When homes were heated by burning logs in a fireplace, it was very hot within a few feet of the fire. It was very cold in the rest of the room, and water would freeze in a log cabin if kept more than 10 feet from the heat source.
High-back upholstered chairs were used to keep the heat off in the 17th and 18th centuries. Fire screens of many types were used. The screen reduced the intense heat and kept the sparks from flying into the room. Most 18th-century fire screens were made of wood or wood with additional decoration of fabric or needlework – never metal, because it became so hot.
By the 1860s, heating stoves were available to warm the room, and fire screens were often more decorative than useful. They were used in front of smaller fires or empty fireplaces. Some of the late-1800s screens were made of leaded and stained glass. Brass or iron was used to hold the glass. The screens must have been impressive when the fire was lit and the flames shined through the stained glass. By the 1900s, fire screens were made primarily to keep hot ashes from singeing the carpet.
Years ago, my dying uncle gave me two Hummel wall plaques he thought were valuable. Each one is a baby’s head in a 5-inch-diameter red ring. One is a girl with a green bow in her hair and the other is a boy. On each ring there’s a bee the baby is looking at in surprise. The marks on the back include the incised number “30/0A” on the girl and “30/0B” on the boy, an incised “M.I. Hummel” and the stamped word “Germany.” I once asked a dealer at an antique mall about them. She asked me if the rings were red and when I said yes, she wanted to buy them. I wouldn’t sell them, but can you tell me what they’re worth?
Your Hummel wall plaques are called “Ba-Bee Rings,” introduced in 1935. They were modeled by Reinhold Unger, a sculptor at W. Goebel Porcelain Factory in Germany. There should be an incised superimposed “GW” mark on your rings, too. The rings were made in red for only a short time, probably before World War II, and they’re rare. A red pair could sell for more than $5,000. But an expert would have to look at yours in person, because the Ba-Bee girl in a red ring always had a blue hair ribbon, not a green one. A few early Ba-Bees were glazed white and unpainted. It is possible that yours were at some point repainted.
My aunt and uncle owned a restaurant in the early 1900s. When my aunt died in 1960, I found an old ceramic soda-fountain syrup dispenser in her attic. It’s about 15 inches tall and shaped like a barrel. The dispenser is white with red lettering that reads “Zipp’s Cherri-o,” and there’s what looks like a decal in the center that shows a bird sipping cherry soda from a straw. What can you tell me about it?
A Zipp’s Cheeri-o dispenser auctioned last year for $3,800. The dispenser was used in the early 1900s to serve a cherry-flavored soft drink. The soda jerk behind the counter squirted syrup into a glass and then mixed it with carbonated water.
What can you tell me about my Trudy baby doll? She is 14 inches long and has three faces: crying, smiling and sleeping. Two are hidden in her bonnet when the third is facing front. The doll’s swivel head is composition, and her body is cloth.
Multiface dolls were first commercially made in Europe in the mid-19th century. Early ones had two or three faces, some with swivel heads like yours. Others had detachable masks. Your doll, designed by Elsie Gilbert, was made about 1946 by the Three-in-One Doll Corp. of New York. A Trudy doll in original condition and with her original wrist tag auctioned last year for $175.
You wrote about a copper tray made by Craftsman Studios Co. of Laguna Beach, Calif. My grandfather, Robert Leftwich, worked as an apprentice there until 1929, when he purchased the company. He continued to operate the business until he sold it in the late 1950s. He died in 1965, and there’s no one left to fill in any history. I have some copper pieces my grandfather made in the ’30s. According to family lore, his formula for the distinctive patina on his work remained a secret. But I remember hearing that he had a longtime assistant named Gregory who went on to form Gregorian Copper.
Thank you for writing to tell us more about Craftsman Studios. We do know that it became Craftsmen Inc. at some point – perhaps when your father bought it. It’s interesting to learn that the company continued to operate into the 1950s and possibly later. Perhaps another reader can supply some information about Gregorian Copper. We have seen pieces marked Gregorian for sale, but the only information we could find – and we can’t confirm it – is that Gregorian operated in Albuquerque, N.M., in the 1980s.
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2006 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
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