Several years ago, I pur-chased a beautiful painting at a garage sale for $3. The scene seemed very familiar, but I didn’t linger on my analysis of the piece. I loved it, paid for my purchases and went on to the next sale.

Later that day, I brought my newly acquired painting into the house, sat down, and gave it a quick once over. The painting is unsigned, so I pulled out all my art-related books to see if I could find the artist who painted the piece, to no avail.

Three months ago, while scanning through my online home page, lo and behold, my painting popped up on the page. Oh my gosh, I have a Rembrandt!

I am one of the few lucky people who found a real treasure at a bargain price. In my head I was already spending the millions of dollars I would get once I sell the piece at auction. I called my father and hus-band. “We are going to be rich,” I said and proceeded to tell them the story behind my amazing find.

I was literally trembling as I gently took the painting down from the office wall to really scrutinize the piece. The painting is of Rembrandt and Saskia, Rembrandt’s wife, in the scene “The Prodigal Son in the Tavern,” circa 1635.

My painting is oil on can-vas, just like the original, and it is about the correct size based on the informa-tion in my resource book.

There are appropriate signs of wear to the front, and it looks to me like someone put new stretcher bars on it. It has contemporary staples holding the canvas in place. I quickly dismissed these minor inconsistencies. A painting of this age probably needed new stretcher bars.

Mine is not signed “F. Rembrandt” like the original, but I was justifying all of this to myself, and I can be pretty convincing when I want to be.

The brain is a powerful instrument. The story I wove around my painting is that Rembrandt had to have painted more than one of this particular scene as a practice run. The one I held in my hands was the true original and that is why it was not signed. It has been rolled up and hidden away in a cedar chest for centuries, just waiting for me to come along and purchase it.

Well, the proverbial bubble eventually burst. I sent photos to a noted auction house to have it evaluated and assured them that I would let them sell it for me and we would all become very wealthy. The conclu-sion was that I own a very well-executed copy of undetermined age, but most likely it was painted in the 20th century. The auction value for my painting is around $200.

Recently while in Texas – that trip was a doozy and the story will be coming soon – I was driving through a neighborhood on big trash pickup day, a gentleman had just placed a beautiful painting on the curb. I immediately hopped out of the car and grabbed it. I took the painting back to the RV and placed it where the sun would not shine on it.

Later that day while sitting in the RV to escape the Texas heat of 104 degrees, I examined my free find. It is a beautiful woman in a blue dress, sitting in a thoughtful pose at a desk, and is signed “D’yf.” It is oil on canvas with an aged backing board. I didn’t have an Internet connection, so I had to use my cell phone to do a bit of research. The results came up as “Claudine and The Red Rose” by Marcel Dyf. My painting has a pink rose, so I am going with that the rose faded over time.

Marcel Dyf (1899 – 1985) was active/lived in France. Dyf is known for landscape, figure, floral still life and seascape painting. He had little formal artistic training but owed much of his inspiration to the great masters of the past such as Rembrandt, whom he particularly admired, Vermeer and Tiepolo.*

Do I have a true Dyf painting? I highly doubt it, but I still need to remove the backing board and take a peek at the canvas. Maybe I will find something mar-velous behind this lovely lady. One can hope.

So, why am I sharing these stories with you? To illustrate the fact that no matter how knowledgeable you are in antiques and collectibles, it is very easy to get caught up in the moment and have all common sense leave the building.

It’s May

It’s May, it’s May, the lovely month of May. The last frost date in Kansas is considered to be Mother’s Day. This is the magic date when one can safely get your vegetable plants and annual flowers in the ground without fear of frost wiping everything out. It is an exciting time for those who have gardens. Months have been dedicated to poring over seed and plant catalogs, and the chosen items will be arriving soon.

Putting in and maintaining a vegetable garden is so much easier now than it was in days gone by due in large part to the gas or electric tiller. If you go to an Amish community, you will see them working the fields with large workhorses and push plows. Using this method, the farmer has a long strap tied to the bridle of each horse and it is looped across the upper body of the farmer. This is used in the same manner as riding reins, to direct or steer the horses, the farmer is holding onto the plow. This is probably not the safest way to ready a garden, but you work with what you have. To be honest, the gas or electric tiller can get away from you at times.

We have two push plows. The yellow Lambert plow belonged to my husband’s paternal grandfather and the brown cast iron plow belonged to one of Lenexa’s original Belgian truck farming families, it has got to be closing in on 100 years old. We use the brown one to go in between the rows of vegetables once they have developed a hardy root system as the push plow is less likely to damage the roots. If you farm or have a sizable home garden, you can cancel your gym membership for a few months. Between preparing the soil, planting, weeding with a plow, and finally harvesting, you are getting cardio, core, legs, and upper body on a daily basis throughout the growing season.

You can still purchase push plows or cultivators. Lehman’s sells them for less than $150. The Lambert plow with one additional attachment has a value of $175. The older cast metal plow with decorative handles and an attachment has a value of $225.

Question

My husband bought this beautiful cabinet and was told that it had been used by an insurance company to hold policies and other paperwork. The seller said it dates to the late 1800s or early 1900s. It measures 7ft tall, 6ft wide, and 15 1/2 inches deep. It has 96 cubby holes with removable fronts. It is extremely heavy. I am curious about the value and what type of wood was used to create the tiger stripe look. Thank you.

Answer

This is an amazing piece of furniture. Since the seller had so much information, I am going to go out on a limb and state that the seller must have had a family member who used this piece in their business. The tiger stripe look is often seen in quarter-sawn wood and most often in maple and oak. Quartersawn wood is literally cut into quarters before it is run through the mill. The wood is sliced with the grain largely perpendicular to the face. The widest lumber is taken from the center of each of the four quarters. It’s a way of aligning the grain into a tighter pattern overall. The wood is extremely durable and the milling causes a lot less waste than other methods of milling wood.

I noticed that a few of the face plates are missing. These are easy to find and age to look like the others. The resale price on this beautiful piece is $3,000 to $3,500 with an insurance replacement value of $5,000.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful find.

Q: Since my wife passed away, I’ve been cleaning out our house and donating much of the “old stuff” to charity, but my wife’s doll collection has me wondering if it should be handled differently.

The first doll is regally dressed, and a Spanish mantilla, la. She is positioned on a stand and measures 10 inches in height.

The black doll resembles a French Creole, with blue eyes and “pigtail braid” and wearing a daring flowing lace gown. She has a tag that reads “La Bamboli di Ariana.” Also on a doll stand and measuring 11 inches in height.

Small cloth doll with printed features looks like it may be from Latin America, and a small tag reads “Hecho en Mexico.” Measures 5 inches tall in sitting position.

Cloth doll representing a black girl wearing a burlap sun-hat. Designed to represent a doll owned by an enslaved black child, the doll probably was purchased at a plantation gift shop. 9 inches tall.

The next two dolls are actually one. Flip the full skirt of the blonde lady dressed in pink and white, and a black lady appears, looking like Aunt Jemima, with red dress, white apron, red scarf and gold earrings. About 10 inches total height.

Appreciate any suggestions.
Best regards, Ken W

A:  The first doll looks like a Spanish Flamenco dancer. She reminds me of a Klumpe doll, a pressed felt doll. I noticed her hard plastic lower arm and the shape of her eyebrows which are uncharacteristic to Klumpe or similar press felt dolls but I can say that she is in the style of a Klumpe. She was more than likely purchased in Spain as a souvenir and would resell for $20 – $25.

The “La Bamboli di Ariana” doll took a bit of research. She is a beautiful doll. She was made in Italy at the company’s plant located in Taormina. The clothing is hand crafted by artisans in the plant. She is made of bisque porcelain with amazing blue glass eyes. These dolls were made in limited editions, with a value of $200-$225.

The “plantation doll” falls into the $10-$15 area and the contemporary little black rag doll has a value of $15-$20. Antique rag dolls were made from a variety of scraps of cloth, old button eyes and if they had hair it was usually made with wool yarn. They were stuffed with straw, hay or excelsior.

Q: I inherited a stack of 50th anniversary plates and have no idea what to do with them or if they are worth the time and effort to put them up for sale. Can you please help me?

A: Ah, the anniversary plates. Someone in your family celebrated a 50th wedding anniversary and instead of beautiful items made of gold (it is the golden anniversary), they were given anniversary plates. There are plates, cups, and a wide assortment of kitsch items for every anniversary milestone. A single plate is nice, but to have a stack of them is a bit much. You cannot eat off of the majority of these decorative plates for several reasons. Older plates may contain lead in the paint or the decoration is not fired, which causes it to come off of the plate quite easily.

Other milestone occasions are often celebrated, such as time with a company. Generally, one does not receive a plate to mark this milestone; usually, a watch or other symbolic item is given.

The value of these plates is less than $5. There are a few exceptions, such as high-quality pieces marked ‘Wedgewood’ or a similar known pottery or glass plates with intricate, hand-painted details.

What is kitsch? Kitsch can be defined as a low-brow style of mass-produced art or design using popular or cultural icons. However, it can also be defined as art, decorative objects or design considered by many people to be ugly. Lacking in style, kitsch items are often comical in one way or another.

‘Kitsch’ is a German word that is generally used to describe objects that are considered tasteless or common while aspiring to high art. The word ‘kitsch’ roughly translates to the English “tacky.” For many people, kitsch decor is overly bold and garish; there are others who find it a fun and attractive style.

If you want to create authentic kitsch-style decor, it’s important to use a wide range of bright colors. While the most popular are yellow, magenta, fuchsia, turquoise, bright green, purple, or any other bright color or strange style.

TV lamps are often seen as kitschy. I agree that some are a bit over the top, but I love them anyway. It is a running joke in my family. Some TV lamps can sell for well over $100, and I have found that the more kitsch the lamp, the bigger the payday. Here are a few for your enjoyment. www.collectorsweekly.com/lamps/tv

Over the holidays, my granddaughter, a true thespian, and I were watching the movie “Moulin Rouge.” Out of the blue she said, “Granny, is the Moulin Rouge a real place and what era is being depicted?” Yes, she spent many hours in her younger years listening to me talk about time periods and items specific to those times.

The Moulin Rouge is a real location, and the cabaret is still thriving with daily shows. Moulin Rouge translates into “Red Mill” and the building still sports a red windmill. It was the birthplace of the can-can dance. The dance was originally performed as a seductive dance by the working ladies to lure in clients and over time transformed into a high stepping, raucous dance revue that spread throughout Europe and inspired the opening of numerous cabarets. The interior of the Moulin Rouge cabaret is still decorated much as it was when it first opened.

It was established in Paris by two gentlemen in October 1889 and embodied The Belle Époque period. The open garden at the Moulin Rouge allowed for people of all walks of life to mingle, enjoy popular entertainers of the day, and participate in evening champagne events. It was a popular spot for artists of the time and Toulouse-Lautrec was a regular. The Moulin Rouge with its neon lights was the first fully electric building in Paris.

he Belle Époque or La Belle Époque is a period of French and European history, usually considered to have begun around 1871-1880 and ended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Belle Époque literally means “Beautiful Age.” Paris saw a lot of destruction of important landmarks during the Franco-Prussian war and the Paris Commune, a short-lived revolutionary government. Despite this slight setback, Paris hosted two iconic international exhibitions, the World’s Fair of 1889 and 1900. During this period, the Eiffel Tower was built along with several other buildings of great importance.

The Belle Époque

The Belle Époque was an era characterized by optimism, economic prosperity, and technological and scientific progress in both Europe and the United States, but its primary center was Paris. In this prosperous climate, artistic freedom flourished; the middle and lower classes were afforded luxuries previously not available to them. Every aspect of life was touched during The Belle Époque. Fashion brought about mutton sleeves and got rid of the bustle, department stores began popping up, the art scene changed from Realism to Impressionist. La Belle Époque was truly a time to be alive for many Parisians and people around the world.