Remembering the Fallen

 

QUESTION: Recently, I purchased an interesting medal and ribbon at an antique show that the dealer  told me was from the late 19th century. The medal, made of what seems to be white metal, hangs from a fairly well worn red, white, and blue silk ribbon and says G.A.R. 24th Encampment,  Boston, Massachusetts, 1890. Can you tell me anything about this? What was the G.A.R.?

ANSWER: You have a Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Badge from one of the organization’s annual conventions, known as encampments. These encampments took place in different cities beginning in 1866 and ending in 1949. The First National Encampment convened in Indianapolis, Indiana, on November 20, 1866 while the last or 83rd National Encampment took place in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 28, 1949. Sixteen members attended.

Dr. B.F. Stephenson founded the GAR in 1866 in Decatur, Illinois, to advocate and care for Union Civil War veterans, widows and orphans. Brothers, fathers and sons had marched off from towns and cities in July 1861, proud, excited, and dedicated—most without a clue as to what they were getting themselves into. Over one million of them died—more than in all the other wars the U.S. engaged in up to that time. And those who did return were often maimed for life.

The GAR was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army, US Navy, Marines and Revenue Cutter Service who served in the Civil War. Linking men through their experience of the war, the GAR became one of the first organized advocacy groups in American politics, supporting voting rights for black veterans, lobbying the US Congress to establish veterans' pensions, and supporting Republican political candidates. It dissolved in 1956 when its last member died.

Veterans had developed a unique bond during the Civil War that they wished to maintain, a trusting companionship and a sentimental connection they kept by joining veterans' organizations. At the end of the Civil War the individual was inconsequential, and the U.S. Congress needed some prodding to enact legislation to take care of veterans. These veterans' groups were instrumental in getting appropriate legislation passed.

Though many veterans groups organized after the Civil War, the GAR became the most powerful. By 1890, it had 490,000 active members. Five U.S. presidents came from its ranks as well as many senators and representatives. At one time, no doubt due to the political pressure of GAR constituents, one-fifth of the national budget went to soldiers pensions. The GAR founded soldiers' homes for the permanently disabled and was active in relief work.

According to chroniclers of the 24th National Encampment in Boston, in 1890—from which this badge originated—the GAR had, by then, established orphans homes in seven states, preserved Gettysburg as a national battleground and given more than $2 million in charity to veterans and their families whether or not they were members of the GAR. For a time, it was impossible to be nominated on the Republican ticket without the endorsement of the GAR.

Civil War veterans controlled a lot in this country and had a strong political voice. Among other things, they used their political influence to see that Congress adopted May 30 as Memorial Day.

To honor the deceased, veterans would decorate graves of their fallen comrades with flowers, flags and wreaths, so people referred to it as Decoration Day. Although Memorial Day became its official title in the 1880s, the holiday didn’t legally become Memorial Day until 1967. In 1977, Congress moved Memorial Day to the last Monday of May to conform with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. In December 2000, Congress passed a law requiring Americans to pause at 3 P.M. local time on Memorial Day to remember and honor the fallen.

The tradition of having picnics on Memorial Day actually began on May 1, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina. The Confederates had used the horseracing course there as a Union prisoner-of-war prison. When the war ended and the Confederates evacuated the grounds, a large group of former slaves re-interred the Union soldiers’ bodies who had died there and erected a white fence with a large arched gate, above which they mounted a sign, “Martyrs of the Racecourse.” When they finished, they broke up and moved to the infield to hold picnics. And thus began this national tradition.

Delegate badges from the GAR’s National Encampments have long been a collectible. First created after the 1883 encampment in Denver, Colorado, and handed out annually until the last Encampment in 1949 in Indianapolis—except in 1884 when there wasn’t any badge—these “ribbons of honor” were created and furnished by the city that hosted the event. They reflected the city itself, including local history and state symbols as well as an image of the current Commander-in-chief.

Badges came in several varieties. There were the official ones, commissioned by the host city and given to all delegates, past delegates and members of allied organizations, such as the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, the Women's Relief Corps and the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic, as well as later, the Daughters of Union Veterans, and there were the semiofficial staff badges and souvenir badges. There were also testimonial badges, given to past Post officers at the end of their service period. These had horizontal rank straps with one or more stars on them and were often made of 14 or 18K gold and studded with diamonds.

In addition to the National Encampment badges, there were two-sided Post badges, with one side red, white and blue and the other in black with the words "In Memoriam," to be used when a member died. There were other unique Post badges as well, including those with a detachable metal top piece from which hung a large metal star or disk. And since Posts ordered new ones every few years, there are many variations in badges from each Post. Veterans wore Post badges to funerals, Memorial Day programs, and Fourth of July parades, among other events.

Some collectors specialize just in Department or state badges. Each state incorporated its flower, animal, or symbol into its badge design. So the Massachusetts badge featured a pot of beans, New Hampshire had a piece of granite on it, and Ohio badges had a picture of a buckeye. Each Department also had special delegate badges arid ribbons. The colors of ribbons, usually made from silk, varied, also. Department badges had red ribbons, Post badges had blue ribbons; and National badges always had a yellow/buff ribbon.

The Stevens Company of England produced the finest GAR ribbon badges, often referred to as Stevensgraphs. These portrait silks have extremely fine detail. Other companies, such as the B.B. Tilt Co.,. the United States Badge Co. and the Son of Paterson (N.J.) all made badges, but these aren’t as easily identified or as finely made.

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 "Lady Luck" in the 2024 Fall 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.

Superheroes Galore

QUESTION: When I was a kid, I read comic books all the time. I’d even sneak a flashlight under the covers and read them when I was supposed to be a asleep. But over the years I drifted away from them. Recently, I went to a comic book show with a friend just to accompany him, but once there I got hooked again. Now I think I’d like to collect them. Can you give me a brief history of comic books so I have an idea of what’s involved? 

ANSWER: Comic books are not only fun to collect but are affordable. While there are some that sell at auction for stratospheric sums, the majority can be bought for reasonable amounts. 

Less than two decades ago, blockbuster movies featuring a raging green hulk, a group of mutant humans, a spider, and a man blinded by radioactive waste spurred the resurgence in comic book collecting. And who can forget the comic book store frequented by the nerdy guys in the hit T.V. show The Big Bang Theory.

While interest in comic books featuring superhuman characters increased in the early 21st Century, their origin goes back much earlier.

American comic books trace their roots back to 1933 when a syndicated newspaper published part of its Sunday comic's page on 7 by 9-inch plates. Eastern Printing employees Max Gaines and Harry Wildenherg believed two such plates could fit a tabloid-size page, producing a 7 by l0-inch book when folded. The two took newspaper strips and reprinted them in a booklet titled Funnies On Parade, which the Proctor and Gamble Company used as a premium.

Gaines convinced Eastern executives he could sell similar comics to large advertising firms. Eastern then produced and distributed Famous Funnies and Century of Comics. Both were highly successful.

Surprised with the popularity of the giveaway comics, Caine believed he could sell them to kids if it were reasonably priced, so the company printed Famous Funnies Series One and sold it for 10 cents. The comic was an immediate sellout. It became the first monthly comic and continued to be published until 1955.

Early comic books featured nothing more than reprinted material. In 1935, New Fun became the first comic to break the "reprinted material" barrier by featuring the antics of Oswald the Rabbit.

The comic book industry took a gigantic leap forward in June 1938 when the first issue of Action Comics featured the amazing feats of Superman. Just as his flying abilities allowed him to leap tall buildings in a single bound, they also catapulted him to the top of the sales charts.

But it took five years before Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who created Superman, to sell their character to National Periodicals Publications. They had tried to market Superman to every newspaper syndicate but were repeatedly rejected. Superman was the first of many superheroes to become part of the Golden Age of Comics.

Superman’s success gave birth to dozens of other superheroes, such as Batman, who first appeared in Detective Comics 27. Artist Bob Kane modeled Superman on drawings of Leonardo da Vinci's flying machines. Although Batman had no superpowers, he appealed to young readers: He was costumed, smart, and had a variety of neat gadgets at his disposal.

Batman received his own title in the spring of 1940 when Batman No. I appeared on newsstands. This issue also featured the first appearances of Catwoman and The Joker. Other main characters made their appearances in issues of Detective Cornics, which later became DC, before crossing over to the Batman title. Robin, the Boy Wonder, debuted in Detective Comics No. 38. The Penguin made his first appearance in Detective Comics No. 58. Robin made history in 1988 when fans voted to have him killed off.

In the fall of 1939, Timely Comics published Marvel Comics No. I, which contained the first appearances of The Human Torch. Eventually, Timely became Marvel Comics, who along with DC dominated the comic book publishing industry for decades.

Captain America, appearing in his own comic right from the beginning, made his debut in March 1941. Previously, all new characters appeared in another comic before being granted their own title. This way, publishers could judge reader reaction through comic book sales to see if the new character could stand on his own. Captain America began his career fighting Nazis months before America declared war.

In the spring of 1941, Wonder Woman appeared on newsstands, followed by Captain Marvel and The Green Lantern. By the end of the year, over 150 different comic titles appeared on the newsstands. 

World War II had a profound effect on comic books. Dell published the first war comic, appropriately titled War Comics No. I. Many superheroes rushed into the armed forces to battle the enemy, much as many young men did. Commando Yank, Major Victory, Jungle Jim, Spy Smasher and The Unknown Soldier all played hero to many teens on the home front.

The 1940s saw the creation of two teen idols—Archie Andrews and Katy Keene. After debuting in Pep Comics, Archie Andrews got his own comic title in 1942. Katy Keene made her first appearance in Wilbur Comics in 1945. Following appearances in three other comics, Pep gave the beauty queen her own title in 1950.

The end of World War II brought about the desire for change. Adventure writers were having problems developing new plots, while humor writers found it hard to be funny after a war that cost millions their lives. The comic book industry wasn’t any different. It needed to come up with new titles, categories, and formats if it was to survive.

The western comic was one of those new categories. In 1948, Hopalong Cassidy produced a huge hit for comic book publisher Fawcett. Other publishers scrambled to take advantage of the new category. All American Western, Annie Oakley, and The Two-Gun Kid all rode onto newsstands with the fury of a cornered desperado.

With the onset of the 1950s, comic book readership continued its downward trend. Even Superman began to falter. In an attempt to regain customers, several publishers turned to violence. William Gaines, the son of Max Gaines, left DC in the mid-1940s and formed Educational Comics. When Max died, his son inherited the Eastern Printing. William changed the name to Entertaining Comics (E.C.), launching several titles that caused serious controversy.

E.C. comics contained gruesome stories and gory covers. Crypt of Terror, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror. The extreme violence .eventually brought about the company's downfall. The only E..C. title that weathered the controversy was Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad No. 1, which later became Mad Magazine.

The Silver Age of comics began in 1956 with the publication of Showcase No. 4, featuring the adventures of the fastest man alive—The Flash. This character had the same name and same powers as his golden age counterpart, but the stories were completely different.

Marvel comics introduce a superhero team in November 1961 with Fantastic Four No. I. The title's main characters obtained their super powers when their spacecraft traveled though a cosmic storm. 

The most recognized Marvel superhero, Spider Man, first scurried across the pages of Amazing Fantasy 15 in August 1962. Peter Parker, aka Spider Man, was a geeky high school student who attained the traits of an arachnoid when a radioactive spider bit him. In March 1963, Spider-Man received his own title when The Amazing Spider-Man No. 1 hit the newsstands.

But even some of Spider-Man stories were controversial. In the early 1970s, a Spider-Man one showcased the harmful effects of drugs. Two years later, The Amazing Spider Man #121 jolted the comic book world with the murder of Spider Man's girlfriend.  Marvel's next superhero, The Incredible Hulk, was the result of exposure to radiation. The Incredible Hulk No. 1 burst onto newsstands featuring the exploits of Dr. Bruce Banner.

The 1970s arrived with the birth of Conan the Barbarian, The Swamp Thing, and The Micronauts. Major publishers reprinted the most valuable comic titles from the past. Several of these, including Action Comics I, were stripped of their covers and sold as the real thing. 

Learn more about Marvel Comics by reading "Marvelous Superheroes" in #TheAntiquesAlmanac.

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 railroad antiques in "All Aboard!" in the 2021 Summer 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.

An American Grocery Tradition

QUESTION: I live in a small apartment and don’t have the room or means to collect a lot of antiques, especially furniture. But recently I became fascinated with the little tins that contained spices and other things that used to be sold in supermarkets. I’ve acquired some, like those from A&P and National. While I’ve heard of some of these brands, I’ve never seen or heard of the National brand. Can you tell me anything about it?

ANSWER: The use of little tins to hold spices goes back to the late 19th century. McCormick spices are widely known as a national brand, but each market and eventually supermarket had its own store brands, as just about all do today. So first let’s look at how these store brands got started.

It all began back in 1859 when John Huntingdon Hartford founded the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, commonly known as A&P. He peddled coffees and teas out of gold and vermillion horse-drawn wagons and tiny, yet opulent, Oriental-themed retail shops before gradually adding a few kitchen staples like flour, sugar, baking powder and spices to its product mix. He packaged the items he sold with the name of his company, A&P.

Clarence Saunder started the modern self-service supermarket concept in 1916 with his Memphis-based Piggly Wiggly brand. One of the earliest tea companies to break from tradition and cash in on this concept was Danish immigrant George S. Rasmussen's National Tea Company, founded in 1899. Others like Jewel Tea followed. In the beginning, each sold their own brand of goods, but as the small stores grew into supermarkets, each needed to fill their shelves, so they began selling private brands as well.

Early in its history, Chicago-based National built itself into an upper Midwest chain supermarket powerhouse across Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota by hitching its future on adopting Saunder's novel supermarket concept. By the end of World War II, National had grown into America's sixth largest grocery chain, comprising 880 small, neighborhood supermarkets sprinkled across Iowa, the Dakotas, Michigan and Indiana, but primarily concentrated around principal strongholds in Chicago, Rockford, Illinois, Milwaukee and Minneapolis/St. Paul.

But following founder Rasmussen's [936 death during the Great Depression, National lost its direction and floundered. Chicago millionaire printer John F. Cunco, who controlled a 26 percent block of stock in what he publicly noted was the worst chain-store property in the country, forced a March 1945 reorganization of the company's management to shake up the laggard, star-crossed chain. Cunco installed fifth-grade dropout-turned-grocery-whiz Harley V. McNamara as National's executive vice-president and Robert V. Rasmussen, son of the founder, as president. In 1947 McNamara was promoted to president, with Rasmussen becoming chairman.

Within a decade of his 1945 appointment at National, McNamara built the industry also-ran into the nation's fifth largest supermarket chain and 10th largest retailer, boosting sales from $107 million to $520 million and profits from $913,000 to $6.5 million by increasing per-store volume some 500 percent. He did this by closing its low-volume, low-profit traditional city neighborhood stores  in favor of the postwar shift to larger, modern stand-alone and shopping center supermarkets surrounded by acres of free parking.

But by far the biggest single reason for National's explosive growth during the postwar boom was McNamara's strategy of buying instant market saturation in new geographic areas though the acquisition of local chains in major markets. Still the chain continued to sell its National store brand and placed its items in these acquired stores. Sound familiar?

Eventually, the economy and over-expansion caught up to National while other, newer chains created competition it just couldn’t match. Today, even the trendiest supermarkets offer their own brand of many of the products they sell. And as supermarket chains get bought and sold, the store brands of the survivors endure. It’s an American tradition.

A Mini Means of Transport

QUESTION: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve long been interested in Plasticville buildings and accessories. I’ve got a few vehicles, but unfortunately, I don’t know very much about them. There were about a dozen different colors of these cars made, some with a molded hood ornament and some without.  Which colors are the rarest? How rare are the black ones?  I have heard rumors that there are reproductions of these cars on the market.  How would I be able to tell a reproduction car from an original?  Are the cars still being produced in China?  Are there ant new colors of these cars being made? 

ANSWER:  That’s a lot of questions about such little items. But before answering them, a bit of background is in order.

Bachmann Brothers, in business in Philadelphia since 1833, selected the name "Plasticville, U.S.A." for its line of injection-molded plastic buildings and accessories which it began manufacturing in late 1946. Prior to that time, the company manufactured women’s hair combs from celluloid, the first synthetic plastic material developed in 1868, followed by celluloid optical frames known as "tortoise shell" and protective eye wear for military use until World War II.

At first, Bachman produced plastic white picket fences for use around “putzes,” or under-the-tree Christmas displays. With the success of these rather common items, the firm launched a group of accessories, including plastic trees and bushes, a foot bridge, a wishing well, a trellis, as well as a brown rustic fence and a picket fence, for use in the displays, themselves. Before then, the firm sold its fencing in nondescript packaging. But after expanding its line of accessories, it needed to link the various accessories it had begun to produce. The key, executives knew, was to create an fictional town of plastic buildings, so they decided on the name "Plasticville U.S.A."

The new product name captured the optimism of the early postwar years and conjured up the modern as well as the traditional. The word "plastic" connoted a revolutionary new material with unlimited potential associated with convenient, inexpensive, and readily disposable items.

But the fictional folks of Plasticville had no way to get around until 1954, when Bachman brought out its first vehicle assortment, the V-10, which included a jet bomber and jet fighter (for the veterans of World War II and Korean war who had become fathers), a fire pumper truck and fire ladder truck (to protect the town’s buildings from fire), an ambulance (for emergencies), a bus (for mass transit), and four cars.

A smaller V-6 Assortment, consisting of a fire pumper truck, fire ladder truck, ambulance, bus, and two cars, followed two years later. The company only sold its vehicles in sets. Buyers had only the choice of these two assortments, or in special “Master” units, which contained a number of items on a theme such as the “Airport and Accessories Unit” with its two jet planes, ambulance, fire engine, and car.

Occasionally, individual building kits contained a specialized vehicle. So if a buyer wanted more cars, for example, he had to purchase another whole assortment to get them. Bachman packaged all of its Plasticville accessories this way.

But Bachman cut corners on its packaging. The boxes which contained these vehicle sets and those of other accessories were cheaply made. Each was of the thinnest cardboard and had a window covered in a thin sheet of cellophane to show off the product inside. Needless to say, they didn’t last long. Most owners of Plasticville items packed them up in their original boxes after Christmas. The constant unpacking and packing eventually took its toll, so few of these vehicle assortments exist today in their original boxes.

While the airplanes came in silver and the fire trucks in their usual red, the cars came in a variety of colors, including  red, orange, yellow, green, dark green, pastel blue, gray blue, turquoise, dark blue, aqua, black. The mix varied randomly from one assortment to another. So if a buyer wanted to purchase more cars of one color, he had to purchase more assortments. Of all the colors, dark blue is the hardest to find in any vehicle. Orange is also hard to find. As for the cars, black is the hardest to find. It’s for this reason that a set of a half dozen black cars, claiming to be rare by its eBay seller, couldn’t possibly be so.

The company produced two different styles of cars for its Plasticville assortments. One had a plain hood and the other had a hood ornament added. There’s not correlation between the hooded ornaments and those without and the colors of the cars.

Because the Plasticville cars, in particular, have become such hot items for collectors, there are lots of reproductions and fakes on the market. Each authentic Plasticville car bears the inscription “Plasticville U.S.A.” on the interior underside of the car’s roof.

One of the most mysterious of all the vehicles is the dark blue bus. Collectors believe that it originally came with the Lionel Highway Set No. 955 and the Lionel Vehicle Set No. 958 sold under license from Bachman in 1958. The first set’s 22 pieces included two buses in either grey or dark blue and a car, plus assorted street and road signs and telephone poles, all selling for $1.00.

The second set sold for 25 cents more and included all the vehicles in the V-10 Assortment except the jet plane, plus a fire alarm box, a traffic signal, assorted street signs, a mail box, and a fire hydrant.

Those seeking to tell whether a car is an authentic Plasticville should look for the “flash,” as well as the quality of the plastic. Today’s plastics are definitely stronger and more solid looking than those used in the 1950s.

In 1984, Kader Industries of Dongguan, China, took over Bachman’s entire Plasticville line. That year Plasticville pieces looked exactly like the originals, with the company’s trademark BB in a circle plus Plasticville USA molded into each piece. After that, the company re-etched the molds to say "Made in China.”

Kader Industries still produces a car assortment, consisting of a fire pumper truck, aerial ladder truck,  a yellow ambulance, a green bus and a car. It’s important to note that the bus and ambulance have never been offered in these colors before.

Today, individual Plasticville cars sell for anywhere from $1.25 to as much as $27. Most are sold in groups of three or more. As with most collectibles, condition and rarity affect price. There’s also a marked difference in the design of the cars from their beginnings in 1954 to the present day.

Original cars had a solid molded plastic body with turning white wheels.  Later versions had more detailing and black wheels with hub caps. But buyer beware since some online sellers offer groups of six “rare” cars of the same type. If a car is that rare, it would be hard to find six in mint condition.

Read more about collecting Plasticville U.S.A. in The Antiques Almanac.

Some Things to Occupy Your Time

QUESTION: My mother has a large collection of figures stamped “Occupied Japan”—at last count over 200. Over the years, collecting them has become an obsession with her. What makes these figures so special and why do people like my mother love to collect them?

ANSWER: Some people like the innocent look of Occupied Japan figures while others collect them as part of the nostalgia of Post War America. But to truly understand what they’re all about, it’s necessary to look at the history of the time.

The surrender of the Japanese occurred on Aug. 11, 1945, and the signing of a treaty to finalize the ending of the war took place on the battleship Missouri on Sept. 3, 1945. The War took its toll on the once mighty Japanese Empire. Faced with damaged and destroyed buildings and factories, the country faced real hardship unless something could be done to restore its economy. Harry Truman assigned General Douglas MacArthur to oversee this process as well as the reestablishment of trade. The period in which this took place became known as the American Occupation of Japan and lasted until April 11, 1952.

Using what few buildings and little equipment that they had, the Japanese exported items beginning in the late 1940s, ranging from a majority of poorly made merchandise to high quality goods. It was the poorer quality goods that gained Japan a reputation for producing junk wares.

The U.S. Customs Service required that all Items entering the United States from Japan be marked "Made in Occupied Japan." However, no one common mark existed and manufacturers utilized more than 100 of them. Customs officials inspected the goods, and if they saw no mark, they often used a rubber stamp to add one. Some pieces made it through with no mark or simply with "Made in Japan." These items have little value for the collector of Occupied Japan collectibles. In order to be considered a collectible in this category, the item must have the "Made in Occupied Japan" mark.

Figurines were one of the most prolific items to come out of Japan during this time. Artisans produced them in a variety of shapes and sizes, from large porcelain likenesses of Colonial men and women to small ones of children and animals. . Figurines also served as lamp bases or candleholders.

One of the most popular figurine styles was the single man and single woman. These single figures came in all sizes and often depicted musicians. Since many talented Japanese artisans died in the War, the ones working in the Post-War factories copied many popular styles of porcelain figurines, including Dresden and Delft. Another type of single figurine depicted an Art Deco-style woman wearing a large hat and long, flowing skirt. At first glance, it’s often hard to tell the difference on the better-made pieces, but the poor quality ones lacked the fine detail of authentic Dresden pieces, for example.

Japanese artists also introduced figures of couples. Common scenes showed a man playing an instrument for a woman. Other pieces portrayed 18th-century couples dancing. Another common motif was the woman sitting and the man standing. Like other figurines, these pieces came in all sizes. The amount of facial detail differentiates the finer pieces from the poorer ones.

Though most of these figures were bound for the United States, the artisans also produced ethnic figurines, creating Siamese, Japanese, Mexican, Dutch, and African-American figures in single and couple combinations. These figurines, available in porcelain and bisque, showcased the ability of artisans to create colorful examples of dancers and musicians.

The presence of American servicemen served as an important influence for Japanese craftsmen. They began to emulate the familiar look of Western faces in their figures. Bisque and porcelain figures depicted American Indians in full costume. Cowboys also became popular subjects. .

Figures of children were big sellers. As the Japanese emulated the work of other artists to appeal to American consumers, they chose the Hummel style for many of the figurines of children. Bisque and porcelain figures portraying seated boys with bamboo poles became popular as adornments for the sides of fishbowls. Unfortunately, many of these fishbowl items haven’t survived intact and locating one is rare.

Hundreds of animal figurines first appeared in dime stores and cost mere pennies. A majority of the animals were small and intended to be decorative items for shelves. Many of these pieces showed animals in motion. In some cases, the animals took on human characteristics and artisans portrayed them playing instruments. Another example of the Japanese attempt to appeal to Americans came through the imitation of Staffordshire-style dogs which appeared in both bisque or porcelain.

The great variety of Occupied Japan figurines available is what drives most collectors. Post-War Japanese factories produced them in great quantities to fill the store shelves of American retailers.

For U.S.A. Britain and Democracy

QUESTION: I have a teapot that has been passed down from my grandmother to my mother and now to me. It’s not just any old teapot, but a unique one with the words “For U.S.A. Britain and Democracy handpainted on the lid. My mother said that my grandmother bought it in 1940 but no one seems to know why it has this phrase on the lid. The teapot is glossy black with little flowers painted on it. And on its bottom is what looks like a golden pretzel with a lion and the British flag and the words “World War II. Made in England. Escorted to United States by the Allied Fleets.” Can you tell me anything about my teapot?

ANSWER: You’ve got a unique piece of World War II memorabilia. English potteries produced teapots such as yours, decorated with black glaze and simple, hand-painted flowers, during World War II as part of a fundraising program to provide money, equipment, and supplies necessary for Britain's war effort.

From 1939 to 1945, the United States and Canada provided escort ships to convoys of merchant marine vessels carrying massive cargoes to England. Many never made it across the North Atlantic and instead lie beneath the waves, the victims of German U-boat attacks. Once the ships arrived safely in England, British dock workers unloaded them and refilled them with English ceramic ware which served as ballast for their return trip. On arrival in America the ships full of teapots and other goods would be unloaded and distributed to merchants who sold them as a way of helping to pay for the convoy costs.

Staffordshire potteries produced these teapots by the hundreds during World War II. Women decorated these five-inch tall, black/brown, Rockingham glazed teapots with hand painted pink, orange, yellow, and green flowers, highlighted by a purple bow. They hand painted the words “ For U.S.A. Britain and Democracy” or just “For England and Democracy” on the lid, which they edged in gold. Painted in gold on the bottom are the words “World War II. Made in England. Escorted to USA by Royal Navy” or as in your case “by Allied Fleets.” The pretzel-shaped, three-loop, twisted, gold rope, known as a Stafford or Staffordshire Knot, is the symbol used by potteries in Staffordshire, England since the 1840s. Within the knot is a British flag and a lion.

Legend says that Winston Churchill chose the teapot for this special duty since it had become a symbol of Britain to many Americans. He insisted that “For England and Democracy” be painted on the lid because this was the shared goal of both the U.S. and England. In the beginning, the overall aim of the teapots, specifically made to appeal to Americans, was to help earn their support. At that time, before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans were undecided if the U.S. should join England in fighting the Germans.

Today, these teaports sell online for $40 to $45, although some go as high as $150.

Victory Music

QUESTION: I was helping my mother clean out my grandmother’s house after she died when I found several old records that said V-Disc on the label stuffed in a trunk in the attic. I’ve never heard of a company with a V-Disc label and neither had my mother. One of them seems to have two songs sung by Frank Sinatra—“What Makes the Sunset?” and “I Begged Her.” It also says the record was produced in cooperation with the War Department, Special Services Division. Can you tell me anything about these records? Do they have any value or are they just old records and should be tossed?

ANSWER: It seems you found some little treasures during your cleaning. V-Discs were a special type of record made for servicemen serving abroad in World War II. Most soldiers and sailors joined up thinking that the war would be over in a short time. Little did they realize that it would drag on for several years. Weary and often disheartened, they needed a moral boost, and the V-Disc was it.

The records were 12-inch, 78 rpm messages of music, hope and comfort from America's top musicians. Starting in 1943, and for seven years afterward, the United States Armed Forces sent packages of V-Disc records to ships and bases to all war locations.

It was Army Lt. George Robert Vincent who first got the idea for V-Discs. He worked in Thomas Edison's phonograph laboratories before the war. In 1943, Vincent asked his supervisor if he could put together a special recording project to provide current music to the troops. He eventually received a $1 million startup budget from the U.S. Army and undertook his new military career as head of the V-Disc  program.

At the same time, the American music industry was in turmoil. When Japan attacked French Indochina, the record companies lost their source of imported shellac. And even if they could manufacture records with recycled shellac, the musicians, themselves, had gone on strike against the major record companies.

Vincent's V-Disc staff first had to find a substitute for shellac. Eventually they discovered that vinylite, a Union Carbide polymer, not only could be pressed into records with minimal surface noise, but also the finished product resisted breakage, cracks and fractures. Once they resolved the record material problem, they convinced the American Federation of Musicians and their leader, James Caesar Petrillo, to perform for V-Discs as volunteers, offering their services gratis to the military wanted to hear new songs and recording artists and that all V-Discs would be destroyed after the War.

V-Discs enabled servicemen to hear new and special releases from the top bands of the day. The program provided a variety of music, including big band hits, swing music, classical performances from the best symphonies, a little jazz thrown in for good measure. There were even selections of stirring music from military bands.

Every month, The RCA Victor record factory in Camden, New Jersey, sent a V-Disc kit of 30 records to ports of call and bases around the European and Pacific bases of operations. Each kit, included not only the V-Discs, but an assortment of. steel phonograph needles, a set of lyric sheets, and a questionnaire for soldiers to fill out and return, asking what they liked best, what they liked least, and what they wanted to hear in the future.

During the first week of the V-Disc project, RCA shipped 1,780 boxes of V-Discs to the troops. Within a year, production of the V-Discs had tripled, to supply members of each branch of the military. Even the Office of War Information and Office of Inter-American Affairs wanted V-Discs to use as propaganda materials broadcast to Latin American and European countries, a counterbalance to Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose.

But V-Discs had a very special feature—spoken-word introductions by the artists. Before beginning a song, artists would take a few moments to identify themselves, acknowledge the soldiers, give them a few kind words or inspirational thoughts, kind wish them a safe and speedy return home. "Hiya, men," said Frank Sinatra as he introduced his version of ‘That Old Black Magic.’” "I hope you like these tunes that I've chosen to do for you on these very wonderful V-Discs. And I hope you get as much of a kick out of hearing them as I do out of singing them for you." Other artists added their own special touches to their V-Discs.

Other sources of material for V-Discs came from radio networks, who sent their live feeds to V-Disc headquarters in New York—the AFM strike didn’t affect live performances. Artists gathered at several V-Disc recording sessions in theaters around New York and Los Angeles, including CBS Playhouse No. 3, now the Ed Sullivan Theater, NBC Studio 8H, the home of Saturday Night Live, and CBS Playhouse No. 4, reborn in the 1970s as the infamous Studio 54 disco.

One of the conditions under which AFM musicians would record V-Discs was that the records couldn’t be reproduced or resold, and that the discs had to be destroyed after the V-Disc program ended. After the program ended in 1949, the armed forces honored their request by destroying original masters and record stampers and by discarding V-Discs left behind at bases and on ships. The FBI and the Provost Marshal's Office also confiscated and destroyed V-Discs that servicemen had smuggled home. An employee at a Los Angeles record company spent time in prison for his illegal possession of more than 2,500 V-Discs. 

Today, music-lovers and World War II memorabilia collectors covet V-Discs. Near-mint copies of  V-Discs are hard to find, and most copies would be graded "good" to "fair" condition due to surface scuffs and 60 years of storage. Common titles sell for $5-10, while name artists such as Frank Sinatra or Arturo Toscanini can command $25-40`for their V-Discs, depending on condition and rarity of title. A V-Disc containing the classic Abbott and Costello "Who's on First" comedy routine, backed with a version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame as played by baseball organist- Gladys Gooding, is worth up to $75 in near-mint condition: Unopened packages of V-Disc needles sell for $5-10, and a spring-wound V-Disc phonograph can run from $250-340 in working condition.

So you see, it seems your grandfather smuggled the V-Discs you found and kept them all these years as a remembrance of his time in the War. They worth far more in sentimental value—real treasures of times past.

A Tool for Every Purpose

QUESTION: I’ve always liked old tools and would like to start collecting them. Can you offer any advice on how to get started?

ANSWER: For any collector, liking something is the most important thing. You should collect what you like. Doing so will build and keep your interest in your collection for a long time. That’s the difference between collecting and assembling a group of like objects. In the former, you have vested interest while in the latter you’re just adding them to a shelf or cabinet.

Old tools not only have value, they also have historical interest. You should always be asking how old they are, what condition they’re in, and how rare they are?

When it comes to tools, age is a major element. This doesn’t necessarily mean a tool’s actual age. What’s most important is age related to the particular type of tool. Planes are a good example. Many years before companies began manufacturing planes out of metal, they made them of wood. It’s very easy to find a wooden plane that’s well over 150 years old that, in good condition, may be worth only $25 dollars. The more modern version, which isn’t as old but is made of metal, can be worth many times that amount particularly if it’s one of the early models. So just because you have an old tool that you can date to the early 1800s, doesn’t necessarily mean you have a very valuable tool

The most important point to consider with tools is condition. This is the area among collectors where more confusion exists than any other. Look at how what you have  relates to what was originally made. This can be looked at in two ways. First, is what you have totally complete? Are all the parts, cutters and anything else that came along with the original tool still there? One of the best examples of a tool that’s commonly for sale without all the parts is the Stanley 45 multiplane. The basic Stanley 45 came with 18 to 23 cutters, two lengths of arms, depth stops and in some cases a cam rest. Very seldom do you find a complete Stanley 45 for sale, yet in many cases, the asking price is that of a complete one.

After you’ve determined a tool’s completeness, the next thing to look at is its actual physical condition. Cracked or chipped handles or even handles that have been glued back together reduce the value. In some cases, people will substitute a handle or a part from another tool that looks about right. While this might make the tool useable, it detracts from the value for the true collector. Finish is also important. Having the original label still in place and the original metal and wood finish makes a tool more valuable. What detracts most from the value is when you can see signs of wire brushing  or that the tool has been painted black or covered with some kind of other coating.

The "rareness" of a tool, as with other antiques, is also very important when determining its value. This typically comes down to how many have survived and are available for sale. In some cases there may be a limited relationship to how many were actually made. A good example of this is the foot-powered tools that were common in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During World War II scrap metal drives, people donated many of these to be melted down for the war effort. Partially as a result of this, these foot-powered. tools are sometimes hard to find. In other cases, a particular style or type of tool may have only been manufactured for a limited period. This may be a result of a company going out of business, the tool not selling well or some external events such as a war that caused manufacturing priorities to be redirected. In most cases, it can usually be concluded that the more rare a tool is, the more it’s worth.

Tools, obviously, come in all shapes, sizes, and sorts. Each tool has been designed for a different job and so the variety is endless. In fact, even longtime experienced tool collectors will often run into something they haven't seen before. To make sense of all this variety, tool collectors have established categories of tools to help them focus their collections. In the broadest categorization, they divide tools into groups by the material they work—woodworking tools, metalworking tools, basket making tools, leather working tools, etc. They also further defined tools within each of these categories. For instance, in the woodworking tool category, there are edge tools, boring tools, measuring tools, woodworking machines, and so on. Within the machinist tool category, there are calipers, gauges, indicators, etc.

Tools can also be categorized in ways outside their intended purpose, such as by tool makers, patented tools, aesthetic tools, tools from a particular era or generation, tools made in a particular geographical area, tools made from a certain material, and miniatures.

Collecting tools can be daunting—and expensive—if you don’t focus on a particular type early on. But whatever type you choose to collect, always buy the best you can afford.

Sweets from a Queen

QUESTION: I have an old tin candy box with a picture of the Queen Mary on the front. It says on the side that the box contains candies made by Bensons Confectionery Ltd. of Bury, England. I’ve always like this box and keep extra buttons in it. What can you tell me about it and the Queen Mary?

ANSWER: Bensons was the official confectioner of the Cunard Line, the company that built and operated the R.M.S. Queen Mary. While your box is the more common type, they come in a variety of shapes, including a full rectangle with rounded corners, a more angular rectangle with the corners cut off, and one that has its corners cut off further to almost produce an oval.

The Queen Mary her illustrious career as the most luxurious passenger liner of her day, catering to the rich and famous, on May 27, 1936, the day she departed Southampton, England, on her maiden voyage to New York City, with a stop in Cherbourg, France.  Measuring 1,019 ft long, 118 ft wide, 185 ft high, and weighing in at more than 81,000 gross tons, it was built to accommodate 815 first class, 787 second class, 573 third class passengers and 1,200 crew members.

But the liner’s early days weren’t so smooth sailing. Construction began as job Number 534 on December 1930 at the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland. A year later, Cunard halted construction as the Great Depression took its toll. To get things going again, the British Government loaned Cunard the money to get the project going again with one requirement—that the company merge with its rival The White Star Line.

The infusion of cash was enough to get the ship afloat, and in September 1934, Cunard launched the ship it now called the Queen Mary to great fanfare.

Everyone wanted a piece of the action. Fashion magazines positioned themselves in association with the Queen Mary, as the pinnacle of style and elegance. Advertisers, including   the National Hotel Management Company, which operated a chain of top-end U.S. hotels, also used the maiden voyage to launch promotions of their own.

Unfortunately, World War II put a temporary hold on the ship’s main service. The Queen Mary was just two days way from ending its 143rd crossing cross the Atlantic. The British Admiralty instructed Captain Irving of the Queen Mary to put his ship on war alert in a coded message.

Warned of possible submarine attacks, Irving posted additional lookouts and ordered work crews to extinguish all exterior lights and black out the ship's 2,000 portholes and windows. He also instructed his helmsmen to steer a zigzag course.

Apprehension gripped the passengers as its 2,332 passengers, many of them Americans, realized that they had narrowly escaped Europe as the threat of war became a reality. Two days later, on September 5, 1939, the Queen Mary arrived safely in New York Harbor.

She remained docked at Pier 90 on the Hudson River until March 1940, when the British Admiralty called her into active service. A coat of drab gray paint replaced the bright Cunard livery of black, red, and white. Workers also blocked out the huge letters spelling out the ship’s name. They also removed most of her carpeting, furniture, artwork, as well as 200 cases of crystal, china and silverware and stored them in Cunard warehouses along the Hudson.

The ship then sailed to Sydney, Australia, where Cunard workers transformed the Queen Mary into a troopship. They removed any remaining furniture and all 2,000 stateroom doors
put them into storage. Then they installed wooden bunks and hammocks for troops, converted shops into military offices, and converted her ballroom into a 50-bed hospital.

On her first wartime voyage in 1940, the Queen Mary carried 5,000 troops. Between 1940 and 1946, she made 72 voyages, safely transporting 765,429 military personnel. In fact, in July 1943, she carried 16,683 troops, the largest number of humans ever transported on one vessel at one time—a world record that still stands today.

Until Cunard installed stabilizers in 1956, the Queen Mary was also known as “Rolling Mary.” Cunard even had peach-colored glass used in mirrors in first class so that green-skinned complexions could take on a rosy glow. During a wartime crossing, Bing Crosby spent three days in the cargo hold because the lower on the ship, the steadier the ride.

Following the war, Cunard demilitarized the ship and refitted her. From February to September 1946, she made 13 round trips between Southampton and New York under the U.S. Army's "Operation Diaper," more commonly known as the “Bride and Baby Shuttle.”

A typical war bride menu included a choice of roast loin of fresh pork or cold roast beef, mashed or baked potatoes, salad, fruit, cheese, biscuits and coffee. Not the luxury of prewar meals, but certainly a feast by the standards of the time.

In July 1947, the Queen Mary resumed its role as a luxury passenger liner. She continued to make transatlantic crossings for another 20 years, eventually falling victim to a decline in the number of passengers, as modern travelers embraced air travel.

In May 1967, the Queen Mary had outlived her usefulness. Cunard put her up for sale and the City of Long Beach, California became her new owner for $3,450,000. The ship made a final voyage from Southampton to Long Beach but was too  large to fit through the Panama Canal. As a result, she had to travel down the coast of South America and around Cape Horn.

Conversion from luxury passage liner to floating hotel and tourist .attraction took four years to complete. Today, you can experience her Art Deco opulence and marvel at the 56 different varieties of wood veneers used throughout the ship.

Today, collectors actively seek out any piece of Queen Mary memorabilia, such as this Benson’s candy tin. While the tin sells for around $40 online in good condition, a variety of other items, including posters, timetables, commemorative medallions distributed by the Daily Record, and brochures issued by Cunard White Star Limited announcing the "Launch of No. 534, in the presence of Their Majesties, The King & Queen, Wednesday, September 26, 1934, at Clydebank, are also available.