Hard-paste Porcelain Birdcages & Bird Houses

  DETROIT (AP) – A new museum exhibit in Detroit tells the story of how hot coffee, tea and chocolate beverages became popular in the 200 years or so following their introduction as commercial products in the 16th and 17th centuries.

LONDON – Readers of this column are unlikely ever to be been clobbered and skinned, but anyone who collects early porcelain might well have been fleeced. Don’t worry if this sounds meaningless, read on and all will become clear. First, a couple of definitions. If porcelain is said to have been “clobbered,” it means the […]

Every era has cutting edge technology, and nations have always bought, borrowed or stolen the best for their regimes. Today we might list computers, communications and armaments as areas of high tech achievement. Czar Peter the Great, who began his rule in 1682, certainly wanted the latest weapons to defend the Russian Empire, but next […]