Fish, Lizards, and Snakes---Oh My

 

QUESTION: I’ve had a ceramic plate with fish in relief swimming on it. I originally bought it at an antique show because I liked the funky decoration. I’m not necessarily a collector, although I have some antiques. I’ve never seen a plate like this since. Can you tell me anything about it?

ANSWER: I believe what you have is a piece of French Palissy ware from the 19th century.  Palissy ware usually depicts realistically colored, aquatic landscapes teeming with stalking lizards, swimming fish and slithering snakes amid a rich variety of luxuriant foliage.

Named after the great French, 161h-century, Renaissance potter, Bernard Palissy, who referred to his works as rustique, meaning “in the rustic style.” developed a distinctive style of earthenware. In creating naturalistic scenes of plants and animals and finishing them off with polychrome glazes inspired by nature. He called his three-dimensional creations of lifelike flora and fauna “Art of the Earth” and “rustique,” and they came to be known as “rustique figurines.” Recognizing his talent, the queen of France, Catherine de Medici, brought Palissy to Paris and bestowed upon him the title “The King’s Inventor of Rustic Figurines.”

Palissy wares were so realistic that the creatures he depicted seem ready to hop, slither, or crawl from whatever piece on which they lay. He sculpted each scale on a snake, each rib in a fish’s fin, each vein running through a leaf. He often cast each creature from master molds created from the creatures themselves. The wares often exhibit extraordinary detail and complexity. Although we may see closely matched pairs of urns, vases, or platters, subtle differences in glazing, placements and textures, assure each piece is unique.

The use of many individual molds for components means creating Palissy style wares is far more complicated than many other ceramics. Each piece can take as long as 10 to 15 days over a period of two to three months to complete because of drying time. Artists use individual molds to create each element, which then becomes part of the composition. 

It wasn’t until 250 years after his death in 1590, that French ceramist,Charles-Jean Avisseau from Tours, rediscovered Palissy’s lost secrets and started a revivalist movement lasting 50 years.

Avisseau joined a Tours pottery where he learned the art of ceramics, painting and sculpture. In 1825 he was hired to supervise the ceramic works of Baron de Besenval.

Once. during a visit to the Baron’s home, Avisseau was shown a ceramic piece attributed to Bernard Palissy and became so enraptured by its brilliant enamel and delicate workmanship that he decided to devote his life to the rediscovery of Palissy's secrets-For more than 15 years, he researched the chemistry and fusion of leaded enamels to recreate and then surpass the work of "Master Bernard:' After he exhibited his work at the Great Universal Exhibition of London in 1851 as well as in the 1849 and 1855 Exhibitions in Paris, his fame grew.

Avisseau created clocks, fountains, dishes, candle-sticks. fish baskets and mirror frames, all sought by wealthy collectors, statesmen, aristocrats and museum curators. 

Even though he became successful at producing Palissy ware, Avisseau shared his knowledge willingly with other ceramists. 

Joseph Landais, who was himself a skilled potter, left his family while quite young to work in an earthenware factory. In 1843, he joined Avisseau's workshop for a few months, then established his own shop, claiming that he, not Avisseau, had rediscovered Palissy's secrets. The feud continued throughout Avisseau's life. Landais also exhibited his works at the 1851 Great Universal Exhibition of London, at which he received a meritorious award. He produced a variety of vases, platters, plates, pitchers, mirrors, urns, as well as some monumental works.

Leon Brard painted marine still lifes. He experimented with different clays and glazes during his 10 years in Paris, producing a variety of plates, plaques and platters. In 1859, Brard met Avisseau during a visit to Tours, moved there, and became a frequent visitor to the master's workshop while employed at a local pottery. Two years later, Brard opened his own shop. With an artistic and original style, he became known for his trompe l'oeil works on white faience surrounded by a cobalt blue border in the style of Rouen. At first glance, these works appear to be an artful presentation of fresh fish as might be served in the restaurant.

 reputation encouraged other ceramists to emulate his works. Victor Barbizet established a pottery workshop in 1845 to produce ordinary household ceramics and later Palissy ware. Around 1850, Victor and his son, Achille, moved to Paris and began to mass-produce Palissy ware. Over a period of about 30 years, the firm became very successful, employing approximately 60 workers at its peak.

However, the best known ceramist to follow the Palissy ware tradition was Alfred Renoleau, who lived and worked in and near the town of Angouleme in western France. His factory flourished for nearly 40 years and employed up to 40 workers. 

And like Avisseau, he marveled at the works of Palissy which he saw during a  visit to a decorative arts exhibition in Bordeaux. At night the young Renoleau practiced making ceramics using a homemade kiln in the attic of his house. Later, he persuaded his father to let. him work for one year in a nearby pottery, and promised to return if the craft disappointed him. Needless to say, he didn’t return home. He often signed his earlier pieces “Falder,” an anagram of his first name. In 1889, he moved to nearby Roumazieres at the Polakowski and Company factory where he produced some of his finest work. In 1891,he opened a small factory in Angouleme, but later moved to larger quarters.

While these ceramists made Palissy ware with the same type of clay and glazes as other forms of majolica, Palissy ware usually features darker colors and a more varied palette of brilliant enamels. Palissy ware is best distinguished from other majolica ware by its subject matter of fish, snakes and lizards recreated in realistically depicted pond life_

Because Palissy ware was decorative and non-utilitarian, pieces have survived in extraordinary condition. Unlike Victorian majolica which was made in production quantities, Palissy ware is unique. In most cases an artist working made his pieces alone, with no two being identical. Palissy ware hasn’t been produced for over a century.

Some ceramists marked their Palissy ware while others did not, and some marked their wares sometimes, but not always. Many scratched their signatures or monograms on to their pieces.

The pricing for 19th-century French Palissy ware runs from a few hundred dollars to several thousand or mare. Small works ranging from 2 to 3 inches generally run between $150 and $300 depending on condition and maker. Small pieces include goblets, cache pots, and bud vases. Larger versions, measuring about six inches, often sell for double. Medium size plates measuring 8 to l0 inches in diameter by such ceramists as Barbizet often sell for $1,000 to $2,500. And platters ranging in size from 12 to 18 inches can sell for $2,500 to $5,000. 

Finding Palissy ware is easier in France than in the United States, however, U.S. antique dealers who specialize in majolica often carry it.  

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Sparkling World of Glass" in the 2021 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Attention All Geek Collectors

 

QUESTION: I’ve been what’s referred to as a “geek” since I was a teenager. Back then, my buddies and I played all sorts of games on what today would seem like ancient machinery—old computers. Recently, I was cleaning out my attic and ran across my old Altair 8800. I remember when it graced the cover of Popular Electronics Magazine back in 1975. I haven’t used it in years but today, I own a souped up PC with all the bells and whistles. Do old computers like this have any value? 

ANSWER: Before you give that old computer the heave-ho, you might want to read on. It’s been 46 years since your Altair 8800 rose to prominence in Popular Electronics. During that time, personal computers—better known as “PCs”—have turned the world upside down and inside out. In fact, most people do very little without computers today, and businesses, especially, couldn’t operate without them. And without computers, this pandemic would have been shear Hell for most people. 

Geeks, also known as “nerds,” grew up with computers and often seek out their first ones. And in the retro movement, those from the younger generation are also trying to discover the computers from before they were born. In fact, someone out there collects just about any pre-1990 computer, but it’s the ones from the 1970s that are hot. 

One of the real classics was the Commodore 64. With 17 million units sold during its long lifetime, there are probably more Commodore 64 computers stashed away in closets and attics than any other model. Some say the Commodore 64 was the best-selling single computer model of all time. Collectors can usually find one or two available on eBay for anywhere from $10 to $300, with some in their original box.

Cover-featured in a famous issue of Popular Electronics magazine as a do-it-yourself project, the Intel 8080-based Altair wasn't the first microcomputer, but it was the first one that truly caught on, spawning an entire industry of clones, add-ons, and software suppliers. Bill Gates, through his company Micro-Soft, developed the first operating system for that computer, launching a company that operates to the present day. And because the Altair was such a big seller, it isn’t as valuable as some of the other early computers, however, models in good condition do sell today for over $2,000. 

The first clone of the Altair was the IMSAI 8080 which sold for $600 in 1975 and has a value nearly that now. It’s main selling point was its compatibility with the Altair 8800. It’s probably most famous today as the computer that Matthew Broderick used in the 1983 movie “War Games.”

Two of the most popular computers to catch the eye of consumers and now collectors are Radio Shack’s Tandy TRS-80 Model 1, which hit the stores in 1977 for $599, and the TRS-80 Model 100, which appeared in 1983 for $799. The TRS-80 became the first computer sold in shopping malls while the second became the first popular notebook computer, with nearly 6 million sold, making Radio Shack the world's leading computer retailer for a while. Both sell today on eBay for $25 to $250.

The IBM PC, which first appeared on the computer scene in 1981 at a staggering price of $1,565, is now worth between $50 and $500. More formally known as the IBM 5150, it revolutionized computing for the average consumer, becoming the first to use hardware and software made by third-party companies. After it’s introduction, no computer company, except Apple, had a monopoly on their wares. And in its January 1983 issue, Time Magazine named it the “Machine of the Year.” And today, in all of its many forms, that machine still is. 

Finally, there are Unix computers. These are one of the rarer computers on the market. Many companies, such as Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, and Hewlett Packard, developed variations of the Unix computer to run on their own custom hardware like SPARC and MIPS. For those who are interested in classic computing, it doesn't get more classic than Unix, and these were often workstation machines so they're usually a little bit better built than your typical Windows computer. You could easily run into Unix machines at commercial business liquidation sales.

What determines the value of an old computer? Just because it’s old doesn’t make it valuable. Companies flooded the market with their products. But what makes an older computer stand out is whether it was first on the market. 

What was the first desktop, the first laptop, the first tablet, or the first LCD screen? All these  firsts add value to otherwise old computer gear. It doesn't have to be a first if the computer has  technology on it that was unique but is no longer used, like plasma screen displays or ZIP drives. Even the first model of a long used series like the first Intel Pentium, or the first Intel Core processor can have a little extra value. In fact, some Intel Pentium's command a surprising price because they're known to contain a high quantity of gold. 

And as with toys, computers new in the box are worth more than used ones. There are a number of tech items that sell for hundreds if not thousands of dollars despite being essentially unusable for their original purpose. And while many computing items can be found new in the box, not all of them are valuable. However, the smart collector looks for those that are unique.

In February 2005, Christie’s held an “Origins of Cyberspace” auction which offered old documents detailing the foundations of computing. The auction drew a lot of attention to vintage technology and placed value on items once used only by geeks. Unfortunately, that attention caused vintage computer prices to skyrocket, thus pricing a lot of collectors out of the market.  

Although many old computers don't have a lot of redeeming features, that in itself is what makes them special when you find a classic one. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Sparkling World of Glass" in the 2021 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Shave and a Haircut Two Bits

 

QUESTION: My grandfather loved to collect old shaving mugs. By the time he died, he had collected over 100 of them. One of them belonged to his father. As his grandson, I’ve now inherited his collection. As much as I admire it, I’m not sure what to do with all those mugs. What can you tell me about shaving mugs in particular? And what advice can you give me on caring for his collection?

ANSWER: Curating someone else’s collection is at best challenging and at worst a nightmare. What you have inherited is the result of years of searching for just the right mugs. Collecting is an emotional process but a collection is a just a group of objects. What you need to do is make his collection your own. And that means learning everything you can about shaving mugs to start. 

Only after you have become somewhat knowledgeable will you be able to curate his collection. Curation is the inventorying of the collection, as well as its improvement. To improve his collection, you’ll want to cull out any pieces that are chipped or damaged in any other way by selling them in order to purchase better mugs. 

There was a time when a man could stop at his neighborhood barbershop and get a shave and a haircut for two bits, 25 cents. Today, it’s nearly impossible to find a barber who still offers a shave with a haircut. That went out with the advent of the safety and electric razors.

Most homes had no hot running water, so one had to boil water in order to shave. The soap used to fit into a cup, and with the hot water and a brush, a man could get a good lather to shave with his straight razor. So men began going to barbershops to get a shave.

When a man went to the barber for a shave, the barber used soap and a brush in a mug to work up a lather which he then applied to the face. Many of the shaving mugs were personalized and kept in a rack at the barbershop for the barber to use when shaving the men who owned them. From 1870 to 1930, shaving mugs were both a necessity and a status symbol. Almost all men owned one.

Mugs that men used at home are came in various shapes and didn’t have the owner's name on them. Some were in the shape of a mug with floral designs while others were plain. Many grabbed a mug from the kitchen cupboard for their shave, but as they were able to afford to go to the barbershops for a shaves, mugs with names and other information on them became popular possessions.

Hygiene was another stimulus for the proliferation of personal shaving mugs. It was thought that a shaving rash that some customers developed came from the use of the same soap on different customers, so barbers started selling individual shaving mugs and soap to customers, keeping in a mug rack in the barbershop.

In 1890, these would have sold for 50 cents to $2.50 each. This service benefitted the barber’s business since customers would generally return to the shop where they had a mug rather than go to another where they didn’t. 

The mugs used in barbershops were of many designs, but all had one thing in common—they were hand painted and had the owner's name on the front of the mug.  Some had just the owner's name while others had floral and scenic designs on them, or symbols of fraternal affiliations and illustrations of the owner’s occupation. It seemed a natural progression from mugs that depicted a man's occupation to those advertising a service or product.

Men sitting around the barbershop could easily identify who delivered milk, repaired shoes, sold meat, or owned the livery stable. This exposure probably led to an increase in the advertised customer's business, since so many men who went to barbershops lived in the area.

Early manufacturers of barbershop products also desired to increase sales, especially shaving soap. The Knights Company gave a free glass shaving mug to anyone who bought their shaving soap, thus encouraging them to continue to buy more soap. There were a variety of glass shaving mugs that barber’s gave free to customers who purchased shaving soap. 

Wildroot had a double bowl advertising mug that it offered in the 1920's. One of the bowls held the lather while the other held hot water. Later, they offered a Fire King shaving mug with a barber pole and the words "Ask for Wildroot" on the mug face. In the 1930's, Shulton Old Spice sold sets that included a mug and soap. Several other companies followed with their own mug and soap. 

In the 1950's, the Sportsman Company went a step farther and offered hand painted occupational mugs that showed various occupations using the name of the occupation rather than the name of the owner, such as Policeman, Lawyer, Doctor, etc. 

Some collectors consider hand painted shaving mugs both advertising and occupational, a type of folk art.  Artists painted them in barber supply houses on blank mugs obtained from Europe, since the United States had a very limited ability to produce porcelain at the time. Koken Barber Supply and Kern Barber Supply in St. Louis, Volden Barber Supply in Cleveland, and Berninghouse Barber Supply in Cincinnati were some of the major producers of mugs, and generally have their marks on the bottom of the mug.

Mugs from 1870 to 1930 are highly collectible, and while occupational shaving mugs are the most sought after, mugs showing advertising are also popular with collectors. The shaving mugs collected today come primarily from that boom period, and their popularity has risen dramatically. Prices range from $20 o $10,000, so there's plenty of opportunity for beginners as well as advanced collectors. 

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Sparkling World of Glass" in the 2021 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

In a Cats Eye

 

QUESTION: As a kid, I played marbles with my buddies. I started playing with marbles when I was in third grade and by the fifth grade, I was our school’s marble champion. At the time, I liked the way the marbles looked but knew nothing about how they were made. I’ve seen some old marbles online and would like to start a collection. What advice can you give me?

ANSWER: Marbles are a good item to collect because of their size. But don’t let their small size fool you. Some of the older handmade marbles can go as high as $700 for a 2½-inch end-of-day one. 

For those who have never played marbles, the goal of each shot is to hit one of the marbles in the center and knock it out of the circle. If the player knocks a marble out, then they get to keep the marble for the rest of the game, they also get to take another turn. If the first player doesn’t knock a marble out of the circle, the next player then gets a turn.

Aggies, cats eyes, popeyes, red devils, pearls, turtles, bumblebees—these were all nicknames for marbles. A cat's eye marble, for instance, had central eye-shaped colored inserts or cores injected inside the marble. A devil's eye was red with yellow eye.

Many marble players grew up to be marble collectors. Many treasure the handmade glass marbles produced in Germany between 1865 and 1910. These represented a golden age of marbles---a time when artisans made them one at a time.

Although glass marbles date from Roman times, the invention of the marble scissors in 1846 advanced the technique considerably. An unknown glass-worker in Lausche, a town in the porcelain-making province of Thruingen, Germany, forged a pair of tongs with a cup on one end and a knife blade on the other. He attached the cup with a screw which could be made larger or smaller depending an the size of the marble needed. This invention made it possible to produce round glass marbles in quantity.

For years, collectors have referred to the scar or break mark left by the marble scissors as a "pontil mark.”' However, this isn’t correct. Glassmakers used a pontil rod for making blown glass, not marbles. Depending on the production technique, all antique handmade glass marbles have either one or two pontil marks.

German glass marbles came in a dazzling array of colors, types, and sizes in two large and distinguishable categories—antique cane-cut and individually made. Despite their differences, glassmakers cut marbles in each category with marble scissors.

Antique Cane-Cut Marbles
“Glass cane” has at least two meanings. It refers both to thin, individual threads of transparent opaque or colored glass and to the glass rod produced when combining threads. The Germans performed a similar creative transformation when they produced marbles from glass cane. The result was the "German Swirl."

When the core or cooler portion of a marble was an open network of opaque or colored glass threads, collectors refer to it as a glass latticinio core The number of threads in the delicate interior lattice varied vary from 8 to 40. Cores in red, blue or green are rare today. Close to the surface of the marble and distinct from the core were additional ribbons and swirls of complementary or contrasting colored glass. More than half the German Swirls had latticinio cores.

Solid cores looked like a column of tightly packed and consecutive colored glass threads. There was no clear glass at the core. The core, itself, was a solid color or colors. Divided and ribbon core marbles were subtly different. Most antique divided core swirls resembled a DNA molecule, but with three strands instead of two. Clear glass separated or divided the strands of color. In contrast, ribbon cores had only one or two somewhat wider divisions. Ribbon cores took considerable skill to produce and were rare compared to divided cores. 

Artisans created some German Swirls around a ball of colored glass. The swirl markings had to be bright and near or on the surface in order to be seen. A variation on this theme was the use of opaque glass as the core. Confusion results when the same style name is applied to marbles in both of these categories.  For example, clambroths, gooseberries, and Indians were names given to certain types of colored and opaque glass marbles. Glassmakers usually made the clambroth and gooseberry marbles with two subdued, delicate colors—one color forming the background and the other gently curving around the surface of the marble. Indians were typically black with bright contrasting rainbow colors close to the surface.

Individually Made Marbles 
Although artisans handmade cane-cut marbles, they didn’t make them individually. The marbles cut from the same, elongated, glass cane would certainly share some of the same color, style and core features. But each was not completely one of a kind. Individually made marbles were all unique creations.

Before they left work for the day, glassmakers often fashioned marbles from scraps and chips of canes left behind at the end of production. These marbles were usually large—at least one inch in diameter—then gave them to children in the neighborhood on their way home. "End-of-day" marbles belong to one of the rarest and most sentimental marble categories with prices ranging from $125 for a 1-inch to between $500 and $700 for a 2½  inch. These marbles have a single pontil mark, rather large spots and what looks like a balloon floating just below the marble's surface.

The golden age of German handmade glass marbles began to close as Germany entered World War I. Men and machinery used to produce toys were pressed into service for the war effort. Following the war and up until 1926, American toy catalogs continued to carry "imported glass" German marbles-Production most likely didn’t continue after 1910 primarily because of the perfect symmetry, availability, brilliance and competition of machine made marbles.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The Sparkling World of Glass" in the 2021 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.