Authenticating Antique Art

What should my painting sell for? Antiques appraisers are not licensed like real estate appraisers but there are art appreciation courses in universities, degrees in fine art, and appraisal associations that require members to pass tests. Some work in an art gallery, auction company or museum and learn to appraise through experience. A treasure can […]

Tin Clockwork Thief

A tin toy and its original illustrated box made in 1911 sold recently at a Bertoia toy auction in New Jersey for $12,000. It was over twice the low estimate. The clockwork toy was a boy riding a horse while carrying a copy of the now famous painting of Mona Lisa. Why was the 1507 […]

Rubber Boots

Ever wonder when rubbers replaced shoes on rainy days? Hessian soldiers wore leather boots and Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington decided boots made of rubber would be more useful and keep feet drier. Charles Goodyear had vulcanized natural rubber in the 1850s to make tires and he sold the use of the patent […]

Early Twentieth-Century American Porcelain Companies

Some of the firms making porcelain in the United States from 1900 to 1917 are listed here. Porcelain pieces from most of these companies are rare. Porcelain Company Location Dates Mark American China Company Toronto, Ohio 1894–1910 Edward Marshall Boehm, Inc. Trenton, New Jersey Malvern, England 1950-2003 1971-1992 Ceramic Art Company Trenton, New Jersey 1889–1906 […]

Dictionary Of Ceramic Terms

Coiling: A method used to make pots that uses long ropelike rolls of clay, coiled to form the desired shape, then smoothed on the inside and outside. Crystalline glaze: a glaze with clusters of flowerlike crystal designs formed by slow firing of a glaze that contains iron or rutile, large amounts of silica, and small […]

Willets Manufacturing Company (1879–C.1912)

Three brothers, Joseph, Daniel, and Edmund R. Willets, founded the Willets Manufacturing Company in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1879. The company made belleek, often hand painted, in the late 1880s and 1890s in shapes similar to those used by the Irish Belleek factory. Willets also made white graniteware, majolica, semiporcelain, and porcelain toilet sets, dishes, […]

Pope-Gosser China Company (1903–1958)

Pope-Gosser China Company was founded in Coshocton, Ohio, in 1903 by Bentley Pope (1847–1911) and Charles Gosser. Its early wares were high-quality decorative pieces. Later it made dinnerware. Some pieces were marked just Clarus Ware, but by 1908 Pope-Gosser had become part of the firm’s trademark. The company made wares for home use. It merged […]

Lenox (1906–Present)

Walter Scott Lenox (1859–1920) and Jonathan Coxon (1837–1896) founded the Ceramic Art Company in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1889. In 1906 the name of the firm was changed to Lenox, Inc. Designs used by the company always changed with prevailing styles. Early pieces were similar to Irish Belleek. They were often thin, with a nacreous […]

Edward Marshall Boehm, Inc. (1953–Present)

The animal and bird figures made by Edward Marshall Boehm, Inc., are known throughout the world and are found in many museums and private collections. Edward Marshall Boehm (1913–1969) was from Baltimore, Maryland. He studied animal husbandry, managed a farm, then joined the U.S. Army, married, and in 1945 returned to Great Neck, Long Island, […]

Holt Howard (1949-1990)

Holt Howard was a New York City importing company started in 1949 by John and Robert Howard and Grant Holt, who met as college students. Holt Howard’s first products were Christmas items made and sold in the United States. The Santa Claus mugs were so popular the company designed other mugs. By the 1950s, Holt […]