In past centuries, medicine was very different than it is today. There was little knowledge about the causes of illness until Louis Pasteur reported in 1864 that germs cause disease. Even the idea of washing your hands to avoid germs was a 20th-century idea.

Most medicines were herbs and potions that had been found to help, although no one knew why. Sometimes parts of snakes, insects, roots, crushed minerals and other strange materials were used. Alcohol and drugs like cocaine and marijuana were effective painkillers. An apothecary shop sold all sorts of dried mixtures, cures and medicines, usually made from alcohol and herbs. The shops kept some of the dry medicines in large jars decorated with the appropriate name and a fancy border. Other medicines were kept in glass jars, drawers or small-folded paper packets. Today’s medicines in sterile containers and pill form have helped raise the average life expectancy from about 37 in the 1800s to about 66 today. Medical tools, medicine and medicine containers all are collected. Old medical tools bring high prices.

Q: I have an old organ that looks like an upright piano. It was made by The Stevens Organ & Piano Co. of Marietta, Ohio. Any information about it?

A: The Stevens Organ & Piano Co. was founded by Collins R. Stevens. Stevens worked for Estey Organ Co., which made the best-selling organ of the day, from 1859 to 1877. In 1888 he opened a store in Marietta selling pianos and organs. Stevens went into a manufacturing business with Orin C. Klock, a piano salesman, in 1892. They made reed organs under the name Stevens & Klock. The company made both organs and pianos, but when piano sales slowed, it made only organs. Organs were cheaper than pianos at the turn of the century, and many homes had parlor organs. The company name was changed to Stevens Organ Co. when Klock retired, and later it became Stevens Organ & Piano Co. Stevens began making combination reed-pipe organs in piano cases about 1900. The company also made large pipe organs for churches, and began making phonographs by 1919. Stevens died in 1921, and the company went out of business in 1924.

Q: My grandmother gave me a white glass teapot she bought at a yard sale years ago. It’s marked “Glasbake” on the bottom. The teapot’s handle is plastic, and its lid is metal with an attached tea strainer that hangs by a chain. I can’t find any information about Glasbake. Can you help?

A: Glasbake was a line of glass kitchenware and bakeware introduced in 1921 by McKee Glass Co. of Jeannette, Pa. McKee made Glasbake to compete with Pyrex, the glass cookware that has been made by Corning Glass Works since 1915. Ironically, McKee could make the competing line only because Corning granted it a manufacturing license – just as it had granted a license to another competitor, H.C. Fry Glass Co. of Rochester, Pa. Fry sold its glass cookware under the name Fry Oven Glass. Collectors of vintage Pyrex or Anchor Hocking’s Fire King wares are beginning to be more interested in Glasbake. Glasbake teapots sell for $25 to $35.

Q: I have a lovely little glass perfume bottle inscribed “Mary Dunhill.” Who was Mary Dunhill?

A: Mary Dunhill was the daughter of Alfred Dunhill, the founder of a company in London that sold a variety of luxury items. Mary introduced her line of perfume at Dunhill’s in 1934. Eight different fragrances were made between 1934 and 1941. She became a director of Alfred Dunhill Ltd. in 1943 and chairman in 1961. Mary Dunhill died in 1988.

Q: I have a cobalt blue Perrine’s Apple Ginger bottle. It has an apple embossed on one side and lettering on the other side that says “North Front Street, Philadelphia.” Can you give me some information about the age and price? I found a picture online of the same bottle in amber.

A: The original Perrine’s Apple Ginger Bitters bottle was made in orange to yellow amber glass, never blue, and has an applied sloping collar. An amber bottle sells for about $300. Your bottle is a reproduction made by the Wheaton Glass Co. of Millville, N.J. Wheaton started a new division in 1965 under the name Wheaton/Nuline. It was renamed Wheaton Products in 1973. In 1967 the company started to make reproductions of old American bottles. The bottles were made in different colors from the old ones and were marked “W,” “Nuline” or “Wheaton, N.J.” Production of Wheaton bottles was discontinued in 1974-’75. They can be found for sale at flea markets and antiques shops and shows for $5 to $15.

Tip: Don’t wash, set, comb or change the original hair on a vinyl doll. It lowers the value.

Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names and addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

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CURRENT PRICES

Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.

• Cast-metal Victorian sewing bird, clamp with key screw and leaf design, pressed metal bird clamp with leaf spring, patented Feb. 15, 1852, 5 by 3 1/2 by 1 3/4 inches, $90.
• Prest-O-Lite battery poster, paper, “Without Water,” desert scene with palm trees, men on camels, 1930, 28 by 22 inches, $115.
• Steuben glass candlesticks, garlic bud, air-trap base, bead bobeches, signed, 4 3/4 by 5 1/2 inches, pair, $180.
• Reed & Barton silver napkin ring, badminton player, figural, woman holding racket in her right hand, shuttlecock in the other, $200.
• Pluto the Drum Major windup toy, tin lithograph, rubber ears and tail, Pluto holds baton and bell, horn in mouth, rocks back and forth, Marx, 1950s, 6 inches, $225.
• Play Golf mechanical toy, tin, golfer swings at ball and tries to knock it in hole, golfer in 1920s outfit, Strauss, 12 by 7 inches, $630.
• Spatterware plate, Schoolhouse pattern, red schoolhouse, green trees and ground, 6 3/4 inches, $990.
• Norah Wellings RAF Aviator doll, felt swivel head, blue eyes, painted features, uniform, 1940s, 29 inches, $1,825.
• Aubusson tapestry-faced sofa pillow, Napoleon crossing the Alps, ecru silk ivory fringe tassels, 27 by 23 inches, $1,920.
• Edwardian Chesterfield sofa, mahogany, beige leather upholstery, padded and tufted back and arms, bun feet on casters, circa 1900, 29 by 86 by 38 inches, $6,300.

Looking for a last-minute gift? The new, full-color Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, 2009, 41st edition, is your most accurate source for current prices. This large-size paperback has more than 2,500 color photographs and 42,000 up-to-date prices for more than 700 categories of antiques and collectibles. You’ll also find hundreds of factory histories and marks and a report on the record prices of the year, plus helpful sidebars and tips about buying, selling, collecting and preserving your treasures. Available at your bookstore; online at Kovels.com; by phone at 800-571-1555; or send $27.95 plus $4.95 postage to Price Book, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.

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