Archive - Dearest

Purple gold, Tony Hawk, and a lamp in the shape of a foot

It's a real mixed bag this time, folks.

Sep 19, 2025 • Monica McLaughlin

August 2025

Salsify Soup and Life-Everlasting: A Kentucky Cookbook

Some recent items of interest and a re-up of the story of the handwritten cookbook that led me to a 19th-century crime

Aug 30, 2025 • Monica McLaughlin

June 2025

A rhinoceros desk, Marie Antoinette’s pink diamond (maybe?) and a bed made of glass

And some other random stuff.

Jun 17, 2025 • Monica McLaughlin

May 2025

Ain't no drama like deposed royal drama

Also: Napier's bones, a horse-handled dagger and Nancy Astor's tiara

May 22, 2025 • Monica McLaughlin

January 2025

The iciest of bowls, some googly-eye bangles and a nutmeg grater

And a collar made of porcelain

Jan 28, 2025 • Monica McLaughlin

November 2024

Auk-ward! An antique egg, a Suffragette bow, and a truly gorgeous diamond

Also, stop here for all your mysterious jewelry side quests.

Nov 27, 2024 • Monica McLaughlin

October 2024

A coral tiara, a historic necklace and an anxious bugbear

And a pretty unsettling Art Nouveau poster, so consider yourselves warned

Oct 30, 2024 • Monica McLaughlin

September 2024

Smother me with rose petals

And give me that armlet.

Sep 11, 2024 • Monica McLaughlin

August 2024

Little Willie the Pearl, Sarah Bernhardt's crown and Tom Petty's car

Also: RIP Jesse Monongye, inlay master.

Aug 16, 2024 • Monica McLaughlin

July 2024

Death, automatons and a Stegosaurus

Also: maybe dial it down a notch, Germans

Jul 3, 2024 • Monica McLaughlin

May 2024

Squashed jewelry, a stag beetle, and Stephen Sondheim

And a beguiling pool of aquamarine.

May 30, 2024 • Monica McLaughlin

April 2024

An astrolabe, a Venetian traveling case and a Faberge baboon

Scroll to the end for a link to the auction with all the dog paintings

Apr 16, 2024 • Monica McLaughlin