Nothing to Get Depressed About

QUESTION: My mother loves Depression Glass. She’s been collecting for over 20 years. I love the colors, but all the patterns confuse me. Other than being made during the Great Depression, why did so many companies make this type of glass and why is it so popular with collectors?

ANSWER: Of all the collectibles out there, Depression glass is one of the most popular with collectors, most likely for its rainbow of colors and its myriad of patterns. Depression glass is far from a depressing collectible. In fact, companies made it in such bright colors to raise the mood of people going through one of the worst times in their lives. They also made it affordable so that this little bit of joy could reach as many people as possible.

The common belief is that this clear, colored translucent, or opaque glassware got its name because it was made during the Great Depression. This is a bit of a misnomer because decorative glass of this type had been around since as early as 1914 and as late as 1960. However, the production of Depression glass did indeed reach its peak during the years of the Great Depression.

During the first half of the 20th century, the Ohio River Valley was the epicenter of glass production. Companies like Westmoreland and Fenton Glass had access to the raw materials and power they needed to keep their glass production costs down. Over 20 manufacturers made more than 100 patterns of Depression glass, some in entire dinner sets.

Although mass production of this low-quality molded glass made it fairly inexpensive at the time, not everyone could afford it. Everyday essentials were far more important, but thanks to glass companies like Indiana, Imperial, Federal, Jeanette, Hazel Atlas, and Anchor Hocking, the wares were available to everyone for a few pennies or nothing.

For instance, a bag of Quaker Oats flour might include a premium piece of dinnerware. The company also made laundry detergent, in which it packaged “a little extra something” to make the drudgery of  wash day more bearable. The pattern, size, and color were a mystery to the user until she opened the box. Collecting the pieces to use became a common pastime and made people’s lives a little brighter.  Other companies followed Quaker Oats’ lead and began using Depression glass as a premium to help sell their products.

Depression glass pieces also lined the shelves at five-and-ten-cent stores like Woolworth’s or if people went to the movies on Tuesday or Wednesday nights when patronage was low, they might win a set of dishes. Some theater owners handed out small pieces just for attending a show.

The Cherry Blossom pattern, made by the Jeanette Glass Company from 1930 to 1939, came in both pink and green. While most collectors of Depression glass favor the color green, it also came in a rainbow of other common colors, including crystal (clear), pink, pale blue, green, and amber. Less common colors included canary (yellow), ultramarine, jadeite (opaque pale green), delphite (opaque pale blue), cobalt blue, ruby (red), black, amethyst, and milk glass (opague white).

Later Depression Glass, made during the 1940s and 1950s, included American Prescut, sold only in clear crystal, and other patterns in ruby and forest green. The top-of-the-line pattern has always been Pink Miss America, made by the Hocking Glass Company from 1935 to 1938.

While over 100 companies made Depression Glass during the Great Depression, by the time it had ended, only half that many were still producing it. And of these, only seven—Federal, Hazel-Atlas, MacBeth-Evans, and U.S. Glass—produced this glass exclusively through the mid-1940s.

The Imperial Glass Company produced the first pattern, Fancy Colonial, in 1914, well before the Great Depresssion began. Westmoreland Glass has the distinction of making the English Hobnail pattern the longest.

The most colors made for any one pattern are 11, done for Moondrop and Rock Crystal, followed by English Hobnail by Westmoreland, Lincoln Inn by Fenton, and Floral by Jeanette, all with 10 colors each. 

Identifying Depression glass by mark can be difficult because few of the companies marked or labeled their wares. The only way to identify a maker is to know which company made the pattern. Using the numerous books and Web sites on Depression glass available today, it’s a fairly easy process. Some of the most common include Adam, American Sweetheart, Block Optic,Cherry Blossom, Dogwood, Floral, Georgian, Hobnail, Lake Como, Manhattan, Starlight, and Windsor. While some of the names reflect the style of the glass pattern itself, most do not. 

The best way to determine a genuine piece of Depression glass is to learn the pattern, dates of manufacture, colors the pattern, and any other known identifying marks. One example is the Cherry Blossom pattern by the Jeannette Glass Company, introduced in 1930 and made until 1939. The set consisted of 43 pieces different pieces, and the company made it in seven different colors—green, pink, crystal, yellow, ruby, jadeite, and dark green.

Depression glass was never made to be durable as it was only made to meet people’s immediate needs. Due to its popularity as a collectible and its breakability, Depression glass is becoming harder to find. Rare pieces often sell for several hundred dollars. Popular and expensive patterns and pieces have been reproduced, and reproductions are still being made, which has watered down the market for some patterns.

Mementos From the World of Tomorrow

QUESTION:  My grandmother gave me this item from the 1939 New York World’s Fair,  which I am guessing is a jewelry box. It had been in her possession since she visited the Fair. If you would have any information it would be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER: Corporations, makers of fine china, novelties, and toys made over 25,000 different souvenir items for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Each represented an exhibit or the general theme of the Fair and gave fairgoers something to take back home. There were plates and puzzles, pencil sharpeners and typewriters, and even birthday candles in the shape of the Fair’s symbols—the Trylon and Perisphere.

As the Great Depression came to a close, the optimism expressed by the 1939 New York World’s Fair gave our nation hope. It was not only a look into the future, but a way to let people know about the accomplishments that had been made, even as many fought poverty and starvation.

The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered 1,216 acres of Flushing Meadows, was the second most expansive American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Sixty foreign countries participated in it, and over 44 million people attended its exhibits during its two-season run. This Fair was the first exposition to be based on the future, with an opening slogan of "Dawn of a New Day", and it allowed all visitors to take a look at "the world of tomorrow."

World’s fairs have introduced new ideas to the world ever since the first one held in London in 1851. They were momentous events and visitors to them wanted things that would make their experience at a fair memorable and lasting. Souvenirs of these fairs not only offer a look at how people lived at the time but also give us a snapshot of history.

Modern marketing techniques had been in practice since before the turn of the century. Everyone knows Coca Cola’s bold ads featuring everything from pin-up girls to Santa Claus. Marketing the New York World’s Fair wasn’t to be any different. While radio was common, television was not, so one of the ways companies advertised was through samples and giveaways. The souvenirs of the 1939 Fair provided ample opportunities for them to tout their wares to a public recently freed from the bonds of the Great Depression.

Fiesta made plates depicting a potter at his wheel, there were numerous types of hand-painted Nippon ware to choose from, and there were even knockoffs of Wedgwood and Lalique. RCA made a commemorative radio, Remington offered a portable typewriter, and Macy’s sold Dutch Girl dolls. Lighters, compacts, and ashtrays were also popular, as were coins, pins, buttons, badges, and pocket knives.

The variety of souvenirs and items from World's Fair events is seemingly endless—everything from dainty handkerchiefs to trivets. Even the most avid collector is sure to find a never-before-seen piece from time to time.

The fair opened on April 30, 1939, with 260,000 people in attending. This date coincided with the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration in Lower Manhattan as the first president of the United States.


To show off the exhibits in the best possible way, the New York World’s Fair planners  divided it into themed zones, such as the Transportation Zone. the Communications and Business Systems Zone, the Food Zone, and the Government Zone. While there were general souvenirs of the entire Fair, each zone and pavilions within it had their own special ones.

Planners chose blue and orange, the colors of New York City, as the official colors of the Fair, so many souvenirs bear these colors. Only the Trylon and Perisphere were  white. Avenues stretching out into the zones from the Theme Center featured rich colors that changed the further out they went from the center.

Each day at the fair was a special theme day, for which the Fair Corporation issued special souvenirs, including buttons, postage stamps, and first day covers, cancelled at the event honoring that special day. The fair opened on April 30, 1939, with 260,000 people in attending. This date coincided with the 150th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration in Lower Manhattan as the first president of the United States. So this day had its share of appropriate souvenirs.

Some of the more popular pavilions included that of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The railroads were another prominent exhibitor at the Fair, as well as A T&T and IBM. And each participating country, including France, had a pavilion. Most likely this jewelry box came from the French pavilion since Art Nouveau, the style of the box, was a decidedly French creation.

For more information on souvenirs of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, please read
“Souvenirs from the 1939 New York World's Fair Highly Collectible” and “1939 New York World’s Fair Lives On Through Collectibles.”

And Away We Go

QUESTION: I’ve always loved to go sledding. And as an adult, I still love it. My trusty companion is an old Flexible Flyer sled. It has seen many a snow-covered hill. But I really don’t know very much about it. What can you tell me?

ANSWER:  The Flexible Flyer, invented by Samuel L. Allen in the late 1880s, was the first steerable sled.  With his invention, sledding would never be the same.

Allen’s prominent Philadelphia Quaker parents sent him to the Westtown Boarding School in Chester County, Pennsylvania, as age 11. After graduation, he moved to the family farm in 1861 near Westfield, New Jersey, half-way between Moorestown and Riverton, where he married became a farmer. Soon he established a company to manufacture farm implements. But since this was seasonal, Allen needed a product he could make in the summer and sell in the winter. He decided to make sleds.

Allen’s first sled, known as the "Fairy Coaster," was a double runner bob sled that held three or four adults. Light and folding easily for transport, the sled’s runners and supports were made of steel with plush seats. But at $50.00, it cost too much to sell in quantity. He began testing his sleds at Westtown School —also known for its part in the development of the game Monopoly—near West Chester, Pennsylvania and his alma mater.

It wasn’t until he came up with the ideas for a T-shaped runner and slatted seat, both new concepts at this time, that he made any progress. After it was proven, Allen called his sled the Flexible Flyer, an appropriate name because the sled was fast considering its weight and size and the only steerable sled at the time.

Allen eventually convinced two great department stores, John Wanamaker in Philadelphia and R.H. Macy in New York, to sell his Flexible Flyers. By 1915, he was selling 2,000 sleds a day. But what put Allen’s sled over the top was the interest of the exclusive Tuxedo Club in Tuxedo Park, New York. Tobogganing was already in vogue at Tuxedo Park when the New York State Tuxedo Club purchased Allen’s Flexible Flyer sleds.

If a collector has two sleds with the same name, he or she might think they were made by the same company, but this isn’t necessarily so. Names were interchanged from one company to another. Collectors should look for variety of sleds. There are lots of sleds, unnamed and dilapidated that sell for cheap.

Collectors should first look for the company’s name, mark, or model number which is usually found on the back side of the center deck board unless it’s worn off. If there are no markings, then collectors must rely on visual differences like the design and style of the frame, steering bar, and deck.

As with other collectibles, condition, availability, desirability, rarity, and potential for resale. A slight change in style, design, or color can put a sled in a different decade, increasing or decreasing its value.

Every company that manufactured sleds "copied" the revolutionary design of the Flexible Flyer, in some cases right down to the advertising. There are reproductions.

Well-preserved early 20th-century sleds make infrequent, yet steady appearances on the market and collectors hotly pursue them. Generally, they sell in the low to mid $100s. And, yes, prices are rising in that a fine sled rarely slips through without attracting the attention of someone who appreciates its value. The older 19th-century sleds appear rarely and some sell for up to $1,000.

The 1914 Flexible Flyer, with an all-steel frame, original trademark eagle, shield and ribbon-scroll work on deck, and pinstriped steering bar sells for $100-150. It originally sold for $3.50.

Old sleds are readily available. Those in the best condition command the highest prices. A Flexible Flyer in excellent condition can sell for over $500.

Getting an Appraisal

QUESTION:  I have inherited a tall case clock and am looking for some guidance. The clock is said to be at least from the time of the Revolutionary War. There’s a slit in the back that I’m told is from a soldier putting a sword through. I’m trying to get a value for shipping and also for fairness for other family members in the event it’s really valuable. Can you help me?

ANSWER: Contrary to popular opinion, not just anyone can valuate an antique or collectible. Asking someone how much an object is worth is like asking if it will rain tomorrow. The only way to know what an antique, especially a potentially valuable one such as this clock, is worth is by having it “appraised” by a professional appraiser. And only a professional appraisal is legally binding when it comes to insurance claims or inheritances.

Exactly what is an appraisal? An appraisal is the paid opinion of an expert on the value of an object based on known facts. In the case of antiques and collectibles, known facts include records from more than one sale at more than one auction, the latest published price guides, and personal experience gained from buying and selling similar items many years.

While a verbal appraisal may offer an indication of how much an item is worth, a professional written one is the only one legally recognized by insurance companies and the courts. It must be based on fact and able to stand challenges in court. However, written appraisals, even for one item, can take hours to prepare and are expensive, but are absolutely necessary to prove an item’s worth.

A verbal appraisal, on the other hand, is an informal one. Usually, the person giving the appraisal spends no time researching auction records and price guides. Therefore, a verbal appraisal is an opinion based on first hand knowledge.

Formal appraisals fall into two categories—replacement and fair market value. Insurance companies require the former, while estate valuations require the latter.

Replacement value is generally defined as the price at which an object would be available on the retail market. In other words, what an antique dealer would charge for a particular item.

When you try to insure a collection, the insurance company wants to know how much it will cost to replace it. The same applies for a single piece of furniture. The insurance company won’t accept a verbal appraisal as the basis of settling a claim. Instead, they require a written appraisal with proof of replacement cost.

Fair market value, on the other hand, is best described as "the price that property would sell for on the open market between a willing buyer and willing seller, with neither being required to act, and both parties having reasonable knowledge of the reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.

But whatever the appraised value, an object will bring only a percentage of its replacement value when offered for sale—generally between 40 and 60 percent below replacement cost. Items that sell extremely slow will sell for only about 30 percent of replacement value, while those that sell fast may bring 80 to 90 percent of replacement value.

With so many auction sites online these days, it’s easy to pull one up and do a search for a particular antique or collectible to see what it may be selling for. Most people use eBay. Unfortunately, the amounts listed on eBay may not reflect an object’s true value. If the object is listed on an auction site, then, as with live auctions, the price could go way above the object’s current value due to competition between bidders. If someone really wants an antique or collectible, they may stop at no amount of money to obtain it.

Too many homeowners use this as an easy way to price items in a yard or garage sale. Flea marketers do the same. This is why so many items that are actually worth much less are selling for higher prices today at these venues.

Prices of objects at antique shows usually sell for the amount of their value or a little less. However, some sell for what the dealer perceives to be the value of the object. High-end dealers selling objects for four to six figures do their research and know their market. Those selling at middle-market shows, sometimes do research about an item, but, more often than not, just guess at an item’s value and price it for what they think the market will bear.

To find a professional antiques appraiser near you, contact the International Society of Appraisers. 

For more information, read my article on appraisals in The Antiques Almanac.

Selling Your Antiques and Collectibles

QUESTION:  I was a Hess dealer from 1969 to 1982, station Numbers 30293 and 30298 in Maple Shade and Millville, New Jersey. I clamped the Hess Toy Truck gasoline tanker display  to the top of the oil rack on the gas island. Hess Oil issued one of these for each island oil rack. Have you ever seen one of these? The Hess Training Vans came packaged six trucks to a box and four boxes to a master carton. Only one of these have been out of the box to take photos. Notice  the sharp corners on the boxes that are still green and not white and end flaps are still flat and not rolled. I’d like to sell these items but don’t know how or where. Can you help me?

ANSWER: People ask about selling Hess Toy Trucks all the time.  Unfortunately, the market for them is flat, so sales are sort of in the dumps at present. However, there are other ways to unload your antiques and collectibles. Have you ever considered crossover sales?

Most people associate the word “crossover” with SUVs. But in fact many antiques and collectibles can also be crossovers—they have collector appeal in more than one field or category. For example, an early 20th-century calendar showing bicyclists attracts not only ephemera collectors, but also antique bicycle enthusiasts.

This person has some really unique pieces which although they may not appeal to the typical collector of Hess Toy Trucks—except for the trucks, themselves—they may appeal to a wider market of both advertising and gasoline memorabilia collectors, especially since Hess Oil sold off its gas stations last year. The display cases are particularly interesting. Also, anything bearing the company logo will sell.

In order to get the most for whatever type of antique or collectible you have, you must look at this from a broader perspective and begin to see the crossover possibilities. First, you have the people who collect the trucks, themselves. Then you have those who collect toy trucks, Third, you have those who collect Hess memorabilia, and fourth those who collect gas station memorabilia. Most people only think of the collectors of the items they have. You have to think beyond them.

Second, you have to plan to sell to a targeted audience. Let’s look at some of the right and wrong possibilities.

The first marketing level, the yard or garage sale, depends on people who impulse buy. The regulars make the rounds each Saturday, hoping to find some items that interest them. Sure, there may be some collectors in the group, but the chances of a collector of a particular type of antique or collectible finding an item they collect is a million to one shot.

The second marketing level, the flea market, depends on a similar group of people. However, this group includes more collectors, who browse flea markets looking for items to add to their collection. It’s always hit or miss. A collector never knows what he or she will find on a given day.

The third marketing level is the antiques or collectibles dealer. Most people don’t realize that when selling to a dealer, they’ll only get half or less of what their items are worth. Here, the number of collectors is higher than previously, but the monetary returns are low.

Computer technology and the Internet have dramatically changed how people sell things. For the most part, the audience is made up of mostly collectors—people who are searching for specific items to add to their collections. It’s so much easier to sit at a computer and search for a specific item than it is to go out hunting for it. Plus it saves on gas.

When eBay began, it was the only game in town. And in this case, “game” was the right word. People went on eBay to play the “bidding” game before sophisticated video games began to take up their time. They would bid on items for which they had only a marginal interest, bidding them up to see if they could “win” the item in the last second. This caused the prices of antiques and collectibles to rise substantially beyond their actual value.

But now eBay is just one of many online sales venues. In fact, bidding plays only a small part in eBay sales as more and more buyers prefer the “Buy It Now” option.

To successfully sell online, divide up what you have and sell individual pieces. This applies especially to items like Hess Toy Trucks. Some people have been collecting them for years and want to sell their entire collection to one person. Although that’s the easy way out, they’ll make a lot more money selling everything a la carte.

Before attempting to sell any antique or collectible online, see what others like it are selling for, then either match or offer a slightly lower price. Offer the item in several categories, maximizing its crossover potential. It’s all about competition—and there’s loads of it online today. Lastly, be patient. It may take a while for the right buyer to come along. 

Picture That Record

QUESTION: A few weeks ago, I discovered several unusual records at a garage sale in my neighborhood. Each had a picture embedded into the record on both sides. This painting seemed to illustrate the song on each side. I was so fascinated by these records that I bought them on an impulse. Can you tell me anything about them? I’ve never seen anything like them before.

ANSWER: You’ve picked up quite a treasure. Your records date from the one year in the late 1940s when Sav-Way Industries of Detroit, Michigan, produced these unique “picture” records on the “Vogue” label. From May 1946 to April the following year, Sav-Way produced 74 different, 10-inch Vogue records.

Sav-Way released the first 10-inch Vogue picture record in May 1946. These records featured everything from big band to country to jazz.  Each had  an artist's illustration embedded in the transparent vinyl of the record. These  illustrations, signed by the artist, on each side of the record generally related to the title of the song on that side. Many of the illustrations are for romantic ballads. And while the most common Vogue picture records are 10-inch, 78 RPM records, Sav-Way also released a few 12-inch, 78 RPM records.

Each illustration has an "R" number, or catalog number, printed on it, ranging from R707 to R786. However, the company didn’t use all of the 79 catalog numbers, so there are gaps here and there.

There’s also a "P" number printed on the illustration next to the copyright symbol. This matrix number should match the matrix number inscribed in the lead-out area of the record. Once in a while illustrations didn’t match the song pressed on that side of the record. Sav-Way sometimes marked these records as Factory Rejects. But they marked those records with damaged illustrations—torn paper or smeared ink—as Vogue Seconds.

While Vogue picture records were unique and somewhat popular at first, later on they lost favor because Sav-Way couldn’t attract very many big-name singers and musicians. This caused the company to re-use some previously-released songs to help fill the second side of some records. Consequently, the catalog numbers on a particular record may not match. Most Vogue picture record collectors know that these records aren’t one-of-a-kind examples and don’t get excited when they come across them.

Sav-Way sold Vogue picture records both individually, as well as in albums containing two records. The company produced eight different albums. Originally, the single records sold for around a dollar while the albums sold for a little less than three dollars. Sears, Roebuck, and Company’s 1946/47 Fall/Winter catalog offered 18 different Vogue records and seven different Vogue albums.  

Vogue picture records were of very high quality and had little surface noise. Sav-Way produced the records using a complicated process using a central core aluminum disc  sandwiched between the paper illustrations and vinyl.  It took a while for the firm to perfect this process. Their engineers spent several months working out the bugs that resulted in torn or dislodged paper illustrations.

Unlike many other collectibles, Vogue picture records have a definite beginning and end making it possible for a collector to assemble a complete set of the records over time. However, finding these picture records can be a challenge. Beginning collectors often find them at yard or garage sales or flea markets for a few dollars. More advanced collectors know to look to the Internet to find some of the more hard-to-find examples. In the end, Vogue picture records were a short-lived novelty which has become a fascinating collectible.

The World’s Most Usable Antique

QUESTION: I purchased an old trunk a while ago. It seems as if someone tried to “antique” it back in the 1960s, which makes it look ugly. I’ve seen trunks restored before and wondered if you can tell me something about this trunk and if it can be restored?

ANSWER: Old steamer trunks are one of the most useful of all antiques. They can still be used for storage after given a little TLC. This makes them more valuable because a person who isn’t necessarily an antique collector will buy one to use rather than a plastic bin.

Although trunks, themselves, date back to medieval times, it’s only the ones made in the 19th and early 20th centuries that people buy to reuse for storage. Trunks gained popularity with the coming of the railroads. And while people used them when traveling by stagecoach, they were more likely to use a “carpet” bag, one made of durable carpet material that could be carried by the owner.

People along the coasts of the United States traveled from one point on the coast to another by coastal steamer or, within the interior of the country, by steamboat. Larger trunks could be taken along because these vessels had porters to carry the heavy trunks onboard and off, thus the name “steamer” trunk.

From the later half of the 19th century to the first couple of decades of the 20th, trunks were flat on top. These usually had a smooth metal or canvas covering, and later an embossed metal cover. They also had wooden slats or metal banding to strengthen them, as well as to add a decorative touch. More elaborate trunks, especially those made by Frenchman Louis Vuitton, had rounded tops.

A typical 100 to 130-year-old antique trunk has a stale and musty odor from more than a century of collecting dust, mold, and mildew. Along with the deterioration of the outside canvas, leather and the inside paper lining, the glue, itself, will have decomposed over time. The original tray insert, made from a thin wood fiber or a compressed sawdust type of material, may have a deteriorated paper covering. Dry rot and mold can also be present. The purpose of the restoration process is to stop further deterioration and to remove the collection of dust, mildew, and mold which is causing the musty odor.

A basic restoration consists of first removing all canvas and paper coverings and leather straps and handles. Next the exposed wood must be washed in a special non-toxic solution to kill and remove dust, mold and mildew, then lightly sanded. Any broken hardware must be removed and replaced, as well as all of the leather. It’s important to make all repairs using the same types of tools, nails, tacks, and craftsmanship used when the trunk was first made. The next step is to restore and seal the wood using special non-toxic restorative oils and varnishes in a slow, repetitive manner to bring out the patina that only 100-year-old wood can achieve. The last step is to bring the hardware, fixtures, and any sheathing back to its original color. This includes removing any paint that may have been applied. The hardware, itself, can be painted a flat black if the original finish cannot be restored.

It’s important to use plastic gloves, eye protection, and a construction-grade face mask when removing the dust and old finishes. While there are lots of good non-toxic cleaners on the market today, some toxic ones may have to be used if the finish on the trunk is in bad condition.

Never use an old trunk without properly cleaning it both inside and outside. It’s especially important to scrub the inside and remove and old paper lining that can’t be saved. In fact, unless the paper lining in historically important to the trunk, it should be removed entirely, as should the glue holding it in place. Back in the 19th century, trunk makers used horse glue to attach the paper to the inside and canvas to the outside.. The trunk can then be lined with fabric or vinyl wallpaper.

Many people romanticize about old trunks—where they’ve been and who they belonged to.

Far East Fakes

QUESTION: I recently purchased a secretary. From my research online, I think it’s done in the Napoleonic Egyptian Revival style. The piece isn’t in great shape, but I would like to know how to determine if it’s a reproduction or is, indeed, an antique, and if so, how old is it?

ANSWER: At first glance your piece looks like an elegant secrétaire à abattant or a drop-front desk from the French Empire Period. But upon closer inspection, you should notice certain discrepancies. While it may look like a piece from the early 19th century, it isn’t a reproduction, but a poorly made facsimile. That’s not a fake, but a piece of furniture made to simulate a particular style.

Since the 1990s, there’s been a flood of “antique” furniture coming into the U.S. from Indonesia. While high-end antique dealers and experts can tell immediately that it’s not authentic, the typical antique dealer can’t. A high-end dealer sells quality and provenance at up-scale shows while most shop dealers are just interested in selling to make a fast buck.

So what makes this drop-front desk a possible candidate for Indonesian facsimile antique furniture? There are three construction clues that even a novice antiques collector can use to identify Indonesian facsimiles: First, Indonesian furniture makers use  a single species of wood  throughout. Second, they hot-glue many of the joints. And third, they use common nails—both finishing and flathead.

Since there are few legal restrictions on how furniture makers can market or advertise wood,  trade names have been developed to help promote little known wood or to make common woods sound more valuable.

The wood in Indonesian reproduction furniture, for example, comes from the groups Shorea, Parashorea, and Pentacme which grow in Asia and aren’t true mahogany. However, all of them can be legally advertised and sold as "mahogany." Two other generic trade names for these woods are Philippine mahogany and Lauan mahogany. The genuine mahogany used in fine antique furniture comes from a different group called Swietenia, originating in Central and South America, Cuba, Honduras, and the West Indies.

So why do Indonesian furniture makers use only one type of wood? The answer is simple. Since they’re using a lesser quality wood, they can afford to use it for an entire piece. Cabinetmakers of the 18th and early 19th century used expensive mahogany on the outside of a piece of furniture where it would be seen and lesser quality woods on the inside out of sight. It would have been impractical for a cabinetmaker back then to use mahogany for a glue block, for example, when no one would ever see it.

Another reason to use more than one type of wood was weight. Larger pieces of 18th and 19th-century furniture would have been too heavy if cabinetmakers used mahogany for entire pieces. Indonesian facsimiles are actually heavier than authentic antiques because they use dense Philippine mahogany.

Cabinetmakers of the 18th and early 19th century used dowels, splines, or special cuts, such as mortise and tenon, to join pieces of wood. They didn’t use nails because they cost more and didn’t hold the joints as well. And they didn’t use screws because they didn’t exist at that time. Indonesian furniture makers tend to use hot glue or common nails to join wood. Hot-glued joints tend to split with shrinkage. Plus the hot glue will fluoresce under black light.

Countersunk finishing nails are commonly used on Indonesian facsimiles. In fact, makers often use wider, filled in countersunk holes to simulate the effect of using wooden pegs.

Now let’s take a look at the details on this drop-front desk to see why it isn’t a real antique. Mahogany veneer has been applied to all the outside surfaces. However, the drawers don’t seem to be veneered but are made of solid pieces. And all the parts of the drawers seem to be made of the same Philippine mahogany wood. Because the wood isn’t real mahogany, it doesn’t have the beautiful grain pattern of the real thing. Also, the grain on the drop-front is horizontal but the grain on the drawers, like the sides, is vertical. Certainly all the grain on the front should be going in the same direction.

The brass fittings or ormulu are very poorly cast and finished. The escutcheons—keyhole surrounds—seem to be nailed rather than screwed into place. The brass fittings are of several different styles0—Baroque, neoclassical anthemium combinations, and egg and dart molding. The masks look more Phoenician or Egyptian, as do the heavy drawer pulls. The plaque in the center of the drop front is “Autumn” from the four-seasons series produced in bisque by Royal Copenhagen, but, it too, is poorly cast. The bows with streaming tails are the Baroque-style decorations. The overall effect tries to be elegant, but individually the decorations don’t go together.

Much of this type of furniture has surfaced in the American antiques market. Some unscrupulous dealers, knowing that their clientele wouldn’t know the difference, have imported it to sell in their shops. Other pieces have been bought and sold several times in the last 20 years and have successfully become part of the overall antiques market inventory. Sometimes one of these facsimiles will even make it to an antique show because the dealer hasn’t done any research or ignores the lack of provenance. In this case, the dealer will sell if for less, but still make a profit on the unsuspecting buyer.

Remembrances in China

QUESTION: I recently purchased a souvenir plate at an antique show. The plate shows a picture of Jackson Square in New Orleans and has a stencil-like border design around its edge. On the bottom is a mark that says “Wheelock, Made in Germany for the Curio Store, Canal St., New Orleans, La.” What can you tell me anything about Wheelock? I’ve never heard of that china company.

ANSWER: Souvenir china was popular from the last two decades of the 19th century to eh first decade of the 20th because most of the pieces came from Germany and Austria and with the outbreak of World War I, the flow of pieces stopped. 

Tourism blossomed during the last decade of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th. As people traveled, they collected souvenirs as remembrances of where they had been and what they had seen. Postcards, photographs and small items of souvenir china became popular. At first, all of the souvenir china came from Europe.

Souvenir china is often overlooked by serious collectors of antiques, yet it’s a fascinating part of Americana, especially pieces produced from 1890 to 1916. Merchants in over 2,000 villages and towns throughout the U.S. sold a variety of pieces, each featuring a local landmark—a church, school, store, bank, river, train depot, street, hospital, or historical site or monument.

China collectors consider Wheelock one of the founders of ceramic pictorial souvenir ware in the U.S. It wasn’t a large firm but a cooperative enterprise owned by three brothers—Charles, George, and Arthur Wheelock.

In 1877, Charles took charge of a store selling fine china in South Bend, Indiana. Five years later, his brother George joined Charles as a clerk in the store. A year after that, George opened his own store, also in South Bend. In 1887, Charles moved his business to Peoria, Illinois, while George operated the two stores in South Bend. About 1888, a third brother, Arthur, opened a branch of the Wheelock stores in Rockford, Illinois, with later branches in Des Moines, Iowa and Milwaukee. A fourth son, Frank, remained with his father store in Janesville, Wisconsin.

The Wheelocks became one of the largest wholesalers and retailers of fine china in the United States. When Charles moved his business to Peoria, he hired John H. Roth to work for him, and the brothers became interested in a new enterprise, souvenir china. Their contacts with German and Austrian potteries, which produced their fine china, provided a source for the souvenir ware.

Around 1894, the Wheelock Brothers hired traveling salesmen specifically to market souvenir china in the towns and hamlets of Illinois and nearby states. The salesmen carried pattern books that listed the hundreds of shapes available. The merchants provided the scenic photos which the salesmen sent to the European potteries which   reproduced them as black decals that workers applied to the porcelain blanks before the initial firing. Other workers hand colored the pieces and applied other decoration before the final firing. A hand-painted label identified the scene on each piece.

Most of the pieces received a stamp on the bottom or back with the name and town of the merchant as well as the word Wheelock and the town and/or country where it had been produced. The European potteries then shipped the pieces directly to the shopkeepers. 

The Wheelocks continued to produce souvenir china until the start of World War I when access to the European potteries ended. Unfortunately, it never resumed.

Wheelock souvenir ware comes in over 1,500 shapes and sizes, ranging from 2-inch trinket boxes to 12½-inch dishes and plates. More than 80 percent of the pieces produced were white porcelain. Less than 20 percent were white porcelain coated on the outside with cobalt blue or, in a few cases, dark green pigment.

Of more than 7,000 different pieces of white Wheelock souvenir china, a little more than half are plates, the most popular of which ranged in size from 5½ to 6½ inches in diameter. The most common of these are smooth-edged rimless plates, ranging in size from 3½  to 10 inches in diameter. Creamers and cups each represent a bit less than 10 percent of the pieces.

The makeup of the shapes of the cobalt pieces isn’t the same as the white porcelain ones. Creamers are the most common, representing 20 percent of the more than 1,400 cobalt pieces. There are nearly as many cobalt vases as creamers. Cobalt cups, toothpick holders, and dishes follow in that order.

Today, the average price of a piece of Wheelock china is around $20. But some of the more unique ones, like beer steins, have sold for several hundred dollars. Prices paid for Wheelock pieces vary widely, with the higher prices being paid for some unique pieces or historic locations. For example, a dish from the historic mining town of Lead, S.D., sold for $242, while a dish from Watertown, South Dakota, sold for $24. Plates tend to sell for more than other forms.

Part of the enjoyment of collecting souvenir china is the search. Even though Wheelock had thousands of pieces made, they’re scattered all over the country. Antique shops in the East and Midwest seem to have more of them than shops in the South and West since nearly 75 percent are souvenirs of the former areas.

Read more about Victorian souvenirs in  "Wish You Were Here," the story of souvenir postcards in The Antiques Almanac.

The Egg and I

QUESTION: On a trip to England several years ago, I discovered the joys of eating a soft-boiled egg for breakfast. Of course, the waitress served my egg standing straight up in an egg cup. I became fascinated by these unique little pedestals and purchased several to take home as souvenirs of my trip. After I got home, I started to notice them at flea markets, so I began to buy more. Now I have over 50 of them. How did the egg cup come to be? Who invented it? And why isn’t it used widely here in the U.S.?

ANSWER: While Americans aren’t as keen on eating soft-boiled eggs as their British counterparts, egg cups have won the hearts of many collectors.

Egg cups come in many types, styles and categories, from delicate hand-painted works of art to outrageous caricatures made to represent everything from members of the British royal family to current cartoon characters. Manufacturers use many different materials to produce egg cups, including glass, wood, stone and even plastic.

Egg cups have been used in British cultures for centuries. Though people commonly refer to them as egg cups, they can also be called egg holders. Either way, they’re shallow dishes designed to hold a boiled egg in its shell. Wealthy persons living along the East Coast of the U.S. used them until the mid-1960s, essentially imitating the breakfast habits of their British cousins. But their use never really caught on with the middle class, who instead discovered prepared foods.

Historians believe the Romans were using egg cups before 79 A.D. Clearly, eggs cooked in the shell can be unmanageable without a small receptacle to hold them in place.

The most common egg cup, designed to hold a single egg, is called a single. Less common are doubles. Doubles have a cup on either end, a small one to hold a single egg, or if user turns up the larger end, it will hold one or more eggs out of the shell or the egg of a larger bird such as a duck or goose. There are also bucket egg cups, which  have no pedestal, “Hoop” egg cups resemble napkin rings and can be “straight” or “waisted.” Americans often mistaken them for wide napkin rings. Side-by-side doubles and flat oval egg cups, designed to hold an egg lying on its side and used more often for hard boiled eggs, can be more difficult to find. Egg cups can also come in sets of four to as many as a dozen, on a single matching serving piece for family use. Some egg cups include a spoon and/or a small scissors, often referred to as an egg decapitator.

In Britain and many European countries egg cups are still a standard part of a place setting of china. Since they’re still used in the average home, the easier to find. And since they’re used widely, egg cups from most of the major makers, such as Goebel in Germany, Carlton Ware, Staffordshire, Adams and numerous others in England, are readily available.

Figural egg cups, featuring cartoon character, such as Bugs Bunny, Sylvester, and Tweety Bird, are popular with collectors. Other categories include commemorative, political, advertising, holiday, caricatures, transportation, children's, and black memorabilia.  Any of these categories may be made from glass, porcelain, pottery or ceramic. Metals used for egg cup production include gold, silver, copper and pewter. Stone such as marble and many varieties of woods also may be used to produce egg cups.

Egg cup collectors, called pocillovists, must do their homework in order to know what’s available and to watch out for misrepresentation. Because egg cups aren’t an everyday item in the American household, many sellers who acquire eggcups from estates or family sales don’t know what they have and will misrepresent them as something else such as an open salt cellar. Sellers will occasionally misrepresent a common egg cup as something more rare. Serious egg cup collectors agree that chips, cracks, or other flaws are not acceptable.

The Internet has made egg tugs readily available to collectors and is responsible to some degree for the blossoming interest in the United States. However, prices tend to go up and down. Common egg cups can sell for less than a dollar while rarer ones can cost in the hundreds of dollars.