Collectors treasure the hand-decorated storage boxes made by the Bucher family from about 1750 to 1800.
It was the “air conditioner” of the early 19th century. A man called a “punkah wallah” pulled a cord to make it swing back and forth like a fan.
The popular characters were featured as paper dolls, trade cards, rubber stamps, card games, puzzles and cloth dolls.
It’s just one of the many souvenirs from the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The very modern looking pottery, introduced in 1949, each sold separately at a recent auction.
The tinware lost favor when copper and silver plate became more available because tin often rusted.
If you have a jar with the initials JM, they made by Johann Maresch (1821-1914) and sell for $300 to $500.
Cigar store signs are readily recognizable, even a century later.
The milk jug desiged by Nicholas Sprimont about 1742 was inspired by the tale about two goats and a bee.
Fra Andreas Garcia, an 18th-century Mexican Franciscan friar and folk artist, carved and painted the figurine.
The shallow bowl with a stylized picture of a rooster on the front was signed “Karamu OH Hykes” on the back.
Today there are 39 different Omersa Co. animal footstools sold by stores like Liberty and Abercrombie Fitch.
Around 1899, the price of 10 papers was 5 cents. Most of the newsboys were homeless and this is how they earned a living.
Most advertising, even today, promotes cooked cereal as eaten hot. When cold, some get hard and lumpy.
Special figural chairs made to look like rocking horses calmed little boys during their first haircuts.
From 1890 to 1930, you could weight yourself with a coin-operated scale found on a street corner.
A Horner chest of drawers with a side lock fashioned out of a bamboo pole sold at auction for $1,088.
