Building your investment portfolio
Economists from HSE University found that secondary market prices of retired LEGO sets grow by 11% annually (8% in real terms), which is faster than gold, stocks, bonds and other […]
Through rose coloured glasses
In the last issue we looked at examples of when history is made less authentic to appear more realistic and how it can either distance us from or immerse us […]
At the end of the rainbow
Can’t think of anything more boring than crystalware? Then I beg a moment of your time to show that crystal is anything but dull, in both senses of the word. […]
Loose limbs telling time
In 1932 a 28-year-old designer named Earl Arnault, from Oregon, USA, invented a clock to bring some cheer to a country in the midst of The Great Depression. This clock […]
Mythology and mystique
Just as the magic carpet in the Persian tale The Three Princes and the Princess Nouronnihar (from One Thousand and One Nights) could transport its owner across distant lands, the real-world Persian carpet holds the power to do the same through its design and motifs.
A bit about the boteh
More widely known in the UK as ‘paisley’ the boteh motif dates back thousands of years to the ancient Persian Empire. It adorns the columns of the 9th century Noh […]
Twenty little salesmen
1985, USA. Over 17 billion matchbooks were estimated to have been produced that year. In Brooklyn, New York, 6 million of those carried the words, ‘Law Offices of Edward Horn […]
The King’s Game and Queen’s Gambit
On the front cover of our Winter 2021 issue are a selection of intricate chess pieces. The pieces featured are from an 1800s German set of the Selenus style. Prior […]
Not for reading
Fake books and their hidden contents. I think the idea of fake books is right up there with priest holes in Tudor buildings. Chopping out the middle of an old book to hide some trinket inside is something many of us probably tried as children, before realising it was quite…
On the walls of Balmoral
A rare look at a very special wallpaper. Good weather and Scotland aren't two things we'd usually associate with each other, but in the September of 1848 Queen Victoria was enticed to Balmoral, Aberdeenshire, by the promise of blue skies after enduring a stint of terrible weather in Loch Laggan.