Terry and Kim Kovel

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This midcentury Windsor style chair features the crest and colors of Harvard University. It sold for $438, more than twice its estimate, at a Bonhams Skinner auction.

This chair brings together two icons of colonial America

This Harvard University Windsor chair is just one of many variations on so-called stick furniture.

 

Antique mocha ware, made in England to export to the United States and Canada in the 18th and 19th centuries, caught collectors’ attention in the mid-20th century. Like many mocha pieces, this colorful mug is decorated with several patterns.

The name for decorated pottery like this can be deceiving

Mocha pottery is made from clay and features colorful patterns painted over a white glaze.

 

This cast-iron wood stove kept a 19th-century room warm. Its embossed designs, especially the rows of pointed arches on its sides, were meant to evoke medieval architecture.

Designs on this cast-iron wood stove exemplify Gothic Revival style

This Victorian-era stove features a row of pointed arches, a distinctive feature of Gothic architecture.

 

When advertisements include pictures of people, their clothing and hairstyles can help date the item. This store display for Bicycle Playing Cards is from about 1930.

Dating this display ad for playing cards comes down to garb

The Bicycle Playing Cards brand has been around since 1885, but this display is not quite so old.

When advertisements include pictures of people, their clothing and hairstyles can help date the item. This store display for Bicycle Playing Cards is from about 1930.
This steel pod chair garnered extra interest from collectors due to its upholstery — a graffiti version of the Declaration of Independence designed by Stephen Sprouse for Knoll.

Pod chair’s colorful upholstery pairs perfectly with unusual shape

Made of pressed steel and upholstered in fabric by Stephen Sprouse, this chair sold at auction for $4,375.

This steel pod chair garnered extra interest from collectors due to its upholstery — a graffiti version of the Declaration of Independence designed by Stephen Sprouse for Knoll.
This brass inlaid inkstand was made in Victorian London. A label on its base provides insight into its history.

An original paper label adds value to this Victorian inkstand

Information about this specific item’s provenance is not immediately obvious

This brass inlaid inkstand was made in Victorian London. A label on its base provides insight into its history.
Is it a music box, a toy, a showpiece or a robot? Wind it with a key, and a feathery bird pops out to chirp and flutter in a lifelike way.

Mechanical creatures have long captured our imaginations

This singing bird, which appears from inside a music box, sold for $4,560 at auction.

Is it a music box, a toy, a showpiece or a robot? Wind it with a key, and a feathery bird pops out to chirp and flutter in a lifelike way.
This seed chest was made about 1870 out of inexpensive wood for a practical purpose. Now it can command a higher price than some designer pieces.

Little is known about artisan except that his work is coveted

Famous names add to the value of an antique, even if we know more about the maker’s work than about the maker. Few names of… Continue reading

This seed chest was made about 1870 out of inexpensive wood for a practical purpose. Now it can command a higher price than some designer pieces.
We don’t know whose eye is depicted in this miniature, but it must have been someone well loved. Wearing a miniature painting of a loved one’s eye was fashionable in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Soapy TV show inspires interest in 19th century accessory

An eye miniature on a pendant, as seen on “Bridgerton,” sells for $704 at auction.

We don’t know whose eye is depicted in this miniature, but it must have been someone well loved. Wearing a miniature painting of a loved one’s eye was fashionable in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The art deco period began about 100 years ago and has not lost its appeal. This geometric cabinet with wood veneers is an example of the style.

Once epitome of modern, art deco is approaching antiquity

The legal definition of an antique is that it is at least 100 years old. This means the art deco era is officially reaching antique… Continue reading

The art deco period began about 100 years ago and has not lost its appeal. This geometric cabinet with wood veneers is an example of the style.
Photo Caption: This musical cigarette dispenser dates to the 1950s. Smoking was fashionable at the time; the link between smoking and lung cancer had not yet been proven.

Smoking’s out of fashion, but cigarette paraphernalia is prized

This music box/cigarette dispenser sold for $252 at a recent antiques auction.

Photo Caption: This musical cigarette dispenser dates to the 1950s. Smoking was fashionable at the time; the link between smoking and lung cancer had not yet been proven.
Photo Caption: Taxidermy birds were fashionable in the nineteenth century. Opposition to the trend led to conservation movements that still exist today. (c) 2023 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.

19th century style fad spurred activism that endures today

Victorians’ many weird tastes included stuffing and mounting birds to decorate their homes’ interiors.

Photo Caption: Taxidermy birds were fashionable in the nineteenth century. Opposition to the trend led to conservation movements that still exist today. (c) 2023 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
Viktor Schreckengost worked for Cowan briefly and created some of their most memorable designs. This earthenware plate shows the art deco style of the early 1930s.

Pieces of art can serve a useful purpose, too

An example is this art deco Viktor Schreckengost earthenware plate from 1930.

Viktor Schreckengost worked for Cowan briefly and created some of their most memorable designs. This earthenware plate shows the art deco style of the early 1930s.
Leave it to Santa Claus to fill a bundle of firewood with candy! This papier-mache figure of Santa on a sled is a candy container.

This papier-mache Santa’s got a load of candy in his sleigh

And maybe there was 6 grand in there, too, because that’s what somebody paid for this tchotchke.

Leave it to Santa Claus to fill a bundle of firewood with candy! This papier-mache figure of Santa on a sled is a candy container.
Photo Caption: There's finding a toy in your food packaging, and then there's making a toy from the packaging. Towle's Log Cabin brand provided a rolling platform to turn their iconic syrup tin into a pull toy.

Advertising was targeted at kids back in Grandpa’s day, too

This Log Cabin Express toy transformed into a toy after its days as a pancake syrup dispenser were finished.

Photo Caption: There's finding a toy in your food packaging, and then there's making a toy from the packaging. Towle's Log Cabin brand provided a rolling platform to turn their iconic syrup tin into a pull toy.
This advertising lamp includes figures of a team of horses pulling a beer cart with drivers, followed by a crowd of Dalmatians. Similar scenes may take place in real life on Budweiser’s promotional tours. The lamp with a moving wagon sold for $625.

Prohibition’s repeal spawned the Budweiser Clydesdale horses

The first team of draft horses delivered the first load of beer after the repeal, and an effective marketing icon was born.

This advertising lamp includes figures of a team of horses pulling a beer cart with drivers, followed by a crowd of Dalmatians. Similar scenes may take place in real life on Budweiser’s promotional tours. The lamp with a moving wagon sold for $625.
Stylized shapes, light wood, bold blocks of color and unusual construction are characteristics of modern furniture. This flame rocking chair shows all four.

Modern furniture took flight just after WWII ended

This rocking chair was auctioned to raise money for a group that preserves modern residential architecture.

Stylized shapes, light wood, bold blocks of color and unusual construction are characteristics of modern furniture. This flame rocking chair shows all four.
Pie safes like this one were a 19th-century form of food storage. Try saying “punched tin panels protected pies” 10 times fast!

Pie safe protected 19th century desserts from vermin, mold

The collector can often find new uses for items such as this one whose purposes have become obsolete.

Pie safes like this one were a 19th-century form of food storage. Try saying “punched tin panels protected pies” 10 times fast!
This Empire-style stool was made in the 20th century, but it was based on a style from the early 1800s that was inspired by designs from ancient Egypt.

This 20th-century stool looks like a 19th-century relic

The influence of ancient art is clearly seen in this Empire-style stool, which sold for $1,250.

This Empire-style stool was made in the 20th century, but it was based on a style from the early 1800s that was inspired by designs from ancient Egypt.
A red, white and blue soda fountain tip tray might be the essence of Americana. It serves as both an advertising collectible and a patriotic decoration.

This star-spangled tray advertises a long-forgotten soft drink

The tray proclaims the drink “The King of Phosphates,” a reference to an ingredient used on soda fountain drinks from about 1870 to 1930.

A red, white and blue soda fountain tip tray might be the essence of Americana. It serves as both an advertising collectible and a patriotic decoration.