All the Best Rubbish: The Classic Ode to Collecting

by Ivor Noel Hume

Overview

“A delight. All the Best Rubbish is one of those rare volumes that both instruct and entertain. I recommend it to any collector.” —Harold L. Peterson, Chief Curator, US National Park Service

Ivor Noel Hume, the former chief archaeologist of Colonial Williamsburg, offers a delightful, anecdotal, and informative celebration of the joys of collecting. 

In his newly revised edition, All the Best Rubbish traces the fascinating history of collecting from its recorded beginnings and describes the remarkable detective work that goes into establishing the probable facts about uncovered and often underappreciated treasures. Now expanded with hints, tips, and helpful information about antique-hunting online, All the Best Rubbish is the ideal book for the antiquarian or amateur.

Noël Hume has pursued bottles, pottery, clocks, and coins through junk shops, street markets, attics, and cellars on two continents. He's unearthed the most fascinating—and valuable—rubbish from the most unlikely places: the shores of the Thames in London; the lagoons of the Caribbean; the bottom of Martha Washington's well. Hume knows everything that's worth knowing about collecting—why we do it, what we can find, where we can find it, and what we can learn from it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061809897
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/03/2009
Pages:	323
Sales rank:	663,878
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ivor Noël Hume is the former chief archaeologist of Colonial Williamsburg and director of the Williamsburg Depart-ment of Archaeology. He led the team that discovered the first traces of England's failed Roanoke Island colony, and his book A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America is the definitive source on the subject. In 1992 Hume was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to British cultural interests in Virginia. He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Enter the Internet and the Age of eBay xi

1 "What's Past Is Prologue..." 1

2 To Have and to Hold 16

3 Cabinets, Closets, and Dubitable Curiosities 35

4 In Search of Bald Sextons 54

5 Something for Nothing 71

6 Billie and Charlie and Margaret North 97

7 Of Mud, and Pots, and Puppy Dogs, and Mistake that Come Back in the Night 125

8 Adam and Eve to Caroline, with Intermediate Stops 143

9 History in a Green Bottle 173

10 "All the Best Rubbish Is Gone" 204

11 A Word in Your Eye 226

12 Of Mermaids, Fakes, and Other Grave Matters 261

13 And Then What? 290

Notes 303

Bibliography 309

Index 311

Acknowledgments 321