Recently, I've come across a number of homeowners who collect tin toys. Eric Roth, an interiors photographer, collects tin robots, mostly found on eBay; painter Lee Essex Doyle and her husband, Walt Doyle (internet exec of Where), have a variety of tin characters, and Joel Neuschatz, a retired physician, collector of Americana, and co-author of Vintage Smoking Stands, has shelves and shelves of tin vehicles. Each of the collectors are motivated by aesthetics, using the old-fashioned playthings as objets d'art. Indeed, eBay has seen a 12 percent jump in listings for tin toys since May, a sign that others are joining in on the fun. read more

Museums are as ubiquitous in Paris as Starbucks are in Manhattan, dutifully anchoring every other block. I need only walk five minutes in any direction of my Marais apartment to visit the National Museum of Modern Art, the Picasso Museum, the Museum of Hunting and Nature, the Magicians Museum, the Key Museum and Museum of Arts and Crafts. Easy to miss because it’s tucked in an impasse between the main boulevard across from the Pompidou Center and the public gardens of Saint Aignan, is the doll museum or Musée de la Poupée. And for anyone who ever carried a Cissy, a Barbie, a Tammy or an American Girl, this little den of dolls is not to be missed. read more

Forget "The Real Housewives." Laura Bennett is a Spanx-wearing, martini-drinking Real Mom of New York City. Bennett, who came to national attention as the ever-stylish pregnant redhead on the third season of Project Runway, is a fashion designer, trained architect, mother of six and now, published author. read more

Sibling—or better yet, spouse—shops Yoya and Yoyamart are two of Manhattan’s most eclectic, forward-seeking children’s boutiques. Located in the ever-trendy Meatpacking District, the stores are a result of two couples' frustration with the lack of local children's stores that appealed to both parent and child. read more

The highly anticipated sequel to Iron Man premiers on Friday, May 7. To get into the spirit, eBay is holding a themed auction of comic books, original comic art, and other comic-related collectibles. read more

Sarah Gray Miller, Editor-in-Chief of Country Living magazine, is a self-professed “eBay fanatic.” She has stocked both her West Harlem apartment and her gingerbread Victorian in Athens, NY, with a unique, but certainly appealing, brew of clean lines and kitsch and is not afraid to throw down a sizable bid on a twenty-foot motorboat. read more

Billy Reid, who was recently awarded the 2010 GQ/CFDA Best New Menswear Designer in America and who describes his forthcoming fall collection as “Southern preppy meets workwear junkie meets East Village folk,” is devoted to “well-made pieces that look better with age…from a turn of the century antique lamp to a wax cotton hunting jacket.” read more

In Japan, Buddha's birthday is observed every year on April 8th. On this day, called the Hanamatsuri, or "Flower Festival," people bring fresh flowers to temples in remembrance of Buddha's birth in a grove of blossoming trees. A search for "Buddha" on eBay yields over 38,000 listings. And while there is plenty of kitsch to be had, we feel that Buddha deserves better. So we sought out items befitting of the man and the teachings that have influenced so many for so many centuries. read more

Fifteen or so years ago, Mickey Boardman, the Creative Director of Paper magazine and a fashion front-row fixture who favors lime green Lacoste polo shirts topped with a bejeweled necklace and a glitter cardigan, fell in love with a woman. She was Queen Marie of Romania, and Boardman became besotted when he read her biography, The Last Romantic, by Hanna Pekula. And thus began a sprawling collection of royalty books and memorabilia. read more

Brian Van Flandern's new book, Vintage Cocktails, brings mixology to the masses. Featuring gorgeous photos and recipes for dozens of cocktails, it covers them all, from the classic, like the Gin Fizz and Brandy Alexander, to the crazy, like the Missouri Mule and Man O War. A true research buff, Van Flandern has scored his share of barware treasures on eBay. His best find was a Venezuelan bitters bottle from 1824, which he recently donated to The Museum of the American Cocktail. read more