Sports collectibles are very popular, and prices for iron doorstops have been going up since the 1980s, but it was still surprising that a football player doorstop brought $16,500 at a recent auction.
There are at least five different golfer doorstops, a skier and a horseback rider, but few other sports-related doorstops were made in the United States. The football player, shown running while holding the ball, is taller than most doorstops, more than 11 inches high. His jersey has the letter P on the front and red stripes on the sleeves. The maker is unknown.
Most American doorstops were manufactured between 1920 and 1950. They were made by pouring molten iron into a sand mold, then smoothing and painting the figure. The best-known makers are Bradley &Hubbard of Meriden, Conn.; A.M. Greenblatt Studios of Boston; Hubley of Lancaster, Pa.; and Littco Products of Littlestown, Pa. Many old doorstops have been reproduced, either by using original molds or by copying original doorstops.
I purchased a clock at an estate sale and can’t find any information on the maker. It’s a short grandfather-style clock, 47 inches high, with a wooden case. The name on the clock is W.J. Lukens Co.
A retail jewelry store called W.J. Lukens Co. opened in Wheeling, W. Va., in 1885. Jewelry stores often sold clocks and marked them with their own names. Your clock was probably sold by that store but made elsewhere.
Several years ago, a man selling original paintings walked into my husband’s place of business in Florida. My husband bought two of the 18-by-24-inch paintings. Both of them are of Florida lakes and trees, and both are signed “W. Daniels.” An art teacher from the local community college tells us that the paintings might be the work of one of the so-called Florida Highwaymen. Can you verify this?
Willie Daniels, who signed his paintings “W. Daniels,” is one of the 26 original Florida Highwaymen. The Highwaymen, a small group of black artists from Fort Pierce, started painting Florida landscapes in the 1950s and sold them from the trunks of their cars along the state’s east coast highways. A Florida collector gave the group the nickname “Highwaymen” in the 1990s. The tropical landscapes fell out of favor during the 1970s and ’80s, but are popular again thanks to new interest in “outsider art.” Highwaymen paintings can sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
I have had an 18-inch stuffed-cloth boy doll since I was 1, and I’m 74 now. The doll’s head, arms, feet and torso are brown velvet. His red-orange velvet overalls form the bottom half of his body. He has glass eyes and a brown wig that’s glued on. Can you tell me anything about my doll?
Your doll might be a black islander doll by Norah Wellings, a dollmaker who worked in England from 1926 to 1960. If there’s a tag on your doll’s foot that reads “Made in England by Norah Wellings,” you have solved the mystery. If your doll is a Wellings doll in excellent condition, it would sell for $250 or more. However, other dollmakers made similar dolls.
My grandparents left me a wooden 3-D viewer with 50 double-photo cards to be used with the viewer. The only mark on the viewer is a patent date: July 24, 1883. Can you tell me anything about the viewer?
Your viewer is a stereoscope, also sometimes called a stereopticon. It’s a hand-held device so popular at the end of the 19th century that nearly every middle-class American household had one. The double-photos are called stereographs. The two photos on a stereograph were taken at the same time through twin lenses set 2 inches apart – about the distance between a person’s eyes. When the dual photos are viewed through a stereoscope, a very realistic 3-D scene appears. Many stereoscopes were sold with photos that gave the viewer a tour of the world, national parks or historical sites.
The first patented viewer was invented in England in 1838, but in 1844 a smaller, less complicated viewer was developed in Scotland. Queen Victoria enjoyed stereoscopes at London’s 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition, and they became popular all over Great Britain. By the 1860s, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Joseph Bates had introduced the Holmes stereoscope in the United States.
Yours is a later model, perhaps made by another company. The most valuable stereographs feature American Indians or views of the West, scenes from the Civil War and photos of black Americans. The stereoscope itself, in excellent condition, would sell for $100 or more.
The Kovels answer as many questions as possible through the column. Write to Kovels, The Herald, King Features Syndicate, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019.
2004 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.
Salt and pepper shakers, Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol, gold trim, Ceramic Arts Studio, 4 inches, $20.
Political button, “Minnesota Women for Humphrey,” black, pink and white, celluloid, 1954, 21/4 inches, $185.
Roseville hanging planter, Gardenia pattern, ocher, embossed white flowers, green petals, 6 inches, $210.
Holland Butter banner, graphic of two Dutch children standing on pound of butter, gold ground, 30 x 37 inches, $250.
Celluloid dresser set, pearl-ized yellow, butterscotch, black trim, 1930s, 11 pieces, $310.
Royal Doulton plate, “Mary Arden’s Cottage,” Shakespeare Series, 1922, 101/4 inches, $370.
Amoeba-style cocktail table, free-form inset glass top, bleached ash and birch veneer, 1950s, 52 x 30 x 15 inches, $515.
Boston &Sandwich glass candlestick, apple green, petal-form socket on columnar square-step base, 1850-65, 9 inches, $560.
Steiff Red Riding Hood doll, pressed felt swivel head, black shoe-button eyes, red cape, 101/2 inches, $910.
Appliqued quilt, Sunbonnet Sue, red and white, picket finch border, 1800s, 84 x 88 inches, $1,200.
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.
Anson brand Ginger Beer bottle, beige ceramic, capped, logo reads “Capt. A.C. Anson, Anson &Birrell, Trademark GB, Chicago,” 7 inches, $345.
Carved wooden cane, alternating Mexican-hat carvings in 15 sections, carved tip, 36 inches, $390.
Staffordshire plate, Table Rock, Niagara, c. 1820, 10 inches, $645.
Lightning rod with running-horse weathervane, iron with copper-spiked ball finial, twisted wrought-iron roof bracket, early 1900s, 73 x 23 inches, $675.
Toy, “The Game of On Guard,” McLoughlin Bros., 1899, $750.
Needlework sampler, strawberry vine border, basket of flowers, church, birds, heart and trees, “Sarah Knight’s work, aged 10, 1848,” 19 x 21 inches, $940.
Arrowback Windsor settee, painted and stenciled, flat crest rail, notched corners, scrolling arms, plank seat, Spanish brown with gilt flowers, 1800s, 771/2 inches, $1,000.
Mount Washington vase, Royal Flemish, frosted circular body, extended neck, thistle design, gold trim, 11 inches, $1,100.
Betty Boop nodder, celluloid and rubber, Betty nods her head, prewar sticker, heart-shaped Betty Boop label, battery-operated, Fleisher Studios, 71/2 inches, $1,400.
Ice cream dipper, heart-shaped, Manos Novelty Co., Toronto, Ohio, nickel-plated, patented 1925, 11 inches, $8,740.
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