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This vase is decorated with fish carved into the clay, so the designs are raised. It sold for more than $3,000 at a Rago auction last June. Early Roseville with hand decoration sells for more than later molded pieces. The vase is marked with the raised Rozane Ware medallion.

Kovels Antiques & Collecting: Week of Jan. 7, 2013

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
This vase is decorated with fish carved into the clay, so the designs are raised. It sold for more than $3,000 at a Rago auction last June. Early Roseville with hand decoration sells for more than later molded pieces. The vase is marked with the raised Rozane Ware medallion.
This vase is decorated with fish carved into the clay, so the designs are raised. It sold for more than $3,000 at a Rago auction last June. Early Roseville with hand decoration sells for more than later molded pieces. The vase is marked with the raised Rozane Ware medallion.

Roseville Pottery was founded in Roseville, Ohio, in 1890. A second Roseville plant opened in nearby Zanesville in 1898. Early Roseville pieces were decorated with handwork, including sgraffito designs.

Sgraffito is a method of scratching or carving a design into wet clay. Roseville vases with sgraffito designs are the most expensive Roseville vases today. Later pieces were molded, and many were made with raised decorations of flowers and fruit. Almost every piece was marked with some form of the word “Roseville” or “Rozane” (a combination of the names of the two cities where the pottery’s plants were located). But be careful. Other potteries in the town of Roseville used the word “Roseville” in their marks, and there are many modern fakes of old Roseville vases.

A vase covered with raised fish designed in 1906 by Frederick Hurten Rhead, the company’s art director, sold for $3,125 at a June 2012 Rago Arts auction in Lambertville, N.J. It was marked “GA” by the unknown artist who carved the fish. An almost identical vase marked “ED” is known. There was a set pattern for the artists to follow for these vases, part of a Roseville line called “Della Robbia.”

Q: I’m trying to find information on the C.M. Bott Furniture Co. of Buffalo, N.Y. I have a piece by the company and can’t find any information. Can you help?

A: C.M. Bott Furniture Co. was founded by Charles M. Bott and was in business in Buffalo, N.Y., from 1914 to about 1931. The company specialized in making moderately priced dining-room furniture.

Q: We have a Cheerful Oak stove made by Channon-Emery Stove Co. It’s stamped with the number 1900, which may be the year of manufacture. Can you give us an idea of the stove’s value? It’s not in good condition.

A: The Channon-Emery Stove Co. was founded in about 1880 by Joseph Emery and William Channon. The company, located in Quincy, Ill., manufactured various types of heating and cooking stoves and ranges. The Cheerful Oak model is listed as a “heater” in an 1895 issue of The Metal Worker, a trade journal. The Cheerful Oak was made in three sizes and was designed to burn wood or coal. Your stove, if in poor condition, would sell for about $300.

Q: I read an article about old collectible cereal boxes in the Farmers Forum of Fargo, N.D. I have two Wheaties boxes picturing the 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins. Both boxes are in perfect shape and have never been opened. What are they worth?

A: A friend has one of the 1987 boxes, too. A single box, even in perfect condition, would sell for $10 to $15. If you decide to hold on to your Twins boxes, store them in archival bags. Open the boxes carefully from the bottom and empty out the cereal to prevent damage from insects.

Q: I found a large platter in my basement. I don’t know where it came from. It’s white with a thin decorative border and the letters “U.S.L.H.S.” at the top. It is 13 by 19 1/2 inches and is marked on the back “James M. Shaw & Co., New York.” There’s also a second mark I can’t make out. Any information would be appreciated.

A: The initials on your platter stand for the United States Lighthouse Service, which was formed in 1910. It merged with the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. The Lighthouse Service maintained all the lighthouses in the United States. Three different patterns of dinnerware were made for the Lighthouse Service, each by a different manufacturer. Your platter is in one of the first two patterns made. The mark you can’t read is probably the manufacturer’s mark. James M. Shaw & Co. was a New York City distributor that was bought by Nathan Straus in 1936. So your plate was probably made between 1910 and 1936. Value: about $1,000 because it was made for the Lighthouse Service.

Q: I have a green Lucky Strike trick cigarette pack. There’s a small key to wind it up in the back of the pack. Then the pack jiggles on the table.

A: Lucky Strike cigarettes were first made by the American Tobacco Co. in 1916. The package was green with a red logo until 1942, when the pack was changed to white with the same red logo. Your vibrating cigarette pack was made sometime before 1942 by J. Chein Co., a toy company founded by Julius Chein in New York in 1903. Chein made small toys and prizes for Cracker Jack as well as Disney, Felix, Popeye and other character toys. The company moved to New Jersey in 1949 and in the 1950s began making advertising tins, kitchen canisters, wastebaskets and other housewares. Chein stopped making toys in 1976. The Atlantic Can Co. bought Chein in 1987 and the company’s name became Atlantic Cheinco Corp. That company went bankrupt in 1992. Trick packs like yours sell for $80 or less.

Tip: Never wash a tobacco “felt.” The small flannel flags and other flannel premiums were packed with cigarettes in the early 1900s. They lose value if washed.

Need prices for collectibles? Find them at Kovels.com, our website for collectors. More than 84,000 prices and 5,000 color pictures have just been added. Now you can find more than 856,000 prices that can help you determine the value of your collectible. Access to the prices is free at Kovels.com/priceguide.

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, addresses or email 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, (Name of this newspaper), King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

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.

  • Cracker Jack toy paint set, Mysticolor, stop light on box cover, $10.
  • Frankoma Christmas plate, “The Annunciation,” marked, 1973, 8 1/2 inches, $18.
  • Table, mahogany, brass gallery, tripod base, round, 22 x 15 inches, $30.
  • Popeye toy tank, Popeye shooting gun, Olive Oyl, tin lithograph, windup, c. 1950, 2 1/4 x 4 inches, $125.
  • World War II poster, “A careless word, a needless sinking,” Office of War, Anton Otto Fischer, 1942, 37 x 28 inches, $210.
  • Spool cabinet, countertop, shape of horizontal spool, four drawers, painted, J.P. Coats, 18 x 22 inches, $420.
  • Writing table, Louis XV style, burled satinwood, bronze, three drawers, cabriole legs, France, 32 x 63 inches, $1,180.
  • Shearwater Pottery vase, black-and-white slip glaze, geometric pattern, Walter Anderson, 1930, 5 3/4 inches, $2,440.
  • Sterling silver water urn, George III, engraved crest, inscription, London, 1801, 11 3/4 inches, $2,990.
  • Sinumbra lamp, brass and bronze, entwined serpent standard, cut and etched glass shade, prisms, gilt, c. 1850, 31 inches, $3,345.

Available now. The best book to own if you want to buy, sell or collect – and if you order now, you’ll receive a copy with the author’s autograph. The new Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, 2013, 45th edition, is your most accurate source for current prices. This large-size paperback has more than 2,500 color photographs and 40,000 up-to-date prices for more than 775 categories of antiques and collectibles. You’ll also find hundreds of factory histories and marks, a report on the record prices of the year, plus helpful sidebars and tips about buying, selling, collecting and preserving your treasures. Available online at Kovelsonlinestore.com; by phone at 800-303-1996; at your bookstore; or send $27.95 plus $4.95 postage to Price Book, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.

© 2013 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

This vase is decorated with fish carved into the clay, so the designs are raised. It sold for more than $3,000 at a Rago auction last June. Early Roseville with hand decoration sells for more than later molded pieces. The vase is marked with the raised Rozane Ware medallion.
This vase is decorated with fish carved into the clay, so the designs are raised. It sold for more than $3,000 at a Rago auction last June. Early Roseville with hand decoration sells for more than later molded pieces. The vase is marked with the raised Rozane Ware medallion.