ANTIQUEHAVEN

This fall I picked up a pair of scarce Gonder Pottery figural lady bells. One is cream colored the other blue. The cream colored one has a very hard to find paper label that says "Sovereign Gonder U.S.A." The bell measures 3 1/2" in height and is simplistic and rather crude in it's design. My guess is that this was made near the end of their ceramic arts production around 1954. It's value is almost exclusively with Gonder collectors.

I have a black panther on a rock lamp made by lane & co and i just wanted to know the value of the lamp and the year it was made. The number on it says 8504. Lane & Co was either a pottery company or a jobbing or distributing agency located out of Van Nuys and/or Los Angeles, Ca from c 1950-c 1968. There is not a lot known about the company other than they unceremoniously produced or distributed a great deal of TV lamps and other ceramic pieces for nearly 2 decades. The arched back, climbing black panther TV Lamp was introduced in the late 1950's. It is fairly common and tends to command around $60-85.

I've been enjoying your blog site for several months and I thought you might be able to help me identify an obscure item that I have encountered. I've showed this to several antique dealers in my area and thus far, no one has been able to figure it out. It's a small sterling silver object with a finely detailed handle decorated with a corn motif and it has an elongated loop on the end. It measures approximately 3.25" in length. The loop is marked STERLING, so I would presume it's American in origin. I'll attach a photo to this email. Please let me know if you can help. Thanks very much! Your item is a very nice Victorian loop style button hook. Specifically, due to it's size and design, it's likely a Glove Buttoner for the ladies. The loop was pushed through the buttonhole in a pair of gloves and wrapped around the button to allow the button to be pulled through the button hole. It could be easily carried in a purse or handbag. It is very unique a...

Photographs are invaluable time capsules in history. They tell us about what people looked like, trends, architecture, interior decorating, clothing and so much more. I found a photo of a child in front of the family Christmas Tree from 1943. In it, on a table to the side, was a Detroit Tigers Ashtray that I have never seen. I showed it to a good sports memorabilia friend of mine and he also has never seen one. Close inspection does not help in identifying whether this was a homemade ceramic piece or one that was meant for public purchase. It appears to be about 8-9" tall and shows a Tiger on top of a baseball that is marked "Detroit". The ball is resting on a baseball glove and bat. This item would be cool to find and match up with the photo.

In 1891, Charles Stickley and Schuyler C Brandt started The Stickley & Brandt Chair Co. in Binghamton, NY. We picked up this Stickley & Brandt fancy rocker that was patterned after a Stickley Bros rocker featured in an 1889 trade ad. This piece has the manufacturer's paper label on the bottom on the seat. Prominately featured on this chair is Victorian era stick and ball work. This chair does not pop up every day, but, I did recently see one on E-Bay that was misidentified as being from the 1920's and from the Arts and Crafts movement. The seller also did not know it was truly a Stickley piece. Our rocker is not mint. There are some fairly minor condition issues and I believe one of the back slats was replaced. It still is a neat piece of furniture from a desirable family of furniture makers.

I go on house visits all the time where family members immediately steer me to what they feel is valuable. Inevitably, I ask to look around and peek into desks, corners of garages, behind basement bars and yes... into record cabinets. What often is discovered are the real treasures and valuables that the family dismissed as junk or as of no consequence. Recently, I was hired to hand-pick liquidate a partial estate. To my delight, I found 7 old and scarce vogue picture discs that were issued by Mercury Records as disc jockey copies only. Both sides of the disc depict "Little Eddie" the Mercury Man. Vouge records were made by Sav-Way Industries of Detroit, MI from 1946-1947. They were "unbreakable" and as a novelty, had very attractive art work or photos on both sides. Today these picture discs are highly collectible. Unbeknownst to the family, their 7 discs mixed among standard 78's will fetch over $4,500. As a professional, my job is to try and find "hidde...

Bobblehead collecting has to be one of the most fun areas of collecting in the toy world. There are a seemingly endless variety of nodders available and I recently was commissioned to sell a scarce one that should be interesting for the collector. He is a samurai from the 1960's era. Great condition and just a fab expression on his face. I havent been able to find him anywhere, although, I do not possess a bobblehead reference guide. Rare bobbleheads can command into the thousands of dollars. Sports related ones are the most common and desirable, but, you can find non-sport ones that are strong in the marketplace.