Meals That Made Kids Happy

 

QUESTION: When my kids were very young, they used to love going to McDonald’s for Happy Meals. A lot of parents hated these packaged meals for the little toys included in them. And I wasn’t any different. But recently, I discovered a box of these little toys as I was cleaning out a closet. My kids are all grown up and have their own children.  McDonald’s still offers Happy Meals and many younger parents still hate those little toys. What can I do with them? Are they worth anything?

ANSWER: The answer is yes, but...and there’s always a “but.” To be of any value to a collector, Happy Meal toys need to still be encased in their packaging and not used. There are some rare pieces that have value even if out of their packages, but generally, as with other toy collectibles, mint in package is the rule.

McDonald's collectors aren’t simply food groupies picking up recent Happy Meal toys. Collecting McDonald's memorabilia can be a complicated affair. Categories are numerous and subcategories extensive. Items can be instantly available or hard to find. Prices range from a couple of dollars to thousands. As with any collectible, the law of supply and demand rules.

McDonald's memorabilia encompasses a vast amount of local, regional, national, international material-ephemera, advertising and print items, cross-collector character items, McDonaldland character items, restaurant pieces, books and comics, sports and non-sports cards, glassware , and plates, watches and jewelry, garments, vehicles, dolls, toys, and more. The list is almost endless.

The McDonald brothers started their fast food drive-in restaurant in 1948, so an item from the early 1950's could carry a hefty price tag.

A novice McDonald's collector could amass hundreds of Happy Meal toys in a very short time. For example, nearly 90 different toys had been in Happy Meals in 1996 alone, and millions of each toy had been issued. You can easily find toys from recent years selling for one to two dollars. A manufacturing variation or recall may create a toy of a little higher value, but even these are available in quantity. 

Happy Meal toys and related display memorabilia remain are the most popular items to collect. Each Happy Meal has a specific and variable number of toys, including a special U3 toy which meets special standards for children under three years age, some bags or boxes, a stand up display and possibly counter displays, as well as banners, posters, and signs.

McDonald's collectors are as fussy about cleanliness, condition and completeness as any other collectible collector. Since McDonald’s had many of the items produced in the millions, prices for most packaged items remain low, and the package must be perfect. Loose Happy Meal toys have little value, especially once they’ve been tossed in a box, as the paint rubs off and are lost. Paper items need to be pristine and unmarked to bring top dollar. 

Figurine Happy Meals toys are the most popular, especially those which feature well-known characters. Special packaging can also increase the desirability. The April 1996 Walt Disney Masterpiece Home Video Collection Happy Meal is a McDonald’s collector’s Holy Grail—eight nicely made classic figures, each in a fitted half-size videotape box, with well designed color cover artwork and McDonald’s logos. Dumbo is the U3 toy in the set. A single Happy Meal bag completes the set.

Happy Meals which feature books, buckets, or. little-known characters are usually of lessor interest to collectors, but there are exceptions. The four small soft cover Beatrice Potter Peter Rabbit books from a 1998 Happy Meal, in mint condition, complete with the Happy Meal box are worth about $80 as a set. The Peter Rabbit Happy Meal was a "regional" which had limited geographic distribution. Any books that have been in children's hands are hard to find unblemished. Usually, this happens moments after opening the package as little ones’ hands are often sticky from eating fries and the like.

Elusive, scarce items can bring big dollars. The growing interest in fast food collecting has helped many wonderful older items to surface. However, many may or may not be valuable. Experienced McDonald's collectors look for complete older items in excellent condition and newer items that might be unusual or limited.

Most non-Happy Meal McDonald's collectibles feature the company name, one of the corporate logos, the trademark “M,” or recognizable characters.  Remember that a copyright date is only the year of first issue—a seemingly early piece may still be in circulation.

Early and scarce are the key words in McDonald’s collecting, although they may not occur simultaneously. Look for design features and characters no longer in use, such as Archy McDonald, the early character Speedee, items with the golden arch logo with a slash mark, and items related to the old style "red and white” restaurants. A 1966 Ronald McDonald costume with slash-arch logos, complete with makeup and wig, surfaced at an unclaimed storage locker auction. Needless to say, a collector paid several thousand for that hot item.

Most people think the same toys appear in all McDonald’s Happy Meals. In fact, they vary from region to region and country to country. This brings the total issued into the millions. And the more produced of any collectible, the less value it eventually has. 

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 art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Buttering Up!

 

QUESTION: I first became introduced to little butter dishes, known as butter pats, while browsing tables at a local flea market. Most of the time, dealers place these in glass cases and unless antiquers look carefully, they can easily be missed. 

ANSWER: In the United States and many parts of Europe, wealthy people who had elaborate dinnerware sets for formal dining used butter pat plates primarily in the 1800s and into the early 1900. Each dinner guest was given his or her own butter pat plate on which to put a pat, or lump, of butter.

Butter pats, manufactured in a variety of designs and shapes by the finest porcelain manufacturies, first appeared in the 1850s and reached the height of popularity between 1880 and 1910, though some restaurants and railroads still used them into the 1950s and 1960s. Although also known as butter chips, butters, butter pat plates, or individual butters, they’re commonly referred to as butter pats.

And no proper Victorian table could be set without them. The Victorians loved excess and nowhere was this more evident than in their table settings. During this age of elegance, each kind of food had its own piece of china or silver, and butter wasn’t any different.

Victorians folded a serving a bread, often consumed without butter, hidden in the folds of a napkin at each place setting. If a meal course required bread to be buttered, servants placed individual miniature plates above and slightly to the left of center of the service plates. 

However, butter during the Victorian Age wasn’t commercially processed but made at home. Victorian ladies or their servants labored hard, creating butter in a wooden or stone churn, shaping it with a paddle and squeezing it to remove excess moisture. They then placed the newly churned butter into a mold or shaped it into a mound with wooden paddles. 

The molds typically held a pound of butter. Either the lady of the house or her servants cut the butter into smaller pieces  to serve for special dinners. Sometimes, they shaped the small pats of butter into unusual forms, such as rosettes. Very wealthy families often used decorative individual hand-carved butter stamps featuring the family crest or a special design. 

Made for holding an individual servings of butter, the butter pat reached its zenith during the Victorian era when ornate elegance dictated that every place setting at the dining table consist of several dishes for different foods. As a necessary part of a complete set of fine china, dinnerware manufacturers crafted butter pats with the same attention to detail, and by the turn of the 20th century, they produced them in an array of designs, patterns, and shapes—round, fan-shaped, shell-shaped, as well as the more common square. They often decorated with fish, fowl, and floral motifs, making them into miniature works of art.

Eventually, the extravagance of the Victorian Era gave way to more informal dining. This created a need for durable and practical everyday dishware. Potteries needed to destroy outdated molds and streamline production. This included butter pats, no longer required on the informal dinner table.

Butter itself was often molded or stamped to form patterns, such as flowers, on the butter’s surface. Each individual lump of butter was then placed on a butter pat plate belonging to a specific guest.

Butter pat plates produced in the 1800s and early 1900s were primarily made out of either porcelain or sterling silver, and some made of glass. They were produced as part of dinner service sets or to match existing dinner service sets. Each tiny plate was typically less than three inches square and held either one or two pats of butter at a time.

The colors and designs on the butter pat plates also got more elaborate as time went on. Floral designs were quite common. In some cases, the manufacturers shaped and colored the butter pats to resemble flowers. Square or round ones featured pictures of flowers in their centers or floral patterns around their edges. Other popular butter pat themes included animals and birds.

Butter pat patterns also changed as advertising methods evolved. Some later butter pats had pictures and slogans on them, advertising businesses, events, or advancements of some kind.

Many of the most popular butter pat producers were the “big name” porcelain producers which were historically popular for their dinnerware and decorative pieces. Haviland, Majolica, and Waverly were the most popular. Of Haviland’s up to 60,000 different patterns, most included butter pats as part of a place setting. However, there were many companies which each produced anywhere from a few to dozens of patterns made from many different materials.

Although butter pat manufacturers mass-produced them, some were more unusual. For example, several French and German butter pat manufacturers produced butter pats in the 1800s that artists hand-painted later with elaborate designs and patterns. Some of them even featured hand-painted portraits of people.

With the advent of the modern lifestyles of the 20th century. Butter pats, along with many other forms of formal Victorian dinnerware, lost their appeal. Bread and butter plates, averaging 6 inches in diameter, eventually replaced the butter pat.

Though Wedgwood and Royal Doulton still produce butter pats, they only do so for luxury hotels and First Class airline service. 

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 art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Capturing the World in Bronze

 

QUESTION: Recently, I attended an antique show where one of the dealers had a modest collection of what he called Vienna bronzes. These little sculptures of mostly animals were like nothing I had ever seen. The prices of these bronzes seemed a bit high. What can you tell me about these little bronzes? How old are they, who made them, and did they really come from Vienna, Austria?

ANSWER:  Vienna bronzes are antique bronzes made by artists from Vienna. They became popular in the 1850s. Known for their extremely great detail, many were painted in beautiful colors. Many of the bronzes took the form of animals, such as dogs,, cats, pigs, and foxes.. Though Vienna bronzes come in all sizes, but are most popular with collectors in the smaller sizes due to their high cost. 

Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, but it can also be an alloy of copper and another metal. The word “bronze” originated from the Latin Word “Aes Brundisium” = ore from Brindisi, and came via Italian and French into the German language.

Franz Bergman, a professional chaser from Gablonz who came to Vienna, founded a small bronze foundry in 1860. It later became one of the most famous of the Vienna bronze factories under the leadership of his son, Franz Xavier Bergman, who based many of his designs on ones from his father's workshop.

The younger Bergman was an artist who became well known for the many sculptures produced at his foundry in Vienna. He inherited the foundry from his father but had such success with his work that he opened a second one in 1900. Often referred to as a sculptor by historians, Franz Xavier Bergman was actually a designer who hired other sculptors to carry out his ideas. He had his designs made in bronze and cold painted with many layers of vivid colors. The majority of his figural sculptures for sale featured Arab subjects, animals, mythological creatures, and figures in erotic poses.

He expanded the production by adding Art Nouveau objects, seals, and erotica. Bergman disguised sensuous poses of young women in the Art Nouveau style by a covering that revealed all when the viewer pushed a button or moved a lever. Often carefully sculpted animals, such as bears, could be opened to reveal an erotic figure inside. To avoid punishment by immorality laws  for his erotic sculptures, he signed them with either the letter “B” in an urn-shaped cartouche or produced them under the pseudonym Nam Greb—the name Bergman backwards. 

Franz Xavier’s son, Fritz, graduated from the Vienna Art Polytechnic Institute and took over the company in 1927. As did his father, he commissioned models from many Viennese sculptors and modelers and continued production during the economic crisis of the 1920s. The models survived World War II undamaged in the cellar of his house which had been completely destroyed. 

Stylized cats, frogs and dogs were Viennese specialties. They were treasures of the Biedermeier Era with their pleasure in caricatures, mockery and satire. Published political and satirical cartoons of the time had become very popular and also served as models for the bronzes. Today, the life-like statues of pets and forest animals are more popular with collectors.

After the turn of the 20th century, hunting had become accessible to the middle class. The passion for hunting made animal bronzes popular. In the early 19th century, Vienna residents could admire exotic animals in the Imperial Zoo, known as the Imperial Menagerie. In 1818 the first giraffe at the zoo caused a big sensation, and artists   spent hours in front of the cages to model wild cats, elephants, monkeys and parrots.

In the mid 19th century, when traveling was still a big adventure, the Viennese discovered their passion  for the mysterious Orient. Even if people didn’t dare to set out on expensive and dangerous journeys to far off Asia, they could bring a taste for the Orient right into their parlor with Vienna bronzes. 

Expeditions of Austrian explorers in the mid 19th century brought back early photographs of a new world. Due to the construction of the Suez Channel and the trip to the Orient of Crown Prince Rudolf, the Viennese enthusiasm for the Orient grew. The famous and remarkable “Turkish Room” of the Crown Prince's apartment in Vienna’s Hofburg illustrates the trend of fashion during that period. 

In the late 19th Century a number of Austrian bronze foundries situated in Vienna and the Austrian-Bohemian border began to specialize in the technique of “cold painted” processes. Women, working at home, achieved this naturalistic finish by painting the raw bronzes with several layers of special and secretive enamel colors called “dust paints,” which resulted in fine lifelike studies of the various models and sculptures. They often applied the paint when the cast was still warm, the natural shrinkage on cooling adding to the permanency of the color as it annealed the paint firmly into the metal. As the color was not ‘fired’ this process came to be known as “cold painted.” Unfortunately, the knowledge for mixing this kind of paint has been lost. 

The Bergman foundry normally stamped with a capital 'B' that is placed in a twin handled vase. They are also often inscribed “Geschutzt” which refers to the model/design being 'registered' or copyrighted, along with its mark.

The value of a Vienna Bronze depends on the detail and subject of the sculpture. It also helps if the bronze is marked Vienna or Austria. These marks usually occur on the side or bottom of the bronze. In addition to the country there may also be an artist signature. The Bergmans, most notably Franz Bergman, were the most popular bronze artists. Generally, his bronzes sell from $800 to over $10,000 each.

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 art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Simplicity and Comfort Rolled into One

 

QUESTION: Some time ago, I bought a simple chair at a country estate auction. I love that chair but know very little about it. Someone told me that my chair was Shaker. Since I didn’t know much about the Shakers, I couldn’t tell. It just looked like a simple country chair. What can you tell me about my chair? 

ANSWER: Your chair certainly looks like a Shaker chair. But you need to know a bit about the Shakers to know for sure. 

Mother Ann Lee, who led the Shakers to America in 1774, had enough to do to get her sect organized. She began with a community in Albany, New York, and sent out missionaries to establish Shaker communities elsewhere in New England. But it wasn’t until Mother Lee had died and another generation of leadership took over the Shakers that the idea of producing items for sale as a way of supporting the communities came to be.

The Shakers attracted skilled cabinetmakers and craftsmen to their ranks, so it was a natural to use their skills to produce furniture for the communities. By this time, the Shakers were totally self-sustaining. In the early 19th century, the sect began to attract large numbers of people, mostly those who were discontent with society in general or were out of work. The communities offered security and food and lodging to people who might otherwise not have had it.

To support all these people became a major problem. So the elders of each community came up with ways to produce items for sale. Some made chairs, others produced seeds, clothing, especially wool capes, or took in mending and such. Many members were very creative and invented unique items such  as the electric washing machine. They were extremely organized as well, so mass-producing items like chairs wasn’t a problem.  

Those who called themselves Shakers—officially the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing—eventually numbered over 17,000. As the number of communities, referred to by the Shakers as “families,” their furniture making flourished. At their peak of production, the Shakers produced chairs at more than 50 locations. From their first base in New York, the Shakers expanded their communities to Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and even Florida.

The Shakers made many of their chairs along straight and simple lines to be light weight, strong, easy to clean, and comfortable, not every piece of furniture made by Shaker hands is a design masterpiece: Some pieces were poorly crafted. Some were beautifully crafted but poorly proportioned. And some exhibit such bare-bones functionalism that they’re awkward and ugly. Often they’re barely distinguishable from country furniture of the same time and place. Indeed, unscrupulous dealers and auctioneers often promote plain country pieces as Shaker and sell for several times more than they would otherwise bring.

For use in their communities, the Shakers created three kinds of chairs—dining chairs, side chairs and rocking chairs. They designed the dining chairs with low backs so that they would stand clear under the table when not in use. Or they could be hung on a peg rail against the wall while someone cleaned the floor. And to make sure the chair seats stayed clean, they hung them upside down. 

Side chairs came in several different styles. A sister’s chair had a lower seat than the brother’s chair. The dining chairs had two back slats while the side chairs usually had four, all of which were slightly slanted for extra comfort.

As early as the 1820s, many communities began mass producing chairs for both community use and for sale. They used the same designs from the 1840s to the early 1900s. Chairs produced in the early 19th century were mostly for community use. But during the last quart of the century, the Shakers heavily marketed their chairs to the “Outside World.”

The chairs that the Shakers designed to be sold to the public were lean and severe and produced in huge quantities that ended up on back porches and summer cottages across America. Their popularity led other manufacturers to copy their look, and these pseudo "Shaker" chairs appear in quantity at country auctions and small antiques shows. Each of the endless variety of styles has its own Shaker-designated model number. Most were originally stained dark brown, and slat-backs predominate. 

Even though the largest Shaker chair didn’t weigh over 10 pounds and the smallest less than 5 pounds, both could support the weight of the largest person. 

Each community made their chairs a bit different from those of other communities, changing or adding little details. And while they all began with the same design template, each community’s craftsmen added their own touches for their community. For instance, many people believe that all Shaker chairs have tiny acorn finials and arms that terminate in mushroom-shaped turnings. Not so. It’s possible to tell which community made which chair by the shape of the finial alone. The back slats were also often slightly different. The Number 7 rockers, for example, have mushroom arms, four slats, and a shawl rail connecting the backposts that replaces the more common finials. The Shakers often attached a decal identifying the piece as Shaker to the back of a slat or leg. But pieces meant solely for use within the Shaker communities didn’t have decals. 

During the second half of the 19th century, the Shakers painted some of their chairs and woven brightly colored tapes into their seats. Often they combined colors, such as red and black and tan and maroon. Most colors, however, had more conservative names like Trustee Brown, Meetinghouse Blue, and Ministry Green.

In addition to the colorful tape, the Shakers also used cane, rush, and woven splint for their seats.

The woods used in chair construction varied according to the regional supply. But it was always of top quality and well cured. The most commonly used woods included walnut, cherry, butternut, and birds-eye maple, as well as pine and fruitwood if the others weren’t available.

Although for years Shaker chairs never sold for more than $500, now even the most common three-slat rockers bring $600 to $800 or more. Some even go as high as $1,700 to $2,200. 

Pieces from Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana—often less austere, less "Shaker-looking" than their eastern counterparts—often have a Victorian feel and sometimes resemble local country furniture even more closely than classic eastern designs. .

The quality of many reproductions of Shaker chairs, made using the same tools and techniques, is often so good that they sell for as much as the originals.

For over a century, the creation of Shaker chairs was but a simple fulfilling of the motto of their faith, “Hands to work and hearts to God.”

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 art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Finding the Way Around the World

QUESTION: I’ve always liked maps. When I was a teen, I read the road maps when my family went on road trips. Then later, while taking a world geography class in college, I had to color in large maps of the different continents. I soon learned where all the countries were, even many I never knew existed. As an adult I still love maps, but now I like the really old ones. I’d like to start collecting maps but I’m not sure where to start. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER:  Maps teach people about geography and history, as well as politics, religion, and culture. But most collectors love maps for their beauty and relevance to history.  

Collectors seek out maps for many reasons. Some appreciate the beautiful artwork and intricate etchings on early maps and purchase them for decorative purposes. Others seek all maps depicting a specific geographic area and want representative examples of all time periods showing changes resulting from exploration, wars, or just an increase in population.

Others use maps to trace their ancestry or showcase where they’ve traveled. Above all, it’s important to focus on a particular time period or geographical location rather than just collect maps from anywhere. 

Antique maps, like other antiques, are those printed over 100 years ago. Beginning in 1550, cartographers depicted the exploration and discoveries made throughout the world during the next 350 years. During the 17th and 18th centuries, cartography became one of the highest forms of fine art.

Some collectors look for accuracy while others look for inaccuracy–towns incorrectly sited, coastlines incorrectly charted, and rivers incorrectly routed.

Printers produced the majority of antique maps using woodcuts from the 16th to the early 19th centuries. Later, they used copper and steel engraving to create the majority of antique maps found today. By the early 19th century, the lithographic process allowed the artist or cartographer to draw directly onto a specially prepared stones—often using multiple stones for several colors. This was cheaper and faster since lithography required no engraver, but most lithographic maps have a fuzzy quality. By the late 1880's modern machine lithography and printing took over and maps lost their decorative quality.

While some maps were never meant to be colored, most antique maps look better with appropriate hand coloring. Ideally, collectors like to find maps with original hand coloring that’s applied at the time of printing. 

Elaborate cartouches giving the title, the cartographer, the dedication and perhaps details of scale, as well as compass roses, ships, sea monsters and human figures gave the map painter ample opportunity to be creative. Those on engraved maps became more elaborate through the 16th and 17th  centuries. 

When the fragility of maps is considered, it’s remarkable that so many survived over 300-400 years. Collectors will likely find early maps printed on strong, thick hand-made paper from France, Germany and Switzerland and the finest of all from the Ancona area of Northern Italy.

Antique maps can be divided into four main groups, depending on how a single sheet of paper can be folded. Double folio refers to maps printed on a complete sheet measuring 20 by 25 inches. Quarto refers to maps printed on one quarter of a sheet. Octavo refers to maps printed on one eighth of a sheet. Miniature maps of 3½ x 4½ inches appeared during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. 

As with most other antiques, quality and condition are important in map collecting. Since antique maps are paper items, they’re subject to wear and tear similar to any item which was intended to be used. However, with antique maps this isn’t always true. Most maps were printed on paper, and while modern paper is cheap, thin, and tears easily, antique paper is typically much more robust. This is due to the fact that paper used to be made by hand using cotton or linen rags. The paper-making process resulted in long, sturdy fibers within the paper that made it thick and durable. 

It’s not uncommon to find a 400-year old map that appears in perfect condition while a  100-year old map will often suffer from tears and other condition issues. Collectors are more forgiving about condition when it comes to newer maps printed on wood-pulp paper.

Some flaws, such as tears, worm holes, and toning, can be professionally repaired by a paper conservator, making the flaws nearly invisible and therefore minimizing any impact to the map's value.

And while color doesn’t always increase a map’s desirability, it can highly interesting geographical and decorative details.  Some maps were not meant to be colored; in particular maps from the late 15th through early 16th centuries were published in black ink without any color added. With these early maps, most collectors prefer that they remain in their original uncolored state. 

Choices in color ranged from simple outline color, which means that only the borderlines were highlighted, to elaborate full color examples that only the wealthiest could afford.

If color was added soon after the map was printed around the time of its publication, it is referred to as original or contemporary color. Maps that feature original color are a big draw for collectors, especially when the color is well-preserved.

Older, rare, highly sought after maps can be very expensive, sometimes reaching five figures. Collectors can find originals from the 16th century for less than $100, and many from 19th-century atlases are available from  $20 to under $100.  Rarity, age, historical importance, decorative value, coloring, and overall condition of the map and the paper it’s printed on also affect price. 

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 art glass in the 2022 Summer Edition, with the theme "Splendor in the Glass," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.