Richard and Betty James spent $500 to start making Slinky toys in the 1940s. Betty had six children and little business experience when her husband left her in 1960 to join a religious group in Bolivia. She ran the business, became CEO of the company, developed new products and made Slinky one of the most successful toys of the 20th century.
Appolonia Margarete Steiff, born in 1847 and crippled by polio as a child, used a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She went to school, took sewing classes and learned to operate a sewing machine backwards with her stronger arm. Shemade some elephant-shaped pincushions as a gift for friends and then to sell to others. She realized they were being used as toys, so she started making large toy elephants. The company grew with her ideas and designs, and by 1893 she was issuing a catalog. Many relatives joined the company and helped it become the huge Steiff toy company still working today. Margarete made hundreds of different animal toys, even some based on the imaginary characters of comics and movies.
Felix the Cat was a cartoon character in a 1919 short film called Feline Follies. He soon became the star of a King Features comic strip and a TV cartoon series, and was made into toys. A Steiff Felix toy was made in 1927. He had a white face, not a black one, and did not sell well. Today, as a very rare Steiff toy, he is worth more than $4,000.
Q: I have several Dunbar furniture pieces made by Edward Wormley. They were originally done in a blond finish called “bleached mahogany.” My parents had two of the pieces refinished in a dark shade using Dunbar stains. I am debating restaining the other pieces. I have seen redone Wormley in high-end shops. The old finish has a brittle yellow quality caused by nitrocellulose lacquer. Is it OK to remove the lacquer? Will it destroy the value?
A: If the refinishing is well done and closely resembles the dark finish used by Dunbar, it probably will not be a problem. Fifties furniture like yours was made in quantity and is bought today for its decorative value. If the lacquer is discolored, it would be a plus to remove it. Don’t sand it, because you will remove some of the wood, and this would lower the value. Fifty years from now, Wormley’s designs may not be as easy to find, and your refinishing may be questioned. But are you treating the furniture as something to enjoy, not as museum pieces.
Q: I have several of my mother’s silk scarves marked “Vera.” They are decorated with bright flowers in a flowing informal style. Any history or price information?
A: Vera Neumann made colorful scarves, tablecloths, bedsheets, towels, fabrics, dresses, blouses and sleepware. She was born in Connecticut in 1907, graduated from Cooper Union’s art school in New York and painted watercolors that she turned into fabric designs. She and her husband, George, started making silk-screened placemats in their apartment in the mid-1940s. But she is best known for her scarves. She signed each one “Vera.” The earliest had a small signature, but the signature grew bigger each year as her designs became more famous. She added a copyright symbol, then a ladybug, probably in the 1950s and 1960s. Some think she continued using the ladybug until the 1980s. Her flower designs are best known, but she also did geometrics. After World War II, she bought surplus parachutes and used that fabric for scarves. Most of her work was made in the United States, but later pieces were made in Japan and China. Her name and designs are being made again. Scarves sell for $15 to $150.
Q: I have a 2-gallon stoneware jug with a handle that reads “Hamilton & Jones, Greensboro, Greene Co., PA” on it. It’s gray with blue writing. I’d like to know more about the maker.
A: Hamilton & Jones was in business from 1866 to 1898. The company was founded by John Jones and William Leet (or Lute) Hamilton. They made stoneware with hand-painted and stenciled blue designs. The pottery used several different marks, including some that said “Star Pottery” and some that said “Union Works.”
Q: Please help me figure out what my 9-inch fruit jar is worth. It’s a black amethyst glass jar with a porcelain-lined screw cap. The front of the jar is embossed “Mason’s Patent Nov 30th 1858” and there’s an embossed Maltese cross on the back. I bought this jar at auction years ago.
A: Your jar is most likely a fake made 40 or more years ago. Original Mason’s Patent jars with an embossed cross were not made in black amethyst glass, and the cross is on the front of originals, not the back. Still, repros as old as yours are selling, as reproductions, for around $70.
Tip: To clean an old coffee grinder, grind white rice through the mill. When the rice appears to be clean, the grinder is clean enough to use.
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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.
- Duncan & Miller glass wine goblet, Lily of the Valley cutting, circa 1955, 2 ounces, 5 3/4 inches, $25.
- Aluminum mugs, with handles, purple, red, gold, pink, turquoise and yellow, Color Craft of Indiana, 1950s, holds 16 ounces, 5 5/16 x 3 1/8 in., six pieces, $65.
- Effanbee Lovums doll, composition, open mouth, teeth, white handkerchief-linen baby dress, 1928, 15 inches, $200.
- E.T. toy, battery-operated, talks, mouth moves, finger lights up, box, 1980s, mint in box, 15 inches, $255.
- Thelma Deutsch giraffe pin, silver-tone metal, studded with square-cut and aqua-colored rhinestones, oval plaque on back, 1970s, 3 3/4 x 2 3/4 inches, $290.
- Silk parasol, carved ivory folding handle, ivory silk satin, ivory silk lining, pinked and scalloped edges, brass fittings, flowers carved in handle, black silk tassel, 1860s, $325.
- Solidiform grease can, lithographed tin, yellow, black photos of four people riding in touring car, fisherman in boat, Blade & Co., Portland, Maine, 5 x 4 1/4 inches, $350.
- New England Windsor armchair, bow-back, green paint, applied arms, nine spindles, 18th century, 38 inches, $585.
- Thousand Pyramids quilt, small squares in indigo, brown, red, burgundy, beige, light blue and pink, circa 1850, 80 x 87 inches, $740.
- Fulper Dragon vase, Cat’s Eye Flambe glaze, squat, ink-stamp logo, 7 7/8 inches, $1,175.
New! A quick, easy guide to identifying valuable costume jewelry made since the 1920s. “Kovels’ Buyer’s Guide to Costume Jewelry, Part Two,” a report on the most popular styles, makers and designers of costume jewelry. The report makes you an informed collector and may get you a great buy. Photos, marks, histories and bibliography. Special Report, 2010, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, 36 pp. Available only from Kovels. Order by phone at 800-303-1996; online at Kovels.com; or send $19.95 plus $4.95 postage and handling to Kovels, P.O. Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.
© 2011 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
