Up to Snuff

 

QUESTION: I’ve been fascinated by antique snuff boxes for some time. Most are a bit above my budget, but I’d like to purchase one or two soon. However, I know little about snuff and the origins of these decorative little containers. When did people start taking snuff? And where and where were the first snuff boxes made?

ANSWER: Snuff was a type of smokeless tobacco made from finely ground or pulverized tobacco leaves. Users snorted or "sniffed" it into their nasal cavity by inhaling it lightly after placing a pinch of it either onto the back of their hand, by pinching some between their thumb and index finger, or holding a specially made "snuffing" device.

Friar Ramón Pane, a missionary who came to the New World with Christopher Columbus in 1493, was the first European to witness the inhaling of snuff by the Taino people of Haiti. Until then, tobacco was unknown to Europeans. But by the 1650s, artisans were making small boxes the snuff dry.

Traditional snuff production consisted of a lengthy, multi-step process, in tobacco snuff mills. The selected tobacco leaves were first cured or fermented, which gave it the  individual characteristics and flavor for each type of snuff blend. Many blends of snuff required months to years of special storage to reach the required maturity. Fine snuff consisted of varieties of blended tobacco leaves without the addition of scents. Varieties of spice, piquant, fruit, floral, and mentholated soon followed, either pure or in blends. 

Each snuff manufacturer usually had a variety of unique recipes and blends, as well as special recipes for individual customers. Common flavors also included coffee, chocolate, Bordeaux wine, honey, vanilla, cherry, orange, apricot, plum, camphor, cinnamon, rose and spearmint.

The 18th century witnessed an increase in the use of snuff, especially among the English and French aristocracy. Because it was a small, fine substance, it needed a vessel to contain it. Both snuff and the little boxes that contained it became important expressions of class. Originally made for daily use, snuff boxes became important symbols of personal representation. Snuff taking had become an important marker of social status.

Although men could ingest other forms of tobacco, both men and women could take snuff. Tobacco would often be used by men while socializing in coffeehouses, thus becoming linked to public masculinity.

Taking snuff could be unpleasant, especially if there were a crowd in a room. In the act of ingesting it, a person had to remain dignified. Society considered it rude for snuff takers to make excessive noise making or reaction. Like tea or coffee consumption at this time, it wasn’t only about the substance being ingested: but the ingestion itself that had to adhere to society’s rule.

The manufacture of snuff boxes became a lucrative industry when taking snuff was fashionable. Snuff boxes ranged from those made of horn to ornate designs featuring precious materials made using state-of-the-art techniques. Since prolonged exposure to air caused snuff to dry out and lose its quality, manufacturers designed snuff boxes to be airtight containers with strong hinges, generally large enough to hold a day's worth of snuff. The wealthy kept larger snuff containers, called mulls, on their dinner tables for use at dinner parties. These could be quite elaborate and often included rams horns decorated with silver or in some cases a depiction of the head of a ram.

In the early 18th century, French jewelers created snuff boxes of gold set with diamonds, amethysts, and sapphires. By 1740, specialized artisans took over the production of these ornate tabatières, which they engraved, chased, and enameled. 

The shapes of these boxes weren’t limited to rectangular boxes. Porcelain containers resembling little trunks were popular, as were ovals, but tabatières shaped like shells were more rare. And while the materials used to construct a box were often enough for its decoration, sometimes artisans hand painted these snuff boxes, depicting everything from miniature landscapes and bucolic scenes to tiny portraits or cameos of their owners.

Miniatures often adorned the lids of snuff boxes. These could be scenes from various mythological, Biblical, or pastoral settings, but portraiture was the most common decoration, especially on those boxes given as gifts. It was usually men who adorned the portraiture present on the jewelry of women.

Silver snuff boxes became associated with Sheffield, England, where silver-plating had been perfected on these small containers in the late 18th century. By the early 19th century, the silver industry had blossomed in Birmingham, England, where snuff box makers such as Samuel Pemberton, Nathaniel Mills, and Edward Smith produced oblong containers with images of castles and abbeys on their tops and sides.

Birmingham was also a center for papier-mâché snuff boxes, which manufacturers hardened using several layers of enamel. A market for these inexpensive boxes developed in the United States, so Birmingham box makers began decorating their wares with portraits of U.S. naval heroes and victory scenes from the War of 1812, often using engravings by such renowned American artists as Gilbert Stuart as their source material.

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 Art Deco World" in the 2024 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.

What's All the Fanfare?

 

QUESTION: I was digging around in my mother’s attic the other day and discovered a flat box containing two very beautiful fans. I imagine these must have belonged to her mother or grandmother. What can you tell me about them? Do they have any value?

ANSWER: Fans have been around for a long time. As a piece of functional art, they go back as far as ancient Egypt. 

The Egyptians saw them as sacred instruments used in religious ceremonies. They also became a symbol of royal power. But it was the Chinese who evolved the fan into a complex, decorated instrument. The Japanese took the fan one step further and produced a folding version, supposedly based on the folding wings of a bat. When Marco Polo returned to Venice, he brought with him fans made of vellum, paper, swan skin with blades of gold, silver, and inlaid mother-of-pearl.

The original purpose of hand fans was to create a breeze, but they had many other uses. They could be used as protection against rain, as a tray for offering or receiving refreshments, and to hide bad teeth. European women would use fans to hide their faces during mass.

By the 18th century, the folding fan had come into its own in Paris. Delicately hand-painted floral motifs, on a structure of decorative sticks, came into common use. In fact, any wealthy lady worth her salt had to have fans as accessories to her wardrobe.

These wealthy women developed a whole language of salutations and signals around their fans. For instance, carrying a fan in the left hand signified "desirous of acquaintance" while allowing it to rest on the right cheek meant "yes" and on the left "no." Drawing a fan across the forehead meant "We are watched" and drawing a fan across the eyes meant "I am sorry." Opening a fan wide meant "wait for me."

Dropping a fan meant "We could be friends." If a lady fluttered her fan, it meant “I am married.” But if she placed the handle of her fan to her lips, it meant "kiss me."  An open fan held in the right hand in front of the face—the ultimate form of seduction— meant "follow me"

The blades of these delicate instruments could be of carved ivory or tortoise shell inlaid with precious inlaid metals and elaborate jewels. Less expensive fan sticks were usually of sandalwood or fruitwood. These rococo fans were the finest ever made, and many fo the designs took the form of stylized art.

By the latter part of the 18th century, fans had gained popularity as a fashion accessory in the upper circles of American society. While fan makers imported finer sticks, they made their own wooden ones.

The earliest fans made in any large quantity in the United States were paper souvenir fans depicting historical scenes. as well as current events. Lithographers portrayed views of New York's Crystal Palace, 1853, the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, printed in black on a cream background, and the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893.

By the late 19th century, fans displayed images of nearly every product. Every department store and every manufacturer advertised on fans, including such products as coffee, milk, bread, carpet sweepers, restaurants, cafes, theaters, sewing machines, etc. 

Before the advent of air-conditioning, funeral parlors gave out fans t mourners. These were as much to keep mourners cooler in warm weather as they were to wave the stink of the corpse away. These mourning fans became a social necessity. Manufacturers often fashioned them in black materials to coincide with the black clothing worn during recognized periods of mourning. Of course, it didn't hurt to print the name and address of the mortician on the guards of a cheap wood fan.

Fans are still relatively inexpensive—except the jewel-encrusted ones—so they’re ideal to collect, especially for the novice collector. Many sell for $5-$20 online. Some of the most sought after fans came from the E.S. Hunt Company, later called the Allen Fan Company. In 1868, Hunt patented the process by which he assembled the fan sticks and the fan leaf in one step. This included folding or creasing and gluing the leaf to the fan sticks at the same time under pressure. This was America's first fan to appear and unfortunately folded, like its fans, in1910.  

Serious fan collectors often prize the simpler fans with printed leaves and plain sticks and guards. Many of these simpler folding fans provide a glimpse of particular times in history. Some once served as records of special occasions, such as births and marriages. Often fans celebrated military and naval victories. And some did the same for national holidays. Collectors find such a quantity of fans that many specialize in one particular subject, such as advertising fans. Unlike many other delicate antiques and collectibles, folding fans have survived for decades and often centuries in superb condition. 

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 Art Deco World" in the 2024 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.

A Silver Alternative

 

QUESTION: As I was browsing a weekly flea market, I came upon a curious silver vase—at least I thought it was silver. But when I picked it up, it felt like glass and was much lighter than silver. The dealer said it was Mercury glass. I never heard of such a thing. Can you tell me more about it?

ANSWER: As the Industrial Revolution gained momentum, the growing middle class wanted inexpensive alternatives to the silver objects owned by the wealthy. One of those alternatives was Mercury glass, first made as an inexpensive silver substitute. Soon it evolved into an art form of its own.

First produced in the late 18th century, Mercury glass was a handblown, double-walled glass with an interior coating of silver-colored metal compounds. It took many forms, including candlesticks, compotes, candy dishes, plates, goblets, wig stands, curtain tiebacks, and doorknobs. Some critics condemned it for looking too much like mirrored glass and too little like silver, which was what people liked about it.

Produced originally from around 1840 until around 1930 in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, and Germany, it spread to England in 1849 when Edward Varnish and Frederick Hale Thomson patented the technique for silvering glass vessels, and continued to be made there until 1855.

Mercury glass, also known as silvered glass, contains neither mercury nor silver. It's actually clear glass, mold-blown into double-walled shapes and coated on the inside with a silvering solution containing silver nitrate and grape sugar, heated, then closed. Sealing methods included metal discs covered with a glass round in England, or a cork inserted into the unpolished pontil scar on the bottom in America. In the beginning a few Bohemian makers tried to line their pieces with a mercury solution, but they stopped using it due to expense and toxicity. However, this is where the name originated.

Companies in the United States, including the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company, New England Glass Company Union Glass Company, and the Boston Silver Glass Company, made silvered glass from about 1852 to 1880. The New England Glass Company displayed a variety of silvered glass articles, including copper wheel engraved goblets, vases and other tableware at the 1853 New Crystal Palace Exhibition.

Bohemian Mercury glassmakers decorated their pieces with a variety of techniques including painting, enameling, etching, and surface engraving. Antique historians believe it to be the first true "art glass"---glass made for display and for its artistic value rather than for everyday use.

The peak of Mercury glass’ popularity came in the mid-19th century. Back then, high-quality European and American-made pieces were lightweight, had graceful forms, and came decorated with acid-etched fruit or floral motifs, cut glass designs, and sometimes paint. Young girls, working on assembly lines, painted vases in particular with their own designs of swans, daisies, or leaves. Makers intended the details on their pieces to be equal to the finest decoration on other forms of glass and china.

After briefly falling out of favor, Mercury glass reappeared around 1900 in the form of Christmas ornaments and gazing balls, as well as blown fruits and flowers. Today, most serious collectors concentrate on antique forms, like curtain pins, salt cellars, or pedestal-footed silvered vases.

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 Art Deco World" in the 2024 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.

Dishes for Everyday Use

 

QUESTION: I have some dishes that belonged to my grandmother. I believe they’re over 100 years old. Each has a scene in the center in light blue on a white background. From research I’ve done, I know they’re called Staffordshire, but I still haven’t been able to find much about them. Could you tell me something about them, especially the decorative scenes?

ANSWER: Wedgwood & Co., Unicorn & Pinnox,Works, Staffordshire Potteries, not to be confused with Josiah Wedgwood & Sons, made your dishes. They specialized in making earthenware and stoneware pieces for everyday table use from 1860 to1965. Your particular dishes date somewhere from 1860 to 1890. 

Many people think Staffordshire is a company, but it’s actually an English county. Many English potters established themselves there because they found the clays superior to those found elsewhere in England.

In the late 18th century there were as many as 80 different potteries in the Staffordshire district. By 1802, the number had increased to 149. No single company was responsible for manufacturing Staffordshire dishes. Each potter produced his own wares using a different decorative border, featuring medallions, scrolls, lace, shells, flowers, or trees.

Staffordshire potters made their wares from white earthenware pottery found nearby. Workers applied decoration using a method called transfer printing, developed around 1755. They accomplished this inexpensive method by engraving a design onto a copper plate, which they then inked with special ceramic paint and applied to thin paper. Pressing the paper onto the surface left ink behind.

The production of a blue print began with a design on paper. The engraver traced the outline onto thin tissue paper and then reproduced it on a sheet of copper using homemade carbon paper. He engraved over this outline with a V-shaped groove and added the details and areas of shading using lines or dots. The idea of using dots, or stipple punching, rather than lines came later in the 18th century. The engraver found the right depth by trial and error, so he took a first print or proof before he reworked the lines and dots to deepen them if necessary. The deeper the engraving, the deeper the deposits of color, thus the darker the result. 

The next step was printing. A circular iron plate or backstone kept the color—a mixture of metallic oxides and fluxes with printing oils—warm. The printer applied this to the copper plate, which he kept hot on the hot plate, making sure to rub color into every dot and line. The surplus was then scraped off. He removed any film of color by bossing the surface with a corduroy-faced pad. After the copper plate was clean, he laid the tissue paper coated with a mixture of soft soap and water and passed it through the press’s rollers. He then passed the printed image, now in reverse—unlike regular engravings that begin in reverse and appear correct on printing—on to the transfer team, consisting of the transferrer, apprentice, and cutter.

The cutter removed the excess paper leaving only the design pieces. The transferrer laid these pieces, colored by cobalt oxide, on to the ware after its first or biscuit firing, then dipped it in glaze and refired it, where the silica in the glaze helped to convert black cobalt oxide to blue cobalt silicate. A design with an overall pattern would have the center applied first and the border around the rim afterwards. The tackiness of the oily print held it in place while the apprentice rubbed it down vigorously with a stiff-bristled brush using a little soft soap as lubricant.

The apprentice then soaked the earthenware in a tub of water to soften the paper which was removed by sponging, the oil-based color being unaffected by the water. After drying, an assistant placed the ware into the hardening kiln to fire at 1,250-1,290 F. to remove the oils and secure the color. 

After inking each piece, another worker placed the object into a low-temperature kiln to fix the pattern. The printing could be done either under or over the glaze on a ceramic piece, but since the ink tended to wear off on overprinted pieces, potteries switched to glazing the inked surface after the initial firing.

Scenic views of the Orient and of romantic European destinations with castles and towns became popular transfer motifs. The inspiration for these came from classical literature which was popular at the time. The most valuable plates,. however, are those with American scenes, produced between1800 and 1848. Enterprising English potters arranged with artists traveling in America to sketch the sites for their ware. Leading Staffordshire potters like Adams, Clews, Meigh, Ridgway, Stevens, and Wood, plus those from  hundreds of small companies created American views.

The firms manufacturing these wares included Ridgway, Johnson Brothers, Spode and Wedgwood along with many others. Josiah Wedgwood eventually used the transfer process to decorate his familiar ivory Creamware.

Stamps on the back of each piece often indicated the pattern with or without the maker's trademark. Since several companies employed the same patterns, identifying some pieces can be difficult. At first potters used deep cobalt blue and white designs to simulate wares made in China. These remain sentimental favorites in the United States and England. As technology improved, the shade lightened. By 1850, potteries began using other colors, such as pink, red, black, green, brown and purple.

Most transferware patterns sought by collectors today are two-tone. Blue and white, red and white, and brown and white are the most common combinations. Transferware has become increasingly pricey in the last 20 years, mostly due to articles about using it for decoration to liven up today’s bland home interiors. 

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  Art Deco World" in the 2024 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 First Non-Stick Lining for Cookware

 

QUESTION: I have been fascinated with antiques enamel kitchenware since I was in my twenties. Over the years, I’ve purchased a number of pieces at flea markets and antique cooperatives. However, I bought them because I liked them. I know very little about this enamelware. When did it first appear? Why did manufacturers decide to make this type of cookware?

ANSWER: Today, we take pots and pans with non-stick surfaces for granted. With the invention of Teflon, the problem seemed to be solved. But people soon discovered that even Teflon had its drawbacks. Over time, many cooks discovered that enamel-lined cookware works even better than Teflon. But the use of enamel cookware isn’t new. In fact, it goes all the way back to Germany in the 1760s.

The original reason for the invention of enamel-lined cookware had nothing to do with its non-stick abilities. Back then, people wanted a a way of coating iron to stop the taste  of metal or rust getting into their food. Cookware manufacturers looked for something acid-resistant and easy to clean without laborious scouring, something more durable than the tin linings used inside copper.

Enamel was an expensive adornment material for jewelry and pottery from the ancient Egyptians to the Chinese and Anatolians and to the British.

Often called porcelain when used on cookware, enamel was a coating material in the form of powdered glass. Fired at very high heat in a kiln, this powdered glass melted, flowed and finally hardened on any surface that could withstand the process. 

Craftspersons applied the fusing of the glass layer by layer, applying the design via a ceramic decal, permanently sealing it as a result of being fired at such high temperatures. The final result was a smooth and durable porcelain veneer decorated with artwork that would never peel. 

The use of vitreous enamel on cast iron sinks and bathtubs goes back to the 1850s and the Industrial Revolution.

Craftspeople in the mid 19th century were already searching for a material that would enable a cooking surface that wouldn't rust and leach harmful substances into the food. By applying enamel to the inside of cast iron pots and pans, they created the first non-stick surface ideal for baking, cooking, and tableware to safely maintain the taste of their food. 

From the late 19th century on, cookware manufacturers began to apply enamel to steel instead of cast iron. Enamel kitchenware stamped from thin sheets of steel appeared in every household as pans, pots, kettles, baking dishes, ladles, cups, bowls, plates, and biscuit cutters, becoming primary kitchenware. 

This new cookware was not only easier to clean and scratch-proof but also lighter in weight. As an incredibly durable material, enamelware became popular because it was less fragile than china.

White was a standard color on enamelware since that gave plates, mugs, ladles, and coffee pots a bright, sanitary appearance. Cookware maker trimmed the rims of lightweight steel enamelware with a solid band of red or blue, while enameled cast iron, designed for the stovetop and oven, was usually white on the inside but colored on the exterior.

Graniteware was a variation of lightweight enamelware that had a speckled surface—white on brownish-red and other colors. Patented in 1848 by New York inventor Charles Stumer, graniteware—also known as agateware and speckleware—enjoyed a long run in the United States, filling kitchen shelves and cabinets from the 1870s until the end of World War II.

U.S. manufacturers of graniteware included the St. Louis Stamping Company, which marketed its products under the Granite Iron Ware brand, Lalance and Grosjean, whose Peerless Gray Ware was sold by Sears, Roebuck and Company, the Bellaire Stamping Company, and Vollrath. 

The 1870s witnessed an emergence of innovation in American kitchenware. Previously used only in the manufacture of pots and pans, enamel came to be used in a variety of items and decorations, from speckled to spattered. 

Migrants from France and Germany founded the first two US companies making enamel cookwares in the 1860s. Lalance and Grosjean, whose founders emigrated from France, started as a business importing sheet metal and metal cookware before setting up their Manufacturing Company in New York, with a metal stamping factory in Woodhaven. They called their mottled enamel agateware which was typically blue.

German immigrants Frederick and William Niedringhaus built up the St. Louis Stamping Co. in Missouri, then moved graniteware production to Granite City, Illinois.  They later evolved into NESCO, whose grey enamel was sometimes said to flow from "pure melted granite." They got the first US patent for a mottled enamel finish, just a few months before a competing patent by L & G. Both companies went on to patent numerous improvements, from better spouts to novel surface decoration.

The best-known brands of granite and agate wares sold for higher prices  In 1899 Lalance and Grosjean’s agate nickel-steel ware” cost more than Haberman’s “grey mottled enameled ware.”  From the 1890s onward, L&Gs agate ware came with a “chemist’s certificate,’ proving it free of “arsenic, antimony, and lead.” L&G's two-quart lipped saucepan cost 18¢ while Haberman's sold for 7¢. Meanwhile, Sears had a set of 17 pieces of "Peerless gray enamel ware" selling for about $2.70.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The  Vernacular Style" in the 2024 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Portable Timekeepers

QUESTION: My grandfather left me the pocket watch he had received on his retirement. The watch is a Waltham. It still works but I’m not sure if it keeps good time. I already have a wristwatch and a smartphone, so I really don’t need this pocket watch. Is this watch collectible? If so, would it be a good idea for me to start a collection of them?

ANSWER: Your grandfather probably didn’t use his pocket watch very much. Businesses commonly gave gold pocket watches to members of their management staff upon their retirement. Before you do anything, you should take his watch to a watchmaker to have it checked and cleaned. Chances are, the watch is in like-new condition.

Pocket watches date back to the early 16th century. German locksmith Peter Henlein from Nuremburg invented the first to portable timepiece. Henlein also invented a spring-driven mechanism which made the personal timepiece possible. Spiral springs could be wound and uncoiled to move the hour hand of the clock. However, this mechanism was highly inaccurate because coiled springs don't unwind at a constant speed. But having a timepiece people could or wear on a chain, even if it was off by an hour or so, was a great improvement.

However, Henlein’s portable clock had a heavy drum-shaped brass box-like case, typically four or five inches wide and abut three inches thick, take up too much space in a person’s pouch. Unfortunately, pickpockets could easily snatch a pouch worn outside a person's clothing, so cautious people began to hide their pocket clock inside their clothing. This proved to be uncomfortable, so people began wearing their clocks on a  chain around their necks.

By 1653, tailors had begun sewing small pockets called "fobs," from the German word fuppe, into the waistband of breeches, in which to carry a watch, money, or other valuables. The fob, which means to cheat or misrepresent, was meant to prevent any  thief from easily removing a person's valuables.

By the end of the 18th Century, improvements in watchmaking resulted in watches that were thinner and more rounded. Tailors sewed smaller fob pockets into vests so that people could carry a watch attached to a chain.

Early pocket watches only had an hour hand. The dial wasn’t covered with glass, but usually had a hinged brass cover, often decoratively pierced with grillwork so the time could be read without opening. Watchmakers created movements of iron or steel, held together with tapered pins and wedges, until after 1550 when screws appeared. Many of the movements included striking or alarm mechanisms. The shape of the watches soon evolved into a rounded form called Nuremberg eggs. And even later in the century a trend for unusually shaped watches, shaped like books, animals, fruit, stars, flowers, insects, crosses, and even skulls, became popular. Beginning in 1610, a glass crystal covered the watch dials. To wind and set the watch, the owner opened the back and fitted a key to a square arbor and turned it.

The first solution to uneven unwinding came when watchmakers realized the spring uncoiled at a more constant pace when it wasn’t wound tightly. Watchmakers invented several ways to prevent this. The stackfreed was a cam with an additional spring that compensated for the main spring's changes in speed, and the fusee was a stop that prevented the spring from being wound too tightly. It was usually made of stiff hog bristle.

In 1675 several watchmakers discovered that a spiral spring attached to the balance greatly increased accuracy. Suddenly, watches reflected the correct time within minutes rather than being off by close to an hour. Until this time, watches had to be wound twice a day. A fourth wheel added to the movement decreased the winding required to once per day. Less than 100 years later, watchmakers added a hand to measure seconds. As years passed, people wanted calendars to mark the day, date and month, phases of the moon, as well as alarms, chimes and music.

Early pocket watches had no covering to protect the face or the hour hand. In the 18th century English watchmakers began creating gold and silver cases to slide the watch into to protect it. Watchmakers added glass crystals to protect the dial around 1610 but because they were translucent, people still had to remove them to read the time.

English watchmakers added jewels, usually second-rate gemstones in the 18th century as bearings in the watches to prevent friction and wear between metal parts. However, watchmakers from other countries didn’t adopt "jeweling" for nearly another 100 years. Today, the number of jewels a watch has is a sign of its quality and durability. Most pocket watches have between 7 and 21 jewels.

Pocket watches came in either of two types of cases—hunting or open-faced. Hunting case watches, popular during the 19th century, have a spring-hinged circular metal lid or cover, that closes over the watch-dial and crystal, protecting them from dust, scratches and other damage or debris, and opens when the owner pushes a button. Most antique hunter-case watches have the lid-hinges at the 9 o'clock position and the stem and crown of the watch at the 3 o'clock position. By 1900, the open face watch took over and hunting case watches became less commonplace. Watchmakers made cases of silver and gold. Many were gold-filled, with two thin sheets of gold on the outside around a thicker layer of brass. They also used a variety of silver-colored material, with names like silveride, usually nickel based.

Waltham pocket watches are very collectible. But because watch designs changed often in the early years, they sometimes made only a few of some models. A good example is the Waltham Model Appleton, a size 20, 18-carat gold watch with a rear key wind that had sold for $10,000. Because so many were made and in such variety, collectors can buy a pocket watch in running condition from as low as $100 US up to the $1000s if you want. Since most pocket watches don’t appreciate much in value, it’s possible to start a modest collection on a limited budget.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about "The  Vernacular Style" in the 2024 Winter Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.