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Freddy Krueger, get a day job! The REAL nightmare isn’t on Elm Street but on East “D” Street in Tacoma, where the Black Lake Haunted Asylum will scare the giblets out of “patients” three more evenings of this week, through Sat., Oct. 31 (Halloween).
I voluntarily “committed” myself to the Asylum last night, and glad that [...]

You gotta hand it to the great state of Colorado: It produces some REAL SERIOUS collectors of railroad memorabilia.
It’s not surprising: Railroads played a huge role in the state’s history, especially during that iconic and conflicted era we call the Wild West. Sure, trains were essential to the development of other, arguably tamer parts of [...]

Last week I stumbled across an auction to be held later this week by Bridgeport, W.V.–based Signature House, www.signaturehouse.net, which specializes in autograph material and which I knew of but never seemed to connect with in time to bid on something I was collecting.
Which underscores the importance of getting yourself on as many dealer and [...]

Recently I’ve had some very pleasant dealings with Scott Winslow of Scott J. Winslow, Associates, Americana. Scott has a really nice Web site but also sells and auctions via eBay and LiveAuctioneers.com – where his current auction ends Sat., Oct. 31. And he doesn’t sell just autographs but also antique stock certificates and bonds, maps, [...]

In Japan, they have what they call “Living National Treasures”: master swordsmiths, Kabuki actors, potters and other artists and craftsmen honored for preserving the cultural traditions of the Japanese people.
I wish we had that designation here: I and many others here in Washington state would jump to nominate Washington’s own living treasure, Fred Oldfield.
Construction worker, [...]

Black Lake Haunted Asylum returns to Tacoma’s Freighthouse Square
Oct. 10–31
I freely admit: I’m a horror addict. Growing up in the 1960s and ’70s, I devoured (sometimes literally) horror comic books, like the classic Creepy and Eerie magazines (especially the ones with those iconic Frank Frazetta covers), and the horror-film “fanzine” Famous Monsters of Filmland. I [...]

It happens from time to time: I go to my mailbox (on Fri., Oct. 2, in this case) and pull out a Priority Mail envelope with a beautiful catalog for an auction being held only days later (Tues., Oct. 6) by an organization I never heard of: The Rail Splitter, who describe themselves on their [...]

Bob Kerstein is a “history detective” – specifically business history, a collecting area that most people probably hadn’t thought much about until the economy tanked over the past year. Not only are we all tied (albeit unwillingly) to Wall Street and the global economy, some people collect “business paper,” or documents and ephemera relating to [...]