Wicker perambulators, or baby carriages, were being manufactured in America by the 1860s. They were very popular by the 1880s.

Nineteenth-century carriages were quite ornate. In the 1890s, some carriages were made with a footrest and a reclining back. A child could lie down and sleep in the carriage, so it was called a “go-cart sleeper.”

This wicker, tulip-shaped go-cart

Go-cart sleepers came in many shapes and were made by many companies, including Gendron Wheel Co., Heywood Brothers, Wakefield Rattan Co. and F.A. Whitney Carriage Co.

By 1910, simplicity was preferred, and the scrolled and curved wicker buggies were out of style. Parents preferred a very plain buggy, shaped much like a large egg.

We have a Windsor chair that was owned by a friend. It appears to be old. The legs are dowelled through the 1 1/2-inch shaped seat, and the chair’s back spindles are dowelled through the armrests. The bottom of the seat is etched “Virginia Craftsman.” There’s another word I cannot make out. Have you heard of this maker?

Virginia Craftsman Inc. worked in Harrisonburg, Va., during the 1930s. The company had exclusive rights to reproduce antique furniture owned by Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Virginia Craftsman’s reproductions were well-made and sell for good prices today.

My aunt gave me a ceramic pitcher 50 years ago. It is decorated with a painting of a man holding a riding crop and a poem titled “John Peel.” Around the base are two dates, 1776 and 1854. The pitcher’s handle is in the shape of a fox. The base of the pitcher holds a music box that plays the song “John Peel.” The mark on the bottom is “Crown Devon, Fieldings, Made in England, RdNo 796688.”

The dates written on the base are John Peel’s birth and death dates. Peel was a farmer in Cumberland who kept a pack of fox hounds. A hunter wrote the song that made Peel famous. S. Fielding and Co. operated a pottery at Stoke-on-Trent, England, from around 1870 to 1982. The trade name Crown Devon was registered in 1912. Your musical pitcher was made about 1934 and sells today for $250. There is also a Crown Devon musical John Peel tankard.

My family has had an old heating stove for generations. It still works. It can burn wood or coal and is more than 6 feet tall. It’s marked “Spicer Stove Co. Manufacturers, Providence, R.I., Model Cylinder.” Can you tell us when it was made and what its value is?

Spicer & Peckham was working in Providence at the time of the Civil War. By the 1890s, the firm had become the Spicer Stove Co. Cylinder stoves were popular from about 1880 to 1920. A cylinder stove has a tall, round body with a base that takes up a minimum of floor space. They are efficient coal and wood burners. Old cylinder stoves in excellent, working condition sell for $2,500 to $5,500 and more. Collectors especially like stoves with elaborate nickel castings. If you plan to use the stove, be sure to have it checked by an expert. A leaky or incorrectly installed stove is dangerous.

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