Furniture became status symbol in 1860s

Grand Rapids, Mich., was the center of furniture manufacturing in the United States by the 1860s. It was the right place at the right time. The country’s population center was moving west. Homeowners were much closer to Grand Rapids than to New England.

A new way of thinking about a house had evolved too. By the second half of the 19th century, good stylish furniture was a sign of the good life. Women were to stay home and create a “proper domestic environment” for the family.

Large houses had special rooms: a parlor, library, hall, bedroom, kitchen and dining room. Each required its own furniture: a dining table, hall tree or washstand. Often a parlor was furnished with a suite: a man’s chair, woman’s chair, four smaller chairs, a sofa and perhaps a table in the same style.

It was now possible to make furniture with less-expensive machine-carved parts. The family furniture was a status symbol, just as a media room or the latest sports car would be today. Paintings were important too, and so were small decorations such as vases and figurines and the yards of fabric used to make drapes and upholstery.

The Phoenix Furniture Co. started making Victorian-style parlor furniture for the middle and upper classes in 1876. In 1900, styles changed. Arts and Crafts furniture with straight lines and very little decorative carving was made for rooms with fewer sofas and chairs, uncluttered tabletops and shelves.

Phoenix Furniture altered its style and made Arts and Crafts pieces, some with a touch of Victorian carving and trim. The company had already made the McKinley Chair with straight lines and a cane seat back in 1895. It was one of the first popular Arts and Crafts designs.

Phoenix was acquired by Robert W. Irwin in 1911, but the Phoenix name and a picture of a Phoenix bird continued as a trademark on Irwin pieces until 1931. Irwin went out of business in 1953.

I bid on a boxful of stuff at an auction just so I could get the art books in the box. I found a surprise, too — a large bowl marked “Owen Minerva.” It’s in excellent condition, has a scalloped edge and is decorated with pansies. Another mark on the bottom is “Gold Medal, St. Louis.” What can you tell me?

Your bowl was made by the Owen China Co. of Minerva, Ohio. The company was founded by Edward J. Owen in 1902 and stayed open until the Depression forced it to close in 1932. At the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, Owen won a gold medal for “best domestic semi-porcelain.” That’s why your bowl carries the “Gold Medal” mark.

Owen China Co. made dinnerware, calendar plates and, from 1906 to 1908, some art pottery with metallic glazes. Your semi-porcelain bowl is worth $10 to $20, depending on its size.

I have an old graniteware washing machine that was once a floor model. It has the original display sign on it that says “Voss, It Washes from the Top, The Natural Way.” It has an electric motor, a wringer and a corrugated tub, and it’s stamped “Chamberlain Corp., Waterloo, Iowa.” Can you tell me more about it?

William Voss invented one of the first washing machines because he wanted to make laundry day easier for his mother. William and his brothers, Fred and John Voss, established Voss Bros. Manufacturing Co. in Davenport, Iowa, in 1877. Early machines were operated by a hand crank or foot pedals. Voss motor-driven washing machines were introduced in 1905. Early tubs were made of cypress wood. Porcelain and enamel tubs were being made by the 1920s.

Voss patented a design for corrugated tubes in the late 1920s. Voss had some of its best years during the Depression, when it sold washing machines for $39.50. Chamberlain Manufacturing Corp. made many different products, including washing-machine wringers.

I have an old floor-model record player and I wonder if people collect them. The label on the inside says “Victrola, manufactured by Victor Talking Machine Company, 1906, Camden, N.J.” and “Wurlitzer.”

The Victor Talking Machine Co. was founded in Camden in 1901. It introduced the Victrola, a player with an internal rather than external horn, in 1906. Eventually the company made several Victrola models, including both floor and tabletop versions. The name Wurlitzer on your Victrola refers to one of the dealer networks that marketed Victrolas.

The Victor Talking Machine Co. was sold to RCA in 1929. Old Victrolas are collectible, but they sell for a wide range of prices depending on model and condition. An early table model in good shape can go for $300 or more.

Write to Kovels, The Herald, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY, 10019.

&Copy; 2009 by 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.

“The Man in the Iron Mask” paper lithographed theater poster, framed under glass, c. 1900, 19 x 30 inches, $60.

Bell System Public Telephone sign, porcelain, navy blue ground, white center with navy blue bell, late 1940s, 11 x 11 inches, $90.

Calabash bottle, Sheaf of Wheat pattern, aqua, broad sloping collar, c. 1840, 9 1/2 inches, $120.

Patchwork quilt, Grandmother’s Flower Garden, six-sided printed blocks, c. 1880, 78 x 83 inches, $410.

Cast-iron book press with dolphin ends, mahogany press plate, c. 1850, 15 x 12 x 18 inches, $645.

Tiffany Studios picture frame, grapevine pattern, gold dore finish, caramel slag glass liner, 7 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches, $1,320.

Stickley Brothers lamp table, round leather top, No. 132, trumpet-shaped cross-stretchers, 30 x 36 inches, $1,400.

Coin silver butter dish, bulbous, raised on oval foot, upturned handles, winged cherubim and pierced palmettes, dome top, Wood &Hughes, 1850, 7 1/2 x 6 inches, $5,875.

George Ohr vase, bulbous, deep body twist, half covered in matte blue-purple glaze, half in periwinkle, stamped, 4 1/2 x 3 3/4 inches, $6,600.