Hello! Welcome!
I’m Julia Henri, a published writer, photographer, professional researcher, and former Accredited Appraiser with the International Society of Appraisers. Most of all, I have had a lifelong interest in the stories historical objects can tell.
I began my journalism career at the Boston Herald, where I worked my way through the newsroom to staff writer, covering crime and investigative stories. I have since written and photographed for newspapers, magazines, trade publications, and major auction houses, with experience in both print and television newsrooms.
My interest in historic objects grew alongside my work as a journalist and photographer. A fascination with fourteenth- and fifteenth-century illuminated manuscripts led to years of study in Renaissance drawing and painting methods, historic pigments and materials, vellum and parchment, gilding, and related techniques. I also researched original fifteenth-century illuminated manuscripts in the Rare Manuscripts Department of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
For many years, I worked as a director in the high-end auction world and then as an Accredited Member of the International Society of Appraisers, one of the most respected professional appraisal organizations. My work brought me into contact with major museums and libraries, prominent private collections, and significant estate collections. My specialties ranged from historic costume and textiles to fine art, photography, antiquarian books, historic documents and manuscripts, glass, and decorative objects.
While working as a professional Accredited Appraiser with the ISA, I underwent extensive training and formal examinations so that my resulting, and often extensive, appraisal reports were thoroughly researched, fully substantiated, and capable of withstanding academic and legal scrutiny.
That work taught me the importance of authentication, careful examination, and establishing an honest written provenance through substantiated research. I want to know what an object is, where it came from, what can be proven about it, and what cannot.
The story counts.
Today I write and photograph Juicy History, my independent publication on Substack devoted to finding stories that have been overlooked and often investigating the evidence behind some of history’s more unusual claims. My stories typically begin with an old book or photograph, a painting, an item of historical clothing, a museum object, a letter, or something peculiar discovered in a centuries-old periodical...or attic.
I am especially fascinated by the histories of everyday life and by the objects that have traveled through time only to land in our hands.
Most of all, the truth of an object’s history is essential.
The items offered to you through The Gilded Griffin are carefully chosen, and many come from my own family of collectors. Some family provenances extend back nearly two centuries, while other records may seem insignificant, but were lovingly preserved.
My family loved the stories and strove to keep records.
A selection of these objects has also appeared in Juicy History, where they have been used to illustrate and document the histories I write about.
Each item in The Gilded Griffin shop is individually researched, photographed, and described, with particular attention to provenance, materials, construction, condition, and any historical evidence that can create a lasting record of exactly what it is, where it came from, and, if we’re lucky, the person or persons who once owned it.
The Gilded Griffin has been part of my life since 1999.
The shop brings together the work I have done for decades as a journalist, photographer, artist, professional researcher, and appraiser.
It matters very much to me that these objects go on to people who will appreciate not only what they are, but the history they carry with them.
The Gilded Griffin also helps support my studio and the extensive work now underway on a nonfiction book project involving an important time in American history.
You can read more about my professional background through my profile at the Authors Guild:
And you can read Juicy History, my Substack publication, where I write across a wide range of subjects including historic and vintage fashion, art history, antique automobiles, historic food and recipes, rare photograph albums, social history, and the peculiar details of everyday life that so often disappear from conventional histories.
Thank you, so very much for reading my Substack newsletter!
Connect to a free subscription by following the above link.
© 1999–present The Gilded Griffin.
All text and images © Julia Henri unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved.