COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – In a series of Peanuts comic strips that ran in mid-April of 1956, Charlie Brown grasps the string of his kite, which was stuck in what came to be known in the long-running strip as the “kite-eating tree.” In one episode that week, a frustrated Charlie Brown declines an offer from nemesis Lucy for her to yell at the tree. “If I had a kite caught up in a tree, I’d yell at it,” Lucy responds in the last panel.
LONDON – Phil and Joan Castle, who live in New Romney in Kent, England, have been hunting treasure with metal detectors for more than 30 years. It was in October 2018, while searching one of their favorite plowed fields at nearby Romney Marsh that Joan, using her XP gold max metal detector, found a broken gold coin on the surface. Another signal beside it in the soil revealed a medieval brass purse bar at eight inches down. Phil came over to help and immediately found a gold coin. During the next two hours, the married couple uncovered four more gold coins in an area of five meters, with Joan finding two herself. The purse bar and the coins, which are estimated at £12,000-£15,000, will be offered for sale by specialist coin, medal, banknote and jewelry auctioneers Noonans (previously Dix Noonan Webb) on Tuesday, May 24.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Decades ago a simple wooden board in use as a shelf was discovered in Belle Farm, an 18th-century house in Gloucester County, Virginia. It turned out to be much more interesting than an untrained eye would notice at first glance: etched into the surface was the original design for two arches that are still to be seen in the house today. This extraordinary artifact provided Colonial Williamsburg’s architectural historians with valuable information on design development and layout in the last half of the 1700s. The design was later used as the model for the arches in the southwest dining room of the reconstructed King’s Arms Tavern on Colonial Williamsburg’s Duke of Gloucester Street.
CHURCH STRETTON, UK – The most important antique fishing lure that has ever been consigned for sale, an original circa-1820s “Kill Devil,” will make a rare appearance at auction in Mullock’s auction on March 23. Specialists in antique and modern fishing tackle, Mullocks says the lure is the only known survivor of its type. It will be offered with a £4,000-£6,000 (US$5,230-$7,840).
NEW YORK – Designers and lighting companies have been busy coming up with new ways to hold a lightbulb and project light, and winter is a great time to explore their latest solutions. Some are inspired by the skies overhead. Others by style eras, from Deco to disco. Still others are working with interesting materials around which to build a lamp.
NEW YORK (AP) – In this winter of hunkering down at home, there’s a trend that’s just right for the times: quilts as decor and as art. An artistic quilt might be displayed prominently on a wall, thrown over a couch, or just folded and hung from the rungs of a ladder. (Or you could cozy up with it.) “Quilts bring warmth, depth and texture to any room,” says Suzy Williams, a quilter and graphic designer in Oak Park, Illinois. She offers tutorials and patterns for quilt-making on her website, Suzy Quilts.
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – On Thursday, January 27, Leland Little Auctions will offer the collection of the late Joel Siegel, longtime film critic for the ABC show Good Morning America. The Siegel collection is featured within the company’s 536-lot Winter Estate Auction.
SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) – In the most fun card game a baseball fan as big as he is could play, Stephen Olson is potentially holding a miracle hand. He just needs to be dealt two more cards to complete it.
NEW YORK – The freshest style in decor these days is … mixing styles.
Traditional and contemporary often work well together. Think abstract art with an overstuffed chaise, or an 18th century-style toile wallpaper with an ’80s-era lamp. The appeal is in the pleasing tension between the styles; sophisticated, artsy, yet livable.
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) – Kyle Baughman welcomes working from his studio at the Hattiesburg Community Arts Center.