An Incredible Opportunity for the A&C Community

In January of this year, a man by the name of Forrest L. Merrill sold something incredible to Gus Bostrom and California Historical Design, Inc., with the understanding that a non-profit foundation would be formed to safeguard and preserve it for future generations. What, you may be asking yourself, is so extraordinary about all this? Let's flashback for a minute...

The year was 1933. Dirk van Erp, one of the most prominent coppersmiths in America during his time,...

A Woman of Letters

She was the last of the great letter writers.

Violet Hickok, better known to us simply as Grandma Hickok, lived her entire life on the Illinois prairie, where she and my grandfather (pictured) started farming during the Great Depression, only to have their very first corn crop completely wiped out by a violent hail storm.

But she and my grandfather, Myron Hickok, demonstrated that trademark Midwestern determination, survived their first winter together,...

Spotting The Elusive -- And Important -- Shopmark

As collectors, we never tire of spotting a shopmark, whether it be initials scratched on the bottom of a vase, a decal inside a top drawer or a die-stamped cipher on the underside of a hammered copper bowl. With the rare exception of a forged mark (more on that in two weeks), the shopmark unlocks a door to a wealth of information about the piece we hold in our hands.

Shopmarks were not unique to Arts & Crafts makers, but the practice of signing a piece...

Teco Vase #182