Simple Gifts

QUESTION: I always associated the Shakers with rocking chairs. My grandmother had one, although I’m not sure it was an authentic one. But last Fall I took a trip to Hancock Shaker Village in western Massachusetts and discovered that the Shakers invented a whole host of items, many of which we use in improved forms today. What can you tell me about some of their inventions? And why were they so creative.

ANSWER: The old saying “Necessity is the mother of invention” certainly applied to the Shakers. Since this religious sect lived in communities apart from the outside world, they had to produce everything they needed. And this led to them inventing all sorts of things. And although they made and sold great chairs, especially rockers, to the outside world, they produced so much more.

Today, modern wood workshops wouldn’t be complete without a circular saw. Historians trace the origin of the circular saw blade to 1810 and the Shaker community at Harvard, Mass. It seemed that a Shaker Sister witnessed two Shaker Brothers cutting wood using a two-person reciprocating saw, and using her experience at spinning, realized she could improve the conventional way of sawing wood. She conceived a circular metal disk with saw teeth on its perimeter. She discussed it with some of the Shaker brothers who made a prototype blade and used water to spin it.  Today, the circular saw blade has been improved to cut everything from wood to concrete.



Mother Ann Lee founded the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, which is the sect's true name. She claimed to be the female manifestation of Christ. Persecuted in England, she and some followers came to Albany, N.Y., in late 1774. Ultimately they formed self-sustaining communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Indiana, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.

They became known as Shakers only after arriving in America. It was originally a derisive name given them by outsiders because of the frenzied dancing and shaking that typically took place during their worship services.

The Shakers under Mother Ann Lee believed they should strive for perfection. Using resources efficiently and effectively and finding ways to complete tasks faster and with less effort was a step toward perfection here on Earth.

One of the most common of Shaker inventions was the flat broom. Mother Ann is believed to have said, “There is no dirt in Heaven.” So keeping all the rooms and buildings in Shaker communities clean was a major chore.

And while brooms existed before the Shakers, but they were typically lengths of corn straw tied to a wooden handle. Brother Theodore Bates at the Watervliet, New York, community decided that a broom made with its bristles bound flat and straight would work better than a traditional one, so he devised a way to stitch the straw so as to make it flat when fastened to a broom handle. Shakers everywhere began to make flat brooms, not only for their own use, but to sell to outsiders.

A major obstacle to cleaning floors was heavy furniture. Moving beds in particular posed a problem, so the Shakers invented bed rollers so they could easily move beds to clean beneath them.

Doing laundry for a community of several hundred people was a daunting task. In 1858, Brother David Parker at tire-Canterbury, NH., community designed a steam powered "wash mill." It sped up the laundering process and made the work easier for the sisters assigned to laundry duty.

The Shakers didn't often patent their inventions. but the washing machine was an exception. Not only was it patented, Brother Parker's design won a medal at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Copies of his wash mill were sold W several big hotels.

Shaker herbs and plant seeds were' sought after because of their consistency and high quality. The Shakers were the first to put seeds in small printed pack-ages for home use. The seeds were sold through stores and by mail order.

The Shakers also invented a spike wheel that produced evenly space holes l; for seeds, and it automatically planted seeds, too. It reduced planting time by about fifty percent.

Poplar trees were abundant in some areas, but the wood wasn't useful for either building or burning. The Shakers, !however, found it was an excellent material for baskets. One of the brothers !devised a machine to split lengths of poplar wood into thin splints that could the he used for basket weaving. And Shaker baskets became another product the World" demanded.



Shaker woodworkers developed a machine for making uniform barrel staves, and another for making broom handles of varying lengths.

The Shakers cared for one another, especially the elderly and those that were sick. They invented several things to make life easier for those who were ill. For example, they invented the tilting or adjustable hospital bed. And most Shaker communities had wheelchairs for the elderly and incapacitated. They were rocking chairs with large wheels akin to today's wheelchairs, and a stabilizing wheel or wheels in the back. The finger splint was a Shaker invention, and they created pill making machines for producing herbs and plant potions.

Only a few brothers took care of household chores. The rest were farmers, so they invented several machines to make their jobs easier, including a hillside plow, a horse drawn mowing machine and a thresher machine. Brother Hewitt Chandler of the Sabbathday Lake, Maine, community created the Maine Mower. which mowed hay fields more efficiently than other available equipment. And Brother Daniel Baird at the North Union, Ohio, community developed the revolving harrow used to breakup soil for planting.

And while brothers were busy in the fields, sisters tended to the feeding the community. Feeding several hundred people, three times a day, seven days a week was a daunting task, so naturally invention played a major role.

Cooking on an institutional scale presented its own problems. While a housewife might cook one roast or chicken or bake one pie, Shaker sisters had to prepare dozens, sometimes 60 pies a day. To help with them, for example, They invented a double rolling pin, and it's claimed they could roll twice as much pastry dough in half as much time, verses a conventional rolling pin. Peeling apples is no easy task, so a screw-based apple peeler was created to strip the peel from an apple in a matter of seconds. Once peeled, the apples were cut into quarters using an apple splitter, a spike like device invented by Brother Sanford Russell at South Union, Ky.

 Emeline Hart at the Canterbury, New Hampshire, community designed the Revolving Oven. Numerous pies could be baked simultaneously in this oven.

Sisters also invented the slotted spoon, pea shellers, a cheese press, bread kneading machines and even a potato washer. In 1796, the Shakers produced one of America's first cookbooks.

The Shakers even improved on articles of clothing. One of them, the woolen hooded cloak was a staple of every sister’s wardrobe to protect them from the cold blasts of winter. As with the broom, they sold these to the outside world to make money to buy supplies they needed.

Shaker communities attracted some of the best craftspeople and cooks but unfortunately they believed in celebacy. And that didn’t help their future.

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  La Belle Epoque in the 2020 Spring 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.

The Snob Appeal of Antiques

QUESTION: I’ve been buying most of my antiques at flea markets and in shops. The dealers are usually very nice and helpful. But when I’ve gone to antique shows, especially higher-end ones sponsored by one charity or another, I find the dealers helpful but the showgoers off-putting. Why is that? What makes some of them think that I shouldn’t be there just because of my appearance?

ANSWER: Antiques have a long history of appealing to the wealthier set, especially those high-end antiques produced before 1830—what many call “authentic”antiques. In 1930, the U.S. Congress formulated a law which stipulated that all antiques had to be 100 years old or older. So at the time, 100 years old meant 1830, the date selected because of its relevance to the start of the Industrial Age.

When the law passed, the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, so only the very wealthy could afford antiques. It had been that way for well over a century. But after World War II, prosperity came to more people. By the 1960s, the wealthy were still purchasing and collecting those “authentic” antiques, but another type of antique came on the market—the furniture and accessories belonging to the Victorians. And since these were 100 years old, they certainly were antique according to the law, but antique experts and the wealthy didn’t consider them “real” antiques.

The snobbery towards antiques and antique collecting continued as unknowing novices followed articles in “American Home” magazine and bought not-so-good-looking pieces of Victorian and early 20th century furniture at flea markets and used furniture stores, stripped them down, and painted them with “antiquing” paints. Oh the horrors!

As the decades of the latter half of the 20th century continued, more and more old objects came on the market through yard and garage sales and flea markets. Now everyone with a little extra cash and a little knowledge of antiques and collectibles could get in on the act.

The wealthy who frequented the high-end shows stayed right where they were, but now some of those not-so-wealthy collectors began to go to the them for the hefty price of a ticket. Most didn’t buy anything, but they learned a lot. Unfortunately, the wine-glass toting buying patron of these shows still looked down their noses at the newbees.

There are generally three types of antique shows out there---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. Patrons at these shows often think 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 antique 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. But when someone pays six figures for a piece of furniture, they damn well want to know it’s the real McCoy.

Collecting antiques and collectibles is for everyone—young, old, and in-between. There’s something out there for those in every economy level. Let the snobs look down on you in your jeans and trendy T-shirt. How do they know you didn’t just inherit a cool million from daddy.

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  La Belle Epoque in the 2020 Spring 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.

Early Bank Notes Reveal a History of Our Country

QUESTION: My dad collected old currency and coins. Some of the currency is quite old and doesn’t look anything like today’s money. What can you tell me about this bill? And why is it so different from the currency we use today?

ANSWER: American banknotes have not always been green. In the mid-19th century, banknotes contained a rainbow of colors. By examining these paper artifacts, Collectors can take a tour of America circa 1800.

Prior to the Civil War. the U.S. government didn't regularly issue paper money. But people still needed to use some form of currency, so banks issued their own paper money—bank notes.



Many types of notes circulated during this era, known as the golden age of U.S. currency, which generally began in the late 18th century and lasted until the Civil War. The most common type of note, the "demand note," entitled the bearer to a certain monetary amount. Individuals would deposit something of value in the bank (usually herd current stock), and the bank would issue to the individual on-demand notes that he or she could use as a vehicle of exchange to purchase items from a merchant who could then redeem the note with the bank, that "on demand" would exchange the bank for gold or silver coins issued by the federal government.



A bank's capital, which often appears on the banknote, (capital $1,000,000), guaranteed the value of these notes, and for this reason, two officials often signed each note to ensure that a greater amount in banknotes was nut issued than the bank could cover. Private hanks and public banks, which obtained a charter to operate, and savings banks, which operated under a different set of rules, all issued the demand note. Some demand noted contained a space in which a bank official wrote a payee's name and thus allowed a bank to specify the identity of the hearer, who would endorse the note by signing its often blank reverse as one would endorse a modern cheek. Other types of notes circulated as well. Post notes worked like bonds and were redeemable only after a predetermined time noted on the bill (e.g. "redeemable after six months").



Private merchants also issued notes, sometimes referred to as scrip, which they used to pay employees. Some laborers were paid only in scrip, which was generally redeemable only at company 'stores. This often led to the economic enslavement of laborers who "owed their soul to the company store." Railroads, shipping lines and many other type, of merchants issued notes to their employees.

While the bank note system worked, poor or dubious business practices threatened the integrity of the private and state banking system that ran amok in the first half of the 19th century.

Most of the time, banks were honest. But stories of fraud were rampant. banks that issued more money than their capital guaranteed and banks with a phantom capital, or no money to guarantee their notes.

This led to the distrust of unfamiliar hanks, and as a result, the notes did not work well for inter-state banking. A merchant in one state wouldn’t honor a bank note from an unfamiliar bank in another.

With so many different bank notes circulating, the proliferation of fakes or counterfeit notes was inevitable. The sheer number of issuers and varieties of notes issued—more  than 1,600 banks in 34 states collectively issued more than 10,000 varieties—provided the hungry counterfeiter with a virtual smorgasbord.

The word counterfeit refers to an illegally replicated note. Some genuine notes had their denominations altered; consequently, the alteration raised the value of the note, hence the name "raised note." A variation on this theme, the "altered" note also appeared. An altered note was a genuine note altered to look like another bank's product. The more artistically inclined produced original designs and added a legitimate hank's name on the notes, thus creating a spurious note.

In fact, so many counterfeit notes circulated—some 55.000 varieties—that bank officials began to stamp or handwrote the word “counterfeit” across the surface of the note.

During the Civil War, the U.S.Congress took action to end private issuance of banknotes. Congress passed legislation that forbade the private issuance of currency, and the federal government began issuing its own notes. Banks could still issue currency bearing their own name, but to do so, they needed to obtain a charter from the federal government, which entitled them to issue notes, known as National Bank Notes, supplied by the federal government.



The new notes led to the modern association of money with the color green. This relative lack of variety could make the counterfeiter's job much harder, though, and the number of attempted counterfeits dwindled.



The most interesting aspect of obsolete banknotes is the detailed and often colorful vignettes they contain, which collectively offer a lithographic history of American culture. Each bank note told a story. A $1 note from The Merchants and Planters Bank f Savannah. Ga., for examplel, contained the image of a covered wagon. When the note was issued in the 1830s, the covered wagon would have been the preeminent mode of transportation taken by settlers traveling to the Western territories.



Scrip from the Delaware Mine on Michigan's Upper Peninsula features the image or a copper finer wielding a pickax. A $5 note from the. Bank of the Commonwealth in Richmond, 'a., contain, the image of planters standing next to the barrel of tobacco—one of the crops that drove Virginia's economy in the antebellum era. Moments frozen in time, dense images offer the closest thing possible to a photograph of 19th century life.

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  La Belle Epoque in the 2020 Spring 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.

The Symbol Out in Front

QUESTION: Way back when, my grandfather owned a 1925 Packard. My father says he loved that car, so much so that he removed the hood ornament from it and kept it as a souvenir when the car no longer worked, and he took it to the junkyard. He gave it to my father, who, in turn, gave it to me. It now sits proudly on my desk. It’s a real beauty, but is it worth anything or am I just being sentimental?

ANSWER: Your hood ornament, a Packard cormorant, is something very special. If you haven’t noticed, cars don’t come with them anymore. At the time your grandfather owned his car, hood ornaments were all the rage. Every car had one—some were extremely elaborate, more like works of art.

Collectors refer to these hood ornaments as automobile mascots. They began as radiator caps at the turn of the 20th century. Automakers added decorative touches to differentiate their vehicles from others during an era when there were 3,000 automobile manufacturers in the U.S. There are now only a handful.

Back when drivers had to negotiate muddy roads and weren’t sure if they’d get back home, St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, supposedly brought them good luck. He also protected them from robbers, who prayed on unsuspecting motorists. If you owned a car back then, you had some money.

Birds, chosen by auto makers to convey quick flight, became a common ornament theme. Packard chose a cormorant. Ford chose a quail for its Model A’s and Duesenberg, a stylized bird.

Many collectors consider the stork, used by European automaker Hispano-Suiza, to be the most distinctive and collectible. The stork commemorates French World War I ace Joseph Vuillemin, who had a stork painted on his airplane.

Some auto makers chose to use graceful ladies. Moon Motor Co., a now defunct St. Louis manufacturer, had the Greek goddess Diana on its cars to appeal to women. The glass lady hood ornaments crafted by Lalique before World War II are worth $1,000 to $10,000 depending on subject matter, condition and rarity.

Bugatti Royale selected an elephant balancing on a ball to demonstrate agility. World War I ace pilot Eddie Rickenbacher used an airplane mascot before his auto business failed in the 1920s. Chevrolets also sported airplanes in 1932. Designers for the Lincoln chose a greyhound mascot to dispel rumors that the auto was slow.

Some mascots invented in that time still exist, including Mercedes-Benz's three-point star and the Mack Truck bulldog. The height of hood ornament use was the 1920s and early '30s. By the mid-'30s, they began to fade as the Streamline Moderne movement, which emphasized aerodynamics and eschewed features that slowed down vehicles, caught on. But Mercedes held on to its mascot anyway. The company cared more about prestige than it did aerodynamics.

Other ornaments, such as Cadillac’s Lady, Rolls-Royce’s Flying Lady, Packard’s Cormorant, Desoto’s Explorer and Imperial wings, lasted through the 1950s, though they were much smaller than their  predecessors.

Collecting hood ornaments began in the 1940s when the owners of great old cars like the 1920s Rolls and Packards began scrapping them. Some of the first collectors visited junkyards, armed with screwdrivers and pliers, to hunt for mascots among the wrecks, for which they paid a dollar or so. Today, it’s almost impossible to find them in junkyards—junkyard owners know their value. Today, a typical Chevrolet mascot from the 1950s costs $100.

The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, has a tremendous collection of hood ornaments. Read more about it 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  La Belle Epoque in the 2020 Spring 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.

Insurance and Antiques

QUESTION: I’ve been collecting antiques and such for a number of years. Do I need extra insurance or will my homeowner’s policy cover what I have?

ANSWER: As a collector, you’ll want to take care to see that your treasures are adequately insured. And even if you have coverage, you may find that coverage you purchased several years ago leaves you financially vulnerable today.

Most collectors use one of three types of insurance—that found in a standard homeowner's policy, special endorsements to that policy, or a "floater" policy for valuables such as art and antiques.

The policy that covers your home includes insurance for your personal property as well as the structure it's housed in, usually at 50 percent of the amount of coverage for the dwelling. This means that if you have insured your house for $150,000, your belongings are protected for up to $75,000.

Is this amount sufficient for your collection as well as all your other belongings? That all depends on what your collection contains. If you have a small collection of "collectibles" or less expensive items, the coverage in your homeowner's policy is probably enough. But keep in mind that standard policies usually fix limits on certain types of items such as currency, documents, silver, and jewelry. You should read your policy carefully to see if these limitations affect your collection.

The coverage in homeowner's policies is "unscheduled," that is, it groups all of your goods together rather than listing and valuing them separately. Should a theft or fire occur, it’s your responsibility to prove ownership and the value of the items in your collection. The insurance company will then calculate your losses on the "actual cash value" of those items, figuring in depreciation. If you collect anything other than certifiable antiques, complications can arise over the settlement.

Your insurance company may deem "old and worthless" items you consider “vintage.” So you should keep receipts and other records, especially for less expensive "collectibles" and offbeat items—be sure to print out receipts for anything you purchase at online auction sites. Though claims adjusters are usually on target, any documentation will help —the more the better.

Even if you decide to work within the limits of your standard homeowner policy, you may find that increased coverage is necessary. While that $75,000 may sound like a lot of insurance, you’d be surprised how quickly the normal, everyday contents of a house add up, leaving only partial coverage of your losses.

To remedy this problem, most policies offer the option of a special "endorsement" which allows for a higher percentage of personal property coverage for an additional fee. If you have a collection of any size or value, you’ll probably want to take inventory of your home's entire contents to see whether you should purchase such an endorsement.

Finally, you can also purchase a separate policy to cover valuables such as art, antiques, silver, and the like. And in this case, silver means Sterling, not plate. These policies, known generally as "floaters," cover "scheduled," or listed, items. Each item is listed separately with its own value, usually by means of a written professional appraisal. Those cheap or free online appraisals just won’t do. The benefits of floaters are that each items is covered for its full replacement value because ownership and value are  pre-established, In addition, most floaters will protect the collection against loss as well as theft, a benefit not available through most homeowner's policies.



The cost of such a floater will of course depend on where you live and what you’re insuring. Very portable items of recognizable value command the highest rates. For instance, the amount for jewelry is always higher than for artwork. Prices may also be lower if you store your collection—or part of it—in a safe or safety deposit box, or if your home has a security alarm system. If your collection is worth more than $50,000, your insurance company will probably insist that you install such a system.

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  La Belle Epoque in the 2020 Spring 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.

The Magic of Oriental Carpets

QUESTION: My great grandmother left me a beautiful Oriental carpet runner. My grandmother said it is quite old, but I’m not sure by how much.  What can you tell me about antique Oriental carpets? I have no idea about its origins, pattern, and such.

ANSWER: What most people classify as Oriental carpets are actually Persian (now Iranian) or Turkish carpets. Originally made to cover the sand in the tents of nomads and to kneel on when saying daily prayers, these beautiful floor coverings have a long history.

Oriental carpets have been highly prized in the West since their first appearance in Venice in the 13th century. By the 18th century they were common in wealthier households. But relative demand was fairly small, so the production of carpets declined. During the 19th century, trade routes improved, contact with the Orient increased, and the Western obsession with the exotic grew. So Persian weavers produced great quantities of carpets for export.

Carpet-weaving is an integral part of Iranian culture and art and dates back to ancient Persia. Weavers from other countries copied the designs of Persian carpets, but Persia produced 75 percent of the world's woven carpets.

Generally, Persian carpets can be divided into three groups—Farsh/Qa-li, any carpet greater than 6×4 feet, Qa-licheh, sized 6×4 feet and smaller), and nomadic carpets known as Gelim including Zilu, meaning "rough carpet," mostly for use in tents.

Wool is the most common material for carpets but cotton is frequently used for the foundation of city and workshop carpets. There are a wide variety in types of wool used for weaving Oriental carpets, including . Kork wool, Manchester wool, and in some cases even camel hair wool.

Persian rugs have both a layout and a design which in general include one or more motifs, so it’s not unusual to find more than one motif in a single rug. The original designs act as the main pattern and the derivatives as the sub patterns. Rug experts have identified 19 pattern groups---historic monuments and Islamic buildings, Shah Abbassi patterns, spiral patterns, all-over patterns, derivative patterns, interconnected patterns, paisley patterns, tree patterns, Turkoman patterns, hunting ground patterns, panel patterns, European flower patterns, vase patterns, intertwined fish patterns, Mehrab patterns, striped patterns, geometric patterns, tribal patterns, and composites. The most common motifs include Boteh, Gul, Herati, Mina-Khani, Rosette, Shah Abbasi, Azari Kharchang, and Islimi Floral.

Persian rugs are typically laid out using one of four patterns—all-over, central medallion, compartment and one-sided. So a rug’s design can be described in terms of the manner in which it organizes the field of the rug. One basic design may serve the entire field, or the surface may be covered by a pattern of repeating figures. In areas using long-established local designs. the weaver often works from memory, with the patterns passed on within the family.

Weavers often tailored the dimensions of their carpets to suit Western needs. They produced a disproportionate number of runners—long narrow rugs originally designed to cover the sides of rooms or tents since these had special appeal to Westerners. Even so, the standards remained the same. The major carpet-weaving centers—Persia, Turkey and the Caucasus—continued to use traditional motifs and techniques, maintaining the carpets’ regional integrity and originality.

While carpets made before 1800 are extremely expensive, the antique carpet market offers some excellent buys for the beginning collector. High quality runners generally cost between $1,500 and $15,000, depending on overall design, pliability, date, and type and number of knots.

Edgar Allan Poe once said, “A judge at common law may be an ordinary man; a good judge of carpets must be a genius.” And as hard as they are to judge, they’re certainly easy to enjoy.

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 Industrial Age n the 2020 Winter Edition, "The Wonders of the Industrial Age," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Spoon Mementos

QUESTION: My mother loved to collect souvenir spoons. She had over 100 of them. She recently died and now I have these spoons. One of them is particularly strange. It’s a sterling silver spoon with the trademark of a witch riding a broomstick on the back. Was this one produced to celebrate Halloween? And when did people start collecting souvenir spoons?

ANSWER: Sterling silver souvenir spoons are great mementos of an earlier era. As George B. James Jr. wrote in his catalog, Souvenir Spoons, published in 1891, "Many a legend, which has long been forgotten in the town of its origin, many a beautiful story which has long since been lost, have been happily brought to mind, and tradition honored by its incorporation in the souvenir spoon."

Antiques historians believe the first souvenir spoons appeared in Europe and were modeled after the silver Apostle spoons, produced in the late 16th century as religious souvenirs. In those early times, when a person wanted a portable security it had to be either silver, gold, or jewels. Spoons were practical and portable, but, unfortunately, when melted down served as ready currency.

Some of the most skilled 19th century and early 20th-century silversmiths made souvenir spoons, commemorating everything from world fairs to cities to historical figures, Biblical characters, and even the witches of Salem, Massachusetts.

In the late 19th century, the Gorham Manufacturing Company produced a group of Apostle spoons in the United States that now sell for $125 to $175 each. The trademark found on these sterling silver pieces manufactured from 1848 to 1865 shows a lion facing left, an anchor, and a "G."

Often souvenir spoons were the first gifts given to babies by their godparents at christenings. The idea began in the Middle Ages—a child no sooner learned to feed himself or herself, use a spoon, than he or she began to acquire a knowledge of Scripture and ecclesiastical history.

In 1887, as souvenir spoons became the fad in European cities, Daniel Low, of Salem, Massachusetts, made a trip to Europe where he purchased spoons from skilled craftsmen. From these, he conceived the idea of a spoon embodying the traditions and legends of Salem. His son, Seth F low, designed the first "witch" spoon. Its handle had the figure of a witch and the word "Salem.”

The first witch spoon spawned the souvenir spoon craze of the late 19th-century in the United States. It was the first to be made in this country from a special die, of a design suggestive of some particular place, and it has since become the most celebrated of the souvenir spoons.

Victorian women proudly displayed their souvenir spoons when serving tea, after-dinner coffee, and other beverages. They often used them with their good silver and china, especially at holiday celebrations.  Souvenir spoons also showed off all the places they had been.



Students in the early 20th century were often given souvenir spoons featuring their alma mater. Many of these graduation spoons had a male or female figures in graduation garb on their handles.  Others had handles decorated with pens, books, and globes.

The souvenir spoon craze moved west with the settlers. Most western towns used sterling silver spoons to advertise their assets. One of the biggest producers of these spoons was Joseph Mayer & Bros. in Seattle. The Mayers company had been in business as the Empire Jewelry Company in the East, but, when it moved west, it changed its name to Joseph Mayer & Bros.

G.A. Schuman, who became manager was a designer and toolmaker who had experience with Gorham, Whiting and Tiffany. In addition to souvenir spoons, the Mayer firm also made jewelry and several patterns of flatware. One of Mayer's special designs was a commemorative spoon for Butte, Montana, with a miner forming the handle. Another carried an ostrich engraved in its bowl along with the words. "Los Angeles" and the figure of a woman picking fruit forming the handle.

Both of the above spoons carry the Mayer's trademark of a crossed miner's pick and shovel above a rising sun. This mark originated with two of Joseph Mayer's younger brothers, who went to the Yukon where they opened a jewelry store instead of staking gold claims.

By 1909, Joseph Mayer & Bros. employed 100 craftsmen who manufactured souvenir spoons, along with sterling flatware and jewelry related items. The Mayers stamped their trademark on everything they made. In 1938 Joseph Mayer& Bros. became the El.Towle Manufacturing Co.

Mayer produced a lot of silver souvenir spoons because the process they used was mechanized, so it didn't cost much to produce each item. However, many pieces are skillfully engraved. Because so many were made and are still available today, they’re a popular collectible valued from under $20 to several hundred dollars.

Early souvenir spoons had the word “sterling” along with a trademark identifying its maker at the base of the spoon handle.

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 Industrial Age n the 2020 Winter Edition, "The Wonders of the Industrial Age," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Product Premiums—An Idea Whose Time Had Come

QUESTION: My grandmother has what she calls a “Larkin” desk. It doesn’t look like a normal desk but more like a tall oak bookshelf with a drop-down writing surface. She remembers her parents acquiring it around 1911.  Can you tell me more about it?

ANSWER: One of the most popular items from the Larkin Company was the drop-front combination bookcase/desk, also known as the Chautauqua desk. This desk became a common piece in homes at the beginning of the 20th Century.

In 1875, John D. Larkin opened a soap factory in Buffalo, New York, where he made two products— a yellow laundry soap he marketed as Sweet Home Soap and a toilet soap he called Crème Oatmeal. He sold both products using wholesalers and retailers. Larking originally sold his Sweet Home Soap to street vendors, who in turn sold it to customers along their routes. By 1878, he had expanded his product line to nine types of soap products.




His brother-in-law, Elbert Hubbard, the eventual founder of the Roycroft Arts and Crafts Community, came up with what he called "The Larkin Idea"—door-to-door sales to private residences. To establish brand identity, Hubbard, inserted a color picture with the company's logo into every box of soap as an incentive for customers to buy more soap. Housewives accumulated and traded these picture cards, and eventually the cards became more elaborate. This concept of offering a gift directly to customers was a new approach to marketing. And by the 1890's, Larkin’s premiums had become an overwhelming success and a vital part of the company’s   marketing plan.

The premiums Larkin offered included handkerchiefs with toilet soap, towels with soap powder, or one-cent coins. Eventually, Larkin inserted certificates into the packaged products which could be redeemed by mail at the company’s Buffalo headquarters. A $10 order of soap resulted in the awarding of a premium with a retail value of the same $10. By 1891 he placed his first wholesale order of items to be given as premiums, $40,000 worth of piano lamps. The next year he acquired 80,000 Morris chairs and 100,000 oak dining chairs—all to be given away with the purchase of soap.

Larkin and Hubbard knew the key to mass merchandising was to eliminate the sales force and sell directly to the consumer via direct-mail catalog. Larkin realized he would be better off if he made not only the products he sold, but also the premiums he distributed. His pitch was that since he manufactured the products he sold, unlike Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward and sold them directly to the consumer, he was eliminating the "middleman" and giving the customer better value for the money. The Larkin Company motto became "Factory to Family." By the end of the 19th century, catalogs jammed people’s mailboxes.

The plan worked. Both his product line and his premium line expanded. By 1893, the Larkin Soap Manufacturing Company was sending semiannual catalogs to 1.5 million customers.

His first venture was the furniture assembly plant in Buffalo that made furniture from parts cut and milled in Tennessee. Here for the first time was a major catalog distributor who actually made the furniture they shipped. Furniture was one of the company’s primary premiums. Since Larkin was appealing to the mass market, he made sure to offer furniture premiums that appealed to ordinary people and not the wealthy.

His most famous premium was his oak drop-front desk with open bottom storage, first appearing in the 1901 catalog, that the company gave as a premium for a $10 purchase of soap. Constructed of either cold or quarter sawn oak plank, assembled with nail and glue construction, with a golden finish, each desk featured applied ash or maple molding and trim and back panels of three-layer plywood. Better desks also had stamped-brass escutcheons and brass hinges on the drop panel. Cheaper ones had iron-butt hinges. A somewhat oval French beveled mirror finished off each piece. Variations included a glass front case with a drop-front desk attached to the side, two glass front cases with a desk in the middle, or simply a drop-front desk with a small open bookcase below the drop and candle stands above it, with a mirror in the high . This small desk reflected the taste and style of the Golden Oak period of American furniture in a form modest enough fit into any middle-class home.

This type of desk became "Everyman's" desk and was a common item in most homes of the period. It became a trendy decorating item and remained so for many years. People began to associate Larkin's name to the form, even though his wasn’t the only company to manufacture them, and so evolved what has become known as the "Larkin Desk." Today, Larkin desks sell on eBay for around $400 and sometimes higher.

John Larkin and Elbert Hubbard not only provided the means for a growing American population to stay clean at a reasonable cost, but they also helped them furnish their homes for free.

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 Industrial Age n the 2020 Winter Edition, "The Wonders of the Industrial Age," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Identification of Antique Pottery Begins with the Mark

QUESTION: I have what I believe to be an English ceramic plate with a mark that looks like a diamond with a bunch of letters and numbers in it. Can you tell me what that means?

ANSWER: The stamp on the back of your plate is known as a mark. Manufacturers of English pottery used this particular design between 1842 and 1883. The letters and numbers indicate the dates of the plate’s design registration with the British patent office. You can easily decipher this alpha-numeric code by checking the chart found on the Phoenix Masonry Web site or in Kovels' New Dictionary of Marks - Pottery & Porcelain: 1850 to the Present by Ralph and Terry Kovel (Crown Publishers, New York).

Pottery makers replaced this diamond-shaped registry mark with a sequential numbering system prefaced by the abbreviation Rd. No.  in 1884. Over the years, they modified the arrangement of the numbers several times, so it can be confusing. If you need specific information, you can contact the British Designs Registry Patent Office for dates registered in and after 1909 and the British Public Record Office for dates registered prior to 1909.



Sometimes, pottery and porcelain makers used word indications that spelled out the date. If the mark shows the country of origin, this means the piece dates after 1891, according to the U.S.  McKinley Tariff Law.

Often manufacturers worldwide employed words to describe their wares. These usually had start and end dates, making it easy to figure out the approximate date of a piece. For instance, the term "Nippon,” the Japanese name for Japan, indicates that piece of Japanese porcelain dates from 1891 to 1921 while "Made in Occupied Japan" shows that the piece dates from  1945 to 1952. "Semi-vitreous" means the piece appeared on the market after 1901 while "bone china" indicates that the piece dates generally from the 20th century.  The phrase "oven-proof' appeared on pottery and china after 1933, but "dishwasher proof ” didn’t appear until after 1955. Sometimes a location, such as "East Germany" can indicate a time period, which in this case extends from 1949 to1990.

If a piece of pottery or porcelain has a mark showing a design and/or maker’s name, this information may also help to date it. You’ll find loads of resources, both in print and online, to help you identify early English, European, and Asian pottery and porcelain marks.

In the United States, makers stamped patent numbers on the backs and bottoms of their pottery pieces. A patent number represents the very earliest an article could have been produced. For example, a patent number of 16,388 indicates the piece appeared after Jan. 1, 1857 but prior to Jan. 1, 1858. Therefore, it dates from 1857, the year of its patent registration. Should you discover several sequential patent number sets on one piece, you should look up the final set on a patent date chart to date the piece.

Marks on furniture, glass, and silver are another story. When a maker uses his name or logo, you may have enough information to track the date of manufacture. Often during the course of the run of a piece, the maker will use different names. Quimper pottery is a good example. As the companies consolidated the marks changed.

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.