J. Clarke articles

It’s the kind of story you’d expect from a movie script, not a museum logbook. A long-lost Renoir—stolen from the Baltimore Museum of Art in the early 1950s—vanishes for over six decades, only to pop up at a flea market in West Virginia for the low, low price of seven bucks. It’s a tale of luck, loss, and the laws that keep art where it belongs.

Imagine walking into a thrift shop and grabbing a painting for five bucks—only to find out it was made by David Bowie. That’s exactly what happened in Ontario, Canada, and yes, it’s as wild as it sounds. One small painting from a donation center turned into an $88,000 payday.

Forget dorm food and finals week for a second—college isn’t just about getting a diploma anymore. Around the world, countries are racing to build the smartest classrooms, the coolest research labs, and the most welcoming campuses.

Barbie has always been more than a doll—she’s a lifestyle. From her sprawling mansions to her designer wardrobe, she’s built an empire of pink perfection. And as it turns out, some of those miniature accessories are worth a very pretty penny. Collectors are shelling out thousands for mint-condition items from the 1950s through the early 2000s, proving that even Barbie’s tiniest details can pack a major financial punch. Let’s dig into the treasures currently turning collectors’ heads—and wallets—upside down.

Back before flat screens and smart remotes, televisions had presence. They hummed, glowed, and looked like furniture—or sometimes like something out of a spaceship. Today, collectors are hunting these vintage beauties for their craftsmanship, nostalgia, and sometimes surprising resale value. From space-age spheres to wood-paneled wonders, here are twenty retro TVs that are truly worth collecting.

Starting a business isn’t just about having a killer idea or a relentless work ethic—it’s about planting that idea in the right soil. Some US cities practically breathe entrepreneurship, offering fertile ground where startups can sprout into empires. The secret sauce? A mix of accessible funding, diverse talent pools, supportive tax policies, and lifestyles that don’t turn you into a stress ball. From sunny Miami to tech-savvy Seattle, these are the top cities where business dreams meet real-world opportunities.

There was a time when action figures were just toys—plastic heroes tossed in the sandbox, dunked in the bathtub, and forgotten under the couch. But in today’s collector’s market, those same toys can fetch thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars. From superheroes to wrestlers to obscure one-off characters, these figures have turned into serious investments.

Before iPhones and foldables ruled the world, our pockets jingled with chunky Nokias, flip phones, and slider models that felt more like props from spy movies than everyday gadgets. And while most of us tossed them into drawers or pawned them off for lunch money, collectors today are willing to shell out thousands for these blasts from the past. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and look at some retro phones that now sell for serious cash.

Money talks—and in some American cities, it shouts. Average salaries can vary wildly depending on where you live, and some places reward workers far more than others. From tech-fueled hubs on the West Coast to bustling business centers in the Midwest and East, certain cities consistently rise above the rest when it comes to earning power.