They say the main entrance door to The Warrington is permanently sealed because long ago a customer insisted on riding his horse into the pub. “The theory is that the two doors on either side of the main entrance were too narrow to ride a horse through,” said Dominic Marriott, general manager of The Warrington.
At that time, the establishment then known as the Warrington Hotel had adjoining stables for its customers’ convenience. Maybe that rider wanted to buy his horse a pint?
For ceramics collectors, Imari is a porcelain, a palette, and a passion. The style gets its name from the town of Imari on the coast of Japan’s largest island, Kyushu, which served as the primary shipping port for porcelain made in the nearby city of Arita.
Imari’s decorative style and bold color scheme became popular immediately with aristocratic collectors in Europe. The colorful designs were copied and interpreted by Chinese, European, and English factories. Even today, Imari porcelain brightens collections around the world.
Eastlake. Yuck! Those two words are often found together in many discussions of 19th-century American furniture. Other terms that may be lurking close by in those same conversations include ugly, clunky, gaudy and cheap. And in most cases the terms are aptly used since what is commonly called Eastlake furniture often fits nicely with those disparaging words. But the problem is with the application of the terms since most of what we refer to as Eastlake has absolutely nothing to do with the original ideals and concepts of one our favorite Englishmen whom we love to hate – right up there with George III. But Eastlake, unlike George, is undeserving of our enmity. In the long run he actually provided a valuable service to the American furniture industry and its consumers.
Charles Locke Eastlake was born in England in 1836 with the proverbial silver spoon firmly in place. Trained as an architect, he traveled Europe as a young man and became an art and architecture critic. At the age of 19 he was appointed secretary of the Royal Institute of British Architects. From this lofty vantage point he began to notice the ground swell of activity in the field of design reform. What had begun as a vague discontent with the stagnation of original English thinking on the subject crystallized into openly expressed distaste at the 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition.
Toys often can tell you when and where they were made. A recent sale of Easter toys included a tin rabbit that was marked “Germany … Made in U.S. Zone.” Country names in the marks on toys, figurines, dishes and other collectibles may tell the exact time the piece was made because boundaries and names of countries have changed many times. The rabbit was a tin toy that could hop when it was wound up. First clue to age: Key-wound tin toys were popular in the first half of the 20th century. The U.S. Zone mark was used on things exported from Germany between 1945 and 1949. Those are the years after World War II when Germany was divided and occupied by Allied forces. Other marks indicating dates used for a short time after the war are “Occupied Japan” (1945-1952), “West Germany” (1949-1990) and “East Germany” (1949-1990).
The origin of American chalkware is generally attributed to the Pennsylvania Dutch, first appearing in the mid 1800s as a low-cost decorative alternative to the more expensive English Staffordshire figures. These were often sold door to door by peddlers as late as 1900 until decorative objects made with more modern materials and manufacturing methods replaced them around the turn of the century.
Objects of molded plaster continued to be made as carnival prizes until the mid-20th century, at which time they were replaced by items like stuffed animals. Many forms of “carnival chalk” were of a different subject matter and style, like kewpie dolls and ethnic figures that were often politically incorrect by today’s standards. Molded and painted plaster sculpture are produced to this day, although items recently manufactured are sold as fakes to deceive collectors or as contemporary “antique” craft items.
The term chalkware is a misnomer because the material used is not actually chalk. Earliest examples are gypsum, the primary ingredient in plaster of paris. They were of hollow, thin wall construction, generally molded in two halves that were cemented together and paint-decorated in watercolor, occasionally in oils. Since chalkware is molded, many pieces have identical size and form and were able to retain their uniqueness through individual decorations. Early examples tend to be gaudy and not naturalistically represented. It would not be uncommon to find apples painted blue or another inappropriate color. Later examples were painted in tempera paints and typically are of solid rather than hollow construction.
Getting dressed was more complicated for a well-to-do woman in the 19th century. She wore undergarments, a camisole, petticoats, a laced corset, long stockings, shoes, a dress and accessories. To help with this project, furniture designers invented the slipper chair for the bedroom. It’s a chair with short legs that put the seat about 15 inches from the floor instead of the more normal 17 to 18 inches. That meant it was possible to bend only slightly to reach your feet to put on slippers (shoes) and stockings. The slipper chair was not made until Victorian times. Earlier Chippendale and Sheraton chairs were all of regular height. Slipper chairs were made in all Victorian styles: Gothic Revival (1840-60), Rococo or Louis XV Revival (1845-65), Louis XVI Revival (1860s), Renaissance Revival (1850-75), Greco-Egyptian Revival (1860-90) and Eastlake (1870-1900). The chairs are still useful in the bedroom for those who have problems tying shoes or slipping into elasticized tights.
Although most slipper chairs were made of wood and covered with upholstery, some unusual chairs from England were decorated with black lacquer and mother-of-pearl inlay. They went well with the papier-mâché furniture popular in England in the 19th century. Because of its short legs, the slipper chair usually sells for less than the matching full-size chair in a bedroom set. Continue reading
Smoking was an important part of the life of a well-to-do gentleman in the 19th century. A cigar after dinner was routine. Smoking paraphernalia was created not only to be useful but also to show off wealth. Collectors today still search for all kinds of tobacco-related items, although smoking has lost favor. Pipes, ashtrays, cigar holders, lighters, cigarette or cigar cases, cigarette or cigar boxes, cigarette dispensers and smoking stands are collected. Some collectors want commercial packaging and advertising, including cigar box labels and wooden boxes, packs of matches, cigar bands, cigarettes packs, trade cards for tobacco products, cutout newspaper and magazine ads, posters and other store ads, and store cigar lighters and cabinets. Many items sell for under $50, but some “tobacciana” collectibles are very expensive. Chrome, plastic, glass or porcelain match and cigarette urns, jewel-studded gold or silver cigarette cases, sterling cigarette boxes for the table and bronze ashtrays by famous makers sell to collectors of fine arts. One unusual piece from about 1860 is a silver cigar lighter and holder made by Tiffany & Co. The top part is an urn-shaped cigar lighter held by two figures of Hercules. Below that is a pierced tray made to hold cigars. Chains, embossed heads and other decorations make the 10 1/2-inch-high lighter an impressive table ornament. It was a gift to New York banker Charles Christmas from his partner, August Belmont, who became chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1860. Probably because it is a crossover collectible wanted by buyers of four types of collections – tobacco, political, unusual silver and work by Tiffany & Co. – it sold for $13,750 at a Sotheby’s auction. Continue reading
This week saw the opening of the annual European Fine Art and Antiques Fair organised by the European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) in the Dutch town of Maastricht. Every March the most prestigious international art and antique dealers assemble at the Maastricht Exhibition and Conference Centre to display their stock to the world’s wealthiest private collectors and leading museum curators.
Many Old Master dealers who show at Maastricht do 60 to 70 percent of their annual business during the two weeks of the fair. This year is likely to be the most important TEFAF fair for many years since it will offer an indication of the extent to which the global recession is affecting the upper echelons of the trade.
Meanwhile, a modestly priced art fair in London this weekend provided convincing evidence that the more affordable levels of the art trade are not just surviving the credit crunch but are actually enjoying improved business in the face of it. The Affordable Art Fair, which takes place twice a year in Battersea Park (in March and October), a stone’s throw from the fashionable and monied Chelsea and South Kensington districts, attracts art dealers from around the world, all of them offering art in the price range between £50 to £3000 ($70 to $4225).
Belleek china is one of the best-known products of Ireland. Visitors and collectors have carried Belleek teapots and vases home from Ireland since the 1850s. Irish Belleek is easy to identify. The porcelain is thin and covered with a creamy yellow glaze that looks wet. Many say it resembles mother-of-pearl. But, best of all, there is a mark on each piece and the marks have changed through the years, so you can identify and date your Belleek. Each mark includes a picture of a harp, a tower, an Irish wolfhound, shamrocks and a banner with the name Belleek. The mark has changed a little in size and shape, but it’s easiest to notice the color. The mark was black (1891-1946), then green (1946-1981), gold (1981-1992), brown (1984-1992), blue (1993-1999), black again (2000), then green again (2001-2009). A very popular pattern has green shamrocks scattered on the creamy glaze. What a perfect teapot to use on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Duncanson painting, $105,750, Cowan’s
An original oil on canvas painting by American painter Robert Scott Duncanson (1821-1872), done in 1856, sold for $105,750 at a Winter Fine and Decorative Art Sale held Feb. 7 by Cowan’s Auctions Inc. in Cincinnati. Also, a bust of Minnehaha by Edmonia Lewis rose to $138,000; a late 19th-century Ohio stoneware jar achieved $3,525; a portrait of a woman and child with dog, attributed to Sheldon Peck, made $22,325; and a rare Chinese rhinoceros horn libation cup changed hands for $18,800. Prices include a 17.5 percent buyer’s premium.