I have trouble understanding folks who don’t like baseball – that luxuriously paced, summer lawn game we call the nation’s pastime.

Baseball is so civilized, and so quintessentially American.

It’s a team sport, yes, but each man gets his time at bat.
Like life in America, there really is no down time in baseball. Its slow times are filled with discussion, speculation, nervous energy, and its fast times are explosively frenetic, thrilling, and even breathtakingly exciting. What’s not to like.

Most of all, however, baseball is about history, nostalgia, statistics, and the characters and personalities that made it all happen. And as such, it is a game tailor-made for the antique market.

Items from Japan marked Nippon, especially ceramics, have long been prized by collectors and decorators.

This Nippon vase has it all: moriage beading, a labor-intensive French enameling technique (ala Longvy ceramic) and an Art Nouveau style painting. ($350)

Over the years, the value of these items has been commensurate with that demand, but we shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming that everything marked Nippon is going to be very valuable.

In 1891 a protectionist U.S. Congress, in an effort to get Americans to buy American, passed a law requiring that all items imported in to this country be marked with their country of origin.

The Japanese marked their items with their word for their country, “Nippon,” a word meaning “land of the rising sun.”

The Italians were among the first to make porcelain in Europe, and according to some speculation, they may have been the very first.

A Ginori plate, decorated in a traditional Florentine design, is of the type purchased in the early 19th Century by English and American tourists in Tuscany.

When we think of European porcelain, we are more likely to think of the Germans and the French than the Italians. Yet the Italians were among the first to make porcelain in Europe, and according to some speculation, they may have been the very first.

Every four years Republicans get just a bit more Republican, Democrats more Democrat, and Americans, one hopes, a bit more American. And few are shy about wearing their convictions, if not on their sleeves, at least on their lapels.

Not everyone sees all this hoopla as annoying. Collectors of political memorabilia especially cherish all the hoopla -- posters, placards, ribbons, hats, noisemakers and stuff related to American political campaigns of the past -- as colorful reminders of our democratic history. They also like the idea that every four years their collections become more sought after and more valuable.

Shafer and Vater succeeded because they made the kinds things few other companies would even attempt.

It looks like Wedgwood, but it Shafer & Vater, and still very collectible.

By the end of the 19th Century, the porcelain business in Germany was really booming. The Industrial Revolution had created a huge, ravenous middle class in Europe and America, and smart companies aimed right for this growing market.

This was the heyday for many mid-line European porcelain companies like Carl Shuman (CS), Zeh Scherzer (ZS), Carl Tilsch (CT), and all the Schlegelmilch companies, RS and ES, in Thuringia, Silesia, Poland, and the high-end factory in Prussia.

We don’t usually associate bears with Christmas. But among this year’s Christmas stamps, there one is, looking rather startled to be included with the more traditional reindeer, snowmen and evergreen trees.

It seems that bears have been on our minds lately. There have been several magazine articles in both scholarly and popular periodicals, mostly concerning the danger to bears from human encroachment on their habitat and the effects of global warming.

By far the best selling collectible character of all times, however, was a real life saint whose feast day is celebrated tomorrow, December 6.

I'm speaking, of course, about St. Nicholas, aka Santa Claus, Sinter Klaus, Pere Noel and Kris Kringle.
Nicholas was the bishop of a city in ancient Turkey all the way back in the 4th Century. The three miracles that helped raise him to sainthood involved saving men from political persecution, women from poverty and prostitution, and children from being slaughtered.
You gotta love a guy who does stuff like that, and everybody did love St. Nick. In fact, he became so popular that folks changed their family names to the likes of Nicholas, Nichols, Nicholson and Klaus.

In the early days of the railroads in America, when trains were slow and trips were long, meals were provided at certain stops along the way.

Passengers only had about twenty minutes to eat, and the mad scramble to get out and back on the train in time was hardly conducive to proper digestion.
About 1863, trains running between Philadelphia and Baltimore featured an “eating bar,”€ with food prepared in restaurants and kept hot in steamer trays. Five years later, in 1868, George Pullman introduced the first dining car, equipped with a full kitchen, and elegantly appointed dining tables where food was served in luxury by staff of uniformed waiters.

This time of year is all about nostalgia and connecting with the past, so consider including old photos in vintage frames as part of your decor, on the mantel, buffet or occasional tables.

Photos were such a novelty to the Victorians that they had picture frame tables just to display them. Baby pictures of relatives and guests are sure-fire conversation pieces.
Also consider old frames as holiday gifts, party favors, or as a hostess gift. Of course, you can by new frames, but, as with so many things, if you want it to be unique, it has to be an antique.

As with vases, you can never have too many candlesticks. I used to think I was alone in this thinking, but apparently lots of other people feel the same, because candlesticks of all kinds have become are very popular lately.

There’s no mystery why. Candlelight is warm, nostalgic and romantic, and makes every occasion special. And what’s more special than entertaining during the holiday season.
Any day in winter, however, should be an occasion to light some candles and treat ourselves and our families just as warmly as company.
Whether on the mantelpiece, buffet, a console table or, of course, on the dinner table, candles connect us with the past and a time-honored way of making light.