The Shocking History of Medicine: A Collection of Quackery

June 24, 2013 in Science & Technology by hdavis

Medical; Quack Device, Radium Ore Revigator, Stoneware Water Cooler, 12 inch. Maybe it’s the contrast with the constant flow of medical news and technological advances, but I’m fascinated recently by all the evidence of “quackery” in the database.  Sometimes when one stops to contemplate modern medicine, it’s staggering to realize how dramatically things have changed and in such a relatively short time.  Less than 100 years ago, for instance, it wasn’t surprising to encounter containers like the one pictured here.  “The Revigator” offered customers a refreshing drink of radon-infused water.  Just put a little radium in the inner compartment, fill with water, and let Nature do the work!

Quackery actually has a very long history and is likely, I’m sure, to be even older than the word itself, which dates to about 1710 and is based on an old Dutch word, “quacksalver,” meaning “hawker of salve,” salve being one of the earliest forms of quackery.  This didn’t change for centuries, as there are any number of salve/ointment containers in the database.  (Like this one for Morris Imperial Eye Ointment.  If it was a good idea to drink radon water in 1910, I shudder to think of what it might have been thought helpful to put in one’s eye in 1890….)  Quackery borrowed the legitimacy of science for marketing purposes, and so it’s no surprised to see every scientific discovery incorporated (or at least claimed to be) for a customer’s benefit.  Electricity was, of course, a huge development, and there were dozens and dozens of companies selling machines that promised to use static electricity to cure everything from impotency to rheumatism to the ever-popular “nervous disorders.”  When one thinks of how science has advanced in the last century, it’s, well, shocking!

Time in a Bottle: Antique Bottle Whimsies

June 19, 2013 in Crafts & Folk Art by hdavis

Logging tools in an antique bottle whimsy The ship in a bottle has become an icon of sorts, a necessity in any scene depicting an expensively decorated office with a nautical theme, a visual gag as a stand-in hobby for any character when one wants to convey a level of obsessiveness or fustiness.  As usual, these sorts of stereotypes aren’t really accurate, in part simply because it wasn’t just ships that were assembled in bottles, but a wide range of folk art creations.

In many respects, bottle whimsies, as the form is called, share their origins and themes with the rest of the folk art world.  They were typically made by people either on the fringes of society (drifters, prisoners, the mentally ill, etc.) or those who found themselves in isolated circumstances for extended periods of time (sailors, loggers, soldiers at remote posts, etc.), and the majority of them seem to be made by men and unsigned.  Most of the bottles date from around the 1870s to the 1930s, but bottles from the 1850s through the 1950s are occasionally seen, but since little is generally known about the makers, it’s difficult to say if these dates also define the artwork.  And, like much folk art, religion is a common theme with a number of bottles containing depictions of Christ on the cross.

Because of their more recent age, rustic nature, and mysterious origins, bottle whimsies aren’t typically as appreciated by collectors as some other folk art forms (scrimshaw, carvings, etc.), but researchers have made some connections that allow them to attribute certain bottles to the same maker, even if the maker’s identity remains unknown.  Carl Worner is the most prolific known maker, and while little is known about his life, 50-60 bottles have been attributed to him.

Gilding the Lily: Vermeil and Decorative Objects

June 13, 2013 in Decorative Accessories by hdavis

Gorham silver urn-style compote“Vermeil” is a French word co-opted by the English in the 19th century for a silver gilt process. Vermeil is a combination of silver and gold, although other precious metals are also occasionally added, that is then gilded onto a sterling silver object. The reddish (vermilion) hue of the addition of the gold gives the product its name. Vermeil is commonly found in jewelry, silver tablewares, and small decorative objects and a standard of quality (10 karat gold) and thickness (1.5 micrometers) has been set with regard to jewelry.

Vermeil was initially created through fire or mercury gilding, a technique developed in the 18th century, which requires the application of a solution of mercury nitrate to the object and then the application of a silver and gold/mercury amalgam. In order for the gilding to adhere to the surface, the coated object is placed in a kiln and exposed to extreme temperatures, which burns away the mercury. (This is similar to the technique used to produce ormolu, a form of gold-gilt.) As a result of the intense and prolonged exposure to mercury, it has been estimated that most mercury gilders died before the age of 40. Mechanical or chemical gilding techniques were largely replaced by electroplating by the mid-19th century, and the process was banned in many countries in the mid-1800s.

The White House has a room known as the Vermeil Room, so named for a collection of vermeil tableware.

 

 

Written in Stone: Collecting Lithographs

June 11, 2013 in Ephemera, Works on Paper by hdavis

Lithograph of George Washington

Lithograph of George Washington based on a Gilbert Stuart portrait.

The word lithography comes from Greek lithos, meaning “stone” and grapho, meaning “writing.” Although “stone writing” is sometimes done today with a metal plate, traditionally the process gets its name from the use of limestone.

Lithography is made possible by one of the simplest scientific phenomena – the repelling relationship between water and oil. A hydrophobic (water-repelling) substance with a fat or oil base is used by the artist to draw the image directly on the plate, and then the plate is washed with a hydrophilic (water-drawing) solution. The plate is kept wet during printing, and the water moves to the hydrophilic blanks, repelling the oil-based printing inks toward the hydrophobic design. While a variety of options exist for hydrophobic materials, the key to success is a substance with oils that stand up to the presence of water and acid. A weak hydrophobic substance contributes to a lack of crispness in the plate image and thus in the resulting printed images.

This process was invented by Aloys Senefelder, a Bavarian writer, in the 1790s, and Senefelder predicted, but did not truly pioneer, the successful use of color that would blossom in the early 19th century. Introducing color to the process was the work of Godefroy Engelmann in the 1830s. Color lithography, known as chromolithography, requires the artist to break the image down into colors, creating a separate plate for each color to be applied. The challenge with chromolithography, and one of the key measures of quality, is how carefully the plates are aligned for each application. This is referred to as “registration” or being “in register,” revealing the care and attention to detail supplied by the printer.

While originally intended mostly for the creation of images, lithography soon became a popular method for printing texts, especially those in Arabic and other scripts where the characters are linked in a way that makes movable type less than ideal. The richness of chromolithography was not lost on artists, however, and found popularity throughout the 19th century, especially among French artists like Edgar Degas and Toulouse-Lautrec and in nature prints like those inspired by John James Audubon.

Bien chromolithograph of mallard ducks after John James Audubon.While stone is no longer the basis for the process, making “lithography” somewhat of a misnomer, lithographic printing is still widely used today. In fact, it is the method by which most modern mass printing is done. Today, the process involves a photographic process and flexible plates of aluminum, polyester or even paper. A photographic negative of the desired image is created and applied to a plate coated in a light-sensitive emulsion. Exposure to ultraviolet light creates a reverse of the negative reverse – a positive of the original image – on the plate. This transfer of images is also sometimes accomplished with the use of laser technology, but in the end the process remains the same: water is applied and rejected by the emulsion, hydrophobic ink moves toward the areas of design, and the basic conflict between oil and water continues to produce most of our books, newspapers, and magazines!

Call of the Wild: Collecting Antique Bird Calls

June 5, 2013 in Miscellaneous Antiques, Sports by hdavis

A carved [duck hunting] duck call by Charles Perdew (1874 to 1963) of Henry, Illinois.My brother came to visit recently and because he is intent on being the best uncle ever, he arrived with four stuffed birds (all of them play the appropriate bird song and all of them must now travel up and down daily with my daughter for naps and bedtime) and his turkey call. It’s spring and the wooded strip between our house and the creek bottom is alive with birds, including our local flocks of turkeys who are all atwitter for mating season. They were eager to talk and my daughter, who loves all things birds, was, of course, transported.

But she’s not apt to start collecting bird calls soon – and not just because of my sanity, but because various hunting calls are actually one of those classic examples of when it’s important to take a closer look. Many of them are commonplace, of course, and mass-produced, but certain ones could finance a college education! You’ll find handcrafted calls for a variety of birds in the antiques marketplace, including goose, turkey, and even crow, but duck calls are, by far, the most prevalent.

American Indians had likely used mouth calling for generations, but mechanical calls came into being around the mid-19th century with the first patent recorded in 1870. Several family names became associated with the production of mechanical calls – yes, before the Robertson family of Duck Dynasty came along. Fisher, Beckhart, Turpin, Perdew (see above) – and many others – are apt to show up at yard sales for pocket change, but a Perdew call, for instance, can bring anywhere from $200 to $8,000 or more at auction, depending on type, age, and condition. These are the kinds of little yard sale finds that the database can turn into big money, so when in doubt, it definitely pays to search!

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