This is an episode worthy of going into the "rock" star hall of fame - get ready for an exciting hour about the Hope Diamond! 

Host Ben Miller is joined by Melise Ozkardesler to discuss this curious object, its history and the world of collecting ancient gemstones.

Join Curious Objects host, Benjamin Miller in a conversation with Genevieve Wheeler Brown, the author of Beyond Blue and White to talk about the history of Delftware ceramics through the female lens. We learn about the fantastic women who made these coveted ceramics and understand the humor behind these fascinating pieces of decorative arts.

In this episode, Host Benjamin Miller is joined by Laura Kugel of the Galerie Kugel in Paris to discuss the fascinating art of enameling from Limoges, France. Described by the poet Théophile Gautier in 1866 as “the immarcescible (indestructible) enamel”, these objects from the Renaissance still look as fresh today as they did when they emerged from the kiln all those years ago.

Coveted by the likes of Givenchy, J.P. Morgan and Yves Saint Laurent, these objects remain popular even today. Listen in to learn more about these delightful creations..

In this episode, the fine line between obsession and madness, illustrated in a piece of furniture. Toledo Museum of Art curator Erin Corrales-Diaz joins Ben to discuss a unique secretary desk which might hold the world record for inlay: thousands upon thousands of pieces of wood, which in its maker’s own words, “will do more in ten minutes to inspire young people with the possibilities of life than ten years of haphazard and scattered endeavor.

This episode brings two Curious Objects veterans and one first-timer back to the show to discuss the groundbreaking exhibition they've curated, Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence. Our object is a fine neoclassical table made in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1819, by a firm where enslaved cabinetmaker James worked. Ben and his guests explore some of the misconceptions around enslaved craftspeople, the complicated relationships they often had with their enslavers, and what this table can tell us about all of it.

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You may know Mary Randolph Carter (who goes by the name Carter) as the longtime director of Ralph Lauren. But she is also a savvy collector, and an eloquent exponent for the art of the same. Her latest book, Live With the Things You Love, and You'll Live Happily Ever After, delves into private collections the world over, drawing connections between environments full of interesting objects and the good life. In this episode Carter expounds on objects in her own collection, from the odd “Jello Rock Clock” to the sublime painted-plaster-and-wood Statue of the Blessed Lady.

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In this episode Ben Miller welcomes Keith Gerchak and Marisa Guterman, makers of the upcoming film Lost and Found in Cleveland. Featuring beloved stars like Martin Sheen and Jon Lovitz, along with *checks notes* “Constipated Appraiser” (Denise Dal Vera), the film follows a cast of characters intertwined with and connected to the world of antiques. Miller, Gerchak, and Guterman dig into the nitty-gritty behind the picture, the post-industrial American Dream in the Midwest, and the inspiration aplenty that came from Antiques Roadshow.

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It's kinetic sculpture, it's haute couture, it’s . . . armor! This month, Ben speaks with Chassica Kirchhoff, an assistant curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts, about a suite of metal suits from the 1500s that were worn and jousted in by the dukes of Saxony. Emblematic of the feisty Protestant state’s chivalric past and supreme examples of Saxon metalworking prowess, by the 1700s the suits of armor had come to represent “a fulcrum between the early modern past and the Enlightenment present,” Kirchoff says. Shortly thereafter they went on display at the famous Green Vault in Dresden, a precursor of modern museums.

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In this episode, Ben Miller introduces the Fine Objects Society, a new “association of forward-thinking professionals and enthusiasts who share a devotion to fine handcrafted historic objects” of which he is president. Officers Brenton Grom, Bailey Tichenor, Sarah Margolis-Pineo, and Benjamin Davidson, all former guests on the podcast, are on hand to detail the goals of this exciting new endeavor in the antiques field.

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They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And in the antiques world the sincerest form of imitation is reproduction: the humble and studious attempt to conserve the lessons of the past because of their timeless value. One firm that’s well-versed in this particular form of historical homage is James Robinson, Inc., whose hundred-year partnership with a legacy silver workshop in Sheffield, England, has resulted in what host Ben Miller calls “the best historical-style silver flatware being made today anywhere in the world.”

In this throwback episode, James Boening, director of James Robinson, Inc., and Craig Kent, workshop manager in Sheffield, come on the pod to dish about the vital importance of age-old processes like annealing, and the irony that homeowners would run themselves ragged trying to decide which rug to buy, but will settle for cold, unbalanced steel tableware without even blinking.

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