A Slide on the Ice

 

QUESTION: My father has been involved in curling since he was a teenager. Being of Scottish background, curling seems to be in his blood. Over time, he’s amassed quite a collection of curling memorabilia. And while I’m not as interested in participating in curling, I do love the idea of collecting its memorabilia. With all the recent attention that curling got from the recent Winter Olympics, how has the value of memorabilia been affected?

ANSWER: The key to smart collecting is discovering today’s sports-related souvenirs that could become tomorrow’s hot collectible. Spotting trends is the key, especially when a sport skyrockets to international acclaim as just happened with curling at the Milan/Cortina Winter Olympics. 

While most Americans aren’t familiar with curling, the widespread coverage of the sport at the recent games brought it to the forefront, along with the memorabilia that goes with it. Its colorful buttons, stylish pins and embroidered badges often appear at sports shows, flea markets and in online auctions.

Curling developed in 16th-century Scotland where it was played outdoors on frozen ponds or lochs. Simple equipment for the game included natural curling stones and primitive brooms. When slid across the ice by a player, the stone would quite often curve, or curl, as it traveled toward its target, a large bull’s eye. Players used brooms to brush snow and particles from the path of oncoming stones.

The first recorded evidence of the sport came from John McQuhin, a notary from Paisley, Scotland.  A challenge between a monk and a representative of the local Abbot took place on a frozen lake regarding throwing stones across its surface. Eventually, the first curling clubs formed. Curling spread across North America and Europe with Scottish immigrants.  In 1838, the Grand Caledonian Curling Club codified the first universal rules of curling.  Four years later, members demonstrated the game for Queen Victoria. She loved the game and allowed the club to use "Royal" in its official name, changing it to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club.

When Scottish immigrants came to America, they brought the sport of curling with them. It soon spread across Canada and the northern part of the United States. By the mid-19th century, curling clubs prospered in the states surrounding the Great Lakes and in New York City. The Victorians popularized the sport, and its popularity has grown even more today. 

The first official international competition for the sport occurred during the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France in 1924.  In 1932, the Olympic Committee downgraded curling to a demonstration sport.  On April 1, 1966, the formation of the International Curling Federation helped to further legitimize the game to once again gain an Olympic spot. Nearly 30 years later, on July 21, 1992, the International Olympic Committee finally gave full medal status to both men and women's curling. 

During the curling season which runs from October to March, it’s estimated that several million people play the game worldwide. In Canada, curling is the second most popular sport next to ice hockey. In the United States, it’s played in 25 states.

Although the game has undergone modernization with uniform equipment, sleek uniforms, and modern facilities with refrigerated ice, the traditions of good will and fair play continue. Curlers play to win but never to humble their opponents. A true curler would rather lose than win unfairly.

The spirit of camaraderie is what attracts many players to curling. At the close of tournaments, known as bonspiels, curlers often exchange their club buttons, embroidered badges, or pins for coveted like pieces from opposing team members. Each club’s piece is unique in size, shape, color and design.

In fact, many curlers also collect the sport’s hats, sweaters, and ephemera-related items. Each button, badge, or pin elicits lasting memories.

So what is this sport all about? Two teams of four players make up the game. The players are respectively lead, second, third and skip. Each player slides round stones across the ice. The stones are concave on the bottom and have a handle on the top. They are slid toward a fixed mark in the center of a circle, called a house. The circle is marked with concentric bands. The object of the game is to slide the heavy granite stones closest to the center. 

Each player delivers two stones alternately with his opponent, beginning with the lead of each team and ending with the skip, who is also the team captain. One point is awarded for each stone that comes to rest nearer the tee than does any rival stone. A team can score up to 8 points with the 16 stones delivered in an end, or inning, unless no stone is in the house or the nearest opposing stones are equidistant, in which case there’s no score. Important strategies of the sport include blocking and knocking out an opponent's stones.

A distinctive part of curling is the use of a corn broom, or brush, by the partners of the deliverer to sweep the ice in the path of the oncoming stone. This is a tradition carried over from the days when people played curling on frozen lakes. It was necessary to clear the snow to provide a path for the oncoming stone. Curlers still sweep today to remove stray ice particles and smooth the surface of the ice, thus assuring the stone a longer ride. 

Prior to the 1950s, most curling brooms were similar to household brooms. In 1958, Fern Marchessault of Montreal inverted the corn straw in the center of the broom. This style of corn broom was referred to as the Blackjack. Today, brushes have replaced traditional corn brooms at every level of curling.

A curler also uses a brush for balance during delivery of the stone and by the skip to indicate where the curler should aim. The ice is meticulously groomed to keep it completely level. Prior to a competition, a member of the ice maintenance crew sprays a mist of water on to the ice to create a pebbled surface that helps guide the stones. Each stone weighs an average of 40 pounds and cannot exceed 44 pounds. Its circumference cannot be more than 36 inches. The minimum height is 4½  inches.

Pins for curling events in different Olympics have saturated the collectibles market and are easy to find. However, curling pins aren’t limited to the Olympics.  Pins from other curling competitions are also popular with players and collectors.  Because of the sport's popularity in Europe, European and specifically Scottish pins are some of the most common. Canadian curling pins are also fairly easy to find.

Popular curling collectibles also include personalized curling ornaments and novelty items like curling stone keychains and coasters. Additionally, collectors value unique memorabilia such as custom curling signs and miniature curling stones.

Antique curling stones are another popular item. The oldest stones hail from Scotland.  These can be more difficult to identify as curling stones often have no trademark or logo. An antique curling stone can cost as much as a new one.

The value of curling collectibles can vary widely based on rarity, condition, and demand. Values have increased significantly in the last 25 years. Items like vintage pins and memorabilia from significant events can fetch from $10 to $30 each while unique curling stones can sell for $50 to $150 for vintage ones to $200 to $700 for those from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. A new 2026 Milan Winter Olympics Curling Pin is selling for $10 to $20.

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 50,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "Colonial America" in the 2026 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.

Miniature Relief Portraits in Stone

 

QUESTION: When I was very young, my mother would take me to visit my great grandmother. The first time I saw her she was wearing a beautiful pin with the picture of a lady carved on it. She later told me it was a cameo, given to her by her mother. She also had several others in different colors and designs. Needless to say, she has since passed, leaving her cameos to me. They are so beautiful but seem outdated by today’s standards. I may begin adding to the ones she gave me and would like to know more about their history and how I can tell how old they are. 

ANSWER: While cameos may not be in style today, they are nevertheless a great thing to collect. They span all periods from ancient to the early 20th century.

Cameos have been around since 15,000 B.C.E, appearing first as carvings on rocks to record significant events in ancient Egypt. 

During the reign of Alexander the Great in the 3rd century B.C.E., Greek and Roman cameos featured religious figures and mythological images. During the Greek Hellenistic era, women wore cameos to display their willingness to engage in intercourse. Quattrocento collectors, those from the 15th century Italian cultural and arts period, began distinguishing among the ancient cameos. 

Upper class women began wearing carved gemstones as a sign of wealth and prestige in the 18th century. Carvers soon realized they could use Plaster of Paris molds to recreate such gemstones as records of notable cameo collections. Scottish gem engraver and modeler James Tassie began using these molds recreate glass pastes that could pass as authentic, carved jewels.

Carvers realized just how easily they could replicate expensive jewels. They discovered Cornelian shells, which were soft, durable, and easy to carve. In the 19th century, England’s Queen Victoria popularized shelled cameos. As interest grew, Napoleon took a particular interest in them. He brought carvers to France from all over Europe to create cameo jewelry for both men and women. 

The Industrial Revolution produced an affluent middle class with plenty of money, and leisure time in which to spend it. Scores of Victorians broadened their horizons with travel, taking the Grand Tour of the European continent, and acquiring mementos and small gifts along the way to bring home for friends and loved ones. An essential stop on every Grand Tour was Italy.

A new type of cameo, made of petrified lava, also appeared in the 19th century. Colored lava extracted from an archaeological dig at Pompeii proved useful for highly detailed carvings. Women during this time were embarking on their Grand Tours, which were traditional trips were taken by wealthy young European men and women serving as an educational rite of passage. Women often purchased lava cameos as souvenirs of their travels, which established them as symbols of status and wealth.

But what exactly is a cameo? A cameo is a small piece of sculpture, often a profiled head in relief, on a stone or shell cut in one layer with another contrasting layer serving as the background. They could be made of any layered material capable of being carved so that the layers underneath were exposed. Over the centuries, cameos have been made of shell, stone, lava, gemstones, plastic and glass.

Cameos most commonly appear as portraits of women, although other popular subjects are men, groups, scenery, animals and flowers. Classic cameos, such as the ones Victorian women brought back to England, were made of shell and often depicted Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, recognizable by the various symbols placed in their hair or else-where in the portrait. An example of this was Diana, the Goddess of the Hunt, always depicted with a crescent moon in her hair, and sometimes carrying a quiver of arrows and a bow.

There are several ways to date a cameo. The first is its construction. A Victorian brooch. made before the invention of the locking pin clasp, has a simple "C" clasp, indicating it was made before 1900. Also, the pin shaft in a Victorian brooch extended out past the rim of the brooch and was visible when a woman wore one. 

The hair, clothing, and even the nose of the subject can also identify an older cameo. A Greco-Victorian cameo, while a short bob will appear on a cameo made during the early 20th century. Clothing styles change too, so looking at the subject's style of dress can help one date a cameo. And then there's the nose. During the Victorian era, the "Roman" or aquiline nose, a long nose with a straight bridge, was a sign of classic beauty. Later, society came to view a smaller, upturned nose as most attractive. 

The finest, most expensive cameos are those made from semi-precious stones. Agate is one of the most popular since it’s difficult to carve and requires significantly more skill to produce. 

The rareness of a cameo is a stronger determinant of its value than its age. For example, though the Roman Empire predated the Renaissance era, Collectors consider Renaissance cameos more valuable because there are fewer of them. The metal used can also give an indication of the age of a cameo. If the mounting is a pinchbeck—an alloy of copper and zinc resembling gold—it was likely made between the early 18th century and mid-19th century. Gold electroplating wasn’t patented until 1840, so all cameos that are plated were carved after this date.

The setting, or framing, is one of the most important determinants of age and value. Those that are remounted are considerably less valuable. The setting will be different depending on the era from which it was produced. For example, Victorian cameos often feature confined, simple frames as opposed to the jeweled, pearled versions that followed decades later.

Collectors today look for skillful hand-carving, exquisite detail and interesting subjects. Also, a cameo should be judged on the content and quality of the setting, its size and, most importantly, its condition. It's a good idea to hold a cameo up to the light to look for stress lines and cracks, before purchasing. Details such as the creative use of the coloring of the shell or stone, and the adornment of the subject with jewels or other accessories will also increase the desirability, and therefore the price, of a cameo.

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  Vernacular Style" in the 2024 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.

Beat Those Biscuits

QUESTION: I live in South Carolina, though I’m not a native. Recently, I attended an estate sale at an old farm. Out of all the items for sale, I bought an old clunky table that looks like it may have been used for baking. It stands higher than a regular table and has a hinged top under which is a rectangular stone block. What can you tell me about this table?

ANSWER: It seems that you stumbled upon an old biscuit table. These specially made baking tables were a stable in 19th-century Southern kitchens.

When people think of Southern biscuits, they imagine fluffy, buttery pillows of golden, flaky pastry made from White Lily flour. But these delicacies weren't always common fare on the Southern dinner table. Until baking powder came on the market in the late 19th century, most biscuits were unleavened and beaten.

Housewives and plantation cooks back then pounded the dough, Iayer upon layer, to make the otherwise tough dough flaky and palatable. Recipes in the 1850s required the dough be worked for at least a half hour. The work was so labor intensive that rhythmic pounding resonated from plantation kitchens in the early mornings. One neighborhood in Danville, Kentucky, along its historic Third Street became known as "Beaten Biscuit Row." According to legend, the steady pounding of biscuits from the outdoor kitchens of the houses lining the street greeted passersby during the 19th century.

Preparing biscuits was a tiring job, so cooks, who had to bend over their kitchen tables to knead and pound biscuit dough, needed a special table to save their backs. The result was a worktable of appropriate height at which they could stand and beat the dough into layers for the required 30 minutes. In the beginning, slaves on plantations probably made the first biscuit tables from wood. They were about three feet in diameter and four feet high.

The biscuit table, like the sugar chest, evolved into a furniture form as the 19th century progressed. Increased sugar production and the demand for candies in Creole New Orleans fostered the concept of using marble slabs to prepare confections. This worked so well that the idea crossed over to bread making. By the 1850s, biscuit table makers began incorporating slabs of marble, limestone and granite into the once simple wooden biscuit slab. Going one step further, they added hinged covers to the tabletop to allow dough to rest without fear of insects or other critters ruining a morning's labor. Like the beaten biscuit, itself, the biscuit table seemed to appear in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, all of which take credit for its origin. Cooks in Louisiana used a related form to make candy confections.

Carpenters used mostly poplar wood to make plantation biscuit tables, though tables of yellow pine and walnut have been known to exist. Most biscuit tables that have survived are sturdy but crude in construction, with many having been fashioned from roughly finished lumber and square nails or pegs. The slabs or stones were generally of locally quarried limestone.

The biscuit table lost its usefulness with the invention of the beaten biscuit machine, a roller contraption cranked by hand much like that found on old wringer washers. This little device could be mounted onto the kitchen worktable or a cook could order one attached to a cast-iron table that could be delivered to a home. Factories in St. Louis commercially produced and shipped biscuit tables to eager housewives throughout the South.

It seems that by the beginning of the 20th century, the beaten biscuit had become Southern folklore, though still preserved in many old-fashioned kitchens of the day. But as the century progressed, southern biscuit tables were either destroyed or stored in barns.