Posts by Lana | Rare Finds is a bidorbuy blog about antiques and collectibles, including coins, stamps, gems and militaria

Lana

48 Articles

Vintage writing instruments

by Lana on September 1, 2017

Can you guess which writing instrument I am using to write this post? Yes, you are right. I imagine that you too are most likely to reach for your keyboard on keypad, as the case may be, whenever you need to write something. That does not mean that you …

The edge of a coin

Coins

by Lana on July 11, 2017

Have you ever noticed that many coins have engravings around their edge, usually in the shape of miniature vertical lines? These edges are usually referred to as reeded or milled in the United Kingdom, and ridged or grooved in the United States of …

Movie stars on stamps

Stamps

by Lana on May 8, 2017

If you are bitten by the thematic stamp collecting bug, sooner or later you will stumble on a stamp depicting a movie icon... and you will want to start collecting those. There is no denying it. Famous actors and actresses make an attractive subject for …

Antique scientific instruments

Antiques & Collectables

by Lana on March 13, 2017

Unless you are a physicist, geographer, astronomer or something similar, an old scientific instrument may mean nothing to you. That is, until you see an archaic contraption covered with green patina that your best friend has proudly displayed in the …

Chandeliers, beautiful and opulent

Antiques & Collectables

by Lana on January 6, 2017

The term chandelier comes from chandelle, the French word meaning candle holder, which is derived from the Latin candelabrum. Sometime in the 14th century, someone had the brilliant idea to hang those candle holders from a ceiling... and the chandelier as …

Definitive and commemorative stamps

Stamps

by Lana on September 26, 2016

Stamps used to come to us stuck on letters and that is how many of us started collecting them. Now that the snail mail is becoming extinct, stamp collecting is waning too, a victim of the rise of digital technology. Although …

Picture postcards

Antiques & Collectables

by Lana on July 27, 2016

Deltiology, the study and collecting of picture postcards, is thought to be third largest collecting hobby in the world. Once upon a time, weary travellers knew that their first duty upon arriving at a destination was to buy a bunch of picture …

The R5 Griqua Town coin

Coins

by Lana on April 21, 2016

If you are a regular visitor to the bidorbuy Coins and Notes category, you may have noticed there is a relative new-comer: the R5 Griqua Town coin. This commemorative coin was issued in 2015 by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to mark the …

Jellyfish on South African stamps

Stamps

by Lana on March 4, 2016

Jellyfish are not everyone’s cup of tea. Some find these creatures vaguely repulsive, probably due their mushy and squashy physique. Some find them positively terrifying, a state of mind that seems to be in close correlation to having been stung by a …

Royal Albert porcelain

Antiques & Collectables

by Lana on February 9, 2016

The name Royal Albert brings to mind delicate tea cups that Victorians might have used. For a good reason: Victorians did use them. If Thomas Wild and Co. wanted to win the favour of the upper British classes by naming their table and tea …

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