Art Deco furniture, always popular, experiencing a revival

Jansen Art Deco eglomise mirrored table. Photo courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive/S&S Auction Inc.
Jansen Art Deco eglomise mirrored table. Photo courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive/S&S Auction Inc.
Jansen Art Deco eglomise mirrored table. Photo courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive/S&S Auction Inc.

Art Deco was one of the shortest-lived design periods in history. All about sensational, freewheeling modern living and daring new designs, Deco was hit hard by the looming World War II. It was time to pack up the Charleston records, put away glamorous accoutrements and face harsh reality.

But the style never seems to go quietly, or for long.

The reason Art Deco furniture is popular again now is easy to figure, said James Caughman, senior marketing director for Chicago-based Baker Furniture, part of the Kohler Interiors Group. Continue reading

Reward offered for stolen Alamo cannonball

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – A $5,000 reward is being offered for the return of a historic cannonball that belonged to Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana.

The priceless artifact was stolen Sunday night or Monday morning from a display case at the Fairmount Hotel in San Antonio, where it had been kept for 23 years.

The cannonball, from the Battle of the Alamo, has been dated to 1836 and linked to Santa Ana’s army. Santa Ana was in charge of Mexican soldiers who stormed the Alamo on March 6, 1836.

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Bankrupt auction house owes $240K to City of Jackson, Miss.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The City of Jackson may sue to recover about $240,000 in bad checks from Durham Auctions Inc.

The city council this week authorized the lawsuit after it was told checks from Durham Auctions for two August auctions bounced.

Durham Auctions has shut its doors. It filed in November for bankruptcy, citing $18 million in debts.

Some lawsuits already have been filed against the company and its owners, Don Durham and his son, James Durham.
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Egypt charges Australian teacher with smuggling animal mummies

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – An Australian teacher who allegedly stuffed his luggage with 2,000-year old animal mummies and religious figurines wrapped as gifts was arrested Wednesday and charged with smuggling antiquities, an Egyptian airport security official said.

The 61-year teacher was heading to Thailand when a security official became suspicious of the wrapped figurines that were placed amid souvenir ceramic pots in his suitcase.

When security officials opened the case, they found two mummies of a cat and an ibis, a long-beaked bird, both dating back to 300 B.C. The confiscated collection also included 19 figurines of the revered ancient Egyptian gods of Horus and Thoth, wrapped as gifts. Horus is a falcon-headed god, who represented the greatest cosmic powers for ancient Egyptians. Thoth is believed to have given the Egyptians the gift of hieroglyphic writing.

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