Free Republic

Seventy-one years ago, a schoolboy in Scotland was digging up potatoes as a punishment when he discovered an ancient Egyptian statue...Between 1952 and 1984, several antique statues were found on the grounds of Melville House... Teachers and pupils brought each new discovery to museum curators and experts, who identified the statues as ancient Egyptian artifacts, but no one could figure out how they had ended up there...The ancient collection includes a nearly 4,000-year-old statue head carved out of red sandstone, which Maitland described as a "masterpiece of Egyptian sculpture," as well as several bronze and ceramic figurines dating to between...

The Russian Air Force has dusted off a 60-year-old relic to meet a thoroughly modern threat. A Beriev BE-12 amphibious patrol aircraft has been spotted over the Black Sea and it’s apparently looking for Ukrainian boat drones. The uncrewed boats have had some success in carrying loads of explosives to damage Russian warships. The drones are apparently more than a match for the gangly Soviet-era flying boats, which lack the modern sensor systems needed to track the stealthy little floating bombs. “Except for some very lucky sightings, the handful of Be-12s the Black Sea Fleet has available should not be...

ATikTok video has gone viral after an antique store was caught selling a brass swan trio for $220 that had a Goodwill tag on it for $8.99. The viral video has garnered over 2 million views in just four days. TikToker @angelmunoz90, or Angel Munoz, posted the video to the social media platform with the caption, "#brass #thiftshop #thriftstore #thriftstorefinds #bruh #pricegouging #swan." The short 20-second clip began with the TikToker walking down a checkered path, revealing he was walking around in a thrift store. Then he walked up to a trio of brass swans on the ground. "Oh look,...

When lifelong Wyoming Republican Tage Benson and Democrat Chamois Andersen met for the first time at the Owl in the Attic antiques store in Laramie this past weekend, they quickly put their political differences aside. Their home state's embattled Republican congresswoman, Liz Cheney, needed to be supported, they agreed, for standing up to former President Donald Trump and contesting his false stolen-election claims. “This is where Democrats and Republicans can come together,” said Anderson, 51, a wildlife advocate who often disagrees with Cheney on policy. "She is a hero," said Benson, 67, who was working the store's register. He told...

There are a few things Tom Cotter like to do the old-fashioned way, and finding vintage iron by doing his own footwork is one of them. However, the occasional tip comes through that he can’t ignore. In this case, it’s a call from Steve Davis who has a 365-foot long chicken coop that is no longer used for poultry. Instead, the structure packs all manner of vintage horsepower, of both the two- and the four-wheeled variety. The property might look familiar to long-time Barn Find Hunter viewers, because Tom first visited back in 2017. There weren’t enough hours in the...

Some people believe that the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights is as important to the world as America’s famous foundational documents are to America. But true concern for what humans need and are entitled to goes back way past WW2 and the Declaration Of Independence and the Bill Of Rights. e.g. The New Testament I would argue that human rights are the heart of conservatism (defined by Ron Paul as “preserving what’s good”). Progressives who want to change everything for changes’ virtue-signalling sake are not the champions of human rights they tout themselves to be.

My how times have changed in our households. Modern appliances and other inventions have afforded us conveniences that our predecessors didn’t have. Don’t you sometimes wonder what things were like a century or two ago? Explore the past by looking at these vintage wares and try to figure out what they were used for. Some of these objects were more common during certain historical periods, or in particular parts of the world. Though they all share the same status of being antiques, you may find one or two of these items still in use.

We park the box truck in the dead man’s yard like a six-ton hearse and knock on the front door. A disheveled middle-aged woman answers, still in her pajamas. “I forgot you were coming,” she says, leaning out the door to see the truck. Emblazoned on the side: William J. Jenack: Estate Appraisers Auctioneers.“I’m a mess,” she says. “My mother’s dying.”We ask if she wants us to come back another time.“No, please come in.”She’s been living in the dead man’s house for the last two years, a white Victorian-style home with blue shutters and ivy reaching up the side. She’d...

The Trump administration's proposed auto and auto part tariffs may claim an unexpected casualty: The more than 20 million Americans who spend an estimated $1.5 billion annually on classic and antique cars, trucks and motorcycles, according to specialized insurer Hagerty Group. Though many classic car sales are by wealthy collectors and cost in the tens of millions, the average classic vehicle's value is less than $35,000, according to Hagerty Group.

At an antique show in New South Wales, these 1850 era pocket pistols were for sale. The concept of small concealable pistols started as early as the 1700's.From ctmuzzleloaders.com: From ctmuzzleloaders.com: From the Eighteenth Century on there were huge numbers of small, concealable pistols manufactured in England and on the Continent. The smaller ones were described as "Muff Pistols" because they were often concealed in a lady's muff, although they could also be slipped inside a Gentleman's pocket (and Gentlemen used muffs too). The pocket pistol came into vogue about the same time as Australia was being colonized by England....

I am going through a large collection of stuff my late father had, and in addition to a bunch of his WWII ribbons and such, I found what looks like an Iron Cross with ribbon dated 1815 on one side and 1914 on the other. It's in good condition. I see these on Ebay at up to $1000. Does anyone know someone I can trust to evaluate it?

James D. Julia auction is one of those places where most rare, unique and uncommon firearms appear. Their annual spring auction took place from April 11 to 13, during which they sold firearms worth of $16 million! So in this post, we’ll see what were the 10 most expensive lots sold during the auction. The guns are listed in the order of ascendancy of their price so that the least expensive is #10 and shown first.

Yesterday I sat through what could be very generously called a neighborhood meeting near where I live. A new Goodwill Boutique (higher end Goodwill) is set to open in center of town, and a spokesperson was going around promoting it to neighborhood associations. In educating us on what Goodwill does, the spokesperson volunteered that the money generated from sale of donated items drives their job training program. All good, until . . . He then volunteered that of the 5000 trained locally last year and placed in jobs, 1800 were Syrian refugees. Since I'm in the People's Soviet of Washington,...

PBS favorite “Antiques Roadshow” has admitted that it mistakenly claimed a grotesque jug dated back to the 19th century, when it was really from a 1970s Oregon high school art class. Appraiser Stephen Fletcher originally said that the piece, featured in a January episode of the show, was worth up to $50,000. -snip The weird pot had migrated about 60 miles from its birthplace at Churchill High School in the years between 1973 or 74 and last summer, when new owner Alvin Barr was thrilled that his estate sale find could be worth a small fortune. Soule and friends contacted...

The Republican-led House of Representatives sent a bill authored by a Democrat to President Obama’s desk that would limit the ability of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) to destroy cultural sites and profit from the selling of priceless antiques.

I saw this question posed by a fellow FReeper in answer to another Freeper today. I thought it would make for an interesting topic. I do not remember who it was so I can't attribute it to them.

Former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed was charged Tuesday with a battery of theft, fraud and bribery charges that, if proven, would stamp corruption in indelible ink on the Reed Era. They would also likely put Reed, who has been out of office since January 2010 and has indicated his intent to fight for vindication, in jail. The 65-year-old Reed was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge William Wenner Tuesday on charges that go right to the heart of his longtime role as benevolent dictator of Pennsylvania's Capital City.

Special to the Star-Telegram One year after his death, hundreds of items from the estate of Van Cliburn are going on sale at Christie’s auction house in New York. The pianist, who died in February 2013, filled his Westover Hills home with items encountered during his world travels — fine art, furnishings, tableware — and selected with a veteran collector’s eye. Two years ago, Cliburn parted with some of his most valuable treasures at a Christie’s auction of what was billed as “The Van Cliburn Collection.” That sale earned almost $4.4 million, beating a presale estimate of $3 million. The...

It was bought for £400 by Father MacLeod – mainly because he liked its golden frame. It hung in the hallway of a retreat he runs for the clergy in Derbyshire. At at one stage, the painting fell off its hook on the wall and landed on a CD player, smashing the device. After art expert Philip Mould inspected it, it underwent a thorough restoration and was officially verified as a genuine Van Dyck by Dr Christopher Brown, who is a world authority on the artist. The artwork will now be sold by Fr. MacLeod to pay for the restoration...

Disabled man's life is turned around by a blanket... Really.. :)