Holiday & Patriotic

You are currently browsing the archive for the Holiday & Patriotic category.

Feather Christmas tree on revolving musical stand

Feather Christmas tree on revolving musical stand

The tradition of bringing a tree into the home and decorating it was first criticized by the prophet Jeremiah.  Oliver Cromwell later preached again the “heathen tradition,” but of course, we know how things turned out for him….  Later, Christmas trees were criticized for different reasons – environmental ones!  It’s a little hard to imagine now, but in the early 20th century, railroads and other changes in industry had resulted in rapid deforestation, thereby opening the door for artificial trees.

The first artificial trees produced for the mass market were feather trees, and they are still very collectible.  Feather trees are just that – trees made of feathers.  Goose feathers, with one half stripped away, were dyed and then wound around small sticks or wires.  After being bound off with wire, these “branches” were fitted in holes drilled in a central wooden dowel that acted as the trunk.  They were mostly sold in white or shades of green, but were also available in more exotic colors like this blue one.  As they evolved, some came with small berries (that cleverly served the dual purpose of providing a solution to the tricky wrapping at the end of the branch), while smaller versions appear in the hands and packs of Santa figurines.  Fancy versions, like the one pictured above, often had musical rotating bases.  After that, the mass market machine kicked into drive, and aluminum, PVC and fiber optic trees couldn’t be far behind!

Originally published on December 4, 2009

An early 20th century painted sheet iron frame made from remnants of the battleship Maine with photographConstruction of the U.S.S. Maine was authorized in August of 1886, and she was launched in 1889 and commissioned in 1895.  After several years spent patrolling the East Coast and Caribbean, orders sent the Maine and her crew to Cuba in response to continued civil unrest on the island.

Three weeks later, on the morning of February 15, 1898, the battleship Maine lay in Havana harbor. Just after the playing of Taps, Captain Charles Sigsbee recalls, “I laid down my pen and listened to the notes of the bugle, which were singularly beautiful in the oppressive stillness of the night. . . . I was enclosing my letter in its envelope when the explosion came. It was a bursting, rending, and crashing roar of immense volume, largely metallic in character. It was followed by heavy, ominous metallic sounds. There was a trembling and lurching motion of the vessel, a list to port. The electric lights went out. Then there was intense blackness and smoke.”

Later investigations determined that the ship’s powder stores detonated, ripping off the forward third of the ship.  Such a significant breach caused the ship to sink rapidly, but tragedy occurred almost instantly for the many enlisted men sleeping in the forward section of the Maine.  Most of the Maine‘s crew died instantly, with 266 men killed in the explosion and another 8 men dying later from injuries.  Officers, who were quartered in the rear of the ship, fared better, with 18 officers among the Maine‘s 89 survivors. Most of the dead were recovered from Havana’s harbor and were buried in Havana, but almost two years later, in December of 1899, the bodies were disinterred and reburied in Arlington National Cemetery.

The explosion brought about the “Remember the Maine!” battle cry and helped precipitate the start of the Spanish-American War in April of 1898, but numerous investigations, both in the period and years later, have attributed the cause to one of two accidental causes.  One theory is that a external mine in the harbor detonated, most likely accidentally, while the other generally accepted theory attributes the explosion to spontaneous combustion of the Maine‘s own coal supplies.  In either case, the explosion was likely unintentionally and triggered a second, larger explosion by detonating the ship’s powder stores.

Maine-related memorabilia is rare, but appreciated by collectors of historic material when it finds its way to auction. In the aftermath, several companies attempted to capitalize by the patriotic surge the event created, so Maine-related advertising has collectors, but the real money is typically reserved for items related to the Maine in the months before the explosion or pieces created by survivors.

A Santa Claus Belsnickle figure of exceptionally rare form, likely made in Pennsylvania in the 1870sAs small children, most of us were likely threatened with lumps of coal or switches in our stockings,  but for the most part, modern-day Christmas celebrations focus far more on the nice than on the naughty.  This wasn’t always the case, and our jovial 20th-century Saint Nick and his comical elfin sidekicks have their roots in a much darker image: the ancient Germanic Christmas figure of Pelzsnickel, literally “furry Nicholas.”  The character of Pelznickel, known throughout Europe, followed the Germans across the Atlantic to Pennsylvania where he became Belsnickel or Belsnickle.  Crossing cultural lines, Pelznickel morphed into a variety of characters ranging from a dark, frightening whip-carrying figure in ghoulish costume to a gentle fur-clad woodsman dispensing toys and justice.  Somewhere along the line, however, he became “our” Santa and “belsnickle” became the word for a traditional Santa ornament.

Belsnickles, for the most part, are surprisingly uniform. Aside from the colorful character pictured here, who is saddled with toys and the accoutrements one might need when tramping through the woods on a snowy evening and whose uniqueness is reflected in his $25,000 price, most belsnickles take the standard form of a somber, robed Saint Nick. Occasionally, he is holding a small Christmas tree, but otherwise, the only thing that varies is the color of his robe. Not to worry, though, because his robe comes in a rainbow of colors from the traditional red or white to orange, yellow, blue, and even pink! Value is, as always, determined by condition but also by the rarity of the color of Santa’s robes. Nice or naughty, any Christmas collector can appreciate these colorful characters!

Uncle Sam World War I recruiting poster by James Montgomery FlaggFor the Fourth of July, Uncle Sam puts in an appearance right along with parades and fireworks.  There was a time when he was far more ubiquitous, and many people are unaware of his remarkable journey from government contractor to American icon!  When the U.S. was entrenched in the War of 1812, Samuel Wilson, a small-town meat-packing magnate from Troy, New York, obtained a government contract to supply troops in the northern parts of the country.  Barrels of salt beef marked “U.S.” were shipped to the troops, who began to joke that the initials really stood for “Uncle Sam.”  Of course, many military-issued supplies were marked in this manner, and before long, soldiers were joking about getting presents from Uncle Sam when each shipment arrived.Uncle Sam may have gotten his name in 1812, but it took forty years for someone to bring him to life in an illustration; this illustration must have captured the imagination of thousands of Americans, as Sam soon began to appear everywhere!  Folk artists were among the first to pick up Uncle Sam’s image, but the familiar bearded visage has also been used to market everything from tobacco to candy (whilst inexplicably riding a rabbit) to paint.  My personal favorite is this cutout of Uncle Sam, who seems to have abandoned his coat and tails in order to shill for OshKosh overalls.

Fortunately, he was dressed up again and at his gravest by the time he “posed” for his iconic 1917 World War I poster depiction (pictured above) by artist James Montgomery Flagg.(For more on Flagg, click here to read our reference note.)

Flag Day, June 14, commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States. Here’s a look back at some great historical flags that have sold at auction:

34 star American flag carried into the Civil War battle of Shiloh by William Shallenberger

Rare and historic printed silk 34 star American flag carried into the historic Civil War battle of Shiloh by William Shallenberger, Company D, 55th Regiment of the Illinois Volunteer Infantry

A 13 star American Navy flag with hand-sewn stars belong to Anna Rowell Philbrick Decatur wife of Stephen Decatur

A 13 star American Navy flag with hand-sewn stars belong to Anna Rowell Philbrick Decatur wife of Stephen Decatur

American Centennial flag, circa 1876, wool, printed and machine sewn, with "1776 1876" in the canton

American Centennial flag, circa 1876, wool, printed and machine sewn, with "1776 1876" in the canton

Abraham Lincoln & Andrew Johnson 1864 campaign flag. Unusual style with stars in the upper right-hand quadrant

Abraham Lincoln & Andrew Johnson 1864 campaign flag. Unusual style with stars in the upper right-hand quadrant

A circa 1850s 13-Star and Anchor flag

A circa 1850s 13-Star and Anchor flag

Reference & Further Recommended Reading:


To search the Prices4Antiques antiques reference database for valuation information on hundreds of thousands of antiques and fine art visit our homepage www.prices4antiques.com


« Older entries