Figurines

In my younger days, I used to wear beaded collars over my sweater. I was going to give them to my daughter. Before I let her play dress-up with them, are they valuable?Anything from the 1950s is growing in value. The Japanese-made beaded collars are selling for $5 to $20, depending on the condition and the intricacy of design. Collars with fur and rhinestones among the "pearls" are especially popular. Don't let your daughter play with them. When she grows up she might want to wear them with her sweater.

Halloween doesn't scare Melanie Brzozowski into a fit of random decorating. She treats the holiday with the approach she takes to other seasonal events. Two weeks ago, Brzozowski switched out the blue seascape decor from the warmer summer months in favor of a little black magic perfect for October's spooky vibe. "It's not so much about the gore. It's embracing a great holiday," said Brzozowski, the event design consultant for Chef's Expressions. "I am like a mad scientist with my Halloween entertaining: I add a cup of funky, a spoonful of elegance and a pinch of sparkle — always have to have sparkle — to get the proper balance with my decor, events and menus.

WHAT BEGAN as a stay-at-home mother's hobby 23 years ago has become a fledgling business for two Eldersburg women.Rosemary Cushman and Deborah Weil are set to herald the holiday season with their line of carolers and angels crafted from wine bottles. The women use the bottles, foam, wood, fabric and plenty of imagination to create their unique figurines. The pair showed off their wares Saturday at a Christmas market at Pleasant Valley Volunteer Fire Hall.Mrs. Cushman became interested in making the figurines when she purchased some pre-starched fabric and instructions in a Texas craft shop.

The neon sign flashing "Casino" seems out of sync with the rest of the idyllic Christmas village on display at the Ellicott City Fire Station, reminding onlookers of Pottersville, the racy city that would have replaced homey Bedford Falls if George Bailey hadn't been born in "It's a Wonderful Life. " Down the hill, amid tidy drifts of fake snow, a worker puts the finishing touches on a billboard for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad that entices riders with the slogan "Sleep like a Kitten," written in old-timey cursive.

IF YOU'RE in the market for something a little different this holiday season, stop by Howard Community College's Galleria tomorrow between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. That's when Vladimir Marinich, social science professor and honors program director at the college, will be selling his hand-painted, signed holiday plaster figurines. "Last year, I had Victorian Santas," Marinich said. "I'll have some this year, too, but I'll also have some that are unique, like a biker Santa, fisherman Santa, golfer Santa, African-American Santas and several sleeping Santas."

When were finger bowls used?After dinner. The bowls were at the height of fashion in the 1880s. Victorian formal dinners frequently included greasy food. The diners found that their fingers needed to be cleaned after dinner. Finger bowls are still used, although usually not in individual homes. Many fine restaurants use them.I have a bird-in-cage clock marked "J. Kaiser G.m.b.H." on the bottom. Where it was made?Joseph Kaiser was a clockmaker in Villingen, Germany, between 1898 and 1909. The initials "G.m.

Even in the cradle, babies as young as 5 months have a rudimentary ability to add and subtract, according to a study being published today.The study seems to show that infants know when simple calculations like one plus one are done correctly or incorrectly. The infants indicated awareness that a wrong answer was given by staring longer at the unexpected results.Researchers say they believe that the finding, combined with corroborating research on infants and animals, indicates that, however modest, humans have an innate, biologically determined propensity for learning mathematics, as has been proposed for language.

Finally, a game with some teeth.It's called "Bite Me," and it's a Gen-X version of the card game "Old Maid," but with phat phrases and a whole lotta 'tude."

You could call Denise Hull's customers obsessed.For years, they've come to the Calico Mouse in Annapolis in search of just the right gnome, mouse, angel, porcelain doll or Smith Brothers reproduction cookie tin to add to their collections."

You could call Denise Hull's customers obsessed.For years, they've come to the Calico Mouse in Annapolis in search of just the right gnome, mouse, angel, porcelain doll or Smith Brothers reproduction cookie tin to add to their collections."

The FBI raided Barry H. Landau's Manhattan apartment twice, hauling out thousands of documents that authorities say link him to a theft scheme involving historical artifacts pilfered from libraries and museums in Baltimore, elsewhere in the United States and in the United Kingdom. But agents didn't take everything from his $2,700-a-month rent-controlled apartment. The 63-year-old who was arrested in Baltimore in July is seeking permission from a federal judge to sell some of his prized artifacts to pay his rent and other "everyday living expenses" while he is out on bail awaiting trial.

Barbara Jean George, a homemaker whose expertise preparing Southern-style cuisine found favor with family and friends, died Sunday of brain cancer at Carroll Hospice's Dove House in Westminster. She was 71. Barbara Jean Johnson, whose parents were farmers, was born and raised in Lenoir City, Tenn. She was a 1956 graduate of Lenoir City High School and worked as a waitress in Akron, Ohio, and Washington, where she met her husband. In 1964, she married Robert C. George, a mechanical contractor who was later president of Heer Bros.

Modern humans living in southwestern Germany more than 30,000 years ago may have crafted some of the world's earliest artwork, according to a new study published today in the journal Nature. The discovery of three small figurines carved from mammoth ivory - a bird, the head of a horse or other animal, and a half-man, half-animal - lends support to the notion that modern humans were producing well-rendered art soon after colonizing Europe. The finds also bolster a theory that the early artists practiced a form of shamanism in which religious leaders were believed capable of traveling between the human and animal realms.

Vladimir Marinich's hand-painted holiday figurines come in a wide variety of styles - including Santa Claus golfing, fishing, wearing graduation robes and playing baseball for the Orioles. But they all serve one purpose: raising funds for a Howard Community College scholarship in honor of his late companion, nursing teacher Marion Durkan. The Howard Community College history professor started something of a holiday tradition at the school six years ago when he started offering his Santas, snowmen and other holiday figurines to support the Marion Durkan Memorial Endowment.

IF YOU'RE in the market for something a little different this holiday season, stop by Howard Community College's Galleria tomorrow between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. That's when Vladimir Marinich, social science professor and honors program director at the college, will be selling his hand-painted, signed holiday plaster figurines. "Last year, I had Victorian Santas," Marinich said. "I'll have some this year, too, but I'll also have some that are unique, like a biker Santa, fisherman Santa, golfer Santa, African-American Santas and several sleeping Santas."

CARTHAGE, Mo. -- It was as Sam Butcher gazed up at Michelangelo's frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that he hit on an inspiration.He would build his own Sistine Chapel.Butcher is the creator of Precious Moments, the sentimental porcelain figurines of teardrop-eyed children that have become one of the top collectibles in the world, sometimes outstripping Hummel figures in sales.Precious Moments figurines made Butcher a millionaire, and he decided he wanted to use some of those millions to build something seemingly impractical, but beautiful: a chapel, like the Sistine, but with murals that featured Precious Moments characters.

Barbara Jean George, a homemaker whose expertise preparing Southern-style cuisine found favor with family and friends, died Sunday of brain cancer at Carroll Hospice's Dove House in Westminster. She was 71. Barbara Jean Johnson, whose parents were farmers, was born and raised in Lenoir City, Tenn. She was a 1956 graduate of Lenoir City High School and worked as a waitress in Akron, Ohio, and Washington, where she met her husband. In 1964, she married Robert C. George, a mechanical contractor who was later president of Heer Bros.

Finally, a game with some teeth.It's called "Bite Me," and it's a Gen-X version of the card game "Old Maid," but with phat phrases and a whole lotta 'tude."