‘Red Flag Law’ Figurine

By Dave Bausch

Automobilia art objects take several forms, some are made just for pleasure to the eye, but others were made to tell a story or help record a historic event. This art item was made to tell a story about “Red Flag Law.”

In 1865, a law was passed in England that limited speed to not more then four miles per hour in the country and two miles per hour in the city. It also required a walking attendant to carry a red warning flag or lantern preceding the vehicle. This law remained on the books until 1896.

This porcelain is in the shape of a chauffeur with a lantern and horn. The quality of this figurine is very much like Royal Doulton, but, on this example there are no markings. The figure is 10-and-three-quarter-inches high and an automobile object of this quality would be priced in the range of $3,000 to $5,000.

Automobile Flower Vases

By David Bausch

The flower vase is both an automobile accessory and an object of auto art. The flower vase added a touch of elegance to a rather dull interior of many of the cars of the 1920’s.

While many of the expensive sedans and limousines sported flower vases as part of standard equipment, the more common automobile lacked that grace. So, companies like Sears offered flower vases in their auto supply section of their catalogue. The prices of such elegance would cost in a range of 75cents to more than $3, depending on the quality of glass and the engraving and the mounting frame. I have a pair of sterling silver vases that are embossed with automobile scenes, and to be sure it was a custom design and was quite expensive. The vases come in many designs and colors including carnival glass, green, blue, Vaseline, amber, mercury glass and other colors I have not seen in my years of collecting.

Prices rage from $10 to $65, depending upon the quality of the item. As always, condition is important.

Caution: Just because the vase is cone-shaped, it doesn’t always mean it was designed for an automobile. Many glass vases of similar shape were made to be used in epergnes. Most car vases were small and had a ridge for the bracket that held the vase. Try and collect vases with their brackets for easy display. Some of the brackets are quite decorative with etched designs.

Automobilia China Part Two

By David Bausch

While most of the early china objects depicting the automobile were from Europe (the home of the automobile), it wasn’t long until the automobile fever caught on here in the U.S. of A. While Royal Doulton of England, and Villeroy and Boch of Germany were making china picturing the automobile, it was Roseville of Zanesville, Ohio, that took up the effort to portray the automobile on China in America.

Roseville produced a large series of pottery known as “Tourist.” There were 29 different shapes of pottery that carried the Tourist design. I should say designs, because there was more then one design in the series. Usually, two autos are found on the larger items and one on the smaller pieces. Some of the cars are roadsters and others are touring cars of different styles; one of the series shows a car broken down with a flat tire. A flat tire was not an unusual problem; at least not in the very early days of motoring. I am sure many of the motorists could relate to that experience.

A large jardinière on a pedestal base will command a price of $2,500 to $3,000. A small bowl can run around $300 to $500. Condition is very important, crazing is very common on this pottery, and crazing reduces the value of any item in this series.

Automobile China by Royal Doulton

By David Bausch

Nothing speaks of the Edwardian era more clearly then the series of china produced by Royal Doulton of England. This china was designed by John Holdcroft, and was known as the Motorist Series. This series was produced in its factory in Burslem England from the years 1903-1913.
Royal Doulton produced a full line of china in this Motorist pattern including: dinner plates (large 10 3/8 inches and small 9 5/8 inches); mugs; biscuit jars; spittoons; flower vases (large and small); and a chocolate pitcher.

The different scenes were: “After the Run;” “A Horse, A Horse;” “Blood Money;” “Deaf;” “Itch yer on Gov’no;” “Nerve Tonic;”; “Room for One;” and “The New and the Old.”

John Holdcroft also designed a series of china at the same period of time using aircraft on china, including plates and pitchers. This aircraft series is quite scarce, but not a subject for this article; the aircraft china has a limited audience compared to the number of collectors of the Motorist series of china.

The value for a Motorist Dinner Plate (10 3/8 inches) has a range of $250-$300; a large compote can demand a price of $400-$450. Condition is always important.

Early Car Makers Desired Hit Song to Boost Sales

By Dave Bausch

In the field of Automobilia, the one subject most collected is advertising. Advertising took many forms: posters, prints, toys, magazine ads, postcards just to name a few. But the one that most of the automobile makers yearned for was to have their specific model of car depicted on sheet music.

If the tune was catchy, and the words embellished the car and the effect the owner/driver had on the young ladies, it would be a sure winner for the automobile manufacturer. Many examples of early songs can still be found at antique paper shows and even at garage sales, and still at an affordable price. The rarer the featured automobile, the more pricey the sheet music.

The most common sheet music would be “In My Merry Oldsmobile,” a tune which was used over and over again for many years. A more scarce piece of music would be “In My Mercer Racing Car,” or “Packard and the Ford,” from 1913 and 1915, respectively.

Condition, like for most collectables, is important. If the featured car in the music is rare enough, though, condition may be less important. But surely the price will certainly be higher for those in better condition.

Graphics on the cover of the sheet music will also contribute greatly to the value. There were more then 100 different song sheets picturing early automobiles. The range for automobile sheet music is anywhere from $5 to $125. You just might be lucky and find a rare copy at a good price. That, after all, is the fun of collecting.

What links the history of the automobile and the history of automobilia? The answer is the love/hate relationship with the automobile. Much autombilia–prints, sheet music, steins, postcards, valentines–illustrates the conflict between automobile lover and hater.

One such item is the pictured beer stein, made in Germany around 1905. It depicts an early motorist who has just run over a farmer’s goose, a common event in the early days of motoring.

The value of such a stein is in the range of $350-$550, dependent upon the detail of the scene and the condition of the stein. A number of steins have been made in the past 20 years. Steins made in South America for companies such as Avon and some beer companies have little or no value to the antique stein collector. Many of the newer steins, though nice and well made, command no more then $35-$45.

P.S. I have some of the later steins in my collection because I collect almost anything picturing an early automobile.

“Automobilia” comes in many forms. Often, these objects are cross collectibles (i.e. ashtrays). One of the most interesting early ashtrays is the one pictured.

The tray is from the early 1900s and made of cast metal. It has no manufacturer’s mark, but is probably French. It depicts a very early motorist driving his car at a great rate of speed (somewhere around 35 miles per hour). Embossed on the ashtray is a road sign reading “1.000km” and some geese scattering.

Much early automobilia depicts the age of speed and the dangers the speeding auto brought to the rural countryside. It is no wonder the farming community pushed for restrictive motoring laws such as the Red Flag Law in England, which required a person to walk in front of the auto carrying a red flag to warn anyone of the approaching motorcar.

The value of this ashtray is in the range of $250-$350, if you can find a good example.

Not too many years ago the automobile was considered the work of madmen, determined to corrupt the morals of our society, not to mention upset the enterprise of the blacksmith, the horse breeder and the harness maker. (They weren’t far from the truth.) It is difficult for the current generation to understand how the automobile caught the world’s imagination.

The artist with his canvas was best to capture the new found exciting event. No one artist was able to capture the excitement better then Ernest Montaut of Paris, France. Ernest Montaut, artist and lithographer, was the first to mass produce automobile art. Not only were his lithographs sold in Europe, but Motor Magazine of the United States used some of his images, in printed form, as inserts in some of their early issues.

Pictured is a 1908 lithograph showing an early race car with a blue bird on the righthand corner of the lithograph. These, like so many early lithographs, fade quickly if not properly displayed, always away from direct sun light.

The value depends upon the condition, but his lithographs sell for around $250-$350.