As with most old toys, antique dolls showing no sign of ever having been played with by a child are the ones that appeal to adult collectors, who are often willing to pay four to six figures for 19^th-century examples by famous makers such as Schmitt & Fils, Jumeau, and Simon & Halbig. Look for a maker’s mark on the bisque portions of an antique doll, often found on the back of the neck or head or elsewhere. Such dolls are unlikely to be found in the average shop – but you never can tell what you may be lucky enough to find!

The history of dolls goes back to early centuries BC, and antique dolls can be found in virtually every culture from Africa to Asia. In fact, archaeological evidence indicates dolls were the earliest known toys. While dolls in unused condition are desired by modern collectors, an unused doll in ancient cultures would have been kept from children if it were believed to be charged with magical powers.

Whatever the maker, the most desirable dolls of interest to collectors today are porcelain dolls that have their original clothing and shoes. Knowledgeable collectors will also look for hidden flaws before buying. They may ask, for example, to have the wig removed to inspect the head for cracks or chips. Firing cracks are common in the bisque porcelain that forms the heads of most antique dolls and do not affect value. Firing cracks are jagged and often have a slight space between, say, the back of an ear and the place it attaches to the head, but a straight-line crack across the neck or head is damage, and that will affect value.

The doll companies mentioned in the first paragraph are no longer in business today. But another famed doll maker, Madame Alexander, is still in production. Its dolls date from the 20^th century, and while the oldest and rarest of them are exceptional and can sell for thousands of dollars, many Madame Alexander dolls can be purchased for less than $100.

The Antiques Roadshow has an instructive video on determining whether a porcelain-faced doll is antique vs. newer. Antique dolls will usually have moveable glass eyes that look remarkably real, although some well-made newer dolls may also have glass eyes. A better clue is that the face of a newer doll will feel entirely smooth to the touch, whereas an antique’s face will feel slightly grainy.

A doll doesn’t have to be made of porcelain, of course. Children have also played with homegrown dolls such as apple head dolls, corn husk dolls, and rag dolls. For Native Americans, corn was an important staple food source with a spiritual aspect. According to the Los Altos History Museum, the first corn husk dolls were made by Northeastern Native Americans, who made the dolls without faces to reflect a tribal myth as described on the museum’s website. Corn husk dolls were attractive to pioneer-era white families because they were easy and affordable to make from materials at hand. The dolls were also adopted by enslaved African American families because they could be made from husks left over after the harvest season.

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer, collector, and dealer living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a subject that she can address in her column, email her at  allwritealready2000@gmail.com. ​

The oldest rattles date from about 4,500 years ago in the Middle East. Speculation has given them other roles besides toys, such as warding off evil spirits (through the sounds a rattle makes). “But perhaps parents also needed to distract their children now and then so that they could have a bit of peace and quiet to themselves. Today, we use screens; back then it was rattles,” notes archaeologist Mette Marie Hald from the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Earliest rattles were made of wood or clay. While early examples are unmarked, those dating from the 18th century and beyond were more likely to be made of silver and should have hallmarks, usually found on the handle mount.

According to the website for the British AC Silver Co. “Early rattles featured coral handles…(because) a coral handle was the perfect antidote for teething babies, as it was both smooth and cool. (Also), coral was considered to be a means of guarding a child against witchcraft,” a belief dating back to Roman times “where babies’ cradles would be festooned with coral hung on string to defer evil forces. Although this practice declined, the reputation of coral as a protective device continued.” Some of these rattles used mother of pearl or ivory handles rather than coral for a baby to chew.

At least intuitively aware that later fancy rattles with multiple pieces could pose hazards to babies playing with them directly, many of the early 18th- and 19th-century examples were made for the belts of moms or nursemaids, where they could be shaken to distract a restive baby rather than given to the baby directly. Some portraits of babies show rattles pinned to their dress or hung around their neck.

Hazards from some rattles have continued into the present day. In 2006, the iconic Tiffany Co. paid a $262,500 fine for failure to report a hazard posed by its silver infant teething rattle. The circular rattle contained a central bar that was vulnerable to breakage and the release of the small animal figures on the bar, which posed a choking risk to babies; in at least one of three reported examples of breakage, a tiny animal was found in the baby’s mouth – luckily, before he had time to swallow it. In the settlement, “Tiffany denies it violated the Consumer Safety Protection Act by failing to report defects with its…rattles in a timely manner.” By the way, these rattles retailed for a mere $150!

The famous Jean-Jacques Rousseau was not a fan of rattles or other toys, not because they were physically dangerous to babies but because they were, shall we say, frivolous. “A little twig covered with its own leaves and fruit, - a poppy-head, in which the seeds can be heard rattling, - a stick of liquorice (sic) he can suck and chew, these will amuse a child quite as well as the splendid baubles, and will not disadvantage him by accustoming him to luxury from his very birth” (Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Émile, ou De l’éducation). 

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer, collector, and dealer living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a subject that she can address in her column, email her at  allwritealready2000@gmail.com. ​

Most Native American jewelry consists of silver with natural stone or shell insets. However, those purchasing it should be aware that Native American jewelry has been widely imitated by non-Native sellers; for those who care about authenticity and artisanal craftsmanship, my advice is to buy from Native American artisans and sellers directly. Such work will be signed in the metal. Native silversmith families often consist of multiple generations working in the field.

Native American jewelry has been available through auctions and other sales venues for centuries. Most of what is readily and affordably available is of mid-to-late 20th century vintage. The forms artists mostly favor are bracelets, rings, and necklaces -- for the latter, squash blossom necklaces being a favorite. These necklaces consist of a multiple string of stone medallions culminating in a large medallion at the base of the necklace.

This column focuses on the three main groups of Native American nations, among whom I’ve chosen just a few of the most famous (For those not familiar with the terminology, what white folks used to call “tribes” are called nations today because, by treaty, they have separate national status within U.S. boundaries - a country that, after all, was completely theirs before European settlers arrived).

Navajo jewelry

Wil Vandever was the fourth eldest of 17 (!) children in his family. He learned the art of silversmithing from his wife, Cora, whose name he adopted as his own middle name. His work used high-grade stones. It was especially valued in Japan, and much of his work went there. Vandever died in 2018 at the age of 67 after a five-year battle with colon cancer. As with most Native silversmiths, the family’s silverwork remains multi-generational. One of the characteristics of his heirs’ work is use of a variety of different colored stones.

Robert Kelley is not as generally well-known as some other Navajo silversmiths though his work won several awards. He worked in a variety of designs on rings, pendants, and bracelets, often using feather motifs. His signature in silver is just his name, “Robt Kelley.’ He died in 1991.

Hopi jewelry

The Hopi nation in North Central Arizona is devoted to pacifism. Hopi artisans are best noted for their overlay designs hand carved directly into the silver and without stones. Eventually, the inner layer of the design develops a dark patina that contrasts with the rest of the silver. These designs are often intricately carved into everything from rings to bracelets to concho belts. Hopi silversmiths usually sign their work with pictographs rather than letters. These include, among others, Marcus Lomayestewa, Ricky Coochwytewa, and Bradley Gashwazra (signing with the initials BG rather than a pictograph). Hopi culture is also noted for its pottery and kachina dolls.

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer, collector, and dealer living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a subject that she can address in her column, email her at  allwritealready2000@gmail.com. ​

I purchased a Japanese lithophane (AKA lithograph) teacup at an antique mall several years ago. Unless it was marked as such or unless one looked carefully, it would have gone unidentified as a lithophane. Typically, lithophane porcelain included an image of the face of a Japanese woman in traditional hairstyle and kimono collar; the image was visible only when held up to a light. In teacups, the lithophane would have been visible when lifted to the lips for drinking. Many sources trace the invention of the lithophane process itself to the 1820s in France, when they were made in many options, including standalone portraits.

Much later, lithophane wares were popular with the Japanese export market and were made exclusively for that market, as Japanese buyers themselves had little interest in the somewhat kitschy form. They were made mostly from the late 1930s to 1950s (with some later examples also known).

According to Asian porcelain expert Jan-Erik Nilsson, lithophanes were found almost exclusively on the bottoms of teacups, even when there was an entire tea set of which they were part. He also has an interesting theory about why we don’t see these teacups prior to the late 1930s, i.e., before the invention of teabags: “there would not have been much use [for] a picture in the bottom of a cup since it would have been hidden by the loose tea leaves” (https://gotheborg.com/qa/dragonware.shtml).

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer, collector, and dealer living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a subject that she can address in her column, email her at  allwritealready2000@gmail.com. ​

A religious sect called Shakers, founded by a woman with the modest name Anne Lee, came to New York from England in the late 18th century. The group’s official name used after emigrating to America was “United Society of Believers in the Second Coming of Christ.” The name became “Shaker” because of the group’s ecstatic form of worship that involved shaking the body. Before they split off into a separate group, the Shakers were part of the larger Quaker community. Early Quaker worship was also characterized by shaking and trembling – hence their name.

Within 10 years of their arrival in the United States, Shakers became established at two sites in New Hamp-shire, one in Canterbury and the other in Enfield. Event-ually, there were 19 Shaker communities, extending into Ohio and Kentucky as well as the Northeast.
Key characteristics of Shaker communities were communal living in which property was shared, celibacy, simplicity in dress and in what the community produced by way of architecture and furnishings, and rural living apart from what they regarded as the potentially corrupting influences of city life. Male and female members of the group called one another “brother” and “sister.”

Obviously, a community cannot long survive in celibacy without some other effort to ensure the future of the community. Shakers were able to preserve the faith’s practice and survival for more than 150 years by actively recruiting converts and adopting children. The latter, once they reached the age of 21, were given the choice of staying in the Shaker community or leaving it. Over the lifetime of their communities, the Shakers raised hundreds of orphaned children. Today, there are left just a handful of Shakers still living their traditional lives, as they are able given their advanced age.

Shaker Craftsmanship

Shaker craftsmanship in stone buildings and in furnishings and utilitarian items made from wood is highly esteemed today. Their buildings, which were communal and, therefore, large, are still standing. Austerity was not what Shakers were after in what they created by hand. Their emphasis in hand-creation was on beauty allied with simplicity and basic functionality, with a complete lack of excess ornamentation but not devoid of pride in the workmanship.

Today, genuine examples of Shaker wooden items made for inside the home can be quite hard to find and expensive to acquire. They can also be challenging to identify as genuinely Shaker since modern artisans have imitated their style and production techniques.
Shaker wooden buckets and boxes used primarily for kitchen storage were made from rounded bentwood. During production, the wood was kept pliable for rounding by steaming it or by hot water immersion with the ends brought together in swallowtail joints secured with copper tacks (Rounded boxes with modern non-copper tacks can be one clue to modern imitation).

Peggy Whiteneck is a writer, collector, and dealer living in East Randolph, VT. If you would like to suggest a subject that she can address in her column, email her at  allwritealready2000@gmail.com. ​