Auction finds: modern art, an ancient pottery form, and a bonkers silver cardholder

Plus, a late-night sister gab-fest

My sister is visiting as part of my father's 80th birthday celebrations, and we stayed up late tonight talking in that way that siblings can sometimes fall into - hearing about what's going on with her friends and with mine, a web of intimacy that extends far beyond either of us. She cares for friends of mine that she's never met - and I do the same; keeping up with successes and setbacks; babies grown now into college students, tales of crazy beloved dogs and thrilling escapades. The friendships continue to hold us both, and that is a happy thing.

We spent part of the evening talking about my new job as the Interim Executive Director of my local historical society, where that same sense of enduring connection and unfolding stories has been a constant theme. Since starting in mid-May, I've fielded inquiries from researchers about Civil War veterans, handled a Revolutionary War cannonball made in a local foundry, seen a quilt made by the great-great-great-grandmother of a volunteer who …