#Middlebury #Antiques
The ancient Greeks figured out that Earth was round in about 500 B.C. But the oldest surviving globe showing our planet was made in 1492 by Martin Behaim of Germany. The first globe to show America was made about 1507. Early globes were made of paper glued to a sphere. The paper was cut into “gores,” the shapes needed to completely cover a sphere. Because the globe surface was curved, the map had a distorted picture of a flat Earth. Many globes have been made, and many are decorative as well as useful.
This is a French vase that looks like a globe. It was made in the 1930s at Longwy, a French company. The vase has a name, Atlas, a maker who was a famous artist and an auction price of $4,063.
Dating most vintage globes is easy, because each time there is political upheaval and countries change boundaries, the maps and globes also must be changed. A Rago auction in New Jersey sold a 12-inch Longwy vase shaped and decorated like a globe. It was made by Maurice-Paul Chevallier (1892-1987), the director of the French company after 1930. The vase is named Atlas. The countries are not marked on the globe – just the land masses and oceans – so it always will be current. It sold for $4,063.
Q: My grandmother and grandfather got a Three Face cake stand as a wedding gift back in the late 1800s, and I have it now.
My daughter doesn’t seem to want it – just my Lalique! I love the cake stand, but it’s time to be getting rid of things. I want to sell it and wonder what it’s worth.
A: Three Face is a pattern designed by John Ernest Miller for George Duncan & Sons of Pittsburgh in 1875. Some sources say Miller’s wife was the model for the faces. The factory burned down in 1892, and the molds were destroyed. A new factory in Washington, Penn., opened in 1893. The company became Duncan & Miller Glass Co. in 1900, and became part of the United States Glass Co. in 1955. Duncan & Miller reproduced some Three Face pieces in the early 1920s and again in the early 1950s. Other companies also made reproductions. The value of a Three Face cake stand depends on which version it is. Many copies were made by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and are marked “MMA.” The original piece fluoresces yellow-green under a black light. It sells for about $300-$400.
Current Prices
Decanter, amethyst glass, white dot flowers, green leaves, stopper, 13-3/4 x 4-3/4 inches, $20.
Trinket box, pill, silver, nude man, wreath, seated, dancing women, Gorham, 1/2 x 1-3/4 inches, $155.
Watch stand, porcelain, pen holder, gilt, cream, flowers, leaves, 9 x 17 inches, $225.
Tea set, silver plate, two tea pots, sugar and creamer, The Cube, Robert Crawford Johnson, 4 pieces, $810.
TIP: Use one type of furniture polish. If you switch from an oil polish to a wax polish, the surface will appear smudged.
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© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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