School Days, School Days, Happy Golden Rule Days

QUESTION: Not long ago, I began collecting little school awards cards. I also collect postcards and found several of these at a postcard show. Each seems to have been personalized for a particular student and covered a variety of topics. What can you tell me about these cards? Are they worth collecting? And how old might they be?

ANSWER: It’s that time of year when schools let out for summer vacation. It’s also the time when students receive awards for a variety of achievements. Today, only a select few receive awards, but in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries, many students received them in the form of Reward of Merit cards.

As early as 1780, Robert Raikes , editor of the Gloucester Journal, opened his first Sunday school in Massachusetts. He began a reward of merit system to maintain discipline, appropriate behavior and good and punctual attendance.

Eighteenth-century hand drawn, colored and hand painted Reward of Merit cards from this early period are considered American folk art by many collectors. Earlier cards had religious subject matter, with poetry, sermons and verses from the Bible. Beginning in the early to mid-19th century, Rewards of Merit became less religious and pious in nature, gearing themselves more toward children's topics, games, child scenes, and patriotic flags and eagles, especially those printed at the time of the American Civil War.



The very earliest examples were simple hand-written notes of praise. Early printed cards were printed on thin pieces of paper with black ink. Most had had a fancy border and the words “Reward of Merit” printed on them. Some printers added illustrations copied from children's chapbooks or newspapers. Pictures often depicted patriotic and seasonal symbols, trains, ships, people and animals.

The top of the card usually read "Reward of Merit," with the well behaved students name written below, followed by the signature of the teacher who issued the reward. Teachers presented these Reward of Merit cards not only for academic achievement but also for punctuality, attendance, proper and good right conduct, and overall signs of improvement in early 19th century one-room schools. Victorian mothers often pasted these cards into scrapbooks to show a their child's achievement and performance at school.

In the 1850s, teachers began to add color to their merit cards by hand-tinting them. Some printers used the chromolithographic process popular in the greeting card industry. Side inscriptions might have included a full-length poem or a saying.

Rewards of Merit cards came in packs of 10 assorted cards, with four designs to the package. Prices varied depending on sizes and workmanship. Most were imported. The most expensive, 40 or 50 cents for 10, were the die-cut examples. Embossed groupings started at 8 cents a package and ran up to 30 cents.

Those teachers who didn’t want to select their own cards could use an optional selection service. The young ladies who did this had good taste and sent the best and prettiest they could for the money sent.



What were these rewards given for? Many came printed with their topic—Neatness in Writing, Correctness in Recitation, Diligence and Good Behavior, Correct.'Deportment, Never Absent-Never Irate. Others had lines for the teacher to fill in. It’s obvious when reading them that teachers often used Rewards of Merit as tokens of affection with inscriptions such as “A Fine Boy or Girl.”

Teachers never looked upon Reward of Merit cards as educational aids. They were gifts in return for something worth recognizing. Although some could be inscribed with such words as "best" in math or English or Latin, they were never part of the grading system. They were the way teachers could say, “You did a good job,” and “Thank you.”

Sunday School teachers also gave reward cards that usually featured scripture. Some were the same size as the Reward of Merit Cards, but many were stickers as small as postage stamps. Their messages reflect their theme—Live Like Jesus, Blessed Be God, Be Thou Faithful, My Hope is in Thee, Maintain Good Works, The Lord is With Thee.

Publishers began printing standardized mass produced rewards for the American public later in the 19th century. The teacher might simply fill in the name of the student, write a signature, and be done. The George P. Brown and Company School Supplies Catalog of the 1890s devoted the first three pages of Day-School Reward Cards.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about western antiques in the special 2019 Spring Edition, "Down to the Sea in Ships," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook. 

The Master of Inks

QUESTION: I recently began to collect old bottles. I found and bought an old blue glass bottle with what looks like a spout at a flea market. Do you happen to know what this might have been used for?

ANSWER: It sounds like you discovered a master ink bottle. Master inks could be found everywhere—at universities, in town halls, in schools, and even at Civil War campsites, to record the horrific events and write letters home to loved ones.  Without masters, much of history wouldn’t have been recorded.

People used master inks to fill smaller ink wells. Many survived because they could be reused. People often threw smaller ink containers away after use. Unfortunately, there’s little information about them available.

Prior to the 18th century, ink came in the form of a cake or powder, which the user would mix with water. It was only in the late 18th century that liquid ink in wide-bottomed bottles became widely available. This was a black or blue-black writing fluid that the user dipped a pen made from a goose quill into a small container. Different makers used a variety of recipes, but the most common types were Gall ink, deep black Indian ink  and blue-black ink. P& J Arnold of London was one of the pioneering companies in the ink industry in Great Britain. Other well known English ink companies included Stephens, Price and Hyde, and Cochrane. In the U.S., Sanford and S.S. Stafford were two of the earlier companies. As the ink industry grew, so did the need for ink containers.

Ink bottles differ from inkwells in that makers designed the bottles to serve a purely utilitarian purpose—to hold ink. Inkwells, on the other hand, were often more decorative, the sort of thing you’d want people to notice on your desk. Consequently, inkwells were more expensive than ink bottles.

No single manufacturer had the monopoly on ink bottles. Indeed, just about any company that produced glass dabbled in ink bottles at one point or another. Generally, manufacturers made master inks of glass, ceramic, or pottery. They came in several varieties , including “pourer” inks, used to top off ink wells, and the bulk type used for filling the inkwells.

Master inks are highly collectible. Their larger size allows collectors to display them more prominently than the smaller inks. They also came in a wide variety of colors, and as with all glassware, color is paramount to collectors. The most valuable colors are unusual ones like yellow and purple, while colors like aqua and clear are more common. Embossed bottles or ones with intact labels also increase an ink bottle’s value.
Signs of wear and color variants affect the quality. Some examples carry the residue of stains that still remain. Collectors usually categorize master inks by makers, countries of origin, and age.

Prices for master inks vary greatly from a few dollars for the more common ones and to hundreds of dollars for some of the rarer ones. Great examples from different ink makers can be found from $50-100.

The Thrill of the Hunt

QUESTION: I’ve been buying most of my antiques at flea markets and in shops. I’d like to go to antique shows, but I’m afraid the prices will be too high. Can you give me some advice?

ANSWER: Though there are all sorts of antique shows out there, I divide them generally into three levels–the friendly firehouse or school show, the more elegant hotel show, and the high-end show.

You’ll find the first of these, the friendly firehouse or school show, held in a local fire company hall or the all-purpose room of an elementary school once or twice a year. Here, you’ll find lots of affordable antiques and collectibles. Prices range from as low as a few dollars up to perhaps three figures. Dealers, mostly from the surrounding region, tend to sell only at shows or out of their homes.

The more elegant hotel show comes around usually once a year and features finer items. Tables often display a myriad of small objects–Japanese Imari porcelains, Wedgewood, fine English majolica, and Staffordshire ware, along with small pieces of furniture, trunks, stained glass lamps, and so on. Dealers tend to come from a wider area, including surrounding states while prices range from two to four digits, with finer items selling for several thousand dollars.

High-end shows are extravagant affairs, both in goods and prices, and feature dealers from all over the country. For some patrons of these shows, nothing says they’ve made it better than bragging about how much they’ve spent on an antique, whether it be a piece of fine 18th-century furniture or a diamond necklace that once belonged to a princess. Just before the recession, patrons at these shows thought nothing of whipping out their checkbooks and writing checks for $30,000 to $40,000 for an Empire sofa or as much as a quarter million for an 18th-century Philadelphia secretary in the Chippendale style.

Many of these shows are vetted, which means the promoters guarantee everything sold there as authentic. Where’s the fun in that? Part of the thrill of the hunt is being able to tell for yourself if a piece is real or not by the knowledge you’ve amassed about it beforehand, especially when the dealer doesn’t have a clue.

And while you can attend high-end shows by paying the heft admission price–going to a good cause, of course–you’ll find the reception from other showgoers rather off-putting. Let’s face it. They have no idea from your worn jeans and casual top that you just inherited a cool million from daddy. The dealers, on the other hand, couldn’t be nicer. After all, they’ll gladly take money from anyone.

Give me the dealers at my neighborhood flea market and firehouse antique show any day. While things may not cost as much at these venues, the dealers love to bargain. And, for me, that’s part of the thrill of the hunt.