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.

Architectural salvage is a booming genre in the antique world. Architectural salvage is anything that is found in an old building or home from old wood floors to doorknobs. If an old building is slated to be demolished, a salvage company goes in and removes as much or as little as they can. Yes, there is a fee and a strict timeline.

Salvaging what is headed for the dump is the true definition of repurposing and recycling. Years ago near my house a warehouse club was being built and they bought three blocks of homes all were slated to be bulldozed. When we learned that the dossers were moving in, we loaded the truck with tools and went from house to house procuring a variety of items. I have several boxes of glass and stone doorknobs, a fireplace surround, enough bricks to build a walkway in the backyard, an exterior door with 40 panes of glass, several nice old wall sconces, and several other items. Needless to say we were not the only people out salvaging. One lady was digging up flowers and shrubs. My husband, ever the rule follower, sat in the truck until I mentioned the bricks.

As someone who has spent the majority of my life with antiques I often wonder about the life different pieces have lived, especially furniture. Who owned this item? What kind of house was it in? My family teases me about painted portraits I often buy. This brings up the question why is this portrait being sold.

The above is the lead-in to a huge win for the life of a castle. Sauer Castle at 935 Shawnee Rd in Kansas City, KS, is finally being brought back to life! I first encountered the beautiful home in the mid-1980s when an in-law got married up in the belvedere of the house. While the family was scattered about on the front lawn, heads thrown back watching the ceremony, I was scampering all over the inside. The building was still in good condition back then. The castle is near the home of one of my daughters, so every now and then I would drive by to check on it. Sadly, I saw the destruction and decay in real time.

Besides the age of 150 years, the style of Sauer Castle is beyond words. The Victorian/Edwardian era Queen Anne-style “Painted Lady” homes are stunning with the gingerbread trim and rounded corner towers. The pre-Civil War Antebellum homes based on the Greek Revival style are magnificent and their test of time adds to the allure. These are also referred to as plantation homes with the largest concentration being in Louisiana. Missouri has a little cluster of them in Weston. Yet my preference is for Italianate style buildings and that is what Sauer Castle is.
In my opinion, the Italianate style is one in which the best of all construction components have been put in to one style. The style is drawn from the Italian Renaissance period that was popular abroad and was intended to mimic the look of Italian cottages and villas. It became popular in America in the 1840s to 1890s.

Anton Sauer was born in Germany in 1823. He married and had a wife, but sadly she passed. In 1858 Anton moved to New York to be with his mother and sisters. His tuberculosis was worsening, so in 1868 he made the move to Kansas City. Sauer wanted to build a grand home on the highest spot in the area; he found such a spot on Shawnee Road on a bluff overlooking the Kansas River. The Shawnee Indian Trail, which was part of the Santa Fe Trail, passed right beside his home. Building began in 1871. It wasn’t long before he met and married a much younger widow, Mary (Maria) Einhellig Messerschmidt. Mary had two daughters. In 1872 the house was complete and fully furnished with furniture brought over from Europe. Anton and Mary went on to have five daughters. The property had a pool, a wonderful fountain in the front and several outbuildings, a wine cellar, bakery, and smoke house. I believe the remnants of a few are still somewhat standing.

Happy September to all of our antique, vintage, and collectible lovers.

If you have been following my column the past few months, thank you. You may have figured out by now that I was deeply involved in putting together and holding a living estate sale and moving sale at my parent’s house, My father is 91 years old and it was time to move him out of the four-story mega house; the decision was made to move him in with my oldest daughter and her ranch-style house.

Many of you may be faced with the same or similar situation in the future, and I would like to offer some unsolicited advice on what I learned throughout the process. Another job I had to do was to prepare the house to be sold. My mom passed more than 14 years ago, I certainly wish that I had been deep cleaning and maintenance in several areas of the house. That would have prevented the month-long ordeal I encountered after preparing for and holding the sale.

In the majority of cities and towns throughout the country, you will find estate sale companies. They have a crew that comes in, pulls everything out, cleans what needs cleaning, prices, stages the items, and conducts the sale. They do all of the work for around 35% of the final take. What I learned when my father decided to move is that the estate sale business has changed tremendously in my area over the years. From the few people who returned my phone call, I learned that I would have to get everything out and clean the items, the percentage of the final sale price is 45% to 55%, we would need to provide people to watch over the shoppers on each floor, and we had to guarantee that they would pocket $5,000. Shut the front door. The last requirement of insuring a $5,000 pay day was a bit more than we were willing to accept. My oldest daughter and I decided to do it on our own.
Conducting a living estate sale / moving sale is something anyone can do, I suggest that you recruit some help. My oldest daughter helped tremendously in the first stage. She took my father, sat him down in a chair with two boxes, one of items he wanted to take with him when he moved and another for items he wanted to go to family members. When they got to the office and the five-drawer file cabinet I had asked them to keep all receipts for major household purchases such as the hot water heater, swimming pool liner, basically anything that would be needed by the new homeowner. All of the other paperwork was shredded. This process was very time consuming because it is a four-story, four-bedroom house.

• The purging of paperwork and handling of major purchase receipts can be streamlined if the homeowner or family member performs these tasks annually. Receipts can be placed in a file folder or large envelope at the time of purchase.
Once the purging phase has ended it is time for family members and friends to remove items that the homeowner designated in the will and any last-minute gifts. I highly suggest that the executor of the will be notified of all last-minute gifts.as a precautionary measure. When the will comes into play, no one wants a squabble over a piece of furniture that is unaccounted for.

Each of you can relate to the next step: cleaning. Again, you go room by room with a duster, all-purpose cleaner, cloth, broom, mop, and price tags. Wipe down everything, please, we all know how off- putting it is to pickup something that is sticky or really dusty. Price each item. If you are unsure of a price take a picture of the item and look on Google Lens to get a rough idea. If you have a number of expensive items, you might want to have an appraiser look at them. You want to move expensive items to the area where the cashier will be. Sweep, mop, and on to the next room.

• Before you setup the display tables please remove all area rugs as they are a fall hazard.
You need to give some thought to the types of payment you will take. Back in the good old days, cash was king; in 2024 Venmo, Apple Pay, and the like are the way to go. Based on my daughters’ experience we signed up with Square. They will send you a small card swiper to be plugged into a smart phone. They do take a percentage of each sale, so please be sure to read the information and even compare with other similar services. This also tends to increase the dollar amount that people spend.