Well-made copies can fetch bids like originals
ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES PRICES OF COLLECTIBLES
Some furniture styles are so popular they are copied by cabinetmakers for hundreds of years. Some copies are easy to recognize as copies because their construction is modern.
Well-made used copies, sometimes more than 100 years old, are selling for almost as much as similar brand-new pieces. Decorators want the “look.”
The collector’s rule is: Study the best there is in museums, and buy the best you can afford.
Q: My hand-painted redand-gold Limoges plate has two green marks on the back. One is “Limoges” with a line under it and the word “France” under the line. The other is a round green mark with “Limoges, France” on the circumference of the circle and “B. & H.” across the diameter. What can you tell me about its age and maker?
A: The first mark was applied under the glaze by the company in Limoges, France, that manufactured and decorated your plate. So far, researchers have been unable to identify the company that used the mark, or perhaps more than one company used it. The “B. & H.” mark, applied over the glaze, was used in the early 1900s by Blakeman & Henderson, a French exporting company with a reputation for selling
Salt and pepper shakers, Anchor Hocking, frosted glass with painted apple-and-leaf design by Gay Fad Studios, 31/ inches, $15.
1939 New York World’s Fair souvenir chocolate candy tin, blue and orange, gold highlights, scenes from the fair, Bagatelle Miniature Chocolates, 27/ by 63/ inches, $65.
Katzenjammer Kids show poster, image of Hans & Fritz sleeping with Captain and Mama watching, linen, 1912, 40 by 29 inches, $695. high- quality porcelain. Depending on decoration and condition, Blakeman & Henderson plates sell for $100 to $200.
Q: I’ve been collecting beer mugs, old beer trays, beer advertising clocks and beer playing cards for my brother for years. My sister-in-law says it’s all junk. Is this true, or are the items collectible?
A: What’s “junk” to some is collectible to others. Breweriana collectibles, which include anything relating to beer, are very collectible and easy to sell. Trays and clocks can sell for hundreds of dollars, but even labels, beer mats, playing cards and other paper items are collectible. Price depends on age, brand, rarity and condition. walls, or golden euonymus surrounded by pink roses, but come on — it’s just taste, right?
I lectured once with a designer who flatly stated that “pink and orange never go together.” Hmmph. Guess he never saw a purple coneflower!
Still, orange is the hardest of all to pull off. Lucky for me, it’s all the fashion — at least this year.
Horticulturist Felder Rushing is a 10th-generation Southern gardener. Contact him at his website: felderrushing.net. His show, “The Gestalt Gardener,” is on Mississippi Public Radio 90.3 FM at 9 a.m. Fridays, rebroadcast at 10 a.m. Saturdays.