Mad in Pursuit Notebook

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POSSESSED! Index

See also: On Being A Collector section at the end of the topic areas.

AFRICA (See more in BEADS & JEWELRY below)

African masks: sacred loot or commercial fine art? (28 Jan 2022)

Bakongo: Minkisi (Power Objects) (20 Apr 2015)

Baule: Beauty Tames the Beast (18 May 2013; 19 Sept 2016; 5 Feb 2026)

Birkina Faso: The Spirit Horse: Pay Attention! (6 Feb. 2026)

Congo: Luba Seat of Power (18 Jan 2009)

Egypt: Antique Asyut Embroidery (29 Oct 2013)

Ethiopia: Lost Scrolls of Desire (31 Aug 2012), Healing Scrolls (1 Sept 2012), both updated Nov 2023.

Gabon: Kota Reliquary Guardian (12 Jun 2011)

Ivory Coast: Bete Mask(16 Oct 2012)

Kuba Kingdom

• Textile patterns: embroidery on raffia cloth, (21 Jan 2009)
• Brain-teasing Kuba-Krazy, (26 Jan 2009)
• Brain-teasing Kuba-Krazy 2 (28 Jan 2009)
• Kuba Cloth: Visual Jazz (21 Sept 2016)

Mambila Tadep: Ghost in the Statue (26 Feb 2026)

AMERICAS (See more in BEADS & JEWELRY below)

Mexico: Alebrijes: Oaxaca Wood Carvings (17 Nov 2016)

Panamá: Coclé Culture Pottery: Shifting Perspectives (15 Oct 2012)

Panamá: San Blas Island: Kuna People: Classic Molas (8 Oct 2013)

ART DECO

Alabaster Maiden 1929 (20 Jul 2012)

Art Deco Bronze: Danseuse aux Boules (31 Mar 2013)

BEADS and JEWELRY

AFRICA

Romanced by Wandering Amber. Contemplating Saharan journeys on a snowy day. [1.4.03]

Sub-Saharan Agate: Staring into the Universe—Dot-In-Circle Motif [8 Aug 2012]

Work of a Spiritual Technician: Brass and garnet from the mountain exiles of Cameroon [28 Jan 2026]

AMERICAS

Ecuador: Folk Art Necklace with Coins and Medals [20 July 2012]

Guatemala: Coin Rosary [24 July 2012]

Mexico: Yalalag Cross from Oaxaca Area [18 July 2012]

Peru: Paracas Culture Condor-Bone Beads

CENTRAL ASIA

Kazakh Ring (29 Apr 2015)

Pakistan, On the Border: Peshawar Bead Bazaar (12.18.02)

Afghanistan: Tribal Necklace, On A Shoestring (3 Jan 2012)

Afghanistan: Another Necklace on a Shoestring (1 Mar 2019)

CHINA - KOREA - JAPAN

China: Romancing the Turquoise (23 Apr 2015, addendum 13 Mar 2019)

From the Sands of Western China: Petrified Coral Beads [11.10.02, addendum 11 Nov 2024]

COSMOPOLITAN - DESIGNER (including ENIGMAS)

Enigma 243: Bone and Shell Bib Necklace (27 Feb 2019)

Enigma 122: Circle-Dot Bones (26 Feb 2019)

EUROPE - NORTH AMERICA

Button Jewelry (2 Jan 2012)

Victorian Mourning Locket (27 Aug 2013)

MEDITERRANEAN ANTIQUITY

Face Bead, Ancient Mosaic (29 Aug 2012)

Roman Empire: Roman Glass Obsession (9 Jan 2012)

Rewarding Rediscoveries: A Tiny God in the Quartz (18 Feb 2015)

Ancient Civilization on the Face of a Bead (22 Mar 2026)

SOUTHEAST ASIA - SOUTH PACIFIC

The Karen Tribal Necklace, an excerpt from "Tribe of the Breakaway Beads"

Digging the Dog Tooth Beads (9 Sept 2014)

TIBET - NEPAL - LADAKH

Buddhist Mala from Tibet (30 Aug 2012)

dZi Bead: Making of a Good Luck Charm (1 Nov. 2023)

Tibet: the Biggest Bead (4 Mar. 2026)

CENTRAL ASIA (See more in BEADS & JEWELRY above)

Afghanistan: What little girls make: war rugs (16 Dec 2001) Listen to radio piece at PRX.

Small Tribal Rugs from Central Asia (27 Apr 2018)

CHINA (See more in BEADS & JEWELRY above)

Chinese Porcelain: Treasure or Bric-a-brac? (28 Sept 2025)

Liu Songnian: Three Sages Appreciating Antique (11 Mar 2013)

EURO-AMERICAN

The Santo Doll: Saint for All Seasons (4 Oct 2021)

INDONESIA (See more in BEADS & JEWELRY above)

The Barong of Bali: Lionhearted Energy (Bali) (21 Jun 2019, originally published in Medium)

The Tau Tau: Looking for the Real Thing (Torajaland, Sulawesi) (23 Jan 2001) [update to Medium version]

INDIA

Ride Through Fire! The lesson of Prince Siyavash (23 Mar 2026)

JAPAN

Aizen Myo-o: Wrath of Love (23 May 2011)

Album of Painting and Calligraphy #1850(12 May 2019)

Art as Exuberant Resistance: 19th Century Japanese Haiga 14 Mar 2026

Izuna Gongen: Buddhist Woodblock Detective Work (18 May 2011)

Tanuki: the shape-shifting trickster in my home (3 May 2023)

Kobo Daishi: Who Is He? (18 May 2011)

Netsuke: Tiny Treasures. (6 Jan 2012)

Ofuda: Buddhist Woodblock Prints from Japanese Shrines. (2013) Available on request. The rest of the story: Dutiful. Methodical. Curious. Public. W00t. (13 Apr 2013)

Portable Magic: Japanese Pocket Shrine (31 Dec 2011)

Shaka Nyorai & the Numinous Moment (13 Mar 2026)

Vairocana: Who Is He? (7 Jun 2011)

Yashitora Manuscript: drawing, calligraphy, oh my! (#1847 13 May 2019)

PHILATELY, POSTCARDS, LETTERS

The Real-Photo Postcard (10.9.2016)

Round The World on the Graf Zeppelin (19 May 2013)

Postcards from Viola (20 Apr 2005) [UPDATE]

Civil War Era Letters: Uriah W Stratton: Profile of a Civil War Hero (10 Jul 2013)

Categorizing and Dating Antique Postcards: 1 - Postcard Eras | 2 - Black & White Postcards | 3 - Color Postcards

PHOTOS, PRINTS and NEWSPAPERS

Advertising: The Electric Car in 1891: France vs. the U.S., promotion of Electric Storage Battery Co. of Philadelphia.

Ambrotype: What the Eyes See

Cartes-de-Visite: Capturing History: from Tragedy to Souvenir. The Sioux Revolt in Minnesota (19 Jul 2025)

Copperplate engraving: Secret of the Ghost Ship in My Closet. By Vincenzo Coronelli for the Atlante Veneto, 1690.

Daguerreotype: Ghosts in the Mirror. Five men of purpose and friendship.

Daguerreotypes: Capturing Images from Victorian Daguerreotype Jewelry -- a tutorial (6 Sept 2013)

Glass negatives: American Farm Children (16 Jun 2005) UPDATE WITH PHOTOS

Photogravure: Frances Willard: Portrait of A Woman At Work (7 May 2013; rev. 19 Mar 2019)

Civil War Era: Elmira Cornet Band (2 July 2013)

Civil War Era: Reflections on a photograph of Fort Sumter, 1866, by George N Barnard (by Brendan McDermott) (3 Jul 2013)

Civil War Era: Winslow Homer's War—Finding Inspiration (4 Jul 2013)

Civil War Era: Thoughts Upon Reading the News of Lincoln's Death (by Brendan McDermott) (5 Jul 2013)

World War I and Eastman Kodak: Reconnaissance Mission, 1917 (The Gilbert S. Dey Archive) (13 Jul 2013)

TIBET, NEPAL (See more in BEADS & JEWELRY above)

Looking for Tara (20 Mar 2013)

Green Tara: Sweet Compassion (tangka) (15 Mar 2012)

Chemchok Heruka tangka: lost in the in-between (8 Jun 2011, with updates)

Tibetan Incense Burner: Compassion Rises (#615, 4 Feb 2026)

On being a COLLECTOR

Who Will Care for the Ghosts?: Reflections on Not Downsizing (29 Sept 2016)

The Collector | The Collector, 2

What Spirit Gives Things Their Life?

What Possessed You to Buy That Thing??? Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Strangled in Tangles of Beads [updated 4.1.02]

Other

Themes emerging from beginning sales on eBay. OUTDATED