Antiques – Coveting Thy Neighbor’s Antiques

On a normal day there are always lots to covet among the aisles of dealers at the Teaberry Marketplace in Clermont. On appraisal days, however, you can really get green-eyed.
This has been the case at so many of the appraisal programs I’ve been doing since the beginning of the year. People will ooh-and-aah as someone unwraps a treasure, and you can see in their faces that the item revealed is something they would be proud to own and display.
I am of a fan of many things, but I have a soft spot of the “Ladies Painted China” made between 1895 and 1925. At that time painting china was something of a craze. Ladies started clubs, church groups, and even businesses, and for some it was just a solitary hobby.
What’s neat about this stuff is not only that much of it is beautiful, but that it’s so real and personal. Women usually initialed and/or dated their pieces, making them even more intimate. So, when someone brought me in a view beautiful piece, larger than any one I had seen before, I (as they say in Yiddish) plotzed.
I’ve included a picture of it with this column. It was painted by nuns at the Convent of Notre Dame in Waterbury, Conn. The person who brought the piece I said that it had been unofficially appraised several years ago for $5,000. Well, apparently, that appraiser was a bowled over by the piece as I was, because the appraisal was way off the mark.
My mind raced when I first saw it – $800-$1,200, I thought. Then I realized it was the fan in me coveting the piece. I settled on $500-$700 retail, with an insurance value of about $800-$1,000.
Subsequent research revealed that the good nuns of Waterbury also had a convent in Covington, Ky. doing the same thing. Vases and boxes may go for $200 to $350.I still think this piece is special. Put it up on an easel and it’s fine art. So I’ll go with my initial appraisal, for now.
In the last column, I included a whatzit photo, and asked you to email me if you knew what it was. It was a skeet thrower, a hand held device for hurling clay pigeons in the air to be shot. The first one to get to me with an answer was George Rea of West Cape May who will receive a coveted signed copy of “The Antique Story Book.”
Apparently, lots of people in the county know their skeet shooting. So, thanks to the following folks who also had the right answer: James Keim, Kenny Glenn, Dan Gus, Heather Hand, and a fellow named John who thought he knew the brand name – “Brownell’s Melco Hand Trap Skeet Thrower.”
If you have a whatzit antique or vintage item you think will puzzle our readers, send me an email picture at the address below.
Some of you may have noticed that for the first time in 27 years I did not publish a list of the top antiques of the season on Memorial Day weekend. With the alternating week the column is now, I was going to miss the usual weekend anyway, so look for the Top Antiques list in a future column, perhaps near July 4th weekend.
In the meantime, there will be many more appraisal reports in upcoming columns. As you read this, I will already have done an appraisal program and taken pictures at the Avalon Antiques Show. Plus, there are all those emails to answer. Keep them coming, and please send pictures.
If you would like to bring some things to me in person, I’ll be at The Marketplace at Teaberry on Route 9 in Clermont, again, on June 15 from 11 a.m.until 3p.m. (609-624-1700).
Arthur Schwerdt, a certified appraiser, is the author of “The Antique Story Book: Finding the Real Value of Old Things,” and co-owner of The August Farmhouse Antiques on Route 9 in Swainton. Send your comments, questions and appraisal requests to: aschwerdt@cmcherald.com.