What to Do With Ivory

What to do with ivory is one of today’s toughest questions. A reader wrote:

“My mother’s upright piano is quite old and I’m sure the keys are ivory. What are the laws on ivory? I inherited this piano and don’t know how to handle the problem. She wanted my niece to have it, but the niece is angry at the family and we are not on speaking terms. And she has a tiny apartment which can’t house a piano. Help.” 

It’s a complicated question to answer. Ivory has been used in everything from carvings, artwork and ornamental items to false teeth, buttons, cutlery handles, fans, billiard balls, dominoes and other game pieces for centuries. The Federal Endangered Species Act laws about ivory were originally passed in January 1990. Before the ban, the legal international trade in African elephant ivory flourished. Once the ban went into effect, elephant populations in the wild are said to have stabilized.  
 
The laws regarding ivory have been amended many times but have become even more confusing. For detailed information go to the latest rulings by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A total ban on the sale of any ivory was passed in July 2016, but a few exceptions have been passed since, most for musical instruments. Regarding pianos, federal regulations have eliminated the import and export of pianos with ivory keys and prohibited most sales of ivory-keyed pianos across state lines. Individual states have either passed or are trying to pass bills of their own to eliminate sales within their own borders, so dealers and individuals will not be permitted to buy, sell, or take in trade pianos with ivory keys unless the ivory is removed from the piano before it is moved. 
 
Other details that complicate the sale of pianos—if the ivory is part of an antique more than 100 years old, it is “okay.” While many older pianos have ivory keys, ivory was not used for piano keys after the mid-1950s in the U.S, and after the 1980s in Europe, so pianos made between 1920 and the 1950s would not qualify as antique. Also, if ivory piano keys have been repaired, the ivory is considered “new.” 
 
Ivory can’t cross most state lines. To figure out restrictions, you have to have specific information.  How old is the piano and do you have proof of its age? Through what port of entry, if any, was the piano brought into this country? Sometimes you must prove you are related to the proposed new owner. You may have noticed most auctions and estate sales do not include pianos—too big a chance that something will become entangled in the endangered species laws. Some piano-moving companies are even refusing to move ivory-keyed pianos to avoid the hassle of inspections and paperwork. 
 
Your family problems make it even tougher. The law says you can pass down a piano to a relative in the same state, but you can’t sell it. You may be able to give it to a relative in another state, but do your research—there may be legal restrictions and paperwork. If nothing else works, try the old fashioned “draw straws” method (using appropriate paper, not plastic, straws!). If it is still a puzzle, ask your family’s favorite charity if they want a piano. You may be able to get a tax deduction for the gift, but again, that depends on another set of laws. 
 
P.S. You can replace the ivory keys with plastic but that is expensive, probably more than the piano will sell for. 

 

Requesting Care with Price Stickers

Reader C.W. writes with a request:

“Please help me persuade the owners or managers of all thrift stores and thrift store chains – Goodwill, Salvation Army, Savers etc. – to instruct their workers that they should NEVER use a price tag to cover the mark on the bottom of a piece of china, glassware, etc. This drives me nuts! and I am not alone, because I’ve discussed this with many other frustrated shoppers. You’d think the managers would eventually get the point, seeing how many times shoppers try to peel off those price tags to get a look at the marks, but it doesn’t seem to bother anybody except those of us who are shopping and who are entitled to try able to identify and fully inspect anything we might buy. You are in a position to get this point across better than I’ve been able to. I have spoken to thrift store managers time and time again, demonstrating my point by showing them the half-wrecked price tags, but it keeps happening. Please use your good influence on behalf of all of us who shop for goodies. Thank you so much!”

Good advice. And we add, please don’t use a price sticker to cover up a chip or blemish.

 

 

Grave Markers

D.W. of New York wrote us about one of our columns. It was about a Confederate soldier’s grave marker made for the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

“You missed a great opportunity to help put a stop to the ‘grave robbing’ that seems to be the thing to do today. When someone wrote to you about a Confederate grave marker, it should have been obvious it was stolen off the grave.

“My Revolutionary War ancestor had a tombstone, ‘Isiah Whitman – Soldier of the Revolution’ which disappeared from his grave. A ‘historian’ in the Mohawk Valley was caught stealing the marble tombstones, making tables from them and selling them … and one enterprising thief was caught with his backyard filled with antique cemetery urns.

“Please do not promote the collecting, buying or selling of valuable memorials. Thanks.”

We did miss the opportunity to reiterate a message we have written before, that “… there are some things that should not be collected. Monuments, statues and markers placed in cemeteries or parks to remember the dead should never be removed and sold. It is against the law in most states.” We appreciate the letter that points out that stealing grave markers is despicable, disrespectful and illegal.

 

 

Storing Vintage Clothing

Kathleen C., a reader who worked in a museum of design, sent a great suggestion to add to our comment about storing vintage clothing. Not only must you leave “breathing room” when hanging things, but you MUST NOT use plastic bags. Dry cleaner bags or zippered plastic garment bags will not let air in or out. I think when the closet is stuffed full, you should think about giving away anything you haven’t worn in a year, or anything out of style or that doesn’t fit.

 

 

 

More On Gale Santas

Polly Hacket-Morley, a writer for many antiques magazines, wrote us with more information about the Santa Claus dolls we mentioned in the December 2017 newsletter. The dolls were first made about 1946 and continued until 1987 or 1988. The animated dolls had no identification but a sheet of paper with the Gale name packed with the figure. The dolls changed slightly over the years. There were three sizes – 15, 20 and 26 inches high. Many were store displays for products. Both Santa and Mrs. Santa had red clothes, but from 1962 to 1965, Santa was dressed in a blue suit for the Kansas City Royals. Their hands were “mitts” and only some larger had thumbs. After 1957, some 15-inch dolls were made for home sales and clothes were more elaborate. There were pink or gold mesh jackets, beige, yellow and baby blue outfits, and velvet pants. Larger still dolls had red velvet or satin clothes with black vinyl boots and white vinyl shoes. There was even white fur. The figures are still sold on eBay and other online sites.

 

 

 

Nippon

J.C.F. wrote to tell us about a mistake in the answer to a question in the December 2017 Collector’s Gallery. We said “Nippon” was the English word for Japan, but it is the Japanese word for Japan. After the passage of the McKinley Tariff Act in 1890, the country of origin had to be marked on goods imported into the United States. Some manufacturers didn’t want to say Japan because at that time Japanese goods were of low quality. Instead, Nippon was used as the country of origin for goods imported from Japan from 1890 to 1921. From 1921 on, the U.S. required the word Japan. Nippon was sometimes used after 1921 as part of a company name.

 

 

 

Fantasy Hatpin

From R.D. (edited): I was happy to see the article on hatpins from the Mike Clum auction in the January 2018 newsletter. The hatpin you featured on the front page, leaves and purple disk, is a newly made Czech fake. I have collected for 35 years, have been a member of both collecting clubs and both hatpin discussion boards. Fake and fantasy hatpins are getting much better these days. Clum’s should not be faulted as they are not hatpin experts but do an outstanding job of auctioning hatpins and holders. Thank-you for writing about hatpins and we collectors hope you will continue to publish information on them. We do enjoy the information on other antiques in the newsletter, too!

Thanks for writing. We did mention fantasy hatpins in the copy with the picture on the front page, but we didn’t say that the pictured hatpin was a fantasy and we did not know it was an old Czech fake. Clum’s had it identified as a fake in the auction catalog. We are glad that you enjoy the newsletter! We like sharing the latest collecting trends, prices, and the best places collectors can go to learn more or meet those with similar interests.

 

 

 

Chein Roller Coaster Toy

Q:  From E.J. (edited): You wrote in the Sept. 2017 Buyers Price Guide: Toy, Disneyland Roller Coaster….Chein, 1929… It could be a Chein roller coaster, but Disneyland did not exist until 1955. I ordinarily love your newsletter, but a glitch this large I could not pass on.

A:  You are right! It was an error. We accepted the description of the toy from the seller and didn’t do the usual fact-checking. Here’s some research that might help date the versions of the toy.

In the 1997 book J. Chein & Co., A Collector’s Guide to an American Toymaker by Alan Jaffe (Schiffer Publishing) there are several versions of the Chein roller coaster. It was designed by Eugene Bosch, who started working for Chein in 1931. The 18-inch-long tin toy roller coaster was made in 1946. It was one of several amusement park toys. An altered version with a new painted scene was made as a Ski Ride in the early 1950s. A plain roller coaster with a side show entrance but no Disney emblem was made from 1949 until 1952 and, perhaps, longer. Another version with a hotdog stand in the picture was made in 1964. The Disney roller coaster used Mickey’s face, so it had to have been licensed by Disney, probably at the time of the opening of Disneyland in 1955. J. Chein & Co. went out of the toy business, was eventually bought, and then went bankrupt and closed in 1992.

 

 

Ceramic Arts Studio Founder’s Name Misspelled

Greetings, folks.

The page in your price book with the paragraph about the Ceramic Arts Studio has my grandfather’s last name spelled wrong. It should be Lawrence “Rabbitt” not “Rabbett.”

                                                                                    -Thank you! Sean Rabbitt.

 

Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide lists Lawence Rabbitt and Ruben Sand as founders of the Madison, Wisconsin, pottery that worked from 1940 to 1955. They were best known for their figurines and shelf sitters. Thanks, Sean!

 

 

 

Collectors Gallery Mystery

Sometimes we even get stumped when it comes to certain collectibles. In our September 2016 newsletter, we asked our readers if they could identify a mysterious object. Our reader J.E. from Newark, Delaware, was the first to respond with the correct answer. The object is a scoreboard for billiards. We will be sending him an autographed copy of the new Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide 2017.