Silver-plated triangular pieces of metal were formed into this 5 3/4-inch-high cigarette box made by John Otaredze about 1935. Talisman Fine Arts of San Francisco sold it last year for $1,000.
“If you like it, buy it” is the motto of many successful collectors. But sometimes you can’t afford to. We saw an unusual cigarette box about 20 years ago at a small antiques show. It was made of triangular pieces of silver-plated metal stacked one on top of the other like a deck of cards. The stack was twisted into a spiral. There was a cover over the hole inside that held cigarettes. We didn’t need the box, but it was fascinating, and we really wanted to buy it. But it was $100 – too much money for our budget – so we passed it by. No one, including the dealers, seemed to know more than we did about the unusual, well-designed box, even though it was marked “Otar USA, Pats. Pend.” We have seen two more, and the price has been higher each time. But now the cigarette box’s history is known, and we realize what a bargain we passed up years ago. John Otaredze was a Russian immigrant who worked in the Santa Cruz, Calif., area from about 1920 until he died in 1939. He made and sold lighting fixtures, andirons, lanterns and other metalwork, but he is now best-known for his Art Deco-modernist metal boxes. He patented the design and marked each box. Last year, Talisman Fine Arts of San Francisco sold one at Trocadero.com for $1,000. The value continues to rise.
This figurine depicts Frederick Cook and Robert Peary clinging to the world while searching for the North Pole. The 1910 bisque vignette was made by Gebruder Heubach, a German firm. It sold at a Theriault’s auction in 2008 for $1,120.
Was it Robert Peary or Frederick Cook who first reached the geographic North Pole?
Collectors who try can learn many stories about the past through the collectibles of bygone eras. An originally inexpensive 1910 figurine showing Peary and Cook clinging to a globe is a clue to the pair’s history. Cook claimed he reached the pole on April 22, 1908. Peary claimed he made it there on April 7, 1909. Both stories are doubted today.
Later expeditions and investigations showed that some of the records and memories of the Inuits on the original expeditions were false. And the two explorers themselves appeared to be untrustworthy. Cook claimed his records of the expedition were lost. He also claimed to have climbed to the top of Mount McKinley, but later evidence showed he did not reach the summit. He was convicted and imprisoned for using the mails to defraud investors in an oil venture. Peary made false claims of discoveries in an 1898 expedition. In 1907 he said he discovered far-north Crocker Land, but later explorers proved the land did not exist. He was also faulted for mistreating the Inuits and for fathering a boy with a young Inuit girl.
There is still controversy concerning the two men, but the figurine makes it clear that in 1910 there was great interest in the explorers, the North Pole and the truth. Today credit for the first undisputed sighting of the North Pole usually goes to the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who flew over the pole in May 1926.
1917 Uncle Sam Recruiting Poster by James Montgomery Flagg (American, 1877-1960), sold for $3500 on June 21, 2008, by Cowan’s Auctions Inc. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.com Archive.
As American as apple pie, Uncle Sam is the anthropomorphic symbol of the United States of America. Just as John Bull is for Great Britain, America’s Uncle Sam is an iconic figure. Often depicted as a serious man with a white goatee, Uncle Sam is typically dressed in red, white and blue, often with stars and top hat.
The first known illustration of our American icon dates back to 1852, though the term “Uncle Sam” was coined much earlier, around the time of the War of 1812. At that time soldiers in upstate New York would receive barrels of meat stamped U.S. from the supplier, Samuel Wilson. The soldiers began to jokingly refer to their supplier as Uncle Sam, and the name caught on. On September 15, 1961 the United States Congress adopted a resolution saluting Sam Wilson, a meat supplier of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of the symbol of Uncle Sam.
The most famous illustration of Uncle Sam was done by James Montgomery Flagg on a WWI recruiting poster. The text of the poster read “I Want You For The U.S. Army.” While Uncle Sam’s face was modeled after Flagg’s own, the poster was based on a 1914 British army recruiting poster featuring Secretary of State for War Horatio H. (Lord) Kitchener.
The Flagg poster also was produced in a smaller size for the Navy. While much more rare than the army poster, the Navy version is more reasonably priced at auction. Recruiting posters that bring the most money are those from WWI, which sell in the range of $2000-$3000.
This national symbol has been used on everything from children’s toy wagons to Civil War illustrated letter envelopes. Uncle Sam has been extensively used in advertising, like Oshkosh B’Gosh Overall’s enameled steel sign.
Uncle Sam has been a popular item on political campaign buttons. Cigar boxes and tobacco tins carrying Uncle Sam’s image range in price from $25 to $500. This symbol of American patriotism has endured for nearly 200 years and is unlikely to lose its popularity in the near future.
Wes Cowan is founder and owner of Cowan’s Auctions, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. An expert on historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series History Detectives and is a featured appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. Wes holds a B.A. and M.A. in anthropology from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan. He is a frequently requested speaker at antiques events around the country.
Phoenix Furniture Co. made this 60-inch-wide Arts and Crafts sideboard. The carvings were inspired by an earlier style. It sold for $4,200 at a Treadway/Toomey Galleries sale last year.
Grand Rapids, Mich., was the center of furniture manufacturing in the United States by the 1860s. It was the right place at the right time. The country’s population center was moving west. Homeowners were much closer to Grand Rapids than to New England. A new way of thinking about a house had evolved, too. By the second half of the 19th century, good stylish furniture was a sign of the good life. Women were to stay home and create a “proper domestic environment” for the family. Large houses had special rooms — a parlor, library, hall, bedroom, kitchen and dining room. Each required its own furniture — a dining table, hall tree or washstand. Often a parlor was furnished with a suite: a man’s chair, woman’s chair, four smaller chairs, a sofa and perhaps a table in the same style. It was now possible to make furniture with less-expensive machine-carved parts. The family furniture was a status symbol, just as a media room or the latest sports car would be today. Paintings were important, too, and so were small decorations like vases and figurines and the yards of fabric used to make drapes and upholstery. The Phoenix Furniture Co. started making Victorian-style parlor furniture for the middle and upper classes in 1876. In 1900, styles changed. Arts and Crafts furniture with straight lines and very little decorative carving was made for rooms with fewer sofas and chairs and uncluttered tabletops and shelves. Phoenix Furniture altered its style and made Arts and Crafts pieces, some with a touch of Victorian carving and trim. The company had already made the McKinley Chair with straight lines and a cane seat back in 1895. It was one of the first popular Arts and Crafts designs. Phoenix was acquired by Robert W. Irwin in 1911, but the Phoenix name and a picture of a Phoenix bird continued as a trademark on Irwin pieces until 1931. Irwin went out of business in 1953.
A rare Know-Nothing Party flag from the mid-19th-century sold for $42,300 at a Historic Americana Sale held Dec. 4-5 by Cowan’s Auctions Inc., in Cincinnati. The Know-Nothing Party, also known as the American Party, was founded in 1841. It believed that foreigners were a detriment to America. Also highlighting the auction, Scottish photographer Alexander Gardner’s group of 32 stereo views of the Fort Laramie Treaty fetched $36,425 and an early camera-film projector-printer device called a Cinematograph, circa 1895, made $30,000. Prices include a 17.5 percent buyer’s premium.
Mallett’s Bond Street premises will be vacated later this year once a more appropriate London location is found to sell their period furniture. Image ACN.
We will have to wait until the February auctions of contemporary art to gauge the extent to which the recession is taking its toll on what has for the last 10 years been the mainstay of the international art market. Meanwhile, elsewhere one might be forgiven for blaming the credit crunch for one or two significant recent events in the antiques trade. However, not everything is as it seems.
This week it was announced that leading London period furniture dealers Mallett are quitting their Bond Street premises to seek out more appropriate showrooms in Mayfair. Meanwhile, another stalwart English period furniture dealer, Norman Adams Ltd., has announced the imminent closure of its Knightsbridge galleries adjacent to Harrods. The Norman Adams stock will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s in April.
Do you recognize this 5-1/8-inch silver piece made by Paul Revere? It’s a tongue depressor with a fiddle-coffin handle. It auctioned in 2008 at Skinner in Boston for $14,100. Could that be a record price for a tongue depressor?
“What’s-its” are fun, but were rarely made by great artists. Paul Revere, the famous horseback rider who warned that “the British are coming,” made this odd silver piece stamped with his name. There was an economic depression before the American Revolution, so although Revere was a successful silversmith and goldsmith, he also earned money to support his wife and eight children as a copper-plate engraver who made illustrations for books, songs, menus and magazines. And he was also a dentist, political activist and soldier. After the Revolution, Revere was a hardware store owner and importer, and was active in charity work. He also owned a copper rolling mill and a foundry that made cannons, bells and other large objects. The unusual silver object stamped with his name probably was made between 1768 and 1775, when he was a dentist. He cleaned teeth and made false teeth carved from walrus ivory or animal teeth. The mystery object, a tongue depressor, may have been used by Revere in his dentistry practice. It sold for $14,100 at a Skinner auction in Revere’s hometown of Boston.
Q: My old wooden school desk has a lift-up lid and iron legs that could be bolted to the floor. It is the combination kind that was put in rows in a schoolroom. The desk was made with a flip-down seat for the student in front. That means unless there is some way to remodel the desk and remove the chair, it’s not very useful as a desk. Any suggestions?
A: Combination desks were being used in schools by the late 1890s. Some are still in use today. They were first made by the Grand Rapids School Furniture Co., founded in 1886. By 1899, the company had merged with 18 others to form the American Seating Co. of New York City. The earliest desks had cast-iron legs. In 1911, American Seating started using tubular steel for legs. Later improvements included adjustable height, swivel seats and a base that was not bolted to the floor. All of these features were in use by 1921 on the “Universal” chair. After World War II, chairs were made using new materials like plywood and plastic. The company is still in business. We have seen old desks like yours in children’s rooms. The flip seat serves as a book storage area, and a separate small chair is used with the desk.
Q: Please tell me what my 9-inch Griswold cast-iron skillet is worth. It belonged to my mother, who died a few years ago at the age of 97. The marks on the bottom include “No. 6,” the word “Griswold” in a circled cross above “Erie, Pa.” and the number 699. I don’t want my kids selling the skillet for $1 at a garage sale.
A: Skillets and other cast-iron cookware made by the Griswold Manufacturing Co. are collectible. Tell your children not to sell the skillet for $1. Griswold made cookware from the late 1800s until the 1950s. Skillets came in various sizes and styles. Yours, the No. 6 skillet, made using Griswold’s pattern No. 699, sells for $15 to $20.
Q: How is a spoon holder used?
A: A spoon holder looks like a vase. The spoons are put in the vase with the stems up. At a buffet dinner or when coffee or tea is served at the table from a large pot, the spoon holder and spoons are near the creamer and sugar bowl. Spoon holders, also called spooners or spoon trays, became popular after the Civil War. They were usually glass or silver. In later years, the spoon holder and spoons were passed around the table. They were out of style and no longer used by the early 1900s. Buffet dinners, introduced just before World War I and extremely popular by the late 1940s, brought back the idea. Some practical housewives used small vases or old spooners to hold silverware near the stacked plates on the buffet table.
Q: My Art Deco lamp is shaped like a nude woman. It is made of metal and glass. The name “Frankart” is on the bottom. Where and when was it made?
A: Frankart Inc. was in business in New York City from 1921 into the 1940s. It made mass-produced lamps, ashtrays, bookends and vases. Most designs featured a slim, nude, Art Deco woman made of green- or bronze-finished britannia metal or aluminum. The owner and chief designer for the company was Arthur von Frankenberg. The nude figures were the most popular, but the company also made golfers, cowgirls and animals. When Frankart went out of business, its molds were sold for scrap. Several other companies made pieces similar to Frankart’s. Although collectors often call all green nude-woman lamps by the name “Frankart,” a lamp must be marked with the Frankart name and patent number to be authentic. A Frankart lamp with original finish can sell for more than $1,000.
Tip: Use a soft-bristled paintbrush to dust lampshades.
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 e-mail 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.
Jackie Robinson Daily Dime Register Bank store display, die-cut cardboard, image of Jackie at bat, c. 1950, 10 x 14 inches, $510.
Madame Alexander Amy doll, plastic, blond, curler box, Alexander dress tag, box, 14 inches, $675.
Federal dining table, walnut, 3-part, 2 drop leaves, D-shape ends, 4-sided tapered legs, c. 1810, 42 x 20 inches, $785.
Pewter serving tray, waterlily center, dragonfly handles, Hugo Leven, c. 1898, 11 x 18 inches, $3,150.
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.
Pilgrims are painted inside the glass shade on this 24 3/4-inch-high Pairpoint lamp. It sold at Brunk Auctions in Asheville, N.C., for $4,140.
Electric lamps with glass shades were popular from the 1870s to the 1920s. Unlike a candle flame, a lightbulb could face down and was not too hot for a shade with a closed top, making the use of glass shades possible. And as up-to-date, unusual and attractive objects, glass-shaded lamps became expensive status symbols.
It is said that Louis Comfort Tiffany was the first to make a lamp with the light focused down. The lamp looked like a group of lilies with drooping heads made of iridescent glass. He is best known for his lamps with dome-shaped leaded-glass shades made of colorful pieces of glass.
Another famous lamp maker of the time was the Pairpoint Manufacturing Co. of New Bedford, Mass. The company, founded in 1880, originally made coffin fittings, but it soon became the largest manufacturer of silver-plated wares in the United States. In 1894, it merged with its next-door neighbor, the Mount Washington Glassworks. Pairpoint then made glass, silver plate and lamps. The two most desirable types of Pairpoint lamps today have reverse-painted glass shades or molded glass shades, now called “puffies.”
In the 1930s, the company reorganized and changed its name and products, but remains in operation. The reverse-painted shades were decorated on the inside by artists, who signed their shades. Lamps also carried a trademark that included the word “Pairpoint.” Lamp bases were made of metal or wood, and these also were signed. A Pairpoint lamp with reverse-painted scenes of pilgrims, sailing ships and flowers sold in 2008 for $4,140 at Brunk Auctions in Asheville, N.C. Its rectangular shade is 13 inches wide, and its base is cast metal. Continue reading
This champagne glass was sold by Garth’s Auctions in Delaware, Ohio, for $40. It may be by a relatively unknown glassworks in Vienna in the 1920s or it may be by a similar, less important and newer company.
Educated collectors find bargains. The more you know, the more likely you are to find a sleeper at a house sale or auction. And it is also important to handle a piece to judge weight, texture and quality. Recently a group of five blown-glass champagne glasses were offered at auction. Each glass had a transparent “globe” on the stem with a tiny colored glass bird inside. The bowl and base of the glasses had lines of color swirled in the glass. They were in the style of Bimini glass, a relatively unknown but expensive collectible glass. Fritz Lampl (1892-1955) made hand-blown glassware, often with tiny lampwork figures, at his workshop in Vienna in 1923. Lampwork is a special way of sculpting thin rods of glass heated over an open flame. It’s a method often used by today’s artists to make beads. In Vienna the Bimini factory made glasses, cocktail sticks, figures (especially ballerinas), lamps and vases. The glass was marked with paper labels. In 1938 Lampl moved to London and started the Orplid workshop that specialized in glass buttons. The company was out of business before Lampl died in 1955. Others copied his style and made similar glasses, decanters, perfume bottles, swizzle sticks and tiny animals. An expert who handles glass can tell the difference. It would be difficult to be sure in an online auction. Glass objects by Bimini are very lightweight. The shape and posture of the figures are accurate but lack details. Swirled green lines and birds are both found in glasses by Bimini and imitators. The auctioned champagnes identified only as Art Deco, not Bimini, sold for $40 each. The glass price guides show similar Bimini glasses with birds at $300 each. Were they an unrecognized bargain or were they just attractive glasses? Careful examination by a glass expert will tell.
This 5-inch-tall Santa-shaped china salt and pepper set was imported by Holt-Howard in 1960. The Winking Santa set is worth $35 to collectors of Christmas memorabilia and those who seek pieces by the Holt-Howard company.
Houses were decorated with special Christmas objects long before special dinner plates were made for the holiday. There are at least five states that claim they had the first American Christmas tree: Pennsylvania (1747), Massachusetts (1832), Illinois (1833) and Ohio (1838). The first glass ornaments were imported in the 1860s; the first tree lights were used in 1882. Large platters decorated with turkeys were made by the 1880s and probably were used for Christmas as well as Thanksgiving dinner. Special Danish plates with a Christmas scene made to hold Christmas cookies were made each year after 1895 by the Bing and Grondahl factory and after 1908 by the Royal Copenhagen factory. But the first set of Christmas dinnerware did not appear until 1938, when Spode made a special set that featured a picture of packages under a Christmas tree. (The first suggestion for the design showed a tree with packages ON it, but the design was changed for the American market.) The Spode pattern is still popular. Since the 1950s, hundreds of special dishes have been made for the holiday season. There are many collectors who want not only Christmas trees and ornaments, lights and stands, but also anything that is part of the Christmas season. Special salt and pepper shakers, cake stands, punch bowls, vases, cookie jars, cookie cutters and even a small eggbeater shaped like an egg-person wearing a Santa hat can help with Christmas dinner. Look for new Christmas items that are not traditional ornaments, trees or toys. It is the unusual that will gain most in value in years to come.
Wes Cowan is founder and owner of Cowan’s Auctions, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. An expert on historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series History Detectives and is a featured appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. Wes holds a B.A. and M.A. in anthropology from the University of Kentucky, and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan. He is a frequently requested speaker at antiques events around the country.
