I have become a big fan of hickory golf and Tom Stewart - both thanks to the late Ralph Livingston III.
There is a great interview with him from 2004 under the "Feature Interview" tab above, the link is below...
http://www.golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/feature-interview-with-ralph-livingston/Tom Stewart was born in 1861 and became one of the most respected makers of irons in his time - clubs used by Bobby Jones and Francis Ouimet, among others. He forged clubs in St. Andrews and at the height of their operation they were making up to 50,000 heads per month. Stewart was famous for making high quality clubs and being a stickler for quality. Stewart died shortly after his retirement in 1931.
Ralph wrote the definitive book on Stewart and as Jud noted, if you are interested, I would try to get your hands on a copy soon. A very limited hardcover edition was published along with a larger run of paperbacks and I wouldn't guess a second edition would be in the plans. It is certainly the definitive book on Tom Stewart.
Giving Ralph's passion for the game and for being an evangelist for Stewart, he certainly was successful in bringing more attention to this maker and as such, the prices for his clubs have gone up considerably over the past few years.
Stewart's are not all that uncommon given how many they produced during the height of their production, but some clubs are very valuable based on the usual circumstances - scarcity of a model (i.e. Giant niblick), some famous association with a player (FO/RTJ's), or even a simple dot punch which denoted that club as being personally inspected by Tom Stewart himself (estimated at 1 out of 50) – this was usually for a new model or for a player of prominence.
Mullock's Auction house conducted an auction earlier this month in Pinehurst, the vast majority of Ralph's collection was sold at auction that evening - both to buyers in the room and bidders from around the world. eBay currently has quite a few Stewarts up right now, but as with any internet purchase, buyer beware. Some of the prices listed under the "Buy Now" button are a bit steep in my limited knowledge, so it will be interesting to see if they sell.
As for hickories today, there are quite a few resources for getting them refurbished and into playable condition. I am really new to hickories and certainly a novice when it comes to Stewarts, but I can say the hickory golf community is very welcoming and quick to help answer questions.
As for hickory golf in general, it is certainly a harder way to play the game no doubt, but to me it is almost more fun. You have to think a bit more, navigate your way around the course, and exercise a bit more patience - but the rewards are higher in my opinion. It is not all that easy to explain and two years ago I had little to no interest in giving it a go - why make a hard game even harder? But Ralph convinced me otherwise and for him and his enthusiasm, I will always be thankful...