Antiques: Trolleys conveyed drinks at the dinner table

Published 12:01 am Thursday, June 9, 2011

A trolley, according to an American dictionary, is a cart or wagon of several types that moves on a track or wire. But in England and other parts of Europe, the definition can include a wine trolley, a cart that was used to serve wine.

Today, we have table-height wine trolleys made for resta

urants that are pushed by a waiter serving wine. In earlier centuries, it was the custom to roll back the tablecloth at the end of a dinner. Then the after-dinner port was coasted or slid from person to person on a wooden or silver piece that we now call a coaster.

The most common form was m

ade with a smooth wooden bottom and a low silver “fence” that held the bottle upright. But soon a more elaborate idea evolved and a wine trolley was invented. A coaster was put into a wheeled cart and rolled down the table.

Antique sterling-silver trolleys sold at auctions this year for $500

to $3,000.

Q: I inherited a huge 1960s desk about 20 years ago. It has two parts: a long honey-colored wooden desk with a Formica top and two side drawers, and a long credenza that fits perpendicularly under the top of the desk. The credenza has a wooden frame and two fabric-covered sliding doors. Both pieces have straight tapered legs. A label on the back of the credenza says, “Planner Group, designed by Paul McCobb, Winchendon Furniture Co., Winchendon, Mass.” Did McCobb design office furniture? When were the pieces made? And what are they worth?

A: Paul McCobb (1917-1969) designed furniture for all sorts of settings, including offices. But his early designs, including his first Planner Group pieces, were designed for homes. Winchendon manufactured the popular line from 1949 to 1964. Early desks had flared, not straight, legs.

Formica desktops became an option in 1956, and larger desks and credenzas with straight legs probably were introduced after that. Prices of Planner Group furniture are pretty solid, although collectors favor the earlier designs. An early desk and chair sells for about $400, and an early credenza for about $600.

Q: Are old cereal boxes collectible? The kind with sports stars on the front, or special offers featuring famous people or cartoon characters?

A: Some old cereal boxes are especially collectible, the older the better. And best are those that feature sports stars, because sports collectors are willing to pay a lot of money for the boxes. A 1935 Post Grape-Nuts box featuring pitcher Dizzy Dean is worth more than $1,000 and a 1968 Ralston-Purina All-Pro box picturing Roger Maris is even more valuable.

Some early Wheaties boxes were printed with baseball cards on the box. Those are wanted by sports collectors, too. Other older and even more recent cereal boxes that feature cartoon characters, athletes, sports teams, toys or games sell for a quarter into the hundreds of dollars.

Most experts advise collectors to open boxes from the bottom to empty the cereal. Otherwise insects can infest the contents and then eat holes in the boxes.

Q: My family has owned a very elaborate Chinese-style teapot for more than 100 years. It’s shaped like a dragon with a tail sweeping around the pot to form the handle and spout. It wasn’t made in China, though, because it’s marked “Fischer, Budapest.” What can you tell me?

A: Your teapot was made at the Fischer Porcelain Factory in Budapest, Hungary. Fischer was founded by Ignac Fischer in 1864 and was taken over by his son, Emil, in 1895. Sometime in the early 1900s it was taken over by Zsolnay Pottery, another Hungarian firm.

It is likely your teapot, which could be worth more than $1,000, dates from the 1880s. That’s when the Fischer factory is known to have made many pieces in the Chinese style.

Q: I own an official-looking deed issued by the Klondike Big Inch Land Co. Inc. I think it was originally issued via some kind of cereal promotion about 50 years ago. Please fill me in.

A: Your deed was issued in 1955 as part of a brilliant ad campaign dreamed up by Quaker Oats. At the time, it was sponsoring the popular radio and TV show, “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.” A deed to 1 square inch of Yukon land was packed inside every box of Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat.

A total of 21 million deeds were printed, but they were all a sham. The Klondike Big Inch Land Co., apparently a Quaker Oats subsidiary, was indeed registered as a corporation in Illinois, where Quaker Oats is still headquartered. But the individual deeds were never registered and the 19-acre plot of land involved, originally purchased by Klondike for $1,000, was repossessed by the Canadian government in 1965 for nonpayment of $37 in property taxes.

But the deeds have become collectible. We have seen them selling online for $2 to $30 apiece.

© 2011, Cowles Syndicate Inc.

On the block

Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.

Brass chauffeur license, New York City, 1925, 1 x 1 1/2 inches, $13.

Bazooka Bubble Gum lunchbox, red, white and blue, Topps, 1970s, 8 x 6 inches, $40.

Griswold iron skillet, No. 6, marked “Erie 699,” heat ring on bottom, two pour spouts, 1907-12, 9 1/4 inches, $50.

Ricky Nelson paper doll book, two punch-out dolls, six sheets of outfits, Whitman, 1959, 10 1/2 x 12 inches, $170.

Wedgwood playing-card tray set, black basalt, clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds, classical scenes, acorn and oak leaf border, 4 3/4 inches, $175.

Hopalong Cassidy doll, rubber body, painted features, stuffed fabric head, cotton jacket, corduroy pants, vinyl belt & holster, Ideal, c. 1950, 25 inches, $345.

Royal Crown Cola 1941 calendar, young woman in skimpy dress holding a bottle of RC Cola in one hand and a filled glass in the other, December sheet only, 11 x 23 inches, $375.

Parasol, black Chantilly lace over pink cotton, scalloped edges, ivory handle, 19th century, 24 1/2 inches, $500.

Newcomb College art pottery bowl, blue ground with a wreath of daisies at the top, c. 1914, dia. 7 1/2 inches, $1,720.

Hans Wegner valet chair, teak, tripod base, brass fittings, back is jacket hanger, seat raises to serve as pants hanger, 1953 design, 37 x 19 inches, $5,925.