Curious Objects & The Stories Behind Them

There’s a tried and true method for curating art exhibitions: paint walls, hang pictures, write labels, and Bob's your uncle. But what happens when a neuroscientist gets involved? This month, CO examines how researchers at the Peabody Essex Museum are analyzing the ways people look at art.

A suite of furniture made for the storied Beekman family of New York has one extremely over-the-top feature: the pieces are upholstered with export-quality French tapestries, i.e., material that wasn’t good enough for the French to hold on to. One man's trash . . .

Philip Hewat-Jaboor is chairman of Masterpiece London and owner of a fine alabaster and rosso antico marble vase. The vase has a fascinating transnational backstory, but, maybe more importantly, it's beautiful, a factor Philip says is “coming back into the equation” with regard to works of art.

If you find an Old Master artwork in your attic, how can you be sure it isn’t fake? This month Ben and Michael consider the case of "Judith and Holofernes," a painting attributed to Caravaggio and estimated at $100–$150 million that sold to a private buyer on June 25.

Scholar and curator Glenn Adamson reminds us how important it is to pay attention to the objects in our immediate proximity in this episode keyed to Art Carpenter’s Wishbone chair

This month we focus on a quartet of curious objects at Freeman’s auction house: a marble-top pier table long believed to have belonged to General Washington’s aide-de-camp Tench Tilghman, a quirky painting of Noah’s Ark by foppish Lancaster polymath John Landis, and two stoneware wine bottles in the shape of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

In collector Noah Wunsch's private life one rule guides his hand: “no matter what you're buying make sure you like it.“ In this episode, Ben takes the measure of Noah’s treasure, which ranges from a 60 BC Visigothic belt buckle to the zany artwork of Genieve Figgis.

Austrian-born economist Friedrich Hayek’s 1974 Nobel Prize in economics and his personal dog-eared copy of The Wealth of Nations have come up for auction at Sotheby’s. Ben Miller calls on the expertise of Duke University professor Bruce Caldwell and Sotheby’s specialist Gabriel Heaton to put these and other items in historical context.

For the Winter Show’s 2019 diamond jubilee, Curious Objects hosted a panel discussion between four young lights of the antiques world, who'd gathered to announce the birth of a new club: the New Antiquarians.

Ben Miller talks to John Stuart Gordon about glass formed by the Trinity nuclear test and a stained-glass window smashed by a dining hall worker in 2016.

Rare book dealers Heather O'Donnell and Rebecca Romney drop some knowledge about Henry Highland Garnet’s "Memorial Discourse,” the first address delivered to Congress by an African-American.

Happy birthday, Curious Objects! In this special anniversary episode, we take a look back at the work we’ve done these last twelve months.

A virtual tour of the suite of Gilded Age mansions built for the Vanderbilts, Oelrichs, Astors, and Berwinds in Newport, Rhode Island, by the likes of Richard Morris Hunt and Stanford White.

This time it's your turn. For the last two months, we’ve been asking listeners to post their curious objects on Instagram, tagging #mycuriousobject and @antiquesmag.

The founder of Geographicus Rare Antique Maps goes into detail about a big, blue, Qing-era map of the empire's tribute system: a network of cities, tribes, and nations that extended as far as Europe.

Instagram doyen Levi Higgs tells Ben Miller about a jewel- and enamel-bedazzled treasure by a jeweler whose work can often be seen on the red carpet.

Antiques Dealers' Association executive director Judy Loto goes into detail about an antique powder horn that's the apple of her eye. She also has some tips for new collectors.

Benjamin Miller talks with Paul Becker, the fifth-generation owner and director of Chicago-based Carl Becker and Son, a 150-year-old luthier business.

In this episode of Curious Objects & the stories behind them, part two of our special coverage of the 2018 Winter Antiques Show, Ben Miller gets the dish on mace-like molinets, impeccably-preserved highboys, gem-encrusted jewelry, and five-legged card tables, among other masterpieces.

In this episode of Curious Objects & the stories behind them, part one of a special two-part series, Benjamin Miller speaks with nine dealers who exhibited this past January at the antiques world’s marquee event: the Winter Antiques Show.