This Venetian Murano pheasant (circa 1960) measures 19 inches long and stands about 10 inches tall. Comparable examples by unknown artists sel in the $150 to $300 range.

Murano glass has a very long history. In 1292, an ordinance was passed in the city of Venice that banished glass making to the island of Murano in the Venetian lagoon. According to some historians, the reason was partly to protect other buildings from fires (which commonly started in glass works; the Great Fire of London is believed to have started in a glass works), and partly to retain a lock on the decorative glass trade. It was even forbidden to teach foreigners the trade secrets of glass making, and the threat of the death penalty was used to keep glass monopolies’ secrets on Murano.

Many of the modern Venetian Murano sculptures we see today are post-World War Two examples, and most are not signed, using a generic foil label that rarely survives the first washing, or are often removed after sale. There are many famous makers of decorative glass ware in Murano, such as Toso, Dino Martens, Salviati and others, but without a label it is difficult to attribute any one maker to items of this type without extra information, such as a provenance or bill of sale.

In the current market values for Murano glass sculptures varies widely, as the quality of these pieces goes from almost dreadful to unbelievable works of the glass makers art.

In the case of the bird sculptures, it is possible to pick up at auction a low quality “paper weight”-sized bird for less than $20, while good quality birds measuring 10 inches or longer selling in the $50 to $80 range. The Murano pheasant above is a very nice example (circa 1960) by an unknown maker, measuring 19 inches long and standing about 10 inches tall. Comparable examples often have presale estimates in the $150 to $300 range. This one was a bargain, with a purchase price of $200.

Mike Wilcox, of Wilcox & Hall Appraisers, is a Worthologist who specializes in Art Nouveau and the Arts and Craft movement.

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An example of an early American Pattern Glass celery vase. This over-sized goblet with crimped lip, in the Venus & Cupid pattern, was produced by Richards & Hartley between 1875-1884 and by U.S. Glass after 1891.

According to the early nineteenth century writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in “The Physiology of Taste,” gastronomy required “intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns man’s nourishment.”

Brillat-Savarin’s 1825 treatise on the fine art of foods was the first treatment of dining as an art form. The newly developing interest in food appropriately reflected a growing awareness of gastronomy that flowered during the Victorian period. However, 19th-century consumers must have taken the author quite literally when they read, “the discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.”

Of the multitude of dishes—on which food was served, as opposed to the food itself—offered to the middle-class consumers, perhaps one of the most unique was the celery vase. During the 19th century, middle-class households sought to establish their position in the community in a variety of ways. Perhaps the greatest indicator of one’s status was offered in the dining room. By serving a variety of exotic foods, a hostess could solidify her husband’s situation as “having arrived” at a high rung on the social ladder.

Celery became one of these exotic foods important to the class-conscious consumer. This vegetable, like other foods considered elegant at the time, was important enough to require its own serving dish. Glass and silver celery vases (sometimes called celery stands) allowed for prominent presentation on the table. With leafy ends protruding, celery could be offered from a tall glass or silver vase akin to a flower vase, providing ease of serving and the height needed to give variety to the vast array of cuisine. ¹

Celery as a food dates back as far as the 16th century when it was used for flavoring. During the next century, evidence indicates that the stalks were eaten, often dipped in oil. By the 19th century, the vegetable had grown in popularity, in part because of its reputation as a hothouse plant.

A 7-inch hobnail and opalescent cranberry celery vase by Hobbs and Brockienier, circa 1870-1897.

A member of the parsley family and native to Europe and Asia, celery requires blanching, or mounding rich, moist soil around the stalk to exclude light. Moreover, celery needs a long growing season with cool temperatures. Normally maturing several months after planting, celery is among the most expensive vegetables to produce even today.

Low baskets offered another, though less popular, means of presenting the vegetable for the table. Celery vases outsold baskets by a ratio, of 17 to 1, according to the catalogues of silver manufactures. Popular during the Victorian decades of the 1860s and 1870s, sales of these stands increased into the 1890s, when celery “boats” to “yachts” were listed in manufactures’ catalogues.

At the turn of the 20th century, celery stands or vases had disappeared from the tabletop landscape because of the development of a commercial process for growing the vegetable. Cultivating celery had been very labor-intensive, because it required blanching to preserve the white hue of the stalks, as well as the slightly sweet flavor. This new commercial process allowed for easier growing, thereby making the vegetable more available. Increased availability meant less cost, making it ordinary and no longer suitable for the status seekers of the middle-class.

A cobalt blue glass celery vase with a tri-fold fluted ruffled edge, circa 1898-1906.

With celery out of fashion, eager consumers sought other less common foods as status indicators and celery vases were no longer needed. Today, these vases appear in shops sometimes listed as “spooners” or simply as flower vases, but the knowing dealer and collector will recognize them for what they are: an indicator of the originality of the 19th-century manufacturers’ eager to find his niche in the fashionable, yet faddish, world of cuisine.

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^1. Susan Williams, “Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feast: Dining in Victorian America” (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996). 111.

— Originally published in the American Antiquities Journal

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– JC, New York, NY, via e-mail

ANSWER: I forwarded the photographs that accompanied your e-mail to Debbie and Randy Coe, authors of “Elegant Glass: Early, Depression, and Beyond, 3rd Edition” (Schiffer Publishing, 2007; coesmercantile.com) and among the best glass pattern identifiers I know. Your bonbon or nappy (candy dish works as well) is Jefferson Glass Company’s Pattern #192, known to collectors as Sea Spray, and was made between 1906 and 1907. The piece is found in three colors—blue, green, and white.

Harry Barstow, Grant Fish, George Mortimer and J. D. Sinclair founded Jefferson Glass, located in Steubenville, Ohio, around 1900. Steubenville is the county seat of Jefferson County, hence the firm’s name.

Jefferson Glass produced fancy tableware, e.g., vases, and plain and decorated novelties, many of which were made in opalescent glass. Jefferson Glass remained in Steubenville until 1906, at which time it moved to Follansbee, W.V. Imperial Glass leased its former Steubenville plant. The Follansbee site produced non-opalescent glass and remained in operation until 1933.

A link existed between Jefferson Glass and Northwood. William Heacock, a leading glass researcher focusing on late 19th- and early 20th-century glassware, revealed Jefferson Glass sold a few of its opalescent molds to Northwood. Heacock’s “Collecting Glass, Volume 3” states: “George Mortimer, a prime force in the establishment of the Jefferson factory, went to work for Northwood in 1905, which may be why Northwood copied some fast-selling Jefferson designs.” With these few exceptions, most of Jefferson Glass’s opalescent molds vanished following the move to Follansbee.

Debby and Randy also noted that some collectors confuse Jefferson Glass’s Sea Spray pattern with the S-Repeat pattern. “We don’t feel that it is close to it. The piece shows the beading below the pattern and this is different than the S-Repeat … the pattern really looks like ocean waves as they are breaking on the beach.”

While many glass patterns included numerous forms, often enough to set a complete table, Sea Spray was only available as a bonbon/nappy. As a result, it has more appeal to opalescent rather than pattern glass collectors.

When I assumed the editorship of “Warman’s Antiques and Their Prices” in the early 1980s, opalescent and pattern glass were hot collecting categories. This is no longer true. Many glass collecting categories fell upon hard times after the dawn of the twenty-first century. Pattern and opalescent glass are on the list.

Your bonbon/nappy is more than 100 years old. If age determined value, its value would be high. Alas, age is now a minor value consideration and often discounted completely. The buyer is the key. If there is no buyer, there is no value.

Your Jefferson Glass Sea Spray bonbon/nappy has a secondary market value of between $30 and $45, down more than fifty percent from what it was worth 10 years ago. Its value derives from its conversation/decorative potential as opposed to its collector interest.

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QUESTION: I own a FADA Model 605W radio. It works. What can you tell me about it?

– C, Reading, PA

ANSWER: FADA, because several of its radios were housed in Modernist design catalin cases, is a magic name among radio collectors. Although your Model 605W has a plastic case, it is not catalin.

Frank Angelo D’Andrea (1888-1965) founded FADA. As a youth, he worked for Frederick Pierce Company, a firm that helped inventors develop working models of their inventions. Frank D’Andrea left Frederick Piece and founded FADA (his initials) to produce crystal detectors for radios. D’Andrea’s company was operating in three different locations on Jerome Street in the Bronx, New York, by 1921.

FADA began manufacturing radios in 1923. FADA had a stormy employer-employee relationship, and 500 of the 600 works went on strike in 1926. Lewis Clement, FADA’s chief engineer, left in 1927 for a better offer, as did Dick Klein, second in command. A group of Boston businessmen purchased the company in 1932, filing for bankruptcy in 1934.

A group headed by Jacob M. Marks bought the company and renamed it Fada Radio and & Electric Company. It remained in operation until 1955.

An advertisement in the August 1946 issue of “Radio News” pictures FADA models 605W, 1000 (the famous bullet case), and 1001. The Model 605W is listed as having five tubes.

Had your FADA Model 605W not worked, it would have little to no value. A dealer who restores radios might pay $5 to $10 for parts salvage. Even in working condition, the value is low, i.e., between $50 and $60. Collector interest in the common radios of the 1920s through the 1950s is fading. The collecting community is graying, i.e., collectors are getting older and not being replaced by younger collectors. If you are thinking of selling your radio, the longer you wait, the less you will receive.

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QUESTION: I have a copy of “The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy, 2nd Edition.” What is its value?

– CB, via e-mail

ANSWER: Bishop Alma Bridwell White authored “The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy,” a 144-page book, in 1925. White was the founder of the Pillar of Fire Church and author of more than 35 books. The Reverend Branford Clarke provided the illustrations. Arthur H. Bell, the Grand Dragon of the New Jersey Ku Klux Klan, wrote the introduction.

“The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy” was a compilation of articles written by White for “The Good Citizen,” the Klan’s political periodical. The book’s primary focus was a violent diatribe against the Catholic Church. In addition, it promoted anti-Semitism, white supremacy and women’s equality.

“The Ku Klux Klan in Prophecy” enjoyed numerous editions and printings. It is still in print. Apparently, it is very popular in India. Unfortunately, your e-mail provides only a minimum of information. Go to abebooks.com or bookfinder.com and research the printing you have. If you are fortunate enough to have a first or very early printing of the second edition in very good or better condition, your book can be worth between $75 and $100.

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QUESTION: You write that most 78 rpm record albums are not worth much. There must be exceptions, and I hope I might have one. Attached to my e-mail is a picture of the RCA Victor record album cover for Robert Merrill’s Brooklyn Baseball Cantata, with music by George Kleinsinger with words by Michael Stratton. The piece was composed in 1937 but not recorded until 1948. There are two 78 rpm records in the album. Play time is approximately 12 minutes. What is its value?

– LE, Reading, PA, via e-mail

ANSWER: Robert Merrill, one of the Metropolitan Opera’s leading 20th-century baritones, was an ardent baseball fan. In fact, he died in his chair listening to a World Series game.

Although best known for the playing of his recording of the national anthem at Yankee Stadium, especially on opening day, Robert Merrill recorded the “Brooklyn Baseball Cantata” about a legendary World Series game between the Brooklyn Dodgers—“dem Bums” —and the New York Yankees. The 12-minute cantata is somewhat disjointed. A disgruntled umpire takes out the frustrations of his own failed baseball career on the players. The game seesaws back and forth. A Cookie Lavagetto-pinch-hit homerun wins the game. Alas, it is all a dream. The cantata ends with a “wait until next year” theme.

“The Brooklyn Baseball Cantata” faded from the scene before the runner reached first base, albeit it often is include on Robert Merrill greatest hits albums. “The Brooklyn Baseball Cantata” was one of several Dodgers’ songs recorded in 1948-1949, including Negro bandleader Buddy Johnson’s “Did You see Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?”

George Kleinsinger (1914-1982) is far better known as the co-author, along with Paul Tripp, of “Tubby the Tuba” and the numerous musical scores that supported the book. Kleinsinger’s “Brooklyn Baseball Cantata” is a mere footnote.

Copies of the RCA “Brooklyn Baseball Cantata” are readily available. The album sells for between $15 and $20 in the general marketplace. Collectors of Brooklyn Dodgers memorabilia pay a bit more.

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Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet. Check out his Web site.

You can listen and participate in “WHATCHA GOT?,” Harry’s antiques-and-collectibles radio call-in show on Sunday mornings between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Eastern Time. It streams live on http://www.gcnlive.com on the Genesis Communications Network.

“SELL, KEEP OR TOSS? HOW TO DOWNSIZE A HOME, SETTLE AN ESTATE, AND APPRAISE PERSONAL PROPERTY” (House of Collectibles, an imprint of the Random House Information Group), Harry’s latest book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via Harry’s Web site: http://www.harryrinker.com

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the 20th century. Selected letters will be answered on this site. Harry cannot provide personal answers. Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned. Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5093 Vera Cruz Road, Emmaus, PA 18049. You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered. Please indicate that these are questions for WorthPoint.

Copyright © Rinker Enterprises, Inc. 2009

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An amethyst-colored Victorian lady’s flask found during a bottle dig at a site where an outhouse once sat. The owner of the flask used WorthPoint’s Ask a Worthologist service to determine its idently and fair-market value.

WorthPoint member Suzanne from Massachusetts must have had that same rush of excitement when, in 1980, when she found an incredible, cut-glass flask with a sterling top. Suzanne told me that she found the flask during a bottle dig. You must be thinking, “a big hole with a bunch of bottles just waiting to be discovered? “ And then think, “How did those bottles get there?”

Bottle digs are mostly nothing more than the excavation of an outhouse. There were no weekly garbage pickups. Much of the everyday trash was placed in the outhouse. Outhouse were known by many different names: Nessy, Privy, Thunder Box, Crapper, Back House; whatever it was called, they all served the same purpose. Every house and business had one prior to indoor running water and plumbing. Enquiring minds: Yes, everything that can decompose has decomposed over time.

The valuation on Suzanne’s flask was done by Audra Blevens, a generalist Worthologist for WorthPoint. The flask that Suzanne found was a ladies flask, very ornate, with a sterling hinged top. The glass flask was made of a layer of amethyst-colored glass and a layer of clear glass. The design is made when the amethyst layer was cut away to reveal the clear glass. There are English Hallmarks in the silver top, which dates the flask to Birmingham, England, and the year 1901. The maker’s marks B&F remain unidentified, but a fair market value of $300 to $350 was placed on the flask. Today flasks are highly desirable and collected, particularly ladies’ flasks, which were very ornate.

Some examples of Victorian ladies’ flasks. These items are available for purchase on GoAntiques.

Ladies did have flasks. There were many different reasons for ladies to carry a pocket flask like the one Suzanne found. Apparently, there was much more imbibing going on than is generally thought. Social drinking was widely acceptable in Victorian times, and doctors frequently prescribed alcoholic beverages to alleviate a host of ailments. It would be quite reasonable for a lady to have a flask full of brandy, gin, absinthe or any numbers of homemade or quack cures. Laudanum, a liquid made of opium and alcohol, was prescribed for pain, as a cough suppressant, for sleeping problems and to calm down fussy babies. Many doctors neglected to inform their patients that laudanum was highly addictive, which is just one more reason to carry a flask.

Who knows how that flask ended up where it did at the bottle dig. It could have been secretly hidden away in the Privy for years and forgotten, or dropped in the hole by mistake, with the owner not daring to go in after it. Perhaps, during prohibition, someone felt the need to discard it. However the flask landed where it did, Suzanne was very happy to have found it and is happy knowing just a little bit of history about it. If only the flask could talk.

If you have an item you’d like to know more about, Ask a Worthologist.

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To set the tone, get dressed for the part. What would be more appropriate than a suit made specifically for Barack Obama during the campaign? To show that you never know where you’ll come across a significant collectible, this great find was discovered by a shopper at a bargain store in New York. A tag bearing Obama’s name was stitched in the inside coat pocket attesting to its authenticity. Its value has not been determined because no similar suit has been auctioned to date. However, it is estimated to be worth from $5,000 to the low five figures.

Naturally, you will want to complement your new suit with a set of cobalt-blue-and-gold presidential-style cuff links in its own leather presentation box. On the reverse is a bas-relief signature of Barack Obama, just perfect for your inaugural party at $250 a set or a lapel pin for $150.

Obama cuff links

Plates with a smiling Santa Claus obviously won’t fit your theme. Instead, consider setting your table with official inaugural plates. They cost $82 each and have a startling navy-blue-and-gold pattern with the official inaugural seal in gold.

2009 inaugural plate

When it’s time, bring out a wonderfully colorful, etched bottle of Mumm Champagne. Limited to only 200 individually numbered bottles, bearing the red-white-and-blue campaign logo with the inauguration date of Jan. 20, 2009, is an unusual collectible starting at $300. Add the gold-etched set of four Champagne flutes for $60 or a set of etched rocks glasses, too, featuring the presidential seal and the etched signature of the 44th president of the United States. A matched decanter with the gold-embossed presidential seal rounds out a perfect set for $75.

Obama Champagne

Decanter and flute

Caution alert: Lest you get carried away in the headiness of the festivities, be sure to buy a back-up bottle or two of bubbly for toasting purposes, otherwise you’ll drink your collectible’s value.

Decorate your inaugural table with the cross-cut crystal vase adorned with the presidential seal and signature of Barack Obama in gold for $75. I don’t know if President Obama has a favorite flower is, but it will look just as presidential filled with your favorite. Or you might go with some patriotic red, white and blue carnations.

Obama vase

Once the party’s over, store your cuff links and lapel pin in a hardwood replica of the Oval Office desk, similar in design to the original given to President Rutherford B. Hayes by Queen Victoria of England and used by most presidents ever since. The original desk, the one that John-John Kennedy famously played under, is priceless, but your wooden replica box is much more affordable at $125.

Oval Office desk replica

Of course, there are other collectibles to be had. Every inauguration brings out the best in artists and artisans. Issuing an official inaugural medal has been tradition since 1901 when William McKinley took office. This year, Mark Mellon, a Connecticut artist, was asked to create the bas-relief image of Barack Obama for the 2009 official inaugural medal.

“There were times when I was sculpting when I literally had tears in my eyes,” Mellon said, “just knowing the magnitude of the moment. As an artist, to have just a little bit of input in how we celebrate this president is a huge honor—a huge honor and a big responsibility.”

To truly commemorate the occasion, purchase the complete set of gold, silver and bronze medals in its own presentation box for $3,000. Or you can purchase an individual bronze for $70 and a sterling silver version for $400.

Inaugural medals

To see other great and wonderful gifts (and future heirlooms) that honor our 44th president on the day of his inauguration, visit Worthologist Jim Warlick’s Official Souvenirs site.

P.S. And don’t forget to buy food and beverages for the party.

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

Collecting has gone global, thanks to the Internet. As a result, antiques and collectibles divide into two groups: (1) those that have a global market and (2) those with only a national or regional market. Beatles memorabilia and Royal Doulton are two examples of collecting categories that have a global market. Ceramic categories such as Hall, Hull, Roseville, Weller, etc., illustrate categories whose marketplace is limited to their country of origin.

America is the mother lode for antiques and collectibles. After World War I, during the Depression and in the two decades following World War II, American collectors and dealers raided the antiques and collectibles treasures of Africa, Asia, Europe, Central and South America, and other parts of the world.

Foreign items returning home

As the economic power of these countries increases, especially through the creation of a viable upper-middle and lower-upper class, private individuals and others are coming to American to buy back their historical heritage. Large quantities of Asian and European objects sold at auction are going back over the east or west horizon.

After World War II, the world was influenced by American movies, music and television. Licensed product associated with these three categories is collected worldwide. While some foreign licensed rights were issued, foreign collectors want the products sold in America, most of which did not appear abroad. A French Coca-Cola collector has far more American than French objects in his collection.

The trend toward investing in antiques and collectibles is increasing, thanks to the current world economic situation. Investors are moving from intangibles, such as bonds and stocks, to tangibles, such as gold and antiques and collectibles. Whereas Japanese investors played a significant role in the 1990s and early-21st-century market, today’s investors are likely to be from Arabic countries or Russia. These investors want the best of the best. They buy it wherever they find it, at home or abroad.

Online auctions broaden collectibles and antiques markets

Thanks to eBayliveauctions, no longer in business, worldwide collectors, dealers and investors want ready access to the American auction marketplace. Several firms, e.g., Artfact and Proxibid.com, have created platforms to replace eBayliveauctions. The viewing audience for these sites is smaller than for eBayliveauctions. The number will grow. Some sites will fall by the wayside; others merge. What will not change is the appetite of foreign buyers to play an active role in the American auction scene.

Some things sell better in one market than another, the result of personal preference and other considerations. When I visited antiques shops in Germany, I was astonished at the prices asked for pearl-handled fruit-knife sets, double to triple what they bring in the United States. Check out the clock and music box prices in Amsterdam’s antiques row, three to 10 times those for the same pieces in the United States market. Likewise, German collectors have little to no interest in late-19th/early-20th-century inkwells. Buy them in Germany, and sell them in the United States at triple what you paid.

Americans are jingoistic and isolationist when it comes to the antiques and collectibles marketplace. It is time to remove the blinders. The market is global. The next step is to determine the where, when and how.

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Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet. Check out his Web site.

You can listen and participate in “WHATCHA GOT?,” Harry’s antiques-and-collectibles radio call-in show on Sunday mornings between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Eastern Time. If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT?” streams live and is archived on the Internet.

“SELL, KEEP OR TOSS? HOW TO DOWNSIZE A HOME, SETTLE AN ESTATE, AND APPRAISE PERSONAL PROPERTY” (House of Collectibles, an imprint of the Random House Information Group), Harry’s latest book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via Harry’s Web site.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the 20th century. Selected letters will be answered on this site. Harry cannot provide personal answers. Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned. Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5093 Vera Cruz Road, Emmaus, PA 18049. You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered. Please indicate that these are questions for WorthPoint.

Meet Harry Rinker in person at the 8th Annual Northeastern Pennsylvania Home & Garden Show, Jan. 23-25, in Wilkes-Barre. He will also be appearing at the 8th Annual Southeast Pennsylvania Home & Garden Show, March 13-15, in Reading.

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

How about buy-what-you-know as opposed to buy-what-you-like? Knowledge is power in the antiques-and-collectibles field.

Far too many individuals buy without doing adequate homework. “Look before you buy” may be a truism, but it is a key to spending your money wisely when it comes to antiques and collectibles.

Your first homework assignment is to understand what you want to achieve from your purchase. Is your motivation financial investment? Investing in antiques and collectibles is far more risky than investing in the stock market, even in these difficult times. If financial investing is your goal, an antiques show may not be the best venue to acquire material. Show prices tend to reflect an object’s “highest” value.

How will you use what you buy?

Are you planning to collect, display or use your purchase? Each requires a different buying approach. “Gorgeous” suggests to me that you are thinking use or display. In this case, an antiques show is a great place to buy. Antiques shows tend to offer better quality merchandise than do many other sales venues.

Be honest with yourself in respect to how much money you have to spend on antiques and collectibles. There is little sense drooling over a $25,000 object if you can only afford to spend $2,500. Everyone is tempted to stretch their limit, and many do. Do not go into debt to buy antiques and collectibles. Use your discretionary income, and keep within your budget.

Once you have finished these assignments, you are ready to visit antiques shows and do more homework. Note, I wrote shows, not show. You need to develop perspectives—what is available within my price range, what incites my passion, etc. No matter what a dealer tells you, antiques and collectibles are not a one of a kind. You do not have to buy anything now because you will never see another. Almost every item is mass produced, meaning if there is one, there is another. Take the time to get a feel of the full range of what is available in your price range.

Research, research, research

When you do find objects that call to you, research them. WorthPoint is a good place to start. Proceed next to your local library or the library at a local historical site or art museum. Knowledge creates excitement.

When you are ready to buy, you want to be comfortable during the buying experience. Pay attention to the tone of your conversation with the seller. I always am leery when I know more about an object than the person selling it. I am offended by condescending conversations. I never do business with individuals who demand cash and are unwilling to accept my personal check.

Caveat emptor

The same applies to individuals who will not provide me with their address, phone number, e-mail address (although I am a bit forgiving on this point) and a receipt stating what I paid, a full description including condition report and date they believe the object was made. Further, I absolutely refuse to buy from sellers who have not prepriced their objects.

Finally, I buy what calls to me. This is not as silly as it sounds. Once you have developed an intimate knowledge of the market, you learn to rely on the one trustworthy person you know—yourself. You buy only when YOU feel comfortable and are happy with your decision to buy.

****************************************************************************************************

Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet. Check out his Web site.

You can listen and participate in “WHATCHA GOT?,” Harry’s antiques-and-collectibles radio call-in show on Sunday mornings between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Eastern Time. If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT?” streams live and is archived on the Internet.

“SELL, KEEP OR TOSS? HOW TO DOWNSIZE A HOME, SETTLE AN ESTATE, AND APPRAISE PERSONAL PROPERTY” (House of Collectibles, an imprint of the Random House Information Group), Harry’s latest book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via Harry’s Web Site.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the 20th century. Selected letters will be answered on this site. Harry cannot provide personal answers. Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned. Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5093 Vera Cruz Road, Emmaus, PA 18049. You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered. Please indicate that these are questions for WorthPoint.

WorthPoint—Get the Most from Your Antiques & Collectibles

After six months of financial turmoil that saw the U.S. economy slide into the first recession in decades, it’s hard not to be pessimistic. For most of us, antiques aren’t a consumer necessity. They are not things we need to live a normal life, but they are things we want. As any economist worth his salt can tell you, that’s a big distinction.

Consumers spend first on necessities and last on luxuries. As virtually every auction house and antique dealer can attest, 2008 was not an especially great year. Collectors, dealers and institutional buyers weren’t spending as freely as they were in 2007.

So what does 2009 hold in store? I would say that I am “cautiously optimistic.” Collectors will still want to buy, and some will want to put their discretionary funds into a tangible asset that they can see, feel, and touch- like those Chippendales and weathervanes I mentioned that will likely increase in value despite the economic situation. Great antiques will still bring great prices, and whether you’re a collector or dealer, there will be plenty to buy.

Baby-boomers will continue to downsize to smaller residences, shedding collections accumulated over a lifetime. Other collections will come on the market through the normal course of death and estate dispersal, while some will appear as a result of financial necessity. Make no mistake; there will be a flood of great antiques to buy.

As these antiques come to the market in 2009, we’ll undoubtedly see a continued softening of prices for objects in the “middle market.” This has been a trend that began several years ago, and will almost certainly accelerate in the New Year. The “middle market” includes items such as cut glass, Haviland or Limoges china, and most antiques that were produced in factories. If you collect any of these things, this will be good news as you will be able to buy and collect on the cheap!

Regardless of whatever the overall effect the economy has on the antiques business there are segments that will be affected less than this “middle market”. The market at the top for the rarest items will remain as strong as ever. Even in a recession, the competition for quality and rarity won’t diminish, and record prices will be paid in the coming year for great antiques!

About the Author:

Wes Cowan is founder and owner of Cowan’s Auctions, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. An internationally recognized expert in historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series History Detectives and is a featured appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. He can be reached via email at info@cowans.com. Article research by Diane Wachs.

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There were no more than eight of the moss-green colored glass bottles, which stand just a tad over nine inches high and are valued as high as $10,000, known to exist when a business dealing with a New Englander on another bottle led to the rare tonic bottle emerging from an attic.

Sachems Bottle

“That’s the thing about the bottle market, there are still new discoveries and surprises,” Lindsey said. “Not quite as many as there used to be, but just enough to keep things interesting.”

The tradition of bottle collecting started out West, digging at old mining and logging camps, ghost town and whistle stops. That’s how Lindsey, who lives in Klamath Falls, Ore., started digging for bottles at Pacific Northwest mining and logging sites as a boy. “These were family outings,” Lindsey said.

Starting in the 1950s, the growing popularity of bottle collecting was driven by such “diggers,” and while digging started in the mining camps out west, it soon spread east. “Urban renewal opened a lot of land in big cities like New York and Philadelphia, and people started to hunt,” Lindsey said. “Wherever people lived, you find bottles, and for a long time, bottles were valuable, they were reused, so recycling goes back a long way. It was only after the Civil War that bottles became a common throwaway item.”

The collectible bottle market has focused on the period of blown-glass bottles—stretching in the U.S. from the late 1700s to the early 20th century, Lindsey said. In the 1920s, machine-produced glass containers supplanted hand-blown glass. Although now even some machine-made items like vintage milk and applied color label (aka ACL) soda bottles are seeing a market, Lindsey said.

And what makes a bottle a valuable collectible?

First, it generally can’t be machine made. It has to be hand-blown glass. “If one compares similar bottles made by both methods, one will easily be able to see the difference—the hand-blown example will have more ‘character’ to the glass,” Lindsey advised.

Cottle Bottle

Second, the brighter or odder the color, the greater the chances it is more valuable. “Color is king,” Lindsey said. There are, for instance, the soda bottles of Cottle, Post & Co., a Portland, Ore., beverage maker during the late 1870s. Most of the Cottle soda bottles were made in a blue-green glass that now fetches around $350 a bottle. There were, however, a few bottles blown in amber glass, and those go for about $2,000, Lindsey said.

Third, the odder the shape, the more valuable the bottle will be, both for its oddity and the fact that fewer of these will manage to survive making them rarer. Consider the elegant cathedral or “Gothic” pickle bottles of the mid-19th century. These long and graceful bottles broke easily, and so they are rare and can fetch upward of $40,000 for the extremely rare, deep amber glass examples produced in New England.

Pickle Bottle

Fourth, the bottle’s embossing can add to its value. Embossing took the place of labels early on, Lindsey explained. While many of the bottles sported just the name of the product and the manufacturer, others have embossing and motifs that were artistic, historical or commercial. There are, for example, the “Corn for the World” flasks with a large, heavily embossed ear of corn and the motto “Corn for the World.” These flasks run a few hundred dollars in aqua color, with the much rarer and aesthetic shades of deep green, various blues and blue-greens, and amber examples (someone once said, “Color is king”) being worth up to $4,000 or more.

Corn Front Bottle

A lot of historical details and information can be found on Lindsey’s website and at the Historic Glass and Bottle Identification & Information website, sponsored by the Society for Historic Archaeology and the federal Bureau of Land Management of which Lindsey is creator and author.

Bottle collecting got a big boost in the 1980s when several big auction houses held regular auctions featuring bottles, Lindsey said, and then got another market jolt with the advent of the Internet.

“Everything started to escalate, and in that flush of excitement, everything went,” Lindsey said. The glass bubble has, however, burst, and a little wiser and savvier approach is called for. “Most of the good stuff has been found,” Lindsey said, and then added, “But you know out in Virginia City, Nev., which has been the mecca for Western bottle diggers since the 1950s, they still turn up a good piece now and then.”

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Bottle shows strongly emphasize old or historic bottles, though always have an assortment of other collectibles ranging from glass insulators, to coins and trade tokens, bottle related items (e.g., shot glasses, advertising signs, trade cards).

I attended the Saturday main session (free admission) of the show which was nominally the second day of the show. Bottle shows these days typically have a dealer “set-up” day on Friday where they unpack their goods. The show sponsors (usually a local/regional bottle club) charge an “early lookers” admission of $5 to $10 for non-dealers on that day. Often the set-up day is a frenzy of buying, selling and trading action as each dealer sets out his wares for all to see. Virtually all bottle dealers are also collectors, buying and selling amongst each other, as well as those willing to pay the early fee that first day. The second day-typically Saturday- is the main show day, which is a bit more relaxed, allowing for a more calm approach to ones bottle collecting activities.

A view of the smaller of the two buildings at the 49er Bottle & Antique Show.

Buyers perusing some of the fantastic bottles being offered by American Bottle Auctions.

This year’s show had, by my estimate, 150 to 175 tables set up as usual in two separate buildings (I’ve attended at least seven or eight previous shows here over the past 25 years). Bottle shows strongly emphasize old or historic bottles, though always have an assortment of other collectibles ranging from glass insulators, to coins and trade tokens, bottle related items (e.g., shot glasses, advertising signs, trade cards) to… well, just about anything old. Even for non-bottle collectors, there is usually something of interest to most other collectors. My wife is not a bottle collector but always finds some jewelry of interest.

Some of the rare and colorful Western bottles – produced from the 1850s to 1890s – that are being offered at the ABA’s next auction in January, 2009.

An assortment of equally colorful barrel bitters (back row against light) being offered at fixed prices, ranging into the many thousands of dollars.

Another fixture at Western bottle shows for several decades has been Pete Hendricks “Pacific Coast Bottle Exchange” table that features bottles of all types and origins.

As a (the?) premier Western show, it isn’t surprising that this show has a high percentage of Western American bottles. One of premier dealers in such bottles is American Bottle Auctions (ABA) of nearby Sacramento, Calif., which had several tables set up at Auburn, showing some of the rare and colorful Western bottles-produced from the 1850s to 1890s, and an assortment of equally colorful barrel bitters (back row against the light) being offered at fixed prices, ranging into the many thousands of dollars. Another fixture at Western bottle shows for several decades has been Pete Hendricks’ “Pacific Coast Bottle Exchange” table that features bottles of all types and origins.

Herb Yue displays a collection of differently colored “ladies leg” bitters bottles.

Bottle shows also usually feature collectors’ displays of bottles. Auburn had only two displays this year-the only disappointment for me, as I love to see other collections creatively displayed. Fortunately, both displays were impressive. Image #7 shows Herb Yue’s collection of differently colored “ladies leg” bitters bottles. These uniquely shaped bottles have a distinctively bulging neck that has been creatively dubbed a “ladies leg” style by collectors although early glass makers referred to them as “Boker Bitters” bottles after the most popular brand of the 19^th century. Bitters were a (typically) high alcohol medicinal product very popular during the 19^th century when many thousands of different brands produced throughout the U. S. The other display was of Mike McKillop’s small size-”splits”-Western beer bottles. Splits were a very small beer bottle holding around eight ounces. As usual, I was educated by the displays, as I didn’t even know there were that many beer splits produced in the West.

Mike McKillop’s small size – “splits” – Western beer bottles.

Was the Auburn show the best in the West? Probably, though I don’t attend every show held in the West. I did, however, attend the Las Vegas bottle show this past February, and if the standard for “best” is the number of sales tables, then I believe that Auburn easily takes the nod… for this year. I will most likely be attending the Las Vegas show again this coming February (Feb. 13 & 14, 2009, at the Palace Station Hotel & Casino). If I attend, a report on that show will be featured on WorthPoint in February.

Has this article made you want to check out a bottle show in your region? For a constantly updated listing of bottle shows being held throughout the U. S. check one-or both-of the following websites:

Antique Bottle & Glass Collector Magazine show site:

http://www.glswrk-auction.com/ShowCale.html

The Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors show site:

http://www.fohbc.com/FOHBC_ShowCalendar2.html