Top 10 Collectibles for 2019
Make starting a new collection one of your resolutions— and gain inspiration by perusing our list of key country collectibles sure to be sought after in the coming months, from advertising thermometers to treenware, children’s playthings and more.
From cheese boxes and advertising thermometers to toy irons, egg scales and more, our annual list provides insights for seeking out new treasures.
SSaving pieces of the past is one side of collecting; the other is forging a connection with objects that may be decades or even centuries older than the collector. Seeking such treasures from among the thousands presented in antiques centers, at flea markets and on auction sites is a personal affair. When collectors find an object that resonates with them, a new collection is born!
You never know when or where you might make such a connection. Gathering insight and inspiration from other antiques aficionados and their prized possessions helps keep history alive in homes across the country, even if the types and eras of the pieces vary widely.
This year’s installment of our annual list of trending items features pieces gathered by collectors who select and display objects that they feel add to the heart and soul of their home. These 10 collectibles, including treenware, advertising thermometers, cheese boxes, egg scales, children’s tea sets, toy irons, bubble banks, mashers, motto ware and vintage seed packets (which appear in no specific order of popularity) have universal appeal. Each assortment represents personal commitment and offers an outlet for creative expression. Read on to discover more about our top picks for collecting in 2019!
1 Mashers
If a hammer was one of the most important tools in the 19th-century American toolshed, perhaps the masher was its equivalent in the
kitchen. Invented in the time of the Pharaohs, versions of the masher have proven their worth in food preparation for centuries. In 19thcentury America, nearly every kitchen had one to mash vegetables such as potatoes, but they were also useful for grinding herbs, seeds and nuts.
This featured assortment of mashers is a family affair—Rick Hall of Springfield, Ohio, designed and built a custom shelf to showcase the colors and designs of wife Sherri’s favorite antique kitchen goods. Sherri has acquired a respectable gathering of two dozen mashers over the years. “My collection started with a couple, and then I realized I loved the look,” Sherri says. “I look for different sizes and colored handles, which are harder to find.” This passionate collector has sought out examples at flea markets, garage sales, auctions and antiques shops, paying as little as $1 to as much as $16 for each one.
2 Advertising Thermometers What started as a clever marketing scheme has become highly sought wall decor. Colorful metal advertising signs were durable to the elements, thus making them well suited to mounting on commercial establishments in every town across America. Such advertising signs were popular in the 1920s, when they were given freely to hardware and general stores dotting the rural landscape. Adding a functional aspect to the signs in the form of a thermometer guaranteed longterm placement—at least until the nails rusted away. Signs in mint condition fetch the highest values, but some collectors don’t mind a few chips and the rust or patina earned with age.
For Linda Leece of Norcross, Georgia, these collectibles also are imbued with personal nostalgia. “We picked up thermometers as we traveled around from state to state, and we liked the fact that the town and state were on most of them,” she says. “They bring back fond memories of all kinds of places we visited.”
Linda purchased many of her pieces from antiques shops and flea markets over a 15-year span for between $10 and $75. She mounted the colorful metal thermometers gallery style on the wall of her covered porch, allowing passersby a glimpse of yesteryear.
3 Cheese Boxes
Safely transporting cheese from producer to consumer during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s required a different sort of packaging than you’ll find at the grocery store today. In those days, cheese arrived fresh and undamaged at the grocer, crated in wood boxes with brightly printed graphics. The durable dovetail or nailed construction of these cheese boxes, along with their appealing text, accounts for their collectibility.
Tina Boyles of Poca, West Virginia, started collecting vintage cheese boxes nearly 30 years ago, attracted to the colors in the graphics and their wood patina. “The designs depicted in black, red and blue are the colors I also use in my home decor,” she says. Tina has accumulated a collection nearing 70 boxes. “I have never paid more than $15,” she says, noting that they are getting harder to find and she’s seen some priced between $20 and $30, with rare examples commanding higher prices. Tina groups her cheese boxes with other collections, including an early Peerless washer and tin graters.
4 Egg Scales
Nothing says “farmhouse” like an old egg scale—in the past, every small chicken and egg farmer had one. Due to the resurgence of poultry popularity with backyard farmers, these serviceable little gems might just be making a comeback. Grading an egg by weight has been a common practice since the turn of the last century. Washed and graded eggs commanded a higher price, thus necessitating the invention of egg scales, mostly manufactured after 1920 until World War II. Constructed with a simple counterweighted mechanism and durable metal components, egg scales were assured a lifetime of use. Acme and Unique egg scales manufactured by Specialty Manufacturing of St. Paul, Minnesota, proved to be top sellers, but Linda Leece’s collection also includes scales by JiffyWay (Owatonna, Minnesota), Royal (Bowling Green, Ohio), and Zenith (Earlville, New York). Linda found scales for her collection during her travels through Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Values range from $12.50 to $50 for rust-free examples.
5 Children’s Tea Sets
Small cups, plates and teapots adorned with Asian-themed decoration were popular children’s playthings in the 19th century. Josiah Spode, a potter in Staffordshire, England, created the traditional transfer-printed version of the pattern known as Blue Willow around 1810. The blue-andwhite earthenware features distinctive Asian motifs said to depict a legend about drowned lovers who are transformed into birds. Until late into the 19th century, Blue Willow children’s sets were made in England, but Japan began to produce the sets during the 20th century. In addition to the tea sets, there were also dinner sets that included items such as tureens, platters and covered serving dishes.
Patty Moore of Kalamazoo, Michigan, received her first tea-set pieces from her mother while she was a high-school student. Today, Patty continues the tradition by collecting the tiny china for her four granddaughters. “I hope that someday each of my granddaughters will have sets of their own,” she says. She uses a cubbyhole display shelf to highlight the petite playthings in her collection. While English-made specimens are more costly, examples of Japanese-manufactured Blue Willow from the 20th century can be acquired for between $5 and $12 apiece, with sets fetching between $95 and $150.
7 Bubble Banks
post–World War II America, clear glass globe-shaped “bubble banks” encouraged saving with chirpy phrases printed on their wooden bases. Whimsical cardboard figures were contained inside the bubbles. The figures featured a “money meter” measuring scale printed on the back. Vic Moran of Bradford, Ohio, patented the idea in 1941, and Sears, Roebuck & Co. sold the banks for 94 cents. Moran passed away in 1949, before the popularity of his invention took hold. These charming pieces are challenging to find today.
Linda Leece purchased her first bubble bank from a dealer at the Pride of Dixie Antique Show in Norcross, Georgia, two decades ago and she paid $150. The bank features two yellow goats inside and the phrase “Save for the Kids” on the base. She returned to the show many times to obtain more banks. “The seller had quite a large collection to sell,” she recalls. “I started acquiring them, one a month.” Her favorite piece features a cow motif and the phrase “Moo-La.” Of the two dozen documented styles of bubble banks, there are several that can fetch as much as $1,000 according to Linda, whose perseverance, patience and passion rewarded her with 12 rare banks.
8 Treenware
Well before the advent of Tupperware, early American cooks sought ways to contain foodstuffs, and wood was a good choice—and plentiful to boot. Early examples of lidded wooden boxes used for food storage were carved, and later ones (from the mid-19th century) were turned on a lathe. The latter are commonly referred to as treenware (as they are made from trees), but they are sometimes called Peaseware if they can be attributed to Ohio craftsman David Mills Pease (1815–1890), whose maple containers supported a family wood-turning business for more than two decades.
Treenware boxes free of cracks and chips are valued between $45 and $95 for average-size examples, and boxes attributed to David Pease are valued between $250 and $800. Patty Moore highlights her robust collection on a 19th-century dresser alongside an assortment of early books. Patty has one piece of Peaseware, which she purchased at the bargain price of $35 from a local antiques mall. She has found other pieces at local estate sales and antiques shops for around $20, but paid $150 for a tea caddy.
9 Motto Ware
If you enjoy serving up a quaint saying along with your cup of tea, you’ll find charm in the English art pottery known as motto ware. Motto ware was produced from the 1920s through the 1950s for the tourist trade in Devon, England. The pieces were crafted by local potters in the area surrounding the seaside town of Torquay, which led to the items also being known as Torquay motto ware. These ceramic wares made of local red clay were decorated with quaint sayings and rhymes and sometimes included scenes of the English countryside known as Cottage pattern. Rhymes scratched into the surface of these goods revealed the red clay body of teacups, pots and more. There are hundreds of mottos, such as “Drown your sorrows in a cup of tea” or “A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck,” which act as playful conversation starters.
Patty Moore’s collection started with a single teacup. “I bought my first piece at a tag sale,” she recalls. “It included the saying, ‘Say little and think much,’ which I thought was a wonderful phrase.” After that, she began accumulating more of the charming pieces, often via online auction sites. Recent listings show prices for motto-ware plates ranging between $15 and $25, creamers and small pitchers between $25 and $50, and teapots between $25 and $65.
10 Vintage Seed Packets
Vintage seed packets from the late 19th and early 20th centuries evoke Victorian Romanticism with their vibrant and detailed renderings of perfect blooms and blemish-free vegetables. The popularity of the porch in Victorian America connected neighbors and passersby, and the surrounding gardens adorned that social stage with color. Early lithographic firms with ties to Germany produced some of the finest examples of seed packets. Those firms also created advertising signs for agricultural products, greeting cards and postcards. American gardens grew colorful as different varieties of seeds became readily available and were offered for sale in local hardware stores.
As a nostalgic nod, collector Lynne Peterson of Fairburn, Georgia, shows off unopened seed packets in an original store display case. Early seed packets can be found for between $3 and $8 apiece, with large-format packets selling for more than $12. This utilitarian ephemera has artistic value, making it perfect for framing, as well.