Q: This beautiful glass vase has always been in my family. My grandfather brought it home after his service in WWII. It is signed Sabino France. It is 8” tall and there are no chips or cracks on it. My grandmother kept it behind lock and key in a cabinet. I am having a hard time finding the value of it so that we can insure it.

A: Sabino is a French glass company founded by Marius-Ernest Sabino (1878-1961) in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s, known for its Art Deco-style glass pieces, particularly those with an opalescent quality. They did make beautiful items in clear and colored glass. The company produced a range of items, including lamps, vases, and figurines, often featuring nude figures and stylized designs. Production initially ceased during World War II but resumed in the 1960s.

Sabino himself was known for creating lights ranging from small lamps to large chandeliers, and also architectural lighting for hotels and restaurants. These are usually not marked you need to become familiar with the Sabrino style and time periods.
The Art Deco movement is known for its geometric patterns, stylized forms, and elegant designs. Opalescent glass has a milky, translucent quality and exhibits a range of colors, especially when held up to a light source.

Sabino glass is marked with the Sabino name and is generally hidden in the design. You are lucky to have found the mark.
The Art Deco period pieces are very desirable, and you can expect to get $800-$1,000 if you were to sell it. For insurance purposes, I suggest that you insure it for $2,500. You cannot recover the family history of the vase, but you can replace the vase.

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Q: We are cleaning out my grandmother’s house and have come across several items that we think might be old and possibly worth some money. 1} The decorative spoon with a handle that looks like a long fish or sea serpent, you can see scales on it. It measures 5 1/8” long.

2} The gnome sitting inside of an apple has an extra piece on the back, possibly for putting ivy or flowers in. The back has lettering that reads, “Gilner Calif.” It doesn’t have any chips, cracks, or breaks on it.

3} Two framed wooden pictures. The label on the back of one says, “This picture was designed & manufactured by Richard Graefe Ltd, Estd 1837 at their studio and works: Priory Rd. High Wycombe. Bucks.” They each measure 9” x 11.”

4} A very strange metal contraption with four funnels on the underside. There are no labels, tags or names on this thing. It is very heavy and made of metal. Thank you so much for your help. I am very curious about the last item.

A: OK, let’s jump into this. Your spoon is absolutely stunning. The body of your spoon appears to be brass, most of this type of spoon are either brass or sterling silver. The enameling style is referred to as Champlevé. The enameling is done by hand, placing the different colors of powder paste in the cells according a pattern created by the designer or enamel artist. The bowl of your spoon is most commonly called a nut spoon; yes, in the Victorian era there was a spoon or fork for every food. I agree with you on the handle design looking like a sea serpent, but my reference books indicate it is a dolphin. To sum all of these bits of information, you have a circa 1890s Champlevé enamel nut spoon. This style was usually made in France; since it is unmarked, I am going to stick with my assessment of the item being of unknown origin. When I enlarged the photograph you sent me, I could see a couple of small places where the enamel has popped out. This lowers the value to $75-$80 USD.

I adore your 1950s vintage Gilner pixie in an apple shaped wall pocket. Several decades ago, I owned almost 300 pixies and elves. Now I am down to about 20 of my favorites. The Gilner Pottery Co. was a family affair, owned and operated by Beryl Gilner. They produced various ceramic goods out of their Culver City, CA, plant from 1934 to 1958. Gilner Pottery did not meet its end due to a factory fire, like many potteries did. The Free Trade Act of 1956, signed by the U.S. with Japan, flooded the market with cheaper knockoffs, making it challenging for Gilner to compete.

Best known for their pixie figurines, they were also responsible for a large line of TV lamps, and a wide catalog of animals and other collectibles. Your precious 1950 Gilner Pottery pixie wall pocket would easily sell for $75.

Your two wood marquetry art pieces are beautiful. They look to be in very good condition with all pieces intact. Richard Graefe was a British artist who worked predominately with wood designs. There isn’t much information on Mr. Graefe. We know that he was a 20th-century artist. The majority of his pieces are in known collections, which makes me wonder if your grandmother was one of the “known collectors.” His plant was in Wycombe, Britain, and many of his pieces are in the Wycombe Museum. I was able to find a couple of old auction prices, and going back 15 years his marquetry art was selling for $200-$250 each.

Q: I have this painting by Augustus G. Heaton of Sophie Brice dated 1871. The painting measures 23.5” high x 19.5” wide; the frame is 31.5” high x 27.5” wide. There is a metal tag below the picture with the artist’s name, Sophie Brice, and 1871. I bought it at an auction and no one else was bidding on it. Any information you can give me will be gratefully appreciated.

A: Augustus Goodyear Heaton (April 28, 1844-Oct. 11, 1930) was an American artist, author, and leading numismatist. He is best known for his painting “The Recall of Columbus” and among coin collectors for writing “A Treatise on Coinage of the United States Branch Mints,” which introduced numismatists to mint marks.

Heaton worked as a teacher in Philadelphia at the Art Students’ League of Philadelphia and was one of the founding members of the New Rochelle Art Association, organized in 1912, and part of the well-known art colony that had developed in New Rochelle in the early 1900s.
Most of Heaton’s paintings are portraits. His most fam-ous painting, and the one of which he was most proud, was “The Recall of Columbus,” painted in 1882 and copyrighted in 1891 as the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ landing approached. It was begun in his Paris studio and finished in Rome in the studio of American sculptor Chauncey Ives. The painting was sent to the U.S. Capitol in 1884 to be reviewed by the Joint Committee on the Library, purchased later that year for $3,000, and remains part of the United States Senate Art and History Collection. In 1892, the painting was exhibited at the Colombian Historical Exposition in Madrid in 1892 and again in 1893 at the World’s Colombian Exposition in Chicago. Also in 1893, to mark the Chicago Exposition, was the release of the Colombian Issue, a set of 16 commemorative stamps issued by the United States. The 50-cent stamp featured “The Recall of Columbus,” bringing the painting to the attention of the general public.

Heaton painted a large number of portraits during his travels. Those travels included New York City in the late 1870s; Paris, France, in the early 1880s; Philadelphia (1884); Washington, D.C. (1885); and then West Palm Beach, FL. In 1890, 1892, and 1930, he was in New Orleans, where he gave art lectures and painted portraits of numerous prominent citizens.

I get numerous inquiries about vintage cookbooks and I thought that this month I would share some cookbook information with you. I had two aunts who would get their mother’s recipe box out in January and peruse them to rediscover meals their mama cooked when they were young. My paternal grandmother did not have many written recipes, she had to cook for nine and I’m certain that her meals were based on what was ready in the garden and meat she had stored away. One of my aunts told me  they ate a substantial amount of venison. I enjoyed going through the recipes to see my grandmother’s beautiful handwriting on old envelopes, recipes from magazines and newspaper, and those shared by friends.

Cookbooks take on many forms you have those that were given to the purchaser of a new appliance, cookbooks crafted by food companies, those put together by clubs, and my personal favorite old home economics or how to be a good hostess/wife books.

I still have my 1959 Imperial Sugar “My First Cookbook” I learned to make deviled eggs using the recipe and I still make the apple crisp recipe. The value on this little 36 page, card stock covered cookbook is around $10 if it’s in excellent condition which mine is not. Lea and Perrins, the makers of Worcestershire sauce, put out a cookbook titled “ Dishes Men Like”  dated 1952. It is filled with a variety of heavy meaty meals. I love the cover art it shows various meals in specialty serving dishes. A crab dish is in a crab shaped serving bowl, I would love to find that bowl in a sale. Surprisingly it has a resale value in the $10 to $15 range, I imagine that the price is based more on the art than the recipes. One of the vintage cookbooks I have referred to several times is a paperback 1942 “Betty Crocker All Purpose Baking.” If you have a desire to learn to bake a loaf of break, nice flaky pastries, or the perfect pie crust this is a must have. I have yet to master any of those skills and it’s not for a lack of trying. This is one of the cookbooks I pull out every winter and keep plugging away at mastering anything edible. I have learned that when baking you must follow the directions in the recipe if you desire perfection. The paperback cover has come un-stapled on the one I own but if you have one in good condition it will sell in the $20 range. I certainly did not expect it to be worth that much considering the number of Betty Crocker cookbooks on the market. It is quite possible that this particular version is a first edition.

“In a cookbook from the groom’s mother – My darling, here’s a little book that tells you how to bake the cakes, and pies, and other good things his “mother used to make.” For men are hungry creatures, dear, but this we know about them, that cooking would not be such fun if we had to eat without them. So take this book with my fondest love, and a thought I will impart; when you feed a husband, keep in mind his stomach’s near his heart!” The Farm Journal…. published in Don McNeill’s Favorite Poems, 1951. 

Some of the appliance manufacturer cookbooks in my winter rotation; “Mary Meade’s Magic Recipes for the Electric Blender” by Ruth Ellen Church, hardback with dust jacket, 1965, 372 pages. If you are in need of cocktail recipes this cookbook has an abundance of them along with soups. I have made a few of the salad dressing recipes with Avocado Dressing being my favorite. It has some good sounding recipes in it but on many, using the blender is just overkill plus something else you have to wash. I will say that it has quite a few healthy recipes in it. In excellent condition it sells for around $8. If the dust jacket is missing this lowers the price.  Several stove companies gave cookbooks to those who purchased a stove. The American Stove Co. produced several brands of appliances and I have a 1926 cookbook for the Lorain stove and a 1935 cookbook for a Magic Chef stove. Both have the same recipes in them. They are all pretty basic recipes and nothing has jumped out at me as something I must cook. The price point on these is relatively low because they are both later printings. If you had a first edition, especially of the Lorain, it would sell around $20 if not a bit more. Another stove company cookbook is from Harper Compact, it is more of a pamphlet style cookbook. It has the basic recipes you find in most cookbooks in the early 1950s but one year I found a dessert that the whole family loved especially my father so I cook it several times a year. 

I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy. Here at the homestead the summer clothing has been stored away and the cold weather wear is in the closet and dresser. After 40 years in Kansas, my Texas blood still can’t cope with the cold and chill.

We are going to look at the antique and collectibles market year in review — what is appealing to collectors, what is selling well for dealers, and what you can purchase for a relatively low price; it’s always a good time to start a new collection. I follow the trends nationwide throughout the year and find it very interesting.

Costume jewelry is always in demand from beautiful rhinestone brooches to silly figural earrings. Men go for watches, working or not, and even some of the men’s rings. Many of the pieces are unsigned, and the signed or labeled pieces do bring and sell for more money. Look for Coro, BSK, Beau Jewels, Danecraft, Jonette Jewelry, Kramer, and many more. Believe it or not, the chokers that were popular in the 1960s through the 1980s are seeing a resurgence in popularity. Did you have a pukka shell choker? I still have one (not that it will go around my chubby neck). Big turquoise and silver pieces along with tribal style jewelry are also very popular. The Casa Maya green enameled brass Aztec mask necklace sells for $225.

One area of jewelry that has declined are the colorful Bakelite bangles and earrings. There is a modern process to create the same look. Once you start seeing “fakes” of anything on the market, the entire genre takes a big hit. HINT: To determine if a piece is real Bakelite, rub the surface with your thumb to heat it up then sniff; if you get a whiff of chemical, it is the real thing. You might find a great deal since prices have dropped.

Vintage clothing is a huge niche for collectors and dealers, from 1960s maxi skirts to bell bottom jeans, even lingerie. It is such a hot category that you can find new clothing made to look like a dress from the 1940s and earlier. When we had my father’s living estate sale this past summer, I was amazed at the clothes we sold. Even the big platform shoes that men wore in the 1980s have come back in style. Think John Travolta dancing in the movie “Saturday Night Fever.” It will run you about $100 or more to own a pair of those beauties. The price on vintage clothes is all over the place, but I found a shop in Reno that offers very affordable vintage clothes: junkeeclothingexchange.com

It seems like the more technology advances, the longing for simpler times comes to the forefront. I love my Polaroid One-Step camera. You can still buy film online, and you get such a sense of satisfaction when your photo pops out. I suggest buying from someone who has cleaned and tested any camera you buy. Those will run you about $75; 35mm cameras are a bit more expensive and you have the added cost of film and processing.