Add Elegance To  Holiday Table...by Anne Gilbert
It doesn't matter whether you call them grandfather clocks, longcase or tallcase, you can call them among the costliest examples of clocks. The most elaborate of these, made in the late 1600s, using marquetry designs,  can cost over $90,000.

St. Augustine Alive and Well...by Fred Taylor
The harsh wire brush of the Hurricanes of 2004 that scoured much of Florida was kinder to her oldest citizen, St. Augustine. The antiques and historic districts in the heart of town were largely unaffected by the storms that seemed to roll through on a weekly basis in September. A recent visit to do some antique snooping in the city turned up some optimistic and friendly people, some interesting artifacts and some good buys.

I just bought an old wooden rocking chair that may be an antique. It is painted white and actually looks pretty good but if there is any way I would like to get it back to the original wood finish. I have seen painted pieces that were stripped where not all of the paint really came off or out of the wood and they don’t look good. I don’t want to strip this thing and then have to repaint it because it already has a decent paint job on it. Is there any way to tell if its going to strip clean before I start working?

A Most Distinguished Effect......by Madonna Dries Christensen
There are as many ways to trim a Christmas tree as there are snowflakes in a blizzard. How you do it probably has something to do with family traditions and rituals from Christmases past. Many people prefer an eclectic approach, glazing the greenery with colorful ornaments and trinkets collected over a lifetime. Each familiar piece is a stepping stone to an earlier era, evoking a string of memories tied together like the lights on the tree. At the top there is often a star or an angel.