Optician Trade Sign

With its simple shapes, copper frame and red glass panels, this might look like a hanging sculpture in a modern abstract style. It’s really an optician’s trade sign from the late 19th century. Antique signs, advertising and medical paraphernalia are popular collectibles. Some collectors seek them out for their historical significance or subject matter. Others […]

Odd Fellows Shelf

Secret societies are, by their nature, mysteries to people who aren’t part of them. But other people are aware of their symbols. This carved wooden shelf is decorated with symbols of the Odd Fellows. It features three chain links, representing the society’s values of Friendship, Love, and Truth. Other symbols have more general, familiar meanings. […]

Antique Toy Factory by Bing, Germany

Antique toys can give us a glimpse into the time they were made. Even if they are not exact models, we can get ideas of the cars people drove, how they dressed and furnished their homes and what professions they had or pastimes they enjoyed. If antique toys teach us about the past, they taught […]

“Make-Do” Hand Mirror

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” These were words to live by in the days before mass production, online shopping and overnight shipping. This leaf-shaped hand mirror in an irregular wooden frame is a “make-do” mirror, made by setting a broken mirror in a frame so it could still […]

Sailor-made Cribbage Board

Do you like to play games on your phone while you’re on a long trip? Today’s travel games have plenty of predecessors. Cribbage, a card game where players keep score with pegs on a board, is believed to have been invented in the 17th century. It became a favorite of sailors and was especially popular […]

Butter Print

It isn’t easy to recognize this wood piece with a deeply carved design. Unlike today’s familiar decorating stamping tools, it wasn’t pressed into ink and used to print on fabric or paper. It is a butter print. Nineteenth-century farm families made their own butter, shaped it in molds, and pressed designs into it with hand-carved […]

Diamond Dyes Cabinet

Collectors of antique advertising look for vivid colors and eye-catching graphics. And who would have brighter colors than a dye company? Today, few people buy fabric dyes outside of craft projects, but most families wore homemade clothes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Clothing was made to last, and items were often repaired […]

Redware Bird Whistle

People have been captivated by bird songs for centuries. At some point, clever artisans realized that whistles could not only imitate birds, but they could also be made to look like them. Ceramic bird-shaped whistles have been made for hundreds of years all over the world. Examples dating to about 1000 A.D. have been found […]

Victorian “Bisquit” Jar

This silver on copper “bisquit jar” is a classic Victorian piece. It uses an old spelling for “biscuit,” a British English term. In present day American English, we would call it a cookie jar. Silver and silver plate were popular in the Victorian era. Almost every type of food had its own specific serving dish […]

Advertising Lamp

Advertising and store collectibles have historical significance and brand recognition as well as artistic value. Combining all three brought this lamp a price of $2,700 at Morford’s Antique Advertising Auctions. The lamp was made by Fenton, a well-known art glass company. Its bell-shaped blue shade for Bell Telephone Co. is eye-catching. The inscription “Local and […]