Sorting Out the Often Confusing World of Specialty Antiques Categories

 

QUESTION:  Every time I go into an antique mall, I become overwhelmed by all the items. Booth after booth of what seems like junk. Yet I know there must be some interesting and perhaps valuable antiques hidden there. How can I make sense of it all?

ANSWER: Previously, we took a look at some of the main categories of antiques. But beyond them lies an array of specialty categories. 

One of these is the toy category. Antique toys take in everything from cast-iron banks and vehicles to board games and rocking horses. The diversification is so great that most collectors specialize in collecting one type of toy or another. Few are generalists. But collecting toys can be expensive. The more specialized antiques are, the most costly they become.

A subcategory of toys is dolls. Dolls, dolls, and more dolls dominate this category with teddy bears a close second. There are other products, but from a value standpoint, dolls and bears dominate. English and German dolls are most sought after while German Steiff bears are desired almost exclusively. This category generates more emotion among collectors than does any other. As a result, collectors and dealers become very competent and have extremely specialized knowledge. A beginner in antiques should tread lightly as this is a very technical category filled with passionate and very knowledgeable people.

Like the doll category, antique collectors of scientific instruments are very knowledgeable. As a subcategory of clocks, collecting barometers and chronometers,  particularly marine chronometers and nautical instruments is also a male dominated group. These seem to invoke the smell of the sea in their favorite piece. Again, English makers predominate. Among instruments, telescopes are popular as are surveying and nautical instruments. Microscopes and medical instruments follow hard on their heels.

Another antiques specialty is jewelry. Precious and semi-precious, as well as costume jewelry are the dominant categories with Victorian era jewelry the most popular. Specialized knowledge is required in the precious jewelry category, but most ordinary folks soon become familiar with the semi-precious stones and the costume jewelry found in all antique malls. Pins, earrings and bracelets are the most popular product lines.

One of the most interesting specialty categories is commemorative antiques. Relying mainly on English Royalty and history, the commemorative antique category consists of anything celebrating an occasion. Royal weddings, a monarch's reign, births and victorious battles are all occasions for producing commemorative products. The Victorian period is the most popular, but more localized events such as battles or achievements are also forever immortalized on plates, jugs and spoons.

Collecting Asian antiques takes a lot of effort and research. This highly technical category is best avoided by beginners, Chinese and Japanese antiques dominate this category. Eighteenth Century Tang, Quing, and Cantonese pieces are quite popular, and Japanese antiques are particularly sought after by Japanese collectors who tend to be very nationalistic. Imari ceramics and Satsuma pottery are much in demand among this group of wonderful antique buffs. And more than in any other speciality, the chances of fakes is far greater. 

The military antiques category takes in arms and armor, swords and daggers, pistols, revolvers, medals, and military equipment. British, German, American and Italian items are all covered in this class. For the beginner it is best to avoid these antiques until you have time to study them. Definitely a man's "thing," military antiques cover everything related to wars and regimental history.

Traditionally, antiques include objects that are 100 years old and older. Items less than a century old are typically classified as collectibles. This category covers everything from blue willow patterned ceramics to the war medals. Often collectibles can be quite new and tied to popular media and the movies.

A subcategory of collectibles is memorabilia. Dominated by Walt Disney products, particularly those to do with classics such as "Snow White."  Elvis leads the list of musical memorabilia. Postcards, Coca-Cola signs and signed autographed copies of correspondence are also in demand. This is a fun category as it's so diverse. But it’s also very fickle and tends to go through trendy periods when prices fluctuate widely.

While the main and specialized antiques and collectibles categories mentioned here are the most popular, there are many others. With antiques and collectibles, there’s something for everyone to collect.

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It All BeganWith an Elephant

QUESTION: I recently found a darling little felt elephant pincushion in a local antique shop. The dealer said it was a Steiff, but I thought Steiff only made teddybears. Did the company make other things? What can you tell me about my little elephant?

ANSWER: Believe it or not, you bought one of the items that Steiff made. The company has made fine quality of teddybears since they produced their first bear in 1903, but it didn’t start there. Over two decades before, Margarete Steiff designed a small felt elephant that she made as both a pincushion and a child’s toy.

Margarete Steiff faced a lot of challenges before coming a successful businesswoman. Even before she could walk, she lost the use of her legs from polio. Confined to a wheelchair as she grew up, she became a skilled seamstress and ran a successful dress making enterprise from her home in Germany. She gave her little elephants to friends and neighbors.

In 1880 she sold eight of the elephants, thus marking the beginning of the Margarete Steiff Toy Company. Her brother Fritz thought her elephants appealing and in 1883 he took a some of the elephants to a market in Heidenheim where he received a large number of orders. The company's price list of that year described "felt toys for children – robust and safe. Elephant with colored blanket." Steiff made her elephants in several sizes and stuffed them with leftover pieces of felt. She added metals wheels to some of them and left others without them. Building up this initial success, she showed the elephants at an export showroom in Stuttgart and soon she began creating additional animals for her line.

Business continued to grow, and in 1889 the company moved into a building that provided a corner shop with display windows. By 1893 the company had four employees and ten home workers, with a traveling sales representative added to the payroll the following year. Margarete's brother Fritz was a major help in designing wood and metal frames for the larger toys, and in obtaining equipment to allow increased production. Margarete concentrated on creating felt toys, using the best materials available, thus setting the benchmark for Steiff's reputation for quality that continues today.

To distinguish her work, Margarete filed patents and used a trademark of an elephant printed on a paper label. In 1904, she had the elephant trademark embossed on a metal button which she attached to each animal.

In 1897 Fritz' son Richard joined the firm. He’s the one who created the first teddy bear, which became the chief product of the company. Two of Richard's brothers, Paul and Franz, joined the firm in 1898. Franz developed the trademark "button-in-ear" concept for which Steiff has become known. A fourth brother, Otto, joined the company in 1902, and brother Hugo followed in 1906.

Eventually, Steiff’s little felt elephant grew into an entire menagerie of rabbits, deer, polar bears, frogs, fox terriers, and a big collection of monkeys. One of the most popular animals was a chimpanzee that wore a chauffeur’s cap.