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The Alken Family of British Artists The British artistic talent pool was greatly enhanced by the Alken family in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in the genre of sporting art. Of Danish origin, Sefferien Alken (1717 to 1782), was the first of his family to immigrate to Britain where he worked as a wood carver, gilder and stonecarver. Samuel Alken (1756 to 1815), his son, inherited Sefferien’s talent with his hands and studied [...] Click here to continue reading. Dr. Elisha Kent Kane Elisha Kent Kane contracted rheumatic fever during his second year of university. This doubtless led him to the pursuit of medical studies (by age twenty-two, he had published a study of early pregnancy detection in the American Journal of Medical Sciences). Because of this training, he possessed a clear understanding of the clinical implications of the persistent endocarditis left by the disease. Without the benefit of antibiotics, it was the [...] Click here to continue reading. Boot of Cortez Gold Nugget (courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries) The austere and forbidding Sonora Desert of the United States and Mexico regularly experiences some of the most extreme weather in the Western Hemisphere. Daytime temperatures often exceed 125 degrees in the shade even as blast-furnace winds swiftly strip life-sustaining water from the few men and animals tough enough and wily enough to make a living in this land of stark, unforgiving beauty. [...] Click here to continue reading. Great International Railway Suspension Bridge Over the Niagara River On March 8th in 1855, the first locomotive crossed John Roebling’s railway suspension bridge over the Niagara River at Niagara Falls. Roebling was not the first to bridge the Niagara gorge, but his was the first Niagara bridge to carry rail traffic. It was also the first railway suspension bridge in North America. His critics protested that a suspension bridge could not possibly support the [...] Click here to continue reading. Ives Toys & Trains Arguably the premier toy manufacturer of it’s time, The Ives Manufacturing Company started from humble beginnings. Edward Ives founded the company in a small shack in Plymouth Connecticut around 1868. Originally working under the name Ives, Blakeslee & Co. The first items built were hot air toys, but the toy line soon progressed to a wide range of toys, that included cannons using real gunpowder and clockwork powered dolls and [...] Click here to continue reading. American Flyer Trains Toy trains have been marketed under the name “American Flyer” for nearly a century. American Flyers have run on four different track gauges; they have been manufactured in four different parts of the world; and they have been sold by five different corporate entities. Around the turn of the twentieth century, a Chicago toymaker named William Frederick Hafner developed a clockwork motor, which he used to power toy automobiles. By [...] Click here to continue reading. Lionel Trains Lionel is by far the best-known toy train brand in North America, having done business under that name for over a century. Joshua Lionel Cowen (1877 to 1965) gained first-hand experience with electrical devices by working for two New York City firms that manufactured dry-cell batteries and light bulbs. In 1899, he invented a battery-powered device that ignited photographer’s flash powder. He soon received a large order from the United States [...] Click here to continue reading. American Belleek Porcelain American Belleek porcelain is characterized by a thin, highly translucent feldspathic body, finished with a thin, pale pearly glaze. While American Belleek is a recent development, compared to other types of porcelain, it does have an interesting background. It traces a beginning back to Philadelphia and the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. A display of very thin, lightweight glazed Irish Belleek drew much attention from the visiting public. This interest resulted in [...] Click here to continue reading. Weatherby Hunting Rifles The history of Weatherby rifles began in the late 1940′s, when a young “wildcatter” named Roy Weatherby set out to change the world of firearm performance. While conventional thoughts centered upon the idea of pushing large bullets at relatively slow speeds, Roy Weatherby began experimenting with lighter weight bullets traveling at extremely high velocities. It was his belief that this combination was ideal for the flat-shooting, hard-hitting power needed to create [...] Click here to continue reading. |
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