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Barber Bottles at Horst Auction

January 6, 2010 in Bottles by admin | No comments

Opaline bottles, marked "MACO", three barber bottles, soap and talcum container

On January 29th and 30th, 2010 Horst Auction Center in Ephrata, Pennsylvania will hold a two day unreserved auction of antiques and collectibles. The auction of 859 lots includes English & Continental china, Majolica, carnival glass, sterling silver, primitives, furniture, art, and notably a collection of barber bottles.

Decorative barber bottles were commonplace in local barber shops from the mid to late 19th century up until 1906, when the Pure Food and Drug Act prohibited the refilling of non-labeled bottles. Barbers filled the bottles with shampoo, hair tonics and oils, bay rum and rosewater. The distinctive colors and designs of the bottles allowed barbers to easily identify the contents. Included in this sale are opalescent art glass bottles, Bohemian blown art glass, bottles by specific manufactures like A T. White Hall Tatum and milk glass by Koken Barber Supply.

-Jennifer Castle, Editor, p4A.com

One Year to a Better Collection: Antique Advertising Calendar Illustrations

January 5, 2010 in Advertising, Ephemera, Fine Art by admin | No comments

Calendars are on sale everywhere this time of year: desktop calendars, day calendars, wall calendars, all with majestic photos or office jokes or beer-of-the-day recommendations. We mark them up and tear them up, not paying much attention to the art work surrounding them, but a century ago, some of the finest American artists, household names today, were plugging away as illustrators, taking commissions to create beautiful images for display above calendars.

Advances in printing and manufacturing allowed for an explosion of advertising material starting in the late 1800s, and by the early 20th century, companies were giving away all manner of things, including wall calendars. Companies like Coca-Cola capitalized on the fresh-faced “It” girl images, DeLaval Cream Separators went in for pastoral barnyard scenes like the one pictured here, while firearms-related businesses like Winchester and the Peters Cartridge Company cranked out dramatic depictions of hunters in the field.

If these images sometimes look like illustrations for novels, that’s not a coincidence. For the first time, artists found they could support themselves financially, and hopefully find enough free time to pursue their own visions, by taking commercial illustration jobs, and they worked on advertising calendars as well as books. Legions of great American artists benefited from this newfound source of income, and as a result, today’s collectors not only search out advertising calendars from specific companies, but from specific artists as well. For example, this Winchester calendar was done by A.B. Frost, who worked as a painter, illustrator, and cartoonist, while Edmund Osthaus (see our reference note on him here) did work like this calendar for DuPont; Osthaus’s calendar illustrations occasionally bring almost as much as his sporting art paintings! Even Norman Rockwell did calendar illustrations, so who knows what future artist may be creating the images for your desk calendar?

-Hollie Davis, Senior Editor, p4A.com

Dashing Through the Snow: Early Sleds and Sleighs

December 30, 2009 in Holiday & Patriotic, Toys & Games by admin | No comments

Early child's sled with foliate and bands decoration

In this modern era, sledding may be losing steam. Before long, you’ll probably be able to stay inside and go for a sleigh ride with your Wii without even having to put on your snow boots! But, at one point, sledding was a huge part of childhood, and there are so many references to it in childhood classics. Those of us who grew up sledding know why – the cold, thrilling, all-too-short rush downhill was worth spending hours in the freezing winter air, trudging uphill over and over for another go.

While my brother’s frequent crashes cracked up our plastic sleds with startling regularity, early sleds like the one pictured here were built – and decorated – to last, and those same factors have made them popular with modern collectors. Sleds or sleighs that retain most of their painted decoration have become folk art, as have the unique home-crafted creations made out of odd bits of metal or carved wood. The better the decoration and the better the preservation, the better the price! From early experimental sleds and small pony-drawn sleighs to later storebought Mickey Mouse models, there are buyers for them all.

-Hollie Davis, Senior Editor, p4A.com

Cutting Up for the Holidays: Collectible Antique Cookie Cutters

December 21, 2009 in Holiday & Patriotic, Kitchen & Household by admin | No comments

Pennsylvania wrought iron cookie cutter with incised trailing vines on handle

Pennsylvania heart-shaped wrought iron cookie cutter

Is there anything that gets the holidays started like making Christmas cookies (or eating them)? Everybody has their favorites – molasses, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, but Christmas is the one time of year that most people take the trouble to roll out sugar cookie dough and cut it up into fancy shapes. You can certainly have your choice of fancy shapes at any gourmet store, but many of us still have the cookie cutters that we used when we were little, ones that might have belonged to our grandmothers. Take a look through the database, and you might think twice about tossing them out in favor of non-stick silicone 3-D shapes!

19th century Pennsylvania tin cookie cutter in the form of a standing elephant

19th century Pennsylvania elephant form tin cookie cutter

Not many of us are fortunate enough to find a 19th-century wrought iron heart-shaped example like the one pictured here in our kitchen drawers, but for the most part, early cookie cutters are very collectible and affordable. You have your choice of common Christmas shapes like Santas and reindeer or even an ingenious cookie cutter with a multitude of shapes in one cutter. As always, there are rare shapes that command top dollar, such as a chimney sweep, a woman’s leg or an elephant, but there are plenty of everyday shapes like horses and butterflies to go around. Collectibles that you can use – what could be better? The only caveat is that such objects, simple shapes made of common materials, are easily reproduced, so be sure to educate yourself before wading into the more expensive end of the market.

-Hollie Davis, Senior Editor, p4A.com

Tomtes Bring Christmas Cheer to the p4A Office

December 14, 2009 in Holiday & Patriotic by admin | No comments

The Prices4Antiques office is decorated for Christmas with a distinctively Swedish flair! Take a look around and there are tomtes everywhere- a tomte is a gnome-like mythical creature from Scandinavian folklore. They are believed to live underneath the floorboards of a farmer’s home and to protect the family and the family’s animals from misfortune. The tomte is also the Swedish equivalent to Santa Claus, bringing gifts to children on Christmas Eve.

Our tomtes are engaging in all kinds of winter activies- caroling, skiing, ice skating, and cookie baking.