Rustic furniture made from hickory saplings was an inspiration that came to the Midwest in the 1800s.
The straight trees, 2 or 3 inches in diameter, were ideal for use as chair frames and tables. The hickory could be soaked and bent. The inner bark from the trees could be woven into chair seats and backs.
Once the sapling was cut, a new tree grew from the stump, making it an early ecologically sound source of wood.
A group of men in Martinsville, Ind., joined together in 1892 to make hickory furniture. They named the company “Old Hickory,” the nickname of Andrew Jackson, U.S. president from 1829 to 1837. They were soon making rustic furniture for houses in all parts of the country and for national-park lodges. The dining chairs at Old Faithful Inn at Yellowstone are the Old Hickory ones made in 1906.
The company is still making furniture in both old and new styles. Houses in the Mission bungalow style are once again popular, and old, rustic furniture fits in nicely. The furniture sells well at shops and auctions.
I found a small blue-and-white china bowl among my father’s things. I don’t know how he happened to have it. It’s 3 inches high and 5 inches in diameter. The mark on the base is faint, but I can make out a crown with the words “Lusitania, Royal Semi-por” above it and “Alfred (illegible), Tunstall, England” below it. Was it used on the Lusitania ocean liner? What is it worth?
It was not used on the doomed British ocean liner torpedoed off the Irish coast by a German submarine in 1915. Your bowl was made by Alfred Colley &Co. of Tunstall, Staffordshire, England, between 1909 and 1914. Lusitania (a Roman province now known as Portugal) is the pattern name. Dishes in the same pattern can be purchased through china replacement services. A large coupe soup bowl sells for about $70. Your bowl would sell for a little less.
I have been collecting antique glass bottles for years, but I have one amber bottle I can’t find in any books. It’s 7 inches tall with a 2-inch-long neck and a ball-shaped honeycomb body that’s about 5 inches in diameter. The word “Korbeline” is embossed around the middle. It looks like a fire grenade, but the glass seems too thick. Can you help?
In 1975, a bottle like yours sold for $100 at the auction of the famous Charles B. Gardner bottle collection. The catalog listed the bottle as a fire grenade. Since then other Korbeline bottles have shown up, some matching the description of yours but with a paper label on the back. The label reads it’s a “medicine, not a beverage, for constipation, indigestion, loss of appetite and other stomach disorders.” These bottles, which probably date from the early 1900s, sell for about $40 to $50 today.
My two decorated aluminum serving trays are marked “Canterbury Arts” on the bottom. Both are hand-hammered, but are also decorated with a carved swirling design. History and value?
Canterbury Arts was one of the lesser-known and smaller American companies that produced decorative aluminum serving pieces during the mid-1900s. Two artists, Chester C. Pflanz and J. Hatterick (or Hattrick), ran the company, which appears to have operated in upstate New York in the 1940s. Canterbury Arts trays sell today for $10 to $25.
I would like to sell my old cast-iron Walking Lawn Sprinkler. It looks like a tractor with a two-headed spray arm mounted on the top. The tractor base is 171/2 inches long and the long spray arm measures 31 inches. It was made by National of Lincoln, Neb., and is marked Model A5. What is it worth?
National Manufacturing Co. is still in business in Lincoln and still makes its patented Walking Sprinklers, including your model. The Model 5A was introduced in the late 1930s. A new one sells for $100. An old one, if it still works and is in good condition, sells for about $25.
I have a homemade radio my father made in the 1920s, probably from a kit. The single tube in it has a label with “4/1/25” handwritten on it. It’s mounted in a plain wooden cabinet with three large dials and six small ones. I’m wondering if it’s “museum-worthy.”
Your radio, with a single tube and no brand name on the cabinet, probably was assembled at home from a kit. Collectors call this kind of radio “primitive.” If it’s in good condition, a historical museum in your area may be interested in it. Or you might try contacting one of the national museums devoted to the history of wireless communication and radios. If you would like to have it repaired, there are several antique radio repair services in the country. You can find both the museums and repair services online.
Write to Kovels, The Herald, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
2006 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
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