After making a fortune selling soap, Elbert Hubbard decided that money was not the most important part of his life. He founded a community with workshops that made furniture, leather goods, metal ware, baskets, rugs and wood carvings.

Hubbard and his Roycroft community in East Aurora, N.Y., were influenced by the thoughts of William Morris of England. Their motto was “Not how cheap, but how good.”

This chest of drawers with five graduated drawers is marked Roycroft on the front. It sold a few years ago at a Treadway auction for 5,400.

The Roycrofters’ Mission-style furniture, first made in 1901, is popular with collectors today. Heavy oak or mahogany chairs and tables, slant-top desks, lamps, chests of drawers and bedroom sets were made. The handcrafted hardware was often made of copper or brass. Pieces were branded with a mark that included the name “Roycroft.”

The best Roycroft furniture sells today for tens of thousands of dollars. An ordinary bookcase might be $1,500.

Hubbard had an interesting and creative life. In 1899, he wrote what would become one of the most famous books of the 20th century, “A Message to Garcia.” Even his death was newsworthy: He and his wife died on the Lusitania when it sank just before the start of World War I.

Can you give me information about a color print I found in my father-in-law’s basement? It is 18 inches square with a wooden frame. The picture shows a blond girl in a fancy pink dress petting a big black-and-white dog. Behind them is a breakfast table and two chairs.

In the bottom right corner are the printed words “By mailing to the Midland Coffee and Spice Company of St. Joseph, Mo., 20 Midland Coffee wrappers, we will send one of these beautiful pictures without any advertising matter on. Postage Paid.”

Your print is an original store display ad. It was made to hang in a grocery store during the first half of the 20th century. The ad encouraged shoppers to buy Midland brand coffee and offered a premium to people who saved 20 wrappers.

If it is in the original frame, your print would sell for about $250. A print without the corner ad is not as valuable.

I inherited a set of 91 dishes from my mother, who bought them at a Pennsylvania jewelry store in the early 1940s. We call them “opera dishes” because each piece is decorated with a scene and sheet music from one of 12 French operas.

They are marked with the gold letters “PV” enclosed in a circle. Some are also marked “Made in England for PV.” At an antiques shop, I found two other plates like them, marked “Terre de fer, France.” Are these plates copies of mine?

Your dishes are copies of the French hand-painted wares. The “PV” mark stands for Peasant Village.

Peasant Village wares many of them reissues of older patterns were made into the 1950s in England.

An old friend who collected antiques gave me an ornate, silver-plated copper basket. It is 21 1/2 inches tall, including the handle. The panels on the basket picture people dancing, drinking and eating. The handle is decorated with cherubs.

The mark on the bottom is “Barbour S.P. Co. International S. Co. 3718.” What can you tell me about the basket?

The Barbour Silver Plate Co. was a division of the International Silver Co., which was founded in 1898 in Meriden, Conn. (The Barbour Silver Co. was one of the companies that formed the International Silver Co.)

Your basket was made sometime between 1920 and 1931. It was part of a line of Dutch reproductions made by Barbour using a process called “copper deposit.” An impression was made in wax, and the wax form was plated with copper. Then the wax was melted and the piece was plated with silver.

These baskets are popular with collectors. Yours would sell for about $250.

How old is the first talking doll? How did she talk? Today, doll-makers use electronic chips.

The first talking dolls were made in the 19th century. In 1889, Thomas Edison developed a doll that “talked” with the help of a tiny record player inside the doll. A Steiner Bebe doll made in France in 1892 could talk. A few years later, a Bebe Jumeau doll was made that talked.

In the 1940s a Terri Lee doll was made with a speaker that could connect to a record player. The Ideal Toy Co. made a keywind doll in the 1950s that could talk and laugh. A pull string made the Tandy Talks doll work in the 1960s. Chatty Cathy by Mattel had a voice box in her chest.

Many other talking dolls were made in the 1970s and after. Most were based on TV characters.

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