Some advertising signs fetch high prices

#Middlebury #Antiques

Advertising signs with bold-colored graphics, interesting product names and pictures of Uncle Sam and other patriotic designs sell for high prices. They sell best in the size sometimes called a “sofa picture,” since it’s big enough to hang between the ceiling and the top of the sofa. Many collectors want advertising for the historic content and authentic pictures of costumes, rooms and occupations and as a way to date popular messages and sayings.

Could this sign date from 1889? In small letters at the bottom it says: “Over fifty years on the market,” and Uncle Sam and Miss Liberty look Victorian. Is it 50 years from the founding of Kirk & Co.? Or 50 years from the 1930s Proctor & Gamble ownership, in which case, the sign was made in 1980.

The large, cardboard American Family Soap poster offered at a Morford auction in upstate New York brought $1,652. It was a bright-yellow “sofa-sized” picture of Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty with the slogan, “It is cheaper to buy good soap than new clothes. Every atom cleanses.” American Family Soap was made by James Kirk & Co., a firm that started in 1839. It was purchased in 1930 by Proctor & Gamble, which made the American Family brand for the hard water of the Midwest. They also included a coupon on the wrapper that could be used for gifts. An old wrapped bar of the soap to display with other country items is sometimes offered for sale online for $10 to $15.

Q: I have a Rudolph pianola with serial number 63034. It was reconditioned 25 years ago into a piano and no longer works as a pianola. It’s in good condition and has been tuned regularly. What year was it made and what might it be worth?

A: Pianolas, or player pianos, were popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. The instrument works by pumping the foot pedals to operate bellows that make the keys play without being touched. The music is on a punched paper roll inserted in the upper part of the piano. Thousands of music rolls were made, and new ones are still made for people who own player pianos. After phonograph records became popular, player pianos became less popular. The Rudolph Piano Co. was founded in New York in 1903. The serial number indicates that your pianola was made in 1925. Old pianos are hard to sell. Your piano might have some interest to a collector if it still operated as a player piano, but will have little value as is.

Current Prices
Corkscrew, bone, horse jockey, England, 1900s, 4 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches, $45.
Vegetable bowl, Delft, shaped, handles, blue and white, ships and windmills, scalloped lid, loop handle, marked, c. 1905, 10 inches, $285.
Lunchbox, Howdy Doody, Howdy holding frying pan, girl with dinner bell, chuck wagon, tin lithograph, 1954, $675.
Nailsea fairy lamp, green, opal loops, satin finish, three-part construction, scalloped rim, c. 1875, 5 x 5 3/4 inches, $810.

TIP: Never soak rhinestone jewelry in water. The moisture seeps behind the stones and will cause discoloration.

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