Children have played with dolls for thousands of years. The most popular, from a child’s point of view, is the most familiar – a doll representing a baby, a teenager, a cartoon character, an activity or a mother or father.
If Dad is a golfer, what better present than a golfer doll? One of the earliest was a cloth doll dressed in plaid knickers, sweater and cap. The doll, made in the early 1900s, was labeled “Babyland Rag Golfer,” so we are sure it really represented the look of a golfer in those days. The 14-inch Horsman doll has a printed face, blond hair and mittlike hands.
Edward Imeson Horsman started his doll company in New York City in 1865. Horsman’s Babyland cloth dolls were made from 1895 to 1912. Faces were painted on at first, but in 1907 Horsman started printing the faces on the fabric. The dolls originally sold for 24 cents to $2. Today, the golfer is worth $550.
I have a 42-inch round oak table with the original label still intact. It reads, “No. 1545-6, M.W. Savage Facts., Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.” Age?
M.W. Savage Factories was one of the first mail-order furniture houses. The Minneapolis firm was incorporated in 1912 by Eric B. Savage. There were few furniture stores, so Savage decided to offer his furniture to distant customers who mailed back orders. By 1923, the company had hundreds of thousands of customers and several hundred employees. Like Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, its two competitors, M.W. Savage supplied not only furniture, but also machinery and all kinds of merchandise to farmers and homeowners by mail.
The American Terra Cotta and Ceramic Co. was founded in Terra Cotta, Ill., by William D. Gates in 1887. It was sometimes called Gates Potteries. In addition to architectural terra-cotta bricks, drain tile and plain terra-cotta vases, the company made art pottery, including the Teco line introduced in 1902. The company was sold in 1930 and renamed American Terra-Cotta Co. It produced architectural terra cotta, ceramic wares and some ornamental pottery until it closed in 1966.
My large collection of Depression glass includes some hard-to-find ashtrays. One of my rarest pieces is a Hazel Atlas black glass ashtray with gold-highlighted clover leaves on the rim. Were these made in other colors? Also, did they make other items in this pattern?
Hazel Atlas Glass Co. was in business from 1902 to 1964 and had factories in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. The Cloverleaf-pattern dishes were made during the Depression, from 1930 to 1936. The dishes, all with rims or bands of three-leaf clovers, were made in pink, green, yellow, clear or black glass. But the ashtrays, which came in diameters of 4 or 53/4 inches, were made only in black. Some black dishes, like your ashtray, were highlighted with gold clovers. The smaller ashtray sells today for about $65 and the larger for $85.
Porter Blanchard (1886-1973) was a Massachusetts silversmith who moved to Burbank, Calif., in 1923. He opened a studio that employed eight men by 1925. Blanchard was part of the Arts and Crafts movement in California. His work in silver and pewter had little ornamentation, relying on hammer marks and satin finish for decoration. Colonial Pewter was a Porter Blanchard pewter line. He had a shop on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles that catered to film stars. Blanchard’s pieces also were sold in department stores such as Gump’s of San Francisco. The business, Porter Blanchard Silversmiths, continued after Blanchard’s death in 1973. Your goblets are worth about $55 each.
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.
“On Top of Old Smoky” movie poster, Gene Autry, 1953, Columbia Pictures, 27 x 41 inches, $85.
“Who Are We?” Gold Dust Twins booklet, yellow cover, twins peaking outside, die cut, 10 pages on cleaning everything in your house, 1907, 41/2 x 6 inches, $160.
Tinware teapot, globe form, hinged lid, black with red-and-yellow floral design, c. 1865, 51/2 inches, $325.
Child’s wooden sleigh, black paint, yellow pinstripes, plum-pink interior, made by E.L. Wright, Nyack, N.Y., 1855, 23 x 18 x 65 inches, with handle, $375.
Wallpaper-covered box, round, buildings, flowers, trees in red, green and white varnishes on blue ground, cover, c.1880, 53/4 inches, $765.
Great Lakes Indian beaded bandolier bag, pocket, vine-and-floral design, white, red border, fringe, 37 x 123/4 inches, $950.
Bennington pottery Toby snuff jar, seated figure, conforming hat cover, impressed 1849, 31/4 inches, $1,115.
Poplar chest over drawers, red stained, two thumb-molded drawers, ring-turned legs, c. 1800, 53 x 37 x 17 inches, $2,115.
Papier-mache bulldog toy, growler, head moves left to right, growls when chain pulled, glass eyes, faux fur, French, 1900s, 8 x 12 x 19 inches, $2,350.
Wool and cotton hooked rug, salmon-colored basket, flower flanked by numerals 18 and 63, circle and square border, 31 x 52 inches, $5,580.
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