Curious Objects

Latest Episodes:

A Met Curator Tells the Strange Story of Louis XIV's Carpets Dec 06, 2023

Show notes

This week we travel back to the seventeenth century, to the glorious court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, in France, and his astonishing commission for a suite of ninety-three carpets to cover the 1440-foot-long Grande Galerie at the Louvre, then a royal palace. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is now the proud owner of three of these carpets—the creative work of court painter Charles le Brun and court architect Louis Le Vau, and handiwork of the Savonnerie Manufactory—and British decorative arts curator Wolf Burchard is on hand to discuss their convoluted history and the way in which they illustrate the baroque principle of variatas: that all things artistic be constructed along similar lines, while individually being unique and exciting.

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Jewelry We Love and Hate, with Gem X Nov 29, 2023

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This week Ben speaks with three bigwigs of Gem X, an international club for jewelry aficionados. Founder Lin Jamison, Simon Teakle gallery director Christine Cheng, and returning Curious Objects guest Levi Higgs of David Webb discuss men in brooches, women in cuff links, and the fail-proof “smell test” for detecting real gold. These glitterati also have with them enchanting bijoux from their personal collections: a Van Cleef and Arpels Virgo pendant, Portuguese citrine and pearl brooch, and a pair of Flemish heart pendants.

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THANKSGIVING THROWBACK: The House that Vanderbilt—Gilded Age Mansions of Newport, RI Nov 22, 2023

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In this special throwback episode of Curious Objects, Ben Miller takes listeners on a virtual tour of the suite of beaux-arts abodes built for the Vanderbilts, Oelrichs, Astors, and Berwinds by the likes of Richard Morris Hunt and Stanford White. These houses—referred to as “cottages” by their nouveau riche owners—have been lovingly maintained by the Preservation Society of Newport County. The organization’s CEO and executive director Trudy Coxe, curator of exhibitions Ashley Householder, and curator of historic landscapes and horticulture Jim Donahue give Ben the lowdown on the almost three hundred years of architectural history preserved here . . . and, of course, the strife and scandal that stalked the lives of the houses’ owners (spoiler: murder and rosarian shenanigans abound).

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Debunking the Hitler Diaries and Other Adventures, with Kenneth Rendell Nov 15, 2023

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Friend of presidents and billionaires, nemesis of Hitlerism, and helicopter skiing enthusiast, Kenneth Rendell is an antiquer who needs no introduction. But listeners hankering for more had best apply to Safeguarding History: Trailblazing Adventures Inside the Worlds of Collecting and Forging History, Rendell’s recently published memoir and the occasion for his conversation with Curious Objects’host Benjamin Miller. On the docket in this episode is the role Rendell played in cracking the case of the forged Hitler Diaries, how he amassed twenty-five thousand rare books and manuscripts in just eleven months for Bill Gates’s personal library, and tips for determining the value and authenticity of precious objects, for collectors new and old.

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Meet the Millennials Proving that Young People Love Old Things Nov 08, 2023

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This week host Benjamin Miller checks in with the intriguingly named Salt Lizard, a two-woman antiquarium at the center of hipsterdom: Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Lizzie Trinder and Rita Nehmé bring all their vocal-fried charm to bear on the shortcomings of fast furniture, what it was like doing business with reticent Millennials and Zoomers during the pandemic, and a trio of fascinating finds: Gustav Gurschner’s theatrical art nouveau floor lamp, a transferware lavabo, and the niftiest games table/console you’re likely to find this side of the Levant.

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Should Antiquities Return to Where They Came From? Nov 01, 2023

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This week host Benjamin Miller engages Lillian Stoner, a scholar of classical antiquity, in a wide-ranging discussion about the quirks and inequities of provenance, tomb robbery, and repatriation as it concerns objects of the ancient world. Of particular concern is the infamous “hot pot” that was once on display in New York City: the Euphronios or Sarpedon Krater, a monumental bowl for mixing wine with water, decorated with red-figure paintings by the Attic virtuoso Euphronios. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for over $1 million in 1972, it was repatriated to Italy in 2008 after decades of investigations into its questionable origins.

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All About Amber, with Laura Kugel Oct 25, 2023

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Amber gameboards became very popular in northern Europe at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the subject of this week’s episode represents the very best of type. A symphony of richly figured amber, silver, and silver gilt, the Danzig-made board was used to play chess and the ancient Roman strategy game known today as Three Men’s Morris. It’s one of many amber objets d’art from the Baltic region on display at the redoubtable Galerie Kugel in Paris for the exhibition Amber: Treasures from the Baltic. Curious Objects host Benjamin Miller gets an inside look at how such curios were crafted, and the lore that surrounds the gameboard’s decorative themes and provenance, courtesy of Laura Kugel, sixth generation dealer at the family-owned and -operated gallery.

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Why You Should Spend $10,000 on a Shaving Bowl Oct 18, 2023

Show notes

Like host Benjamin Miller, Oliver Newton specializes in silver—specifically, that from England, and especially silver from the nineteenth century and before. He has in hand a 1713 Anthony Nelme shaving bowl, one of those otherwise workaday objects made exceptional by fine craftsmanship, distinguished provenance, and, of course, the luster and value of its material. From the bowl’s history to the ins and outs of slinging hollowware, Oliver and Ben cover the antiquing gamut in the collegial manner what befits two young swells of the trade.

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"Antiques Roadshow" Appraiser Nick Dawes Oct 18, 2023

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Nick Dawes knows as much about antiques as probably anyone alive. With more than one hundred appearances on “Antiques Roadshow” since its US edition debuted in 1996, Dawes has sifted through thousands, perhaps millions, of family heirlooms in the thirty to sixty seconds allotted for each supplicant by the busy TV production schedule. Talking antiques, Dawes reminisces about “the ones that got away,” and the time he discovered a ceramic vase painted by Picasso that sold for $400,000. Word to the wise: if you ever hear the phrase “this is a very interesting object . . .” brace yourself—your curio is probably worthless.

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A Newly Unearthed George Washington Letter, with Nathan Raab Oct 18, 2023

Show notes

Benjamin Miller is joined by Nathan Raab, principal at the Raab Collection, a purveyor of historic documents, manuscripts, and autographs that range from medieval codices to notes, signatures, and letters by the likes of Napoleon and Amelia Earhart. The firm’s inventory includes several items of especially national significance, such as the never-before-seen missive by George Washington—written just before the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge for the winter of 1777–1778—that is the subject of this episode.

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