Art Moderne Marble Chair

If you like unusual or unique furniture, try going to online auctions of modern or contemporary furniture. The pictured pair of Art Moderne chairs was sold at a Neal auction in New Orleans for an overbid of $6,100. They are carved from a block of white marble. A similar set made from black marble was […]

Spatterware and Spongeware

It is not easy to identify antique and vintage ceramics because many were made by small local potteries and not marked. Workmen often moved to another factory but continued to make the same type of wares and decoration. Spatter ware is a pottery decorated with paint that is actually spattered on the plate by flicking […]

Fruit Jar with Iron Clamp Closure

Bottle collecting has been an important pastime since the end of the 19th century when the first bottle seekers dug up examples in old privy pits, the town dump, or a rocky seacoast area. Most sought after were historic flasks made in New England glassworks. As flasks got more expensive, collectors searched for other bottles—bitters, […]

St. Patrick’s Day Postcard

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated each year on March 17th in the United States but collectors found few postcards, greeting cards or objects to collect before 1900. The first St. Patrick’s parade is said to have taken place in 1601 in St. Augustine, Florida. But a major event is the New York City parade that […]

Early American Furniture Using Local Wood

Furniture made in America during its early days sometimes used expensive imported material like mahogany with hardware from Europe. But local woods, like pine, oak, walnut and cedar, iron and even paint were available and inexpensive. The use of a local wood helps identify furniture made in New Mexico, Louisiana and parts of Pennsylvania. An […]

Stoneware Identification

There were many small potteries making stoneware and other ceramics for use in the kitchen, bedroom or farm. Most utensils made in America by the 1800s were made with thick pottery sides in simple shapes with almost no decoration. The most expensive examples collected today have a design or name on the crock to trace […]

Folk Art Whirligigs

Whirligigs were invented centuries ago. They are both toys and tools, indicators of wind direction and the weather. Sources disagree on where the first were made; it was probably in China about 400 B.C. or by Native Americans about 550 B.C. The whirligig must have a spinning part and a base and many were made […]

Labels Under Glass

Glass bottles were expensive packages for alcoholic drinks and other liquids, including many beauty products by the late 1700s. But makers liked to give products a permanent label, not just a pasted, handwritten or printed paper label. So bottles were made with a thin layer of glass that was heated to cover the label and […]

George Washington’s Birthday and the Simon’s Centennial Bitters Bottle

George Washington has had at least three official birthdays. He was born February 11, 1731. But that was according to the Julian calendar used at the time. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted, his birthday was recorded as February 22, 1732. (Read about how the calendar was changed if you’ve never learned this.) President Chester […]

Designer Dan Johnson

Dan Johnson (1918-1979), the artist, designed furniture for many companies with the midcentury modern look. He worked in Rome and California and designed a number of lines of modern furniture, especially chairs and tables, for Danish and United States companies. He often used thin, patinated metal, iron or aluminum for arms, legs and seats. He […]