Welcome to my new blog, Thinking About Things!
Here I’ll tell the stories of some intriguing (and usually old) objects, explore a few mysteries surrounding our culture’s common belongings, and ponder the deeper meanings that every extraordinary “ordinary” object holds. I’ll also consider some of the issues, controversies, and current events that inform and complicate the study of material culture in a more general sense. While my particular area of expertise is 18th-century English sterling silver (and I have a lot to say about it), this blog will range far and wide, riffing on everything from a vintage embalming table in Indiana to letters to Santa, thermostats, rotary-dial telephones and the British Museum.
Every antique has a story, but it tells one, too.
Personal property appraisal and antiques research is my second career. My first was as a literary scholar, researcher, teacher, and editor. Over the course of 30 years in the “text trade” I developed an analytical habit of mind that has become truly second nature to me now. I approach antiques the way I was trained to approach literature, applying many of the same analytical skills to objects rather than words. In that way, I strive to understand and then communicate to a general audience the context in which a thing was created, used, and exists today, revealing the meaning that lies beneath an object’s physical characteristics, production or commercial history, and monetary value.
If any of that sounds interesting to you, I hope you’ll subscribe. You’ll receive one post on the 15th of each month–starting April 15, 2021! I take requests, too. Send me an email with an object or topic you’d like to know more about. CarolynLawAntiques@gmail.com