Antiques and Collectibles

Old gardening equipment popular with collectors
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
May 4, 2008
Folk art takes many forms, anything from cigar-store Indians to bottle-cap figures and carved coal pictures.
Figurines once popular medium for humor
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
April 27, 2008
Jokes spread quickly today via the Internet or television, and satire can be found in comic strips, TV shows and e-mails. Our great-grandparents enjoyed humor just as much, but it had to be passed around by figurines, prints, dishes and even rag rugs or textiles.
Already costly antiques pack extra expenses down the road
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
April 20, 2008
Most of us buy antiques we can live with — comfortable chairs, dishes that go in a dishwasher, desks that can be used with a computer and vases for flowers. But great wealth allows collectors to buy antiques to look at, not use.
Altering antique, collectible for ‘look’ decreases value
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
April 13, 2008
Condition is important when determining the value of a piece of antique furniture we have all learned this from TV shows about antiques. Condition is also important when deciding the value of baseball cards, labeled boxes and bottles, toys and most other collectibles.
Nostalgia can drive up prices on antique toys
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
April 6, 2008
A 1950s battery-operated tin toy sold recently for $390. It wasn’t working, was missing parts and wasn’t marked with a maker’s name. But it was colorful and attractive, and when working it showed a baseball player swinging a bat.
American glass companies copied Moser designs
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
March 30, 2008
Ludwig Moser started decorating glass in Bohemia, now the Czech Republic, in 1857. He bought glass vases and tableware from others because he was not granted the right to make his own glass until 1892.
Victorian-era shaving mugs often depict owner’s occupation
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
March 16, 2008
Every Victorian barbershop had a rack filled with shaving mugs that belonged to regular customers. And most customers had a personalized mug with a name and often a special picture showing the owner’s job.
Names change but dressers remain sought after
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
March 9, 2008
Are a Welsh dresser, a Welsh cupboard and a hutch different? The problem is that names for certain pieces of furniture have changed through the years. Today all three terms are used for a piece of furniture that has a bottom section that’s a table or sideboard with cupboards and a top that’s an open shelf.
Early fitness machines developed in late 19th century
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
March 2, 2008
Health clubs and workout machines are common today in the United States, but in past centuries, hard physical work was all that was needed to stay in shape. Although group exercises like Indian club or dumbbell drills were popular, machines were unknown.
Pottery benefited immigrant girls
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
February 24, 2008
New plans to help women and girls have a better life in places as different as African villages and inner-city neighborhood centers are really not so new. The girls are given instruction in arts and crafts that can be made and sold. In about 1906, a librarian at the Boston Public Library with the same idea started a pottery class to teach immigrant teenage girls a trade.
Collectors seek popular Japanese TV show figures
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
February 17, 2008
Toys based on popular television heroes sell well, but often a number of years after the TV show has aired, the meaning of the toy has been forgotten. At a Morphy auction in December, a Japanese tin wind-up Superhero Ultraman toy with the original box sold for $575.
Original valentines were elaborate, inventive pieces
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
February 10, 2008
The custom of sending Valentine cards on Feb. 14 might date back as far as the 14th century. By the 18th century, paper valentines were well-known as a sign of love. The fancy lacy valentines collected today were first made in Europe at the beginning of the 1800s. Embossed paper, cutout edges and hand-colored pictures were used to make valentines.
Cast-iron furniture versatile for indoor, outdoor decorating
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
February 3, 2008
Almost all chairs and tables were made of wood until the beginning of the 19th century, when new materials inspired new designs. When it was first used, iron had to be hand-wrought. But with the innovations of the Industrial Revolution, iron could be molded or cast.
Secret compartments bonus to any collectible
By Ralph and Terry Kovel
January 27, 2008
Safes and banks were not easy to find in the 18th and 19th centuries. That’s why so many types of secret compartments were made in furniture and decorative items. Eighteenth-century desks often had “deed” boxes disguised as small columns on the inside near the drawers. The columns could be pulled forward and a hollow box hidden behind them could hold money and important papers, such as a land grant or a will.
Antiques give space character
By Adrian Higgins - The Washington Post
January 24, 2008
By their age and rarity, garden antiques add a unique character — an aura, really — to the spaces they define. Finding them is fraught with problems, however, and placing them can be just as tricky. But the quest can be a lot of fun and the payoff priceless.

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