2023 Columbian Exposition Gift Guide

If you are shopping for a gift to give a Columbian Exposition enthusiast or just want to treat yourself to a little something during the holiday season, check on these products relating to the 1893 World’s Fair. Note: We provide this announcement of new products without any compensation from vendors. Prices and availability subject to change. We already reported on a fun new World’s Fair board game, Chicago 1893: The City Beautiful, from Transit Tees ($40). Atlas Stationers has [...]

By |2024-11-21T09:26:51-06:00December 1st, 2023|Categories: NEWS, PRODUCTS|Tags: , , |0 Comments

Build your own World’s Fair host city with “Chicago 1893: The City Beautiful” tile game

The Great Chicago Fire of October 1871 has burned a four-mile-long scar across the heart of the city. It’s time to rebuild the city as Chicago plans to host the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Reach your hands into the bag and select your next tile to create your unique vision of Chicago … before your opponents upset those plans. Chicago 1893: The City Beautiful is a new tile game from Transit Tees in Chicago. Players use a set of ninety-one [...]

By |2023-11-28T17:27:48-06:00November 28th, 2023|Categories: NEWS, PRODUCTS|0 Comments

The White City Wish Book: Toys and Holiday Gifts from the 1893 World’s Fair

What holiday gift would you have wished for? In the years following the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, children could have received any number of fair-themed toys and games. Shown below are some examples advertised in the Montgomery Ward Catalogue & Buyer's Guide for 1895, the Carl P. Stirn Catalog of 1893, and various newspapers of the era. Which items would you have circled in the White City Wishbook? Views of the Fair Toys   Administration Building Banks Ferris Wheel [...]

By |2023-11-24T08:28:03-06:00November 24th, 2023|Categories: ANTIQUES, REPRINTS|Tags: |2 Comments

Nov. 12, 2023: “Collectibles from Chicago’s Two World’s Fairs” (Chicago)

The Glessner House in Chicago is hosting an event showcasing collections from both the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and the 1933-34 Century of Progress. On Sunday, November 12, 2023, "Collectibles from Chicago's Two World's Fairs" will bring together several World's Fair collectors who will exhibit a portion of their collections, ranging from guidebooks, postcards, tickets, and commemorative coins to wall hangings, glass and ceramic tchotchkes, plates, and silver spoons. We will be bringing some items from our collection and [...]

By |2023-12-28T10:39:51-06:00October 5th, 2023|Categories: COLLECTING, EVENTS (past)|Tags: , |0 Comments

Season’s Readings: 2022 Books about the World’s Columbian Exposition

2022 brought several additions to the World’s Columbian Exposition bookshelf.

Tiffany sterling silver monumental flagon made for the 1893 World’s Fair sells for $40,950

A silver monumental flagon made by Tiffany & Company for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and exhibited in their pavilion there has sold at auction for $40,950. Included in Doyle’s “American Furniture, Silver & Decorative Arts” auction on November 2, 2022, the silver flagon came from the family of Katherine Medill McCormick (1853–1932), daughter of Joseph Medill and wife of Robert S. McCormick. The item exceeded its estimate of $25,000 - $35,000. This silver flagon made by Tiffany [...]

By |2022-12-04T09:04:19-06:00November 27th, 2022|Categories: ANTIQUES|Tags: |0 Comments

Childe Hassam painting of the 1893 World’s Fair sells for $44,000

American impressionist painter Childe Hassam (1859–1935) created several paintings of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. He visited Chicago for the first time in 1892 to prepare his works that depicted what the World’s Fair would look like when open the following year. He also exhibited five oil paintings and five watercolors in the Palace of Fine Arts. An original 1893 World’s Fair painting by Hassam sold for $44,000 in the Heritage Auctions American Art Signature Auction #8099 on [...]

By |2022-11-13T12:44:26-06:00November 13th, 2022|Categories: ANTIQUES, NEWS|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Sept. 21, 2021: World’s Fair Auction #39 closes

Columbian Exposition collectors may be interested in World’s Fair Auction #39, now open for preview. Online bidding closes at 10:00 PM EST on Tuesday, September 21, 2021. The auction catalog can be viewed at: http://www.worldsfairauction.com/cgi-bin/catalog.cgi. Lots 21 through 71 are items related to the 1893 World’s Fair, and include several products commemorating various building of the White City: a china vase decorated with an image of the Horticultural Building; Report of the Committee on Awards World's Columbian Commission two-volume [...]

By |2021-09-12T12:43:33-05:00September 12th, 2021|Categories: ANTIQUES, EVENTS (past)|Tags: |0 Comments

An original painting of the 1893 California State Building sells at auction

An original painting of the California State Building from the 1893 World’s Fair sold at auction for $2,800 on June 25, 2021. The 9.75-by-13.5-inch, unframed oil on canvas features the second largest state building (after that of Illinois) on the Columbian Exposition fairgrounds. Artist William Woodward (1859–1939), who served on the planning commission for his home state of Louisiana, depicted with impressionist flair a crowd passing in front the Mission Revival style building designed by architect A. Page Brown. [...]

By |2021-08-14T16:48:10-05:00August 15th, 2021|Categories: ANTIQUES, NEWS|Tags: |0 Comments
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