A Bedroom Necessity

QUESTION: I found and fell in love with and bought this nightstand from a thrift store for $60.00. What can you tell me about it?

ANSWER: What you have is a nightstand which probably dates to the 1930s or 1940s. Nightstands are a new type of furniture. Back when people used didn’t have indoor toilets, they sometimes kept a porcelain potty in a cabinet in the lower part of a similar piece of furniture. This came to be known in America as a commode. It allowed a person who had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night to use it in the privacy of their bedroom and not have to go out to the outhouse. When indoor plumbing became more common, furniture manufacturers kept the piece of furniture but replaced the cabinet in the lower portion with drawers.

But to fully understand how the nightstand evolved, we have to go back to the Middle Ages. During that time, people used a simple setup consisting of a tripod stand or stool that could hold a washbasin. They would have placed a chamber pot either under the tripod stand or inside the stool for easy access.

By the 18th century, the washstand, also called a basin stand or washhand stand, had become more a necessity in the bedroom, not just for washing up, but for storage of a chamber pot to be used in the middle of the night when necessity called.

Cabinetmakers made some to fit in a corner, with a bowed door in front and flaps extending upwards from the sides to protect the wall from water splashes. These were simple pieces. By the 19th century, they had increased in size, becoming heavier and more substantial that often came with a marble top and drawers in front and a cupboard below in which to store a chamber pot.

More high quality washstands appeared in the second half of the 19th century. These were usually a part of a bedchamber suite, consisting of a bedstead, dresser, wardrobe of some sort, and bedside commode.

Wealthier people with servants could also use their bedroom for bathing. First, there was the convenience of a commode near the bed, a washstand with warm water supplied by the maid or even a nice hip bath set near to all the bedroom furniture and accessories that a person would have used for grooming and dressing. By heating the bedroom and perhaps an adjoining dressing room, a person could take care of all of his or her bathing needs at once in one warm area. This was especially true in big houses in cold weather.

The washstand, itself, became an essential piece of bedroom furniture. It came in varying designs which could easily accommodate a large basin, a pitcher, a toothbrush jar, and various other toilet accessories, frequently including a chamber pots housed in a cupboard at its base. Furniture makers usually used white marble for the top and the “splash back” set into a wooden frame. Sometimes, they cut a hole in the top so a basin could be suspended in it. They often used a special type of French marble known as “St. Anne’s,” as it resisted the action of the alkali in soap.

Basic washstand accessories included a seven-piece washstand set, consisting of a ceramic bowl and pitcher, chamber pot, toothbrush holder, shaving mug, soap dish, and comb and brush tray. People would often hang a mirror on the wall behind the washstand. Another common accessory was a wooden towel rail known as a “towel horse.”

Commode washstands served the same purpose as a simpler table washstand, made like a chest with a bottom cupboard to hold the chamber pot and a jar for dirty wash water.  Furniture makers added drawers in some models to store a razor, soap dish and towels. The top of some washstands could be lifted to reveal a well in which the wash basin and pitcher could be stored when not in use.

So how did washstand evolve into the nightstand? These convenient pieces of furniture are part of every modern bedroom set. Before indoor flushing toilets became commonplace, the main function of a nightstand was to store a chamber pot. As a result, early nightstands often had small cabinets below with a drawer above them. The enclosed storage space below may also have been covered by one or more doors. Americans eventually started called this bedside cabinet a commode, which after the installation of indoor bathrooms, they also called them.

What a Sweet Idea

QUESTION: My mother collected honey pots almost all of her adult life. When she died, she had over 200 of them. Now I have her collection. And while many of them are fun to look at, I know very little about them. What can you tell me about my honey pots? How did they get started and what can I do to maintain and continue my mother’s collection.

ANSWER: First, it’s great to hear that you want to continue collecting honey pots. Too many people inherit collections from their parents, only to sell them off or leave them to collect dust in their attic. Continuing a collection is a great idea, but you need to know something about the items you’re collecting.

People use honey pots to hold the sweet viscid material produced from the nectar of flowers in the honey sac of bees. Bees, beekeepers and honey have been documented since ancient times. One of the more interesting discoveries made by archeologists in the tombs of Egyptian kings was containers of honey. Considered the golden liquor of the ancient gods, two honey pots pulled from New Kingdom tombs, dating from 1400 BC, still had their contents intact. And the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses III made sure he was in good with the Nile gods by offering them 15 tons of honey.

Honey is one of nature's great miracles. In fact, honey discovered in ancient Egyptian tombs is still edible today. Since bees depend on honey for substance during the winter, they need to create something that will last a long time.

While the most popular form of honey pot is the skep-shaped pottery, honey pots can be found in numerous shapes and sizes. The pots can be found in rectangular, round and box shape. Most collections include a myriad of designs, colors and patterns from many different countries. The United States, France, Germany, England, The Netherlands, Spain, Scotland, Norway, Japan and Ireland are some of the countries represented in many collections.

Although rare pots sell for as high as $1,000, many vintage ones can be found at flea markets or antique malls. The most expensive pots have back stamps by potteries such as Irish Belleek, Limoges, English Moorcroft, Spode, Wegdwood, Royal Winton, and Noritake. Several leading companies represent the United States, including Lenox, Cambridge, Fostoria, Westmoreland, and Imperial Glass. The Indiana Glass Worlds produced a red honey dish in the late 19th century designed to hold one piece of honeycomb. The dish design contains four beehives and 40 bees. The Indiana Glass Works later produced a replica of the same piece.

In countries around the Mediterranean, potterers inscribed the word “Miel” or “Mel” or “Miele” on their pots. England and Germany have a rich tradition of beautifully decorated honey pots. However, in Holland, people didn’t make very much of setting an elaborate table with a separate piece of matching china for each category of food. So, honey was kept in very simple pots covered with cork or parchment paper. In the 1950's the Dutch honey firm Mellon a issued some very nice white pots with a brown lid, a honey pot made of glass and a honey pot in the shape of a bee.

Pots can also tell a lot about other cultures. Scandinavian pots are very modem, English pots are richly decorated, American ones have bears on them, as do Russian pots. Southern European honey pots are mostly made in the form of a Grecian amphora.

The stinger in collecting honey pots is trying to find all the pieces intact—the pot, lid, spoon, and under plate. The weakest part of any honey pot is the bee’s wings. Before you buy a honey pot for your collection, be sure to check for chips, restorations, an in particular, re-glued wings. Only be tempted to buy such pots if they’re inexpensive or exceptional.

Ping the base of a pot with your fingers. You should hear a ringing sound. A thud, or muffled sound should immediately arouse suspicion, as there may well be invisible cracks.

Check that the pot has the correct lid. Flea market dealers, in particular, often match lids with the wrong base, whether on purpose or not. Slight variations in glaze color between the lid and the base can be normal.

If any of the pots you purchase contain honey, empty them as soon as possible. Honey can sometimes stain them or leak from under the lid.

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned

QUESTION: I’ve always liked cast-iron banks. I see them displayed on the counter at my bank—I’m sure these are reproductions. So when I discovered one that wasn’t too pricey in a local antique shop, I scooped it right up. The bank has its name, “Jonah and the Whale,” displayed in a panel underneath the figures of Jonah and the whale. How can I tell if the bank is authentic? And what can you tell me about this bank?

ANSWER: Cast-iron mechanical banks have always been a favorite of American collectors. Perhaps it’s because they recall our country’s heritage, but more likely because they’re cute in a clunky sort of way.

Collectors have sought after old mechanical banks for over 50 years because of their  nostalgic look at America’s past.
 
Mechanical banks began to appear shortly after the end of the American Civil War and the American public was eager to purchase them. At the time, a severe coin shortage occurred because people saved them. In fact, the situation got so bad that shopkeepers had to resort to using postage stamps to make change. Both the Union and Confederate governments began issuing paper notes to supplement their coinage and help relieve this problem. But people didn’t like paper money because it could become worthless quickly. Coins, on the other hand, would always retain the value of their metallic content.

So mechanical banks became a product of the times and their popularity remained strong well into the 20th century. Not only were they fun toys, but parents could effectively use them to teach their children the practical aspects of being thrifty.

The Shepard Hardware Company of Buffalo, New York, was probably the premier maker of cast-iron mechanical banks. Walter J. and Charles G. Shepard founded their company to produce various pieces of hardware, but in 1882, they began a sideline business making cast-iron mechanical banks. Charles was an inventor.

Shepard entered into the mechanical bank field in about 1882 and available information indicates they sold out their line of toy banks in 1892. The impact Shepard had on the mechanical bank market was astounding when you consider the fact they were able to design, patent, produce, and effectively distribute 15 high quality banks within a time span of only about 10 years.

Their banks sold for $1 each, but dealers could purchase them wholesale for $8.50 a dozen, or about 70 cents each.

All Shepard banks had these common features. First, their artistic paint jobs were unsurpassed for attention to minute detail. Unfortunately, the company didn’t use any primer coating to prepare the metal for painting, so the paint eventually flaked off their banks.

Second, each Shepard bank has its name embossed on one of the casting pieces. The name is generally in large bold letters located on the front panel of the bank. Other cast-iron bank manufacturers didn’t put the names of their banks on them. This resulted in many banks becoming known by names other than the ones originally given to them by their makers.

Third, each Shepard cast-iron bank is very heavy for its size. It’s almost as if cast iron was free and had no bearing on the production cost of the items.

In all, Shepard produced 15 different banks. They have become known for two in particular—the Uncle Sam bank (discussed in my blog from July 8, 2015) and the Jonah and the Whale bank. Charles Shepard received a patent for the latter bank on July 15, 1890.  The overall length of the bank was 10-1/4 inches.

Shepard decorators painted the side and end plates of the base with yellow corners, and the letters of the name in gold. They striped the edges of the bottom plate and top part of the bank in yellow and black and painted the water and waves realistically in light bluish-green with white highlighting. The whale is a dark green-black color with a red mouth and white teeth. The boat is an off shade of yellow with stripes of gold, white, blue and red. The robes on the two figures are red and blue, and they have white beards, flesh color faces and hands.

To operate the bank, a person would place a coin on the back of the figure of Jonah. Then the user would press a lever, recessed in the end plate under the rear of the boat. As the whale opened his mouth wide, the figure holding Jonah moved forward in the boat towards the whale. The figure of Jonah tilted downward as though entering the whale's mouth, but instead the coin flew off his back into the whale. Releasing the lever returned the figures in the boat to their original position. The whale’s mouth closed and re-opened as though swallowing the coin. The whale’s lower jaw continued to move up and down for several seconds after the action takes place. To remove the coins, the user would use a key to unlock a trap in the underside of the base.

In 1892, Charles and Walter Shepard sold their cast-iron savings bank business to J. & E. Stevens of Cromwell of Connecticut.

Today, original Jonah and the Whale banks bring very high prices—if they’re in mint condition. Unfortunately, most are not.

Mother Nature’s Gift to Glass

QUESTION: My mother loved decorative glassware. She died recently and left me her collection. While some pieces are older, most date from the 1950s and 1960s. I particularly like several vases that look like flowers. Do you know what they are called and tell me a little about their history?

ANSWER: Back in the 1950s and 1960s, many women collected decorative glassware. Most of the pieces came from Fenton Glassware, but several other manufacturers also made a wide assortment of vases, candy and butter dishes, ashtrays, and the like. Many of these feature hobnail decoration. The vases you’re asking about are known as Jack-in-the-Pulpit vases.

To glass lovers the name "Jack-in-the-Pulpit" has become synonymous with glass vases styled to imitate a wild flower. This flower is native to some parts of the United States, but this style of glassware originated in England, where no jack-in-the-pulpit flowers don’t grow. Most likely, this design came from the adaptation of a similar wildflower found in England known as Lords and Ladies.

Like the flower, a glass Jack-in-the-Pulpit vase consists of three parts, a base, a stem and the trumpet. The trumpet is the large flared top which gives the piece its style, much like the trumpet forms the flower on the plant. The stem connects that trumpet to the base, much like the stem connects the flower to its root. Trumpets vary in style, from flared, rounded trumpets, to those with pinched and twisted points in the front and the back. Some trumpets, particularly those by Fenton, have a raised back and dip downward in the front.

Some collectors believe Louis C. Tiffany created the first Jack-in-the-Pulpit vase around 1900. But that isn’t the case. The first known Jack-in-the-Pulpit vase appeared in 1854, a good 40 years before Tiffany’s vases. The style of the early English Jack-in-the-Pulpit vase even more closely resembles the flower. However, English glassmakers at the turn of the century didn’t name their pieces, unlike their American counterparts. Instead, they just gave them a pattern number.

English Jack-in-the-Pulpit vases came from a number of makers, including Thomas Webb & Sons, Richardson's, Webb-Corbett and Stuart, plus many small companies. Some smaller firms subcontracted work out to finishers, so it's possible that one firm decorated the blanks of another. British glassmakers did, however, blow most of their Jack-in-the-Pulpits.

Prices for British Jack-in the-Pulpit vases range from $75 for a piece which can’t be attributed to any particular manufacturer to several thousand dollars for a rare Webb or Stevens & Williams piece. Rare pieces can command $2,000 to $3,000. On average, British pieces go for about $175.

While decoration doesn't seem to have a effect on the price of unattributed British pieces, it does effect the prices of the higher-end ones. Size and the decorations, such as applied glass chainwork, vary. Companies produced vases in opalescent patterns such as spiral optic and   cranberry, and some come in the various colors like Beaded Melon.

Fenton’s Burmese vases are particularly popular with collectors. The company also made decorated Jack-in-the-Pulpits in other types of glass. Fenton decorated white and off-white, called cameo satin, blanks with scenes sell for around $75.

Other noteworthy American producers include Northwood/Dugan, Imperial, Westmoreland, Mount Washington and L.G. Wright. Northwood made jacks in various colors in Carnival glass, a short marigold version being the most common. But Northwood and Dugan also made them in opalescent glass. These generally sell for under $100 apiece.