Clockmakers probably got bored making rectangular or round clock cases and one day decided to try something different. As early as the 17th century, clocks were designed to look like a human figure, with the clock set in the stomach.
In the 1850s, there was a group of American clocks known as “blinking eyes.” The iron clock cases, shaped like figures, had a clock in the stomach; as the clock ticked, the eyes moved.
Some European clocks were made of carved wood and had not only moving eyes, but also arms and mouths that moved. The idea has remained popular. In the 1970s, a mail-order catalog marketed a modern version of these clock figures.
I have had an antique hutch for about 30 years. I got it from a woman who was 70 years old, and she said it was from her mother’s estate in Utah. The back is stamped “Ethan Allen by Baumritter, Made in Vermont.” I think the hutch is solid maple.
The furniture-manufacturing firm of Baumritter &Co. was founded in Beecher Falls, Vt., in 1932. The company chose the brand name “Ethan Allen” to honor the American Revolutionary hero. In 1969, Baumritter changed its corporate name to Ethan Allen. Ethan Allen retail furniture stores are located throughout the United States, and the firm continues to manufacture furniture. Your hutch was made between 1932 and 1969 – but given the history you know about it, it probably dates from before 1960.
I have a Mammy cookie jar and a companion piece of a young girl holding a laundry basket, which can be used to hold napkins. They were bought in 1939, when the movie “Gone With the Wind” came out. Can you tell me about them?
Mammy cookie jars were made by several companies, but the companion figure – probably Prissy from the movie – was made by Brayton Pottery of South Laguna Beach, Calif. The Brayton Mammy cookie jar resembles Hattie McDaniel, the actress who won an Academy Award for her role as Mammy in the movie.
Years ago, my grandmother gave me a pair of heavy brass bookends. They are shaped like cocker spaniels. Around the neck of one is a tag that reads “McClelland Barclay, Creator of the Fisher Body girl and celebrated illustrator for Cosmopolitan, has now earned world fame as a sculptor.” The other side of the tag identifies the piece as one “created in his own studio.”
McClelland Barclay (1891-1943) worked in New York as a commercial artist and magazine illustrator. His most famous series of ads, for General Motors’ Fisher Body Works, ran from the mid-1920s to the mid-’30s. By the early ’30s, Barclay was sculpting commercial pieces, including animal-shaped bookends. He formed the McClelland Barclay Art Products Corp. by the end of the decade. Your bookends are made of a heavy white metal plated with a thick layer of bronze. Barclay dog bookends can sell for $150 or more. Barclay, a U.S. Navy officer during World War II, died when his ship was torpedoed in the Solomon Sea.
My early-’60s Chatty Cathy doll has short brown hair and blue eyes. I have some original doll clothing, too – a pink pinstriped dress and a red velveteen coat with a fake-fur collar. Her pink buckle shoes and white socks are original, too. What is she worth?
Mattel introduced its 20-inch talking Chatty Cathy doll in 1960. It was designed to resemble a 4-year-old girl. She said 11 different complete phrases when you pulled a ring near her neck. The doll was an immediate hit. Chatty Cathys with brown hair were first sold in 1962, which is probably when your doll was made. The mark on her back and the style of her tummy speaker can pinpoint the date more accurately. The coat your doll is wearing sold separately as Cathy’s “Party Coat.” An early-’60s Chatty Cathy wearing original clothing would sell for about $250 if she’s in “unplayed-with” condition. If you have the original box, the price goes up by $100 or more.
I have a 1961 Coca-Cola serving tray that pictures a field of colorful pansies and a bottle of Coke being poured into a glass. On the longer sides of the rectangular tray are the words “Be Really Refreshed.” What is the tray worth?
Your “Pansy” Coke tray, one of three versions made in 1961, retails for about $20.
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.
Mellomints advertising tin, red ground, white letters, c. 1910, 10 inches, $115.
Roseville vase, Pinecone pattern, handled, 61/4 inches, $185. Tiny Terri Lee walker doll, hard plastic, socket head, brown sleep eyes, closed mouth, blond hair, 5-piece body, 1956, 10 inches, $210.
Toy pushcart, red and blue with gold stenciled design, black-painted wheels, handles and undercarriage, signed “Wm. F. Goodwin’s Patents, Jan. 22, 1867 &Aug. 25, 1868,” 12 x 51/4 inches, $230.
Abingdon Pottery cookie jar, Humpty Dumpty, marked, 11 inches, $260.
Danish silver salad servers, Acorn pattern, Georg Jensen, 1945, $325.
Apache doll-size cradleboard with doll, slatted hood with top hoop, muslin baby wrap and hood are beaded in green, gold, black and white, c. 1910, 12 inches, $485.
Galle glass cameo vase, cylinder form, squat bulbous base, gray shaded with yellow, overlaid with red and cut with leaves and flowers, c. 1900, 4 inches, $960. Queen Anne side chair, walnut, cabriole legs, pad feet, scalloped seat aprons, vase-shaped back splat, 191/2 inches, $2,010.
Sampler, linen, silk threads, “Sarah A. Bunn worked this sampler at Eliza Rues School, Pennington, N.J., 1828,” 18 x 16 inches, $9,000.
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