Cupboard painted by mid-century folk art favorite

by Michelle Staley | Nov 29, 2021 | Features, Michelle Knows Antiques

December 2021

Michelle Knows Antiques

Cupboard painted by mid-century folk art favorite

by Michelle Staley

Question:

I inherited this cabinet with three canisters and three plates that are 9 inches in diameter. I don’t know anything about it other 3 canisters than it belonged to my grandparents, who were native to Oklahoma. The cabinet is wood and measures 61 inches tall, 33 1/2 inches wide and 18 inches deep. Looking at the back, you can see that it is two pieces, the top and bottom. I want to sell it but don’t know where to start.

Answer:

When I first looked at your items, I was convinced that they were painted by a homecrafter, but upon further research I honed in on who did the artistic work, and I love his story.

Artist Peter Hunt

Your stepback cupboard was painted by Peter Hunt. Hunt was born in New Jersey, served in World War I and in the 1920s he moved to the Cape Cod area. His father was an artist, a naive artist or one with no formal training. One of “Pa” Hunt’s paintings, “Peter Hunt’s Antique Shop,” from the early 1930s, was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.
Peter Hunt would buy secondhand pieces of furniture and paint them with his whimsical style which depicted colorful peasant designs, hearts, flowers, fruits, birds, angels, pretty maidens and their suitors all reminiscent of Pennsylvania German and French Provincial folk art. Hunt painted furniture always, has “anno Domini” and the year the item was painted or his signature hidden in the pseudo French text.

His career took off after he painted a chest for a friend’s daughter depicting scenes from her life. The rich and famous who spent time in Cape Cod fell in love with his unusual, cheerful, painted furniture. Hunt was a charmer and wooed the influencers, which sold more furniture that was perfect for their Cape Cod vacation homes. Helena Rubinstein was a regular customer. DuPont learned of Hunt and provided him with paint to use on his fantastical creations.

Detail of faux French writing on table top of cabinet.

** All prices given are for sale in a private sale, antique shop or other resale outlet. Price is also dependent upon the geographic area in which you are selling. Auction value, selling to a dealer or pawn shop prices are about ½ or less of resale value.

Peter Hunt was known for painting secondhand furniture pieces in his colorful, whimsical style. right: canisters painted by Hunt. (Images courtesy of the question submitter)

Hunt designed the “Cape Cod Room” restaurant of Chicago’s Drake Hotel in 1935. He was featured in a number of popular magazines of the time; also, his furniture, home goods and other items were sold in major department stores such as Gimbels and Macy’s.

Hunt gained even more popularity during the 1930s and 1940s, when he created stickers and wrote a book so that women could recreate his style during the Great Depression and the years afterward.

By the 1950s, folk art faded in popularity. Sadly, Hunt died almost penniless in 1967.

As with many items in this crazy field, what fades often surfaces again in popularity, and Hunt furniture is no exception. His pieces now sell for thousands of dollars and that includes the stepback cupboard you have. I put the resale value at $4,000, including the canisters and plates. If it were to be sold at a known auction house, it could easily bring $6,000 or more.**

** The cupboard I appraised was dated 1944.

Detail of drawings on the back board of cabinet hutch.

*All prices given are for sale in a private sale, antique shop, or other resale outlets. Price is also dependent upon the geographic area in which you are selling. Auction value, selling to a dealer or pawn shop prices are about ½ or less of resale value.

Michelle Staley is a Lenexa, KS-based dealer and researcher with 35 years of experience in the antique trade.

Send questions with photos to Michelle at michelle@discovervintage.com or TXSmichelle@gmail.com. Please keep queries to one question; questions without photos of the item may not be answered. There is no guarantee that your question will be answered or published.

Michelle is also available for consulting and extensive research work beyond this column. If you would like an appraisal on an antique or collectible please go to www.michellesantiqueappraisals.com for a one-on-one appraisal. Please note new web address.

The Curse of the Crying Boy

by Michelle Staley | Oct 27, 2021 | Features, Michelle Knows Antiques

November 2021

Michelle Knows Antiques

The Curse of the Crying Boy

by Michelle Staley

It’s fall, so I would like to start with story that has been making the “haunted” or “cursed” circuit for many years: The curse of “The Crying Boy.”

In September 1985, a British tabloid carried the headline, “Blazing Curse of the Crying Boy.” The story published under this headline was the tale of a distraught South Yorkshire family whose home of 27 years had been gutted by a mysterious fire.
Bizarrely, the victims were blaming the incident on a ‘cursed’ painting of a crying boy. The brother of the homeowner, a firefighter, claimed this wasn’t the first time this had occurred. He said he had witnessed many fires in which everything was ruined except for the Crying Boy painting. The response to the article was insane. Within a day, hundreds of readers reached out to the newspaper claiming to be cursed by the painting.

The alleged mysterious fire was caused by the family’s son, who was frying french fries in a skillet on the stove and the grease caught fire.

The odd part of this story is that the house was completely destroyed with the exception of the print of the crying boy. This was something the local firemen had witnessed before. The brother of the homeowner had told the family to remove the print when he first saw it hanging in the house; sadly, they did not heed his advice.

Typical high school typing class from the 1950s.

A Crying Girl painting by Italian artist Giovanni Bragolini (1911-1981). (photo courtesy of the author)

A Crying Boy painting by Italian artist Giovanni Bragolini (1911-1981), one in a series of paintings meant to pay tribute to the orphans of World War II in the UK. (photo courtesy of the author)

To squash the “curse,” the tabloid told everyone to mail their prints to the paper and they would destroy them. On Oct. 31, 1985, the UK saw a massive bonfire of crying boy and girl prints. Yes, they all burned, even though it took three attempts to do so.
Over the decades, the story has come to the forefront fueled by a YouTube video or ghost hunting TV show. What I find interesting is the artist. It all began in the 1950s. A Spanish artist named Giovanni Bragolini (1911-1981) made a series of paintings that depicted a young child crying. He sold those paintings to tourists as a reminder of the orphans of World War II. Oddly enough, people in England, especially young couples, grew fond of these paintings. Mass prints of the paintings were sold across the country. It is estimated that 50,000 were sold just in the UK.

It turns out that Giovanni Bragolin was a pseudonym used by Spanish painter Bruno Amadio, who was also known as Franchot Serville. The artist died in 1981, and no one has been able to trace him to verify his story. The prints are often signed G. Bragolin and nothing is known about the original paintings from which the prints were made. Scary stuff here kids. During the same time, several artists were painting similar crying child works and the same “curse” seems to apply to those as well.

I have owned and sold a number of these precious crying children and am very happy to report, knock on wood, that the only fire my home has been involved in was the direct result of me walking away from a burning candle sitting on a desk covered in paperwork and a small fan running in the background. There were no crying children prints in the house at the time.
I own several “haunted” items from my huge antique shop, so if you have a crying child print that you want to get rid of, I will gladly take it off of your hands.

All prices given are for sale in a private sale, antique shop or other resale outlet. Price is also dependent upon the geographic area in which you are selling. Auction value, selling to a dealer or pawn shop prices are about ½ or less of resale value.

*All prices given are for sale in a private sale, antique shop, or other resale outlets. Price is also dependent upon the geographic area in which you are selling. Auction value, selling to a dealer or pawn shop prices are about ½ or less of resale value.

Michelle Staley is a Lenexa, KS-based dealer and researcher with 35 years of experience in the antique trade.

Send questions with photos to Michelle at michelle@discovervintage.com or TXSmichelle@gmail.com. Please keep queries to one question; questions without photos of the item may not be answered. There is no guarantee that your question will be answered or published.

Michelle is also available for consulting and extensive research work beyond this column. If you would like an appraisal on an antique or collectible please go to www.michellesantiqueappraisals.com for a one-on-one appraisal. Please note new web address.

Supplies remind us of back-to-school days – Part II

by Michelle Staley | Oct 1, 2021 | Michelle Knows Antiques

Image courtesy of Michelle Staley

October 2021

Michelle Knows Antiques

Supplies remind us of back-to-school days – Part II

by Michelle Staley

Several years ago I attended an estate sale and found an abundance of older office supplies and it was half price day. I purchased an assortment of items such as a cast iron 1940s tape dispenser made by Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing. I sold it for $40. A round rubber stamp holder with stamps, sold for $35. Several unopened boxes of 1950s double ended stenographer writing tools, they flew out the door for $20 a box of six. Boxes of onion skin typing paper, never opened, with the cellophane intact, which sold for $25 each.

The real prizes were the two typewriters I brought home. First is the Hermes 3000 and an Adler Tippa from the 1960s. Get this, the type is in cursive. I am very partial to the Hermes typewriters as this is the brand that we had in typing class when I was in high school. The Hermes 3000, manufactured by Paillard-Bolex, was introduced in 1958 and was the preferred typewriter of several authors of note.

Typical high school typing class from the 1950s. (image courtesy of dunkirk.yearbookhigh.com)

The Hermes 3000 typewriter was introduced in 1958. (Image courtesy of Typewriter Review)

According to Wikipedia, “Kotzwinkle’s 1972 novel was named Hermes 3000 after the machine. During his acceptance speech for “Best Screenplay (Brokeback Mountain)” at the 2006 Golden Globes, author Larry McMurtry specifically mentioned his Hermes 3000, stating: “Most heartfelt, I thank my typewriter. My typewriter is a Hermes 3000, surely one of the noblest instruments of European genius. It has kept me for 30 years out of the dry embrace of the computer.”

Other notable users of the machine are Sam Shepard, Eugène Ionesco and Stephen Fry. Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote his final novel, “Vanity of Duluoz,” on the Hermes 3000 in 1966. In 2013, in an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s “Desert Island Discs,” actor Tom Hanks named the Hermes 3000 as the luxury item he would choose to take with him. In a March 2018 auction at Bonhams in London, the Hermes 3000 on which Sylvia Plath had typed her only novel “The Bell Jar” in 1962, was sold for $46,071. I sold the one I had for $600 and have yet to put a price on the Hermes I currently own.

I want to give a quick nod to the Dutch-made Adler Tippa S model typewriter. It is astounding that a manual typewriter from the 1960s types in cursive/italics as the default. It is a small, portable typewriter. When the lid is in place, the handle makes it easy to carry around. I was not able to find much information on this beauty, but be sure to keep an eye out for one. If in excellent condition, they sell for $350 to $400.

When you are out at shows, flea markets or antique shops keep your eyes open for vintage school supplies and office supplies and equipment.

*All prices given are for sale in a private sale, antique shop, or other resale outlets. Price is also dependent upon the geographic area in which you are selling. Auction value, selling to a dealer or pawn shop prices are about ½ or less of resale value.

Michelle Staley is a Lenexa, KS-based dealer and researcher with 35 years of experience in the antique trade.

Send questions with photos to Michelle at michelle@discovervintage.com or TXSmichelle@gmail.com. Please keep queries to one question; questions without photos of the item may not be answered. There is no guarantee that your question will be answered or published.

Michelle is also available for consulting and extensive research work beyond this column. If you would like an appraisal on an antique or collectible please go to www.michellesantiqueappraisals.com for a one-on-one appraisal. Please note new web address.

Supplies remind us of back-to-school days – Part I

by Michelle Staley | Sep 1, 2021 | Michelle Knows Antiques

Image courtesy of https://onthesamepageelt.wordpress.com

September 2021

Michelle Knows Antiques

In the majority of states, the kids are back in school. This year feels like it has passed in warp speed.

My “kids” are adults now but I began thinking about some of the supplies I used in school and even those that go back decades and how desirable they are today. The same applies to vintage office items. Several years ago I purchased a portable manual typewriter with the full intention of giving it to my grandchild until I began researching it and found out what I could sell it for. I currently have another one that is for sale.

I always enjoyed shopping for school supplies even when I was shopping for supplies for my daughters. Before technology became the norm in schools my daughters and I could spend more than an hour at the office supply store browsing all of the ink pens, markers, cool spiral notebooks, binders, and tape. Yes, tape. Have you recently looked at the variety of colors of adhesive and duct tape? I can still spend an hour at the office supply store looking for unique items. I primarily write with an ink pen, the style that takes a cartridge and I adore my quill “pen” which requires a bottle of ink to dip the pen tip in.

A box of Binney & Smith crayons. (Images courtesy of the author)

In the 1800s children wrote on slates with chalk. The slates typically measure 4×6 and may have a wood frame around the exterior. It can be difficult to determine the age as they are still being made and people will “age” the frame on a new slate. If you happen upon an old one, it will sell in the $10 to $15 range.

An early 1900s box of crayons made by Binney & Smith containing only eight crayons will sell for $300 to $400 depending upon condition and wear to the crayons. Beware, the boxes are being reproduced so you need to look at the wrapper around each crayon for age appropriate signs of wear. Another crayon name to keep an eye out for is “Rubens.” This brand is getting very hard to find and I could not find any that had been sold publicly in the past 12 years to even come up with a resell price.

Most of us learned to write with a pencil, ye olde #2. Nicolas-Jacques Conté is considered to be the grandfather of the pencil. During the French Revolution there was a shortage of graphite, Conté was tasked with coming up with a substitute. He eventually created a rectangular shaped writing tool by roasting a mixture of water, clay, and graphite in a kiln. He then shaped the mixture dependent on where they would be used, for example carpenters needed a pencil that would not roll. His innovation became known as Crayons Conté. The style is still being made and the composition has not deviated much from the original recipe. Finding an original square Crayons Conté would not be an easy task. If you happen to come across one in an old desk it would need to be carbon dated and if proven to date from Conté’s time I suspect that interest in it would be great and the auction price would top six digits.

The inventors of the #2 pencil were the author Henry David Thoreau and his dad. In the 1820s they erected a pencil factory in New Hampshire. It was in this factory that they created a graphite pencil that was less brittle and did not smear when used on parchment. They laid new groundwork by offering several pencils from #1 being the softest to #4 which is the hardest. Despite all of the technology available to us today the #2 pencil is the gold standard in classrooms all over the country.

Stay tuned for part II of this column next month, in which we will explore more antique school supplies.

Faber steno pencils.

*All prices given are for sale in a private sale, antique shop, or other resale outlets. Price is also dependent upon the geographic area in which you are selling. Auction value, selling to a dealer or pawn shop prices are about ½ or less of resale value.

Michelle Staley is a Lenexa, KS-based dealer and researcher with 35 years of experience in the antique trade.

Send questions with photos to Michelle at michelle@discovervintage.com or TXSmichelle@gmail.com. Please keep queries to one question; questions without photos of the item may not be answered. There is no guarantee that your question will be answered or published.

Michelle is also available for consulting and extensive research work beyond this column. If you would like an appraisal on an antique or collectible please go to www.michellesantiqueappraisals.com for a one-on-one appraisal. Please note new web address.