The 19th-century country store carried merchandise that today would be found in hardware, grocery, fabric and drugstores.

Large signs, colorfully labeled boxes, tins and cabinets were filled with thread, medicine or dye. They were designed to encourage the customer to buy.

This Diamond Dye cabinet, called Maypole, was made about 1904 by Meek and Beach Co. of Coshocton, Ohio. It is worth about ,000.

Well-made cabinets of oak, maple or cherry often had a lithographed tin panel insert on the front. The different cabinets held packets or bottles of Diamond Dyes, Dr. Daniels’ Veterinary Medicines, Freihofer’s Cake, Jiffy Dyes, Johnson’s Medicated Plasters, Putnam Dye, Humphries Specifics (a medicine) and other products.

The small packages that contained labeled bottles now sell for a few dollars each. Some of the decorative cabinets sell for thousands of dollars.

Best-known are the Diamond Dye cabinets that were made in the early 1900s. The company worked in Burlington, Vt., from 1881 to 1943. They made 36 different colors of fabric dye to be sold in drugstores, department stores and general stores.

There were at least eight different designs for the tin fronts. One of the most interesting is “Maypole.” It pictures a group of girls performing a Maypole dance, which was a popular activity on May Day. Colored ribbons were attached to the top of a high pole. Each girl held a ribbon. When they danced correctly, they would braid the ribbons into one long streamer.

One of these cabinets recently sold for $1,800.

My silver-plated pitcher belonged to my great-great-grandmother, who was the wife of the governor of Kansas from 1879 to 1883. The pitcher is 13 inches tall and sits in an elaborate 19-inch stand that allows the pitcher to tilt. A stemmed, silver-plated goblet sits under the pitcher’s spout on the same stand. The pitcher, goblet and stand are marked “Pairpoint Mfg. Co., Quadruple Plate.” Can you tell me more about it?

We checked the list of governors of Kansas and learned that your great-great-grandmother was married to John Pierce St. John, who ran as the Prohibition candidate for president in 1884. Your pitcher is a tilting water pitcher that was used to serve cold water. It has an inner lining that keeps the water cold. This type of pitcher was popular in the United States near the end of the 19th century.

The Pairpoint Manufacturing Co. was organized in 1880 in New Bedford, Mass. In 1900, the firm merged with the Mt. Washington Glass Co., forming the Pairpoint Corp. Quadruple plate is a high-quality, four-layer silver plate. Your pitcher was made between 1880 and 1900.

My mother-in-law inherited a picture titled “All is Vanity.” It is signed “C. Allan Gilbert, House of Art, N.Y.” The picture shows a woman sitting at a vanity in front of a large mirror. The mirror is part of an optical illusion. It also looks like a giant human skull. When was it made, and what is it worth?

Charles Allan Gilbert (1873-1929) was an American illustrator. His prints were used in advertisements and magazines during the early years of the 20th century. “All is Vanity” is Gilbert’s most popular print. It was widely reprinted and sells for about $20.

My old wartime poster has been in my attic for decades. It’s in color and pictures a woman sleeping in a wicker chair. She’s wearing an American flag-themed dress and hat. Above her are the words “Wake Up America!” Across the bottom, the poster reads “Civilization Calls Every Man, Woman and Child, Mayor’s Committee, 50 E. 42nd St.” Can you tell me anything about this poster’s origin and value?

You have a World War I military recruitment poster. The artwork was done by James Montgomery Flagg (1873-1960), who is most famous for another poster he designed: Uncle Sam pointing and saying “I Want You.” Flagg designed 46 patriotic posters during World War I and World War II. Your poster is not exceptionally rare, but it is not one that has been widely reproduced, either. If it’s in excellent condition, it could sell for more than $300.

My rattan desk and chair originally belonged to my grandmother. She probably bought them in the 1920s or 1930s. The desk has a kidney-shaped top with a rattan “cage” around the back edge. The rattan is a natural color highlighted with now-faded bands of green and red. A diamond-shaped label on the desk reads “Ficks-Reed.”

Ficks-Reed is still in business making rattan furniture in Cincinnati. The company was established in 1885 as the National Carriage and Reed Co. It was founded by Louis Ficks. At first, the firm produced woven reed and wicker baby carriages. About 1915, Ficks-Reed started manufacturing wicker furniture. When the popularity of wicker faded in the 1930s, Ficks-Reed began making rattan furniture.

Can you help me identify the maker of an antique bowl a friend gave me 40 years ago? She said that it belonged to George Washington’s household. The bowl is white with painted lavender flowers and geometric decorations. The mark is an oval with the word “Virginia” in the middle and “Victoria Pottery Pollockshaws” on the bottom.

Your bowl is old, but it’s not old enough to have been owned by George Washington. Washington died in 1799. Your bowl was made after 1855 by Lockhart & Arthur or by its successor, David Lockhart & Co., of Pollockshaws, Glascow, Scotland. The pottery used the mark you described from 1855 to 1898. The word “Virginia” is the name of the pattern.

Tip

Don’t ignore signs of “wildlife.” Use sprays and exterminators. Moths and carpet beetles eat upholstery and fabrics; termites eat wood; powder-post beetles and dry-wood termites eat wood.

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