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Skull steins are a creepy way to toast the season

Lifestyle Columns

What could be creepier than drinking out of a skull? Porcelain manufacturers in Germany have been making skull-shaped steins for hundreds of years. The one pictured here, which sold for $343 at Fox Auctions, was created by Ernst Bohne Sohne. This company started as a decorating studio in 1848 and was taken over by Gebruder Heubach, famous for their porcelain dolls, about 1919. (Although skull steins were among their most popular designs, no, “Bohne” is not German for “bone.”) As popular as skull steins were, they were traditionally meant for a different occasion than Halloween ...

SPOOKY

Lifestyle Feature

Two area haunted houses — Zoo Man’s Nightmare Underground and New Ulm Nightmares Haunted House — are back in action this October as Halloween is right around the corner. Zoo Man’s Nightmare Underground Brent “Zoo Man” Mielke has give tours of his location at 145 East Main ...

Giving his life to Guatemala

Communities

FAIRFAX — In many ways, Fairfax resident Daryl Rieke was living the American dream. Cars, motorcycles, a cozy spot in the country and a stable trucking job to support it all. Despite all of that, no amount of money or material possessions made him feel content. For years, Rieke has ...

Gaetano Pesce’s Feltri chair combines comfort, style

Lifestyle Columns

Postmodern furniture is a parade of quirky styles and colors, unexpected shapes and materials, and innovative construction. Few designers are more quirky, colorful, or creative than Gaetano Pesce. Like many of the great 20th-century designers, Pesce (1939-2024) trained as an architect and designed lamps, jewelry, other home furnishings, furniture, and buildings. He is known for his clever work with resin and extruded plastic, but his creative output has a softer side, too. His most famous furniture design might be the UP-5 chair, also called “La Mamma” for its curvy, feminine ...

Have you seen the laser zone?

Lifestyle Feature

They are invisible to the human eye during the day, but at night, laser beams shed a bright green light around turkey barns that is hard to miss. The lasers are on a pole on top of turkey barns for a good reason. Operating around the clock, they reduce the number of birds on or near the ...

Martin Brothers imitations not a cheap knock-off

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They say that imitation is the highest form of praise, and it follows that the most desirable antiques are often the most reproduced. Take the famous “Wally Birds” made by Martin Brothers of England in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. These fanciful stoneware bird figures with heavy texture, colorful glazes, and endearingly grotesque faces can sell for $50,000 or more. Unsurprisingly, they have many imitators that sell for lower prices. But less expensive doesn’t always mean inexpensive. This set of two garden statues inspired by Martin Brothers’s birds sold for $1,037 at ...