With the Historic Illustration Art Auction quickly approaching, the Historic Arms and Militaria department here at Bruneau and Co. Auctioneers has been busy researching and cataloging the fascinating …
more
9/20/23
|
Hidden Money in Your Closet
As a middle-aged person, you could be sitting on a treasure trove you never even thought of… your old clothes! As everything vintage-retro continues to rise in …
more
9/13/23
|
When it comes to collecting comics, most people concern themselves with first appearances, number one issues, and everything else that falls in the standard classification of a “key.” …
more
9/6/23
|
The massive assortment of historic illustration art we recently acquired from the estate of sculptor Carl Pugliese has inspired yet another article from me. While the collection is full of prolific …
more
8/30/23
|
A generous and humble man, a superb draftsman much admired for his skill as an artist and illustrator, known for his meticulously researched historical paintings and drawings, Norman Mills Price was …
more
8/23/23
|
Believe it or not, modern sports trading cards, and even trading card games, got their start in the 17 th century as trade cards for advertising. With the invention of lithography and color printing …
more
8/16/23
|
A while back I wrote a blog about the U.S. Model 1941 semi-automatic rifle that was manufactured by Cranston Arms Company not far from the location of our auction gallery. A brief recap is in order, …
more
8/9/23
|
In the late 1960s the co-founder of Mattel, Elliot Handler, was looking for a way to improve the diecast car toy market for kids. He felt the toy cars of the day were too realistic to really capture …
more
8/2/23
|
Military clothing has always fascinated me. Thirty years ago, I began studying Civil War uniforms and reproducing some of them for historical interpretation. Surviving Confederate uniforms are fairly …
more
7/26/23
|
July, the month of barbecues and Patriotism, is finally here and thriving at Bruneau & Co! We have acquired an important and extremely impressive collection of paintings and sketches by prolific …
more
7/19/23
|
Before Covid when I was looking at some antiques on the west coast, a first national Confederate flag was brought in for me to look at. According to the person who brought it in, it was brought back …
more
7/12/23
|
With the recent collection of antique toys from the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design, there is one item in particular that has captured my attention as a beautiful period piece: A …
more
7/5/23
|
During the 1830s-1850s the United States Army arguably had the most visually beautiful uniforms before they became more conservative in the 1860s. They were not made at all for comfort, and the dress …
more
6/28/23
|
The Rhode Island School of Design, commonly referred to as RISD, has long been a part of our state’s history. Part university and part museum, it was established in 1877 by the Rhode Island …
more
6/21/23
|
The U.S. Model 1863 Double Rifle Musket made by J.P. Lindsay has to be one of the strangest muskets made during the Civil War. When a Lindsay is amongst other more common rifle muskets they …
more
6/14/23
|
Any native Rhode Islander (of a certain age) remembers Rocky Point Park in Warwick, Rhode Island. Although it closed the year I was born, my parents used to talk about the amusement park by the water …
more
6/7/23
|
Not many know the U.S Army’s birthday is coming up on June 14th, so I thought I give a brief history about how our army came to be…
The United States Army was officially formed by a …
more
5/31/23
|
If you follow Bruneau and Co on social media, you may remember in December Kev and I took a quick day trip to North Carolina to pick up an epic collection. We didn’t spoil the surprise then, …
more
5/24/23
|
Back in March we picked up a collection of uniforms deaccessioned from a museum. The uniforms had been donated over the years but didn’t meet the mission of the museum, so we brought them to …
more
5/17/23
|
For nearly a century, two giants have fought to dominate the American toy industry in a never ending battle of creativity and innovation. Those two giants are none other than Hasbro and …
more
5/10/23
|