James M. bought this Rosenthal figurine in a box lot of odds and ends at a country auction for $12. Wanting to know what exactly it is and that the marking meant, he contacted WorthPoint’s Ask a Worthologist service.

James M. spotted this Rosenthal figurine in a box lot of odds and ends at a country auction last year and bought the box for the huge sum of $12. Most of the other stuff in the box—table-top bric-a-brac—appeared to date from the 1930s, but it was the figurine that caught his eye as potentially Art Deco and possibly worth a good deal more than the $12 he paid for the lot. James, who has no plans on selling the piece and just wants to know the history of it and the artist who designed it, contacted WorthPoint’s “Ask a Worthologist” service to inquire about this piece, its origins and value. His inquiry was forwarded to me. Here’s his question:

“I found this Rosenthal figurine of two girls dancing in a box lot of 1930s coasters, bottle openers and ash trays at a farm auction last year. The sale featured mainly farm equipment, so there were not a lot of collectors or antique dealers there, and I picked up the lot for $12. It’s marked “Rosenthal” on the bottom and is stamped “H.Meisel” and “956.” It has a real Art Deco look to it, which is what caught my eye. I really don’t want to sell it, but everyone who looks at it is impressed with it and asks me what I know about it. So now I’m quite curious. What I’d like to know is a history of this piece and what the mark H. Meisel is, which I assume to be the artist who designed it.”

Here’s my response.

I simply must get out to more farm auctions in the future. This piece is indeed a great Art Deco-style example, the marking “H.Meisel” is the mark of the original artist who designed this piece, Hugo Meisel (1887-1966).

Meisel is reported to have worked for Rosenthal in1936 and1937, pretty much the peak of the Art Deco period, but he also designed pieces for several other firms, such as Schwarzburger, Aelteste Volkstedter, and Heubach as well. The Rosenthal mark on your piece dates to 1937.

The Rosenthal mark.

As a sculptor, Meisel portrayed his figures like a photograph, freezing motion or a thoughtful moment, such as can be seen in this “Two Girls Dancing” figural group. Meisel not only produced a wide range of human studies, he also is well known for his sculptures of birds, horses and dogs. In the past year, this same figurine has been listing with presale auction estimates in the $1,000-$1,500 range and selling within that range. Not a bad return for your $12, and you also have all those Art Deco bottle openers, coasters and ashtrays to go with it.

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

———————————

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

https://www.worthpoint.com/askWorthologist/index

The ubiquitous “smoker” was one of the most common novelties of the Depression era. This one was made by Cushman.

Have you ever picked up a book about American 20th-century furniture and marveled at the number of seemingly “non-furniture” items included in the pages? If you look around homes and estates originally furnished in the 1920s and 1930s, you might see many of the same items stashed away in nooks and crannies. The same holds true for old movies. The next time you see “Bringing Up Baby,” “It Happened One Night” or “The Maltese Falcon,” look at the sets. While it may feature the stylish, streamlined Art Deco of the period, it is also more than likely it is filled with small, non-essential items like wall racks and magazine stands, smoking stands and sewing tables. Where did all of that stuff come from?

It was the result of one of the most trying periods of American history—from the American Great Depression of the late 1920s until just after the Second World War. The great stock market crash of October 1929 was just the beginning, as the country was plunged into a deep depression that brought poverty to many middle class working families and threatened the existence of much of American industry, including the furniture manufacturing and retailing industries.

It became harder and harder, then virtually impossible, to sell a new dining room suite or a new living room ensemble to a newly impoverished family that could barely pay the rent and buy food. But there is always that small ember of burning desire to make small additions and improvements to the nest, so the furniture industry came up with a new product line—“novelty” furniture. Companies that could no longer sell the entire houseful of furniture found that they could help the housewife spruce up the dining room, not with a new suite but with a new novelty called the “tea cart” or “tea trolley.” True, the form had been around since the early 1920s, but it became popular after the crash. Not that American households served traditional hot tea in the English manner, but the name gave the wheeled buggy a nice little touch of much-needed class.

And if a little class was good, many choices in the class were better. Major players like Stickley Brothers of Grand Rapids entered the novelty market, offering as many as 18 different finishes and decorative schemes for it line of “hostess wagons.” And they came with tray tops, extra shelves, folding handles and a variety of wheel arrangements that were marketed under a number of names.

The major center of the novelty industry was found in Chicago, with its wide variety of manufacturers. One of the more innovative of the novelty makers was the United Table-Bed Company. It made the famous “Ta-Bed,” a bed that folded up to look like a small breakfast room table. It was marketed as a multiple-use product that “saves space, saves rent, perfectly combines in one piece of furniture the functions ordinarily performed by two.” The Storkline Corporation turned out a line of inexpensive baby cribs and juvenile furniture, while even the powerhouses of Chicago joined in the niche market. Tonk Manufacturing, finding the need for piano stools waning, turned to high chairs and music cabinets. Parlor frame maker Zangerle & Peterson turned to small tables and commodes, while Kruissink & Brothers turned from oak bookcases to wall shelves.

This hanging wall shelf was made by Butler Specialty Company of Chicago in the 1930s. The same shelf can be seen in a display of Butler products on page 308 of “Chicago Furniture - Art, Craft & Industry 1833-1983” by Sharon Darling.

The great survivor of the novelty makers was Butler Specialty Company, which formed in 1927. Butler specialized in magazine racks and wall shelves to survive the Depression, turning later to full-size, high-end furniture. Butler is still in business today, offering a medium to high quality line of furniture.

Another product of the novelty phase was perhaps the best-known sewing stand of the 20th century. No, not the Martha Washington. It was the “priscilla,” the small stand with the peaked top that opened on both sides below the handle. This little stand first appeared early in the century and gained prominence during the dark days.

But the prize of all the novelties was the smoking stand. This multi-purpose stand came into use just after the First World War and was popular until after WWII, even though it slipped a little in the 1930s. The stand focused initially on the pipe smoker, providing an enclosed humidor space, complete with moisture pad, in the interior. Many of the “humidors” appeared to be made of copper or brass but were in reality just sheet metal that had been painted or coated. Brass and copper were much too expensive for smoking stands. The smoker or smoking stand became the object of decorative fancy, utilizing the most outrageous woods possible. Zebra-striped “zebrano” veneer was a common material, as was Oriental walnut, the striped Australian wood. Applied decals and exotic paint schemes decorated many of the affordable stands.

One well known novelty maker outside of Chicago was the H. T. Cushman Company of Bennington, Vt. Founded in 1864 as a bottle cork manufacturer, Cushman diversified into “novelties” that led to such items as the pencil with an eraser on it, the first ink eraser and some of the earliest roller skates. Cushman introduced its first smoking stand in 1913 and it was the cause for factory additions in 1919, 1922 and 1926. In the early 1930s, Cushman expanded the line to include articles that fell in with the Colonial Revival movement of the day and became a major manufacturer of “Colonial” furniture. Over the years it updated its lines and eventually was acquired by General Interiors Corporation. The factory facility was used by Green Mountain Furniture to construct inventory for Ethan Allen from 1972 to 1978.

This little drop leaf side table is an excellent example of novelties made by Ferguson Brothers of New Jersey.

The Ferguson label is usually prominently displayed.

But the overall “King of the Novelties” title belongs to Ferguson Brothers Manufacturing of Hoboken, N.J. The Ferguson Brothers Manufacturing Company made furniture at its Hoboken factory from 1898-1953 and was family owned until selling to Sun-Glo Industries in 1953. At that time, the company was moved to Virginia. Back in 1934, Ferguson’s entry in the New Jersey list of corporations read “FERGUSON BROS. MFG. CO., furniture novelties, folding screens, folding tables, cedar chests, smoker stands, cellarettes, humidors. 720 Monroe St., Hoboken. Pres Harry Ferguson.”

Small items from Ferguson continue to show up almost daily at local auctions and antique malls.

Many modern furniture manufacturers today owe their existence to the survival mode adopted during the Depression and a large part of that mode was the design, construction and sale of “novelty” furniture to the American public.

Fred Taylor is a antique furniture Worthologist who specializes in American furniture from the Late Classicism period (1830-1850).

——————————–

Send your comments, questions and pictures to me at PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423 or info [at] furnituredetective [dot] com.

1840 Japanese vase

Christopher Kent walked into the “Gray Goose,” a Charleston, S.C., junk shop piled with debris and dust. “There were flea-bitten, 1950s armchairs that should have been given a good burial,” Kent said. “It was the sort of place that makes you want to disinfect yourself when you leave, frankly, just my sort of place.”

But two small panels—no more than 3 inches by 10 inches—hanging on a back wall drew his attention. Kent took them to the rotund proprietor, who said, “Don’t you just love Japanese art?”

After a quick negotiation that brought the price for the pair down to $15 from $25, Kent walked out with two 17th-century Russian triptych panels worth about $1,000.

From the junk shop to international auction houses and major museums, Worthologist Christopher Kent has used that keen eye to spot value in everything from Japanese porcelain to Italian decorative arts and everything in between.

“I am a generalist,” Kent explained. “A generalist has the ability to walk into a room filled with items and be able to say something about every piece. There are really only a handful of people who can do that.”

Walking encyclopedia

How does one become a walking encyclopedia of antiques and fine arts?

For Kent, it started with his grandparents who were both ardent collectors—his paternal grandmother was a textile expert and his grandfather, her husband, a collector of American furniture. “These were serious collectors who would go without dinner or lunch to acquire a piece.” Kent said he inherited both their interest and their collecting “genetic flaw.”

At the age of 6, he started his own collection with an 18th-century Japanese porcelain bowl given to him by a family friend who was in her own right an avid collector. At 11, he made his professional appraisal debut with a collection of 18th-century English porcelain for America’s oldest auction house, Freeman’s in Philadelphia.

And so starting with American furniture, textiles and porcelain, Kent added layer upon layer of period and style to his repertoire. In college, where he studied art history and architectural history, Kent also acquired knowledge of 17th-century Italian furniture and decorative arts.

17th-century Italian armoire

(For more information on the pictured items, click on the images.)

Coming out of college, Kent’s plan had been to do museum curatorial work, only to run into some real-world truths. “I loved the collections, but I hated museum politics,” he said.

Kent continued gathering expertise—from museum collections, auctions and research and by asking questions of dealers and collectors. “You begin to make associations,” Kent explained, “about why this piece is similar to that, and about changes in taste, and what influences dictate trends.”

Museums have sought Kent’s eye and knowledge to help evaluate a broad array of pieces.
Among the institutions he has advised are the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art—both in New York City—the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C.

17th-century Italian chairs

In the 40 years he has been collecting, much has changed, Kent said, including the definition of an antique. “It used to be anything after 1860 wasn’t an antique, it was Victorian, and that was usually said with distain,” Kent said. “Then it was moved up to 1880 and then completely abolished.”

Art Nouveau, Art Deco and other well-designed and well-crafted styles became targets for serious collectors, and more and more collectors entered the market. “There is a lot of newly minted money, hedge-fund money,” Kent said.

Art Nouveau brooch

1920 Art Deco clown

Americana has gotten carried along on these waves, Kent said.

By the 1990s, a wrought-iron weather vane was selling in the millions, where a few years earlier the price tag would have been several thousand dollars.

1954 Hopalong Cassidy lunch box and thermos

In December 1992, Christie’s set a record for a lunch box with the sale of the Dudley Do-Right box and thermos for $2,200. It had cost $2.25 when it was new in 1962. But the kicker that changed the world, as far as establishing the world of collectibles, was the Matt Wyse sale in 1996 where the Superman lunch box circa 1954 sold for an unprecedented $11,500.

“That just changed the way people viewed the market,” Kent said. Once a major house auctioned something as modest as a school lunch box for big dollars, Kent explained, anything might be a valued collectible. “It was,” he said, “a transforming moment.”

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Join WorthPoint on Twitter and Facebook.

In order to help the less artistic of us understand when we are looking at a certain piece of furniture that it should be considered “art,” some furniture styles have the term incorporated into the name just to make sure. In the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s there was that style called “Art Moderne.” That was the style that came from the 1925 Paris convention known as the International Exposition of Decorative Arts. It evolved into the “streamline” look of America in the 1930s, with waterfall bedroom sets and round nose trains. The name of the style was updated in the 1960s to “Art Deco,” still retaining the “art” part just so we remember.

Just before that was the Art Nouveau movement, the “new” art that came at the turn of the century that incorporated elongated organic forms into the structure of the furniture. It was primarily a European phase in furniture but it did have some influence in this country in other decorative arts.

But there was an “art’ movement even before that one. The 19th-century version of the “art” movement can sometimes be very confusing to the average shopper for older and antique furniture. It sort of looks like something else but not really. And sometimes the color is awful. The movement actually started around the middle of the 19th-century with some of the same people involved in the advent of the Arts and Crafts movement, Charles Eastlake among them. The new movement gained a significant foothold on the American furniture market after the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. The American public was smitten with the Japanese exhibit in Philadelphia, and furniture styling immediately picked up an Oriental flavor. At the same time, people were beginning to tire of the overwhelming size, complexity and severity of Rococo and Renaissance Revival furniture. They were tired of high Victorian styling. Eastlake’s simplistic approach to furniture design suddenly was very popular even though he didn’t design much of the furniture himself.

The desk on the left illustrates the Oriental approach. It is ebonized with gold incising. The desk on the right, in a wood finish, is the Moorish approach to the style with geometric fretwork. Both desks are based on Eastlake’s design principles.

His concepts were linear and the guiding principle was that of visible craftsmanship. It didn’t take long for the basic Eastlake style to be adapted to the new movement. By adding a few Oriental touches to this simple idea, the form of “Art Furniture” was born, characterized by shallow carvings, devoid of veneer and excessive ornamentation. The entire movement, in architecture and decorative arts as well as furniture, became known as the “Aesthetic Movement,” implying that the existence of art was for art’s sake; a direct conflict with the Victorian concept that art must serve a moral purpose by reinforcing moral values. Even the name, “Aesthetic,” means artistic or beautiful.

One of the favorite finishes of Aesthetic movement craftsmen was the ebonized look. Cherry was a favorite base material because it did not telegraph the grain or nature of the wood through the solid black overcoat yet it somehow retained the warmth found in natural wood. The wood was stained, not painted, a jet black and then highly polished. The black background further enhanced the contrast with the gold incising or the lighter woods used in marquetry panels and floral inlays. But not all Aesthetic furniture is ebonized. Walnut and rosewood were popular mediums, and bird’s eye maple was a favorite accent wood. And not all decoration was Oriental. It ranged from classical molding to medieval spindles, inspired by Oriental, Moorish, Gothic and Egyptian influences. The furniture was complex and often very expensive in both material and labor to construct.

This desk is somewhat plainer than the others but it is still in the style It may have been ebonized originally and refinished somewhere along the line.

This period of American furniture is perhaps one of the less-distinctly defined periods in both style and time. Styles were often eclectic and forms ranged as far back as updated versions of the 17th-century court cupboard to interpretations of the modern, for the time, Davenport desk. The Aesthetic Movement in American furniture generally is regarded as being from the mid 1870s to just after the turn of the century. This minor aberration in furniture style served as the bridge between high Victorian morality and the radical lurch about to come in the form of Arts & Crafts, a true revolution.

So now you may have an idea about that mystery piece you have seen in a shop or at an auction. It looks sort of like late Eastlake but it is a little too fancy or elegant. It also seems to be a little foreign, Oriental or Near Eastern but it obviously is a domestic piece. It could very well be an Aesthetic Movement piece from the late 19th century. And whatever you do – don’t try to strip that awful black paint. It’s part of the “aesthetics” of the piece.

Fred Taylor is a Worthologist who specializes in American furniture from the Late Classicism period (1830-1850).

Visit Fred’s website at www.furnituredetective.com. His book “How To Be A Furniture Detective” is now available for $18.95 plus $3.00 shipping. Send check or money order for $21.95 to Fred Taylor, PO Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423.

Fred and Gail Taylor’s DVD, “Identification of Older & Antique Furniture,” ($17 + $3 S&H) and a bound compilation of the first 60 columns of “Common Sense Antiques,” by Fred Taylor ($25 + $3 S&H) are also available at the same address.

For more information call 800-387-6377, fax 352-563-2916, or e-mail info [at] furnituredetective [dot] com.

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Join WorthPoint on Twitter and Facebook.

WorthPoint is pleased to partner with our sister company, GoAntiques, to inform and educate people about the diverse world of antiques and collectibles. Jim Kamnikar, formerly the CEO and President of GoAntiques and now the President of WorthPoint and GoAntiques, talked with Ray Kisber at the Miami National Antiques Show. Kisber is an expert in the area of modernism – its evolution from art nouveau to art deco to post modernism styles and he explains what to look for in pieces from this era.

WorthPoint – Get the Most from your Antiques and Collectibles