What to keep and what to ditch

Dont Ditch anything! My bidders will agree! 

Books! - spend some time at abebooks.com you might be surprised at what you have. Recently in a dusty basement of a clients home I came across a book, the title looked like something my son would like so I bought it for a small price even though the owner wanted me to have it for free. On a lark I thought to look it up on Abe Books - it is a first edition, with dust jacket, which sadly is a little frayed so it wont bring full dollar value but it is estimated at $5600.00, my son can read it but carefully and I am sharing the bounty with the original owner(needlessly they were surprised)

China and Porcelain - Pull back that green felt that so many people put on their pieces to not mar their furniture! Recently a client said I could sell "that ugly vase for a $1.00". turned out to be a signed antique Gouda Vase from Holland from a noteworthy artist, the piece is now with the grand children in a prime display area.

Crystal and Glass - We all have depressionware we know what it looks like, but do we realize those frosted kitschy glasses with "Fred and Wilma" or even  just flowers can draw big dollars. Cake plates on Pedestals, if it has a cover will bring even more money.

Toys and Games - Sharp edges are in! Metal toys bring the dollars and if the are complete and working you can be looking at close to four figures in some cases. Games sadly unless they are cult classics; in most cases have only kept their original $10.00 value.



 Dolls:Signed composition dolls from the turn of the 19th Century can bring mid range $200-500 based on condition and accessories. We recently came across a Patsy Ann doll with original brass bracelet and clothes, although that is a great find the addition of a "Patsy Ann" Doll book, made the set complete and gave a higher price realization. but dont ignore the dresser doll with the porcelain doll top a full skirt base filled with old crunchy straw looking dusty and forgotten. She is probably French or German turn of the century hat pin keeper, they can fetch significant money for what you might pay for them at a general estate sale.

 Jewelry - Costume -All jewelry is not the same, sometimes costume jewelry can bring a higher price then real jewelry. Take into consideration a Cigner brooch recently brought to us, Although nicely faceted with Swarovski crystals and enamel painted accents the owner was surprised to see it sold for $500.00 to an overseas client. So dont overlook the gaudy brooch in the pile.
 Jewelry - Fine: Always look hard at piece, if it looks well made and it probably is there are a number of tell tale signs so you dont always need a loop and you dont want to bring a loop out. We had a piece that the customer swore had no value and no one wanted. No visual markings were on the piece but the stone was remarkable almost artificial in color so brilliant and true. It was. The piece 18K the stone .90 Ceylon Blue untreated Sapphire, perfect, value approx 2500.0 just for the stone.
 
Furniture - Dont overlook the obvious even the most experienced forager can miss something while looking for something else. Called into a client recently we were taken again to a dusty damp basement with some furniture of limited cleanliness. Encouragingly we told the client we would work to bring them the best we could. In the back corner sat six chrome and orange leatherette chairs covered in dust and webs. At first blush we agreed we would be grateful for someone to carry them out let alone buy them. The other furniture as well. After some research the chairs were signed value $4600.00, The teak chair signed although missing strapping valued $600.00, Teak inlaid wood,signed coffee table valued $550.00 They were happily carried out by winning bidders.

Post Cards from the edge...I thought they were form the edge. But disappointingly they were no where near it. About two months ago I was working this absolutely fabulous auction with a good friend. Unfortunately as in most cases, the people handling the estate usually do not want to have anything to do with what was left behind., Sometimes this is a mix of feelings and complicated by their own geographical location. So as an estate dealer I am often left to sort through ribbon tied love letter written by sweethearts sent to war or just notes from family trips that occurred long before texting and free long distance phone calls. 

The history of postcards are not as complicated. Post Cards are the third largest collectible only surpassed by stamp and coin collecting. Because postcards cross different subject matters they have what is called more "Crossover" value.

Post cards are also fairly easy to grade, the most  common scale for grading is below.

Grade 1 – Nearly perfect Postcard, unused. The corners of this postcard are perfect or very close to perfect. There is no writing or postal markings on front or back of postcard.

Grade 2 – Nearly perfect corners and is postal used. This postcard could have writing and be Postal used on front or back. A postcard in this condition is based on having perfect or nearly perfect corners.

Grade 3 – Has minor faults such as minimal corner wear and; or minimal edge wear. Some yellowing may exist from age or from being in album. This Postcard may or may not be Postal used. There are no creases so this card is generally in nice condition.

Grade 4 – Has more faults than Grade III. This postcard shows more corner wear and; or has minor creases. This card could be lightly soiled and could be or may not be Postal used.

Grade 5 – Is a lower grade postcard and has more faults than Grade IV. This postcard is damaged with a bad crease and wear. A postcard in this condition would be chosen for its image view only to later be upgraded. 

Finally some great web pages with information on collecting post cards as well selling;

 

1923 (Loar Period) Gibson Snakehead A Mandolin #73166

From the corners of a "Rec Room" comes a 1923 Gibson Snakehead TYPE A Mandolin in fairly good condition with its original case. As I opened the case which the word Gibson could still be seen on the embossed top I could barely control myself. This was my garage sale Renoir..and there in the dim light of the late summer evening it was, still casting a shine from the overhead lights was a 1923 Gibson Snakehead A Mandolin in Good Condition.

I was a novice and still am but the name Gibson was one I understood the meaning of immediately. After a few hours on the phone with national well known collectors and experts on Gibsons (they have had and been on TV shows and published books on the subject) I knew I had a real find on my hands. I was excited for both myself to have been able to make these professional connections with true experts and for my client.

What did I learn: well besides the fact everyone wanted to buy it even in the present condition which apparently for its age was not to bad.

There was the expected fine crack in the wood, after all it is almost 100 years old. There was a small pull in the binding also expected from the age but otherwise this Mandolin was a truly exciting find.

Gibson made the "Snake head" Mandolin type A originally for classical music but shortly after it came out it became a more popular instrument with Irish Celtic music both classic and folk..The Snakehead is, needless to say, the most desirable and rarest of all Gibson A-style mandolins. They were made while Lloyd A. Loar was at the helm of the great locomotive (well, he was the Chief Acoustic Engineer so he got to wear the cap) that was known as Gibson Research and Development into Mandolins, Mandolas, Mandocellos and Archtop Guitars or The “GRaDMiMaMaG” for short. The Snakehead A-style celebrates the timely confluence of many engineering improvements thought up by Loar, Guy Hart and other executives of the emerging luthiery giant located at 225 Parsons Street in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Its headstock gets skinnier as it goes upward (would that we could also), it has the adjustable truss rod feature that allows the instrument to have a smaller, while still v-shaped, neck, it has the adjustable bridge with the “Pat. Jan. 18, 1921” patent stamp on its foot, and although this has nothing to do with Mr. Loar, it has the elevated celluloid pickguard with the “Pat. Mar. 30, ‘09” stamp and the newfangled L-shaped side clamp with the hexagonal bolt and recessed screw. The “plain A” as it is so often referred, has a black headstock overlay with no logo of any kind just an ebony facing. " information gathered for this is thanks to http://www.mandoweb.com/Instruments/Gibson-A+Style+Snakehead+mandolin-1922/1422

Roseville Pottery: A few quick ways to determine if it is real or not

During this last sale I found myself happily knee deep in really good quality pottery and glassware. I often rely on my bidding clients to let me know the direction of the market with certain items. This time there was no question that Roseville is gaining a lot of interest with many bidders out there. This we noticed immediately with  the Fuchsia Vase #89. The strong interest in that item and the others Roseville items we have carried in the past makes it all that much more important that we at www.notyourmothersestatesale.com work to give our customers the most information we can find about a item that is available out in the market place today.

That brings us to todays Blog subject on Roseville Pottery telling a fake from a real.
There are many ways to detect as fake but it requires a strict discipline and attention to almost at times unseen detail. However here are a few quick things to look for when examining a Roseville Pottery item, and as always use the internet to educate yourself as much as possible about the item you are looking at.

1.The glaze on most fakes is very dull and lacks depth. The glaze is flat and does not usually reveal the clay color underneath. It will also feel rough and not as smooth and finished as a  authentic piece

2. Handles on the reproductions tend to be thicker and details are not as refined.

3.Most shapes vary significantly from the originals.

4.Leaves on real pieces are brighter and stand out from the background better.

5. Most of the background colors vary significantly from the original colors and the color of the clay is usually whiter than the originals.

6.Pieces will most always say "Roseville U.S.A." (usually very low relief on the USA) or "Roseville" on the bottom, even if they were not marked on original pieces. Initially, the Roseville fakes had a raised ("in relief") "Roseville USA" on the bottom. Also the "R"'s tend to be very different from the authentic Roseville "R"'s

As always I hope this little bit helps and I have included a few links that list the different styles and types

http://www.wwcomponents.net/roseville/roseville.html#lookfor

 http://antiques.about.com/od/reproductions/ss/aa040506.htm

Head Vases who knew? I grew up surrounded by these items. My grandmother had a sun porch and we would sit on it chatting listening to music from the e 50's as she would fill them with "real" plastic flowers so they could be dole at the local flea market where she had a weekend booth. Two things I remember most was the suffocating smell of dusty plastic flowers int he heat of the sun room and second how much I wanted to grow up and look like those head vases, so elegant. 

    Head vases were hip as far back as the the late 1940's. Most of the original head vases were 9 1/2" but with increased costs by the the 1960's the head vases had shrunken in size to 4 1/2" to allow a profit margin by the production companies.
     These head vases were produced by thirteen (13) different companies.  




This lovely lady was just sold in our last auction, she was free of any crack, chips or crazing considered to be in Very Good Condition. The tags below were actual from her base.

For more information on Head Vases go to http://www.headvasemuseum.com
Brinn's China-GlasswareEnesco Corporation
Ceramic Arts StudioThe Geo. Zoltan Lefton Co.

Lego Imports-Goldman Morgan    Napco  

Irving W. Rice & Co., Inc.      Rubens Originals
UCAGCO

As well as : Samson Import Co. Inc. / Reliable Glassware & Pottery Co., Inc., Betty Lou Nichols Ceramics, INARCO, Holt Howard Associates, Inc.,  

Trying to date you Nippon

I started out 25 years ago collecting different types of Porcelain and China. At that time it seemed so easy to "know it all", but as time goes on and the market widened with the advent of the intranet I found there was so much I was missing.  So to help me and anyone else along the way I am putting up different ways to sort out antiques an collectibles, commonly and sometimes not so commonly found.

Nippon Back Stamps

The vast majority of Nippon wares produced during the Nippon era were manufactured by the company that would later become the modern day Noritake Company. There are a total of 359 back stamps known to date. Joan Van Patten has collected a vast number of Nippon back stamps in her book entitled Van Patten's ABC's of Collecting Nippon Porcelain, published in 2005.

The most common Back Stamps are:

M-in-wreath

M-in-wreath, hand-painted ("M" stands for importer, Morimura Bros.); found in green, blue, magenta & gold. Mark used since 1911.

Maple Leaf

Maple leaf Nippon; found in green, blue & magenta. Mark dates back to 1891.

Rising Sun

Rising Sun Nippon. Quite common, but not used as much as the M-in-wreath & Maple Leaf. Mark used since 1911.

Back Stamps by Category:

Many of the lesser known back stamps were used by companies whose histories are unknown. While these lesser companies produced fine wares on occasion, it is generally felt that the best examples of Nippon-era hand painted porcelain will carry a back stamp used by the Noritake Company during the Nippon era. The exception to this is Coralene which to the best of our knowledge was never produced by the Noritake Company. [A word of caution: the offshore (mainly China) companies producing "fake Nippon" have perfected the M-in-wreath back stamp. You can no longer tell if it's a fake by looking at the back stamp

More information can be found at http://nipponcollectorsclub.com/backstamps.php

Be careful of ripoffs. My husband always says if a salesman says he "is honest" more then three times in five minutes - run in the other direction, quickly. I do estate saleswww.notyormothersestatesale.com, its what I do and I try to do the best job possible for my clients. I am also quick to admit I dont know everything and every now and then you come across a piece that is just different, no markings but you can see the quality. That is exactly what happened at a recent sale. The owner brought out two pieces of heavy crystal one a dog the other a donkey. Just holding these items you new they were special.

So I went home an did all of my homework on them or so I thought. I suspected these were Heisey Glass pieces and if they were they would be worth hundreds of dollars each. So I trotted off to a "known" collector. Oh he hemmed and hawed at the pieces and said he would get back to me after he researched them..I never said what I thought about them..that night the Antique dealer/collector/honest guy called me twice to call him back. It was Saturday night so he would have to stew for a bit. I called on Sunday and he told me he had an offer for me..$60.00 for the two pieces, when I did not react immediately, partially because I was so stunned, he jumped right in and said "I'll go $80.00". I thanks him for his offer and told him I would think about it. I already had a contact in my hand from Replacements.com for more then $500.00 for the two pieces. The moral...Do your homework and run if someone tells you how honest they are more then three times in five minutes;.