Buckets of Fun at the Seashore

 

QUESTION: As I was browsing a local antique mall, I noticed an old tin sand pail sitting on a shelf along with a variety of other old toys. Seeing it brought back a flood of memories of vacations at the seashore with my family. Every summer, my father would pack up the car for our week at the New Jersey shore. Two items I made my father pack were my tin sand pail and shovel—indispensable for building sand castles. I never thought of sand pails as collectibles and seeing one on a shelf with other old toys was a surprise. What can you tell me about how these little pails got their start?

ANSWER: Sand pails appeal to both boys and girls around the world. Even those living  from the seashore played with their pail and shovel in a sandbox at school or at home in the backyard or by a lakeside. Sand pails weren’t expensive; costing just a few cents, a small price to pay to set a child's imagination off on an adventure. 

Originally, craftsmen made sand pails of wood, decorated with either a simple designs or lettering hand-painted or stenciled around them to appeal to children. After about 1840 tinsmiths started to use tin to make toys. Initially, they made pails from 12 by 14-inch sheets of tin plate imported from Wales. The small size of the sheets restricted the size of these early pails to about 4 ½  inches in diameter. As tin plate technology developed, larger, thinner sheets became available and tin plate started to be produced in the U.S. 

The designs on the earliest tin sand pails were simple, following the pattern of the earlier wooden pails with few bands of color or some letters applied free hand or stenciled over a japanned finish. Japanning consisted of several layers of paint followed by a coat of lacquer. As the market grew the decoration became more complex, a process imported from France in which tinsmiths employed a mixture of varnish and paint burned on in alcohol, then baked to produce a thin translucence to the finish.

They also used embossing on other pails to accentuate the design or lettering. It usually involved a stamping or rolling process so that parts of the surface were raised up while the pail was still in sheet form. It was then very easy to enhance the raised portions with a second color, using a paint pad or roller. 

A major technological advance came in the late 1880s with developments in lithography allowing this printing process to be applied to thin tin sheets. This innovative process printed with a detail that had previously only been possible on paper. This transformed the making of toys, as well as tin food cans and tin advertising signs. It was then possible to use multiple colors and produce fine detailing and a smooth, relatively hard wearing, durable finish. A lithographic press printed the designs and colors on flat sheets of metal from which toys could be formed using tools and dies.

By the turn of the 20th century a family visit to the seashore had become very popular.  America was on the move on weekends and took annual vacations in places like Coney Island, Atlantic City, Asbury Park, or Cape Cod.

Additionally, developments in the technology of printing processes in the 1930s enhanced the colors and details possible on tin pails, and several of the toy manufacturers employed famous illustrators to design the graphics.

The 1930s and 1940s with the popularity of radio and the movies created new heroes, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Snow White along with the Seven Dwarfs all appeared on pails, spades, sprinkling cans and water pumps. The traveling circus was extremely popular. Exotic animals performing amazing acts along with daring performers and clowns with their crazy antics all have their place on beach pails.

As the years passed, cowboys chasing Indians across the range and other Western themes became popular from the influence of television programming. Then the atomic age with space travel captured the imagination and took its place on sand pails.

Tin sand pails and shovels offered a designer a large surface on which to tell a story. Children could identify with the events depicted on pails by The Ohio Art Company of Bryan, Ohio, Kirchoff Patent Company of Newark, New Jersey, T. Cohn Co. of Brooklyn, New York, or U.S. Metal Toy Manufacturing Company of New York. Toddlers could recite favorite nursery rhymes as they looked at the four sides of a beautifully illustrated square sand pail by Julius Chein and Company of New Jersey, or delight in the exploits of Disney characters.

Children delighted in swashbuckling heroes and pirates and acted out their own stories, their pails becoming little treasure chests to transport shells from the water's edge to their ever growing sand piles. 

People are often surprised at the higher prices collectors pay for Victorian and early 20th-century sand pails. This is particularly true of examples showing early airplanes, dirigibles, steamships, Old Glory, the American Eagle, early teddy bears, early Disney characters. 

Condition is everything when collecting tin sand pails, as with other tin-lithographed toys. The design may be worth $500 or $5 the only variable with be condition. Rust, dents, missing parts and major scratches have a serious impact on value.

In establishing an antique or vintage sand pail’s value, subject matter of the illustration on it is also extremely important. Size has no real effect on value. Some collectors like large pails to display on shelves or hang from ceilings, while others prefer the mid-size ones to exhibit in small cases. Many more collect all sizes and include the minipails that were first candy containers, grouping them eclectically.

As with any toys, the best examples of tin sand pails, in mint or excellent condition l always sell for the highest prices. Considering what children did with their sand pails, it’s a wonder any survived at all.

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 "Coffee--The Brew of Life" in the 2023 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.

Finding the Way Around the World

QUESTION: I’ve always liked maps. When I was a teen, I read the road maps when my family went on road trips. Then later, while taking a world geography class in college, I had to color in large maps of the different continents. I soon learned where all the countries were, even many I never knew existed. As an adult I still love maps, but now I like the really old ones. I’d like to start collecting maps but I’m not sure where to start. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER:  Maps teach people about geography and history, as well as politics, religion, and culture. But most collectors love maps for their beauty and relevance to history.  

Collectors seek out maps for many reasons. Some appreciate the beautiful artwork and intricate etchings on early maps and purchase them for decorative purposes. Others seek all maps depicting a specific geographic area and want representative examples of all time periods showing changes resulting from exploration, wars, or just an increase in population.

Others use maps to trace their ancestry or showcase where they’ve traveled. Above all, it’s important to focus on a particular time period or geographical location rather than just collect maps from anywhere. 

Antique maps, like other antiques, are those printed over 100 years ago. Beginning in 1550, cartographers depicted the exploration and discoveries made throughout the world during the next 350 years. During the 17th and 18th centuries, cartography became one of the highest forms of fine art.

Some collectors look for accuracy while others look for inaccuracy–towns incorrectly sited, coastlines incorrectly charted, and rivers incorrectly routed.

Printers produced the majority of antique maps using woodcuts from the 16th to the early 19th centuries. Later, they used copper and steel engraving to create the majority of antique maps found today. By the early 19th century, the lithographic process allowed the artist or cartographer to draw directly onto a specially prepared stones—often using multiple stones for several colors. This was cheaper and faster since lithography required no engraver, but most lithographic maps have a fuzzy quality. By the late 1880's modern machine lithography and printing took over and maps lost their decorative quality.

While some maps were never meant to be colored, most antique maps look better with appropriate hand coloring. Ideally, collectors like to find maps with original hand coloring that’s applied at the time of printing. 

Elaborate cartouches giving the title, the cartographer, the dedication and perhaps details of scale, as well as compass roses, ships, sea monsters and human figures gave the map painter ample opportunity to be creative. Those on engraved maps became more elaborate through the 16th and 17th  centuries. 

When the fragility of maps is considered, it’s remarkable that so many survived over 300-400 years. Collectors will likely find early maps printed on strong, thick hand-made paper from France, Germany and Switzerland and the finest of all from the Ancona area of Northern Italy.

Antique maps can be divided into four main groups, depending on how a single sheet of paper can be folded. Double folio refers to maps printed on a complete sheet measuring 20 by 25 inches. Quarto refers to maps printed on one quarter of a sheet. Octavo refers to maps printed on one eighth of a sheet. Miniature maps of 3½ x 4½ inches appeared during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. 

As with most other antiques, quality and condition are important in map collecting. Since antique maps are paper items, they’re subject to wear and tear similar to any item which was intended to be used. However, with antique maps this isn’t always true. Most maps were printed on paper, and while modern paper is cheap, thin, and tears easily, antique paper is typically much more robust. This is due to the fact that paper used to be made by hand using cotton or linen rags. The paper-making process resulted in long, sturdy fibers within the paper that made it thick and durable. 

It’s not uncommon to find a 400-year old map that appears in perfect condition while a  100-year old map will often suffer from tears and other condition issues. Collectors are more forgiving about condition when it comes to newer maps printed on wood-pulp paper.

Some flaws, such as tears, worm holes, and toning, can be professionally repaired by a paper conservator, making the flaws nearly invisible and therefore minimizing any impact to the map's value.

And while color doesn’t always increase a map’s desirability, it can highly interesting geographical and decorative details.  Some maps were not meant to be colored; in particular maps from the late 15th through early 16th centuries were published in black ink without any color added. With these early maps, most collectors prefer that they remain in their original uncolored state. 

Choices in color ranged from simple outline color, which means that only the borderlines were highlighted, to elaborate full color examples that only the wealthiest could afford.

If color was added soon after the map was printed around the time of its publication, it is referred to as original or contemporary color. Maps that feature original color are a big draw for collectors, especially when the color is well-preserved.

Older, rare, highly sought after maps can be very expensive, sometimes reaching five figures. Collectors can find originals from the 16th century for less than $100, and many from 19th-century atlases are available from  $20 to under $100.  Rarity, age, historical importance, decorative value, coloring, and overall condition of the map and the paper it’s printed on also affect price. 

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 art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.