What it’s Really Like Finding a Priceless Artefact in a Thrift Store

We often have a romantic notion of what it might be like to walk into a thrift store and walk out with treasure. But in reality, what happens next can be a roller coaster ride that changes your life forever. In 2018, antiques dealer Laura Young discovered an ancient Roman bust in an Austin Goodwill…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 691)

1. Ron’s Place: England’s secret Outsider Art palace Behind the facade of this unassuming Victorian villa in the heart of Birkenhead, Merseyside, lies a hidden treasure trove of creativity and passion that was hidden for decades. This is Ron’s Place, a conventional flat transformed by Ron Gittins into a dazzling shrine of art, drawing from the wellsprings of ancient…

Django’s Journey: The Making of the Nomadic King of French Swing

Django Reinhardt was a legendary jazz musician and considered by some the greatest guitarist who ever lived, even more so when you find out he did it all with two fingers. He began as a nomadic busker before becoming a virtuoso and then a romanticised Parisian sepia memory, who still calls out in rolling arpeggios…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 690)

1. Rococo and Baroque Pools Prompts by @tomislavmarcijus & @marcijusaivision (Midjourney V6 + Magnific AI) 2. Loft Law: The Last of New York City’s Original Artist Lofts The new book by Joshua Charow is available here. 3. Antique Ribbon Swatches Browse this 19th century book in the Winterthur library archives and this one from the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition.…

Let’s Entertain the Theory of the Tartarian Empire for a Moment

What do you mean you’ve never heard of the lost civilization of Great Tartaria? It’s only one of the weirdest architectural conspiracy theories going. It seems there has been a monumental cover-up to hide the truth from us all about an ancient empire that’s hiding in plain sight all around us – or so a…

Keeping up with Kitty, the First Woman to be Famous for Being Famous

The sex industry was one of 18th century Britain’s most lucrative enterprises, and the women and girls at the centre of this trade enraptured the nation, endlessly feeding society with tantalising tales from behind closed doors. But all too often, their voices have been left down the back of history’s sofa, largely due to the…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 689)

1. Abkhazia, the Lost Paradise by Pierpaolo Mittica Abkhazia is a non-place. However, it was once considered a paradise. In the years of the Soviet Union, this strip of land spanning 200 kilometres by 100 and facing onto the Black Sea was the chosen holiday destination of the political elite, who could enjoy hospitality of…

Not Old World Europe, this is India’s Ghostly Town of Sidhpur

With their exquisite facades in pastel shades, replete with balconies, pointed gables and elaborate monograms, the Vohrawad mansions are a wonder to behold. One could easily be forgiven for assuming these grand dames stand somewhere in Europe, but today, we’re taking you to Sidhpur, in the Indian state of Gujarat. Almost deserted today, their decadent…

The Artful Spy who Stopped Hitler from Emptying the Louvre

At first glance she looks like just another bookish art historian in matronly 1940s garb – a most unlikely superhero. But Rose Antonia Maria Valland was a lone female spy who, during WW2, tirelessly and valiantly put her life on the line for the love of art, saving scores of looted works of art during Nazi…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. 688)

1. Paris Waiters Race as Storied Contest Returns On Sunday, for the first time in over a decade, Paris revived a tradition: an annual race of cafe and restaurant waiters. About 200 men and women swerved, jostled and jogged 1.2 miles through the city streets, which were lined with cheering crowds. Contestants rushed through the…