A doll could be more than just a doll. It might be a candy container, a tea cozy or a lamp cover, a powder-box cover or a special bed pillow. In the days before microwaves, keeping water for tea very, very hot was a problem. The water was boiled in a metal teakettle, but it was usually served in a ceramic pot. In the late 19th century, the idea of a “tea cozy” appeared. A china teapot was used to serve tea, then put back on the table and covered with a cozy to stay warm. Creative housewives made cozies of padded cloth to look like beehives, small houses, animals or even large dolls wearing full skirts. It must have been strange to see a tea service with cups and saucers guarded by a standing doll in a flared dress. Tea cozies are still made, but few are as imaginative as the old collectible ones.

Q: My husband’s family has owned a Miller Beer metal serving tray for many years. It’s 12 inches in diameter and pictures the Miller “girl in the moon” logo. The girl is dressed in a red dress, boots and large hat. The background is a dark-blue night sky with stars. Surrounding the center logo are the words “Miller High Life, The Champagne of Bottle Beer, Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A.” Can you date the tray and give us a value?

A: Frederic Miller, a German immigrant, bought a small brewery near Milwaukee in 1854. By 1883 he was bottling and selling his own beer. The Miller High Life brand name was introduced in 1903, the “Champagne of Bottle Beer” phrase in 1906, and the Miller girl in the moon in 1907. The style of your tray dates it to the mid-20th century. It would sell for about $10 to $15.

This 16-inch doll is really a 19th-century German tea cozy. The doll is made of carved and painted wood. Her skirt sits on a wooden frame that fits over a teapot. It brought 58 at a Jackson's Auction in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Q: I bought a majolica electric lamp last summer from a woman who bought it at an estate sale in the 1970s. The lamp is 23 inches tall. The majolica base is 12 inches tall and crackled all over. It is painted with stylized leaves and flowers in red, gold, violet, green, blue and brown and is signed “S … guemines” in script. Two other letters, perhaps “U” and “C,” are superimposed on the long word. Printed under this is “France, Made in France.”

A: The script word in the mark is “Sarreguemines,” a town in France where a ceramics factory was founded in 1790. Paul Utzschneider took over the factory in 1800. The “U” and “C” are the initials of his factory’s name, Utzschneider & Co. The mark on your lamp was used between about 1850 and 1900. But if the majolica base was originally drilled for a lamp cord rather than converted from a vase, it dates from closer to 1900.

Q: My family owns an oak Hoosier cabinet with a matching table, six chairs and a buffet. The whole set was made in 1937 at Hoosier’s factory in New Castle, Ind. The cabinet, with a built-in sifter inside the upper left door, is in a more modern style than other Hoosiers I have seen. On the same door there’s an original “Mrs. Christine Frederick’s Meal and Salad Chart.” The lower half of the cabinet contains a breadbox, two silverware drawers and two bottom doors. All of the pieces are in excellent, original condition. Is the set valuable?

A: Hoosier cabinets are the most collectible of kitchen furniture, but yours dates from near the end of the Hoosier era. It’s not as desirable as older free-standing kitchen cabinets. But your complete matching set might be of considerable value to a collector wishing to furnish an old-style kitchen. Hoosier Manufacturing Co. was founded in Albany, Ind., in 1898, but relocated to New Castle following a fire in 1900. The company produced free-standing kitchen cabinets in various styles until 1940. Several competitors in Indiana made similar cabinets. But by 1930, built-in cabinets were in style, and all of the Indiana manufacturers, including Hoosier, were forced to offer built-ins as well as breakfast sets and other matching furniture. The few free-standing cabinets still made were simpler, plainer and more modern-looking.

Current prices

Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States.

¢ Harris-Hart Ice Cream serving tray, tin lithograph of girl and polar bear, cream and brown, 1920s, 12 x 10 1/4 inches, $75.

¢ Pepper fishing lure, underwater minnow, 5 hooks, glass eyes, bellyweights, c. 1905, 3 inches, $225.

¢ Cast-iron garden bench, Aesthetic Style, flower medallions and hunting dog, 1900s, 31 x 51 inches, $410.