Owl & Twig
The Field Guide
How to identify, date, and value the things you find. Written from what passes through our hands, one estate sale at a time.
FeaturedSeller's Desk
Find us in Waterford: our new booth at The Rabbit Hole
The Rabbit Hole in Waterford Township is doubling its floor space and adding 23 new vendors, and Owl & Twig is on the lineup. Booth pieces are sold in the store only. Reopens September...
Nothing in that drawer yet.
Home & SeasonalThe Wiffle Ball: The Patent Ran Out in 1974. The Trademark Never Did.
A 1954 patent names two inventors, not one, and draws a hole pattern no Wiffle ball sold today...
Home & SeasonalThermos: The Trademark a Federal Court Ruled Belongs to the Dictionary
By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · October 1, 2026 James Dewar built the first vacuum...
Home & SeasonalColor-Anodized Aluminum Tumblers: The Seaplane Patent Behind the Patio Set
By Matthew Partsch - Owl and Twig Vintage - October 1, 2026 The rainbow-colored metal cups that showed...
Home & SeasonalGurley Candles: The Bottom Label Dates It to Before or After 1949
By Matthew Partsch - Owl and Twig Vintage - October 1, 2026 A wax witch stamped Tavern predates...
Home & SeasonalPAAS Easter Egg Dye: The Trademark That Predates the Popular Origin Story
By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · October 1, 2026 PAAS has sold Easter egg dye...
Home & SeasonalThe vintage blow-mold Santa: the mold nobody patented, and the trademark that actually dates one
Blow-mold Christmas decorations could not have existed before the early 1960s, one manufacturer's federal trademark record beats the...
Home & SeasonalRadium dial clocks: legal to sell today because of one federal exemption
The Hazard Files, Case No. 008: a built-in federal exemption, not a ban or a border, is what...
Home & SeasonalThe pink flamingo: no one ever patented it, so Union Products signed it instead
Don Featherstone sculpted the two poses in 1957 from a National Geographic photograph, Union Products sold the pair...
Home & SeasonalThe Christmas bubble light: a federal court ruled its own inventor didn't invent it
Carl Otis is credited almost everywhere as the inventor of the Christmas bubble light. A 1950 federal appeals...
Home & SeasonalThe aluminum Christmas tree: a Chicago patent no one remembers, and a trademark no one owns
The patent Evergleam licensed to build the aluminum Christmas tree wasn't filed first, the name was never federally...
Home & SeasonalShiny Brite ornaments: a light bulb machine made them, and the cap dates them
Shiny Brite was a brand on a carton, not a glasshouse. Corning blew the blanks on a machine...
Home & SeasonalThe Beistle jointed skeleton: the reproduction is made by the company that made the original
Beistle has run continuously since 1900 and still sells its own circa-1936 jointed skeleton for under fifteen dollars....
Home & SeasonalThe Garfield aquarium: the fish tank where the fish live inside the cat
Hawkeye Corp. put a two-gallon fishbowl in the stomach of a cartoon cat famous for eating anything that...
Home & SeasonalThe Halloween artist on your shelf: a Johanna Parker collector's guide
She may be the most widely sold Halloween designer in American retail and one of the least recognised...
Home & SeasonalWhy vintage Halloween collectibles hold their value
Halloween decorations were built to be thrown away, which is exactly why the survivors are worth what they...
Home & SeasonalVintage ceramic Christmas trees: why the date on the base lies to you
The famous Atlantic Mold A-64 ceramic Christmas tree design was copyrighted in 1958 and cast for roughly forty...
Home & SeasonalVintage planters: styling tips for effortless charm
Updated on: 2026-07-17 Vintage planters bring character to indoor and outdoor spaces through distinct shapes, materials, and patina....