Rene Lalique's The Four Seasons - Condition and Completeness of Set Matters

Q.   My mother is curious about these two lamps she inherited from the estate of her great uncle.  The glass part is 7.5 inches.  He traveled widely and collected crystal, glass and china.

Can you give us any help with maker, age or value? 

A.   My first suggestion is for your mother to ask around among her cousins:  does anyone else have a similar lamp?  She is missing two from the set. Your lamps are two of a set of four statues designed in 1939 by the great French jewelry and glass entrepreneur Rene Lalique. 

Rene Lalique was born in France in 1860 and at an early age he displayed an artistic proficiency. In 1876 he was apprenticed to Louis Aucoc, one of the finest goldsmiths in Paris while in the evenings he studied at L’Ecole des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. 

By 1880, Lalique had success on his own as a jeweler designing for well-know makers and private client.  His sculptural Art Nouveau pieces combined precious metals with semi-precious stones, ivory, enamel and glass.

Renee Lalique (courtesy Musee Lalique)

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Lalique began to experiment more and more with glass and enamel.  He patented a glass perfume bottle design in 1909; that same year, perfumer and industrialist François Coty commissioned Lalique to design bottles for his fragrances.  Using the skill, production techniques and labor innovations learned through the perfume partnership, Lalique workshops produced well over 1000 designs for architectural elements, car mascots, vases, cane handles, medallions, bookends and lighting.  

Rene Lalique designed the frosted glass “Le Quatre Saisons”  (The Four Seasons) in 1939.  Each of the figures depicts a kneeling nude holding an emblem of the season:  Spring is surrounded by small flowers; a fruit garland drapes Summer; Autumn clutches a sheaf of wheat; and Winter kneels in a batch of mistletoe.  

"Autumn" clutches a sheaf of wheat

Your figures are Summer (l’Ete”) and Fall (“l’Automne).  Each is most likely signed R. Lalique, but the lamp mounting may obscure the signature.  The value depends greatly on the condition of the glass.  If the figures were drilled they loose almost all value to collectors; if they are glued to the base and can be removed without damage each statue on its own would sell for $200 to $400. Complete set with no chips, flakes or cracks sell in the $1500-2500 range. 

Rene Lalique died in 1945 and the company passed to his son Marc.  Marc Lalique continued to expand the catalog of one of a kind and production designs.  Marc’s daughter, Marie-Claude Lalique took over the business in 1977.  She updated designs, added color, developed her own fragrance and returned to jewelry making.  In 1994 she sold the company. 

Today, Lalique produces luxury decorative items, jewelry, perfumes, furniture, and accessories.    It represents the work of contemporary artists while continuing to make versions of their signature works.  To see examples of Rene Lalique’s jewelry and glass designs visit the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.  For more information, illustrations, authentication processes and listings of fakes and reproductions, visit the independent website www.rlalique.com

"Hustler Toys for Girls and Boys" American wooden toy company, 1919-1934

Hustler "Crew" wooden pull toy with fading and paint loss

This pull toy has been on a shelf in my grandmother’s bathroom for as long as I can remember.  I recently asked her about it but she doesn’t know anything about it except that it makes her smile.  I’m hoping you can tell me who made it and it and what it’s worth.

I like your grandmother.  The fact that this l toy makes her smile is the best reason I can think of for anyone having it!  I smiled too when I saw the picture of this four man scull.  

First of all, some rowing terminology.  A group of rowers is called a crew:  if a crew member uses one oar only he is called a sweeper; rowers who use an oar on each side are called scullers. The craft they use is called a shell.  I’ve never seen a pull toy depicting one. 

If you look closely at the front of the toy (remember, the rowers are facing the back) you’ll see a decal of what looks like a jumping jack.  This is the logo of the Hustler Toy Company of Sterling, Illinois. 

The Hustler Crew in good condition with original box can sell for $100.00

Hustler Toys grew of Franz Manufacturing.  Franz, founded in 1909, made hinges, door tracks and other hardware; they really hit their manufacturing stride in the 1920s when they patented the up and over garage door to sell to the owners of all those new automobiles.

Sometime in 1919 Franz licensed technology from another firm and produced a line of toys.  By 1925, Hustler Toys was formed as a subsidiary of Franz.  Hustler Toys incorporated metal camshafts and rocker arms to give their collection of pull and push toys animated movement.  Hustler dogs cats and horses pranced, pounced or plodded; Hustler delivery trucks dumped their loads; Hustler circus trainers made their elephants stand on hind feet.  Hustler made more than 100 models of mechanically animated wooden toys. 

Hustler did little direct to consumer marketing.  Their catalogs are geared towards wholesale and department stores.  Hustler’s 1932 catalog claimed that Hustler “Action Pull Toys have everything that it will take to sell toys this season – class – novelty – originality – popular prices.” 

Hustler specifically did not market based on gender.  Their catalogs and press releases describe  “Toys for Girls and Boys.” and insists that these toys appeal to "children and grownups alike.”  Most were priced at about one-dollar (at a time when a loaf of bread was 8 cents.)

I found a tremendous amount of information on Judith Lile and Jim Sneed’s website “Old Wood Toys.”  It is a lovingly researched and detailed compendium of toy manufacturers from the mid 19th to the mid 20th centuries.  On their website I found copies of Hustler catalogs, press releases and patents.  I also found an image of your toy and its original packaging. 

Your grandmother's four-man crew pull toy would “row” bending forward and back as the toy was pulled.   Unfortunately, it has lost a lot of its original vibrant color and crew member details.  In better condition and with the original box your Hustler Crew could sell in the $100 region.  As it is, with fading and paint loss it could bring $10-30. 

Reproduction prints from Andrew Wyeth and Pierre-Auguste Renoir

I am contacting you from Australia.  I'm sure you get asked all the time about the value of paintings/prints, well here is another one.

Renoir's Portrait of Two Young GIrls

I have had this picture for years and just noticed on the back a sticker which reads RENOIR - PORTRAIT DE DEUX FILLETTES Collection J. Walter - P. Guillaume Paris. I have attached images. Can you tell me what the value is and how I would sell them?

I'm not sure of the Australian art market but, unless you recently stole this artwork from the Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris, you have reproductions.  

Paul Guillame (1891-1934) was an influential and highly successful Parisian art dealer.   He embraced Impressionism and was one of the first in France to exhibit both African sculpture and Cubist painting.  During his short lifetime he amassed a group of several hundred works by living artists with the intention of forming a museum.  He died before he could realize his dream. 

His widow Domenica married architect Jean Walter.  Together they sold some pieces, bought others and refined the collection to represent French art from 1860 through 1930.  After Jean Walter’s death, Domenica gifted the collection with the understanding that it would be named for both of her late husbands.    The French State housed the collection in Musee de L’Orangerie.

J. Walter - P. Guillaume collection tag 

I have an Andrew Wyeth Young America picture, framed, that I purchased at an antiques mall in Michigan approximately 10 years ago. I'd like to know if it's worth anything. 

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) is a beloved American artist.  President John F. Kennedy awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963; in 1990 Wyeth received the Congressional Medal of Honor.  In 2017, the United States Postal Service honored Wyeth by issuing a sheet of postage stamp bearing 12 of his paintings. 

Andrew Wyeth's Young America hangs in the Pennsylvania Academy of Art - But you can buy the image as a postage stamp!

Young America, a realistic yet dreamy portrait of a Young Man on a bicycle, was painted in 1950.  It currently hangs in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  Signed limited edition prints can sell in the low hundreds; mechanically produced posters bring much less. 

If you have a signed collotype print it will sell in the $1000-1500 range; an offset lithograph will sell for $100-150.00.  You’d have to remove it from the frame to be sure. 

Glove Flask - Not for Sneaking Booze into a Football Game

Can you identify what this is?  A whistle? A darning sock?  It’s 5 ½ inches tall and made of silver.  The top half comes off and it’s empty inside.

I don’t have any family history to it.  I just like odd things and – unless you tell me otherwise – fits the bill. 

I suppose your darning sock guess was the closest:  you have a glove flask. 

Gloves have been integral as part of an outfit for centuries as a symbol of wealth and gentility.  They protected hands from dirt and the elements and signaled that those who wore them did not have to labor for a living.  Do you remember the scene in Gone with the Wind when Scarlett visits Rhett in the Yankee jail?  “What have you done with your hands?” Rhett demands.  “These don’t belong to a lady. You’ve worked with them like a field hand”

 Unfortunately, snug fitting gloves could be difficult to put on.  To remedy this, people – or their valets or ladies’ maids - would powder the inside of the glove.  To do this without billowing dust everywhere one would use a glove flask. 

In 1889 druggist Joseph Begy wrote The Practical Handbook of Toilet Preparations and Their Uses: Also Recipes for the Household as a way to battle what he saw as humbug, exorbitant prices and impure ingredients in the medical and toiletries industry.  His 13 chapters include “Preparations for the Finger Nails”  “Aromatic Smelling Salts” and “Corns and Bunions.”

In the chapter “Glove Powder” he writes, I believe I am justified in saying that ladies will appreciate this powder.  They all realize what an advantage it is to have something to dust their kid gloves, that will at once overcome the difficulty of getting their gloves on; a matter that is at times very embarrassing, besides causing any amount of ill temper.  It will save all annoyance; ladies need not dread the ordeal.

 To use a glove flask you would open it and fill the more bulbous bottom with talc, cornstarch or any absorbent powder.  You would then shake the neck of the flask into the glove, powdering each finger individually. 

A glove flask would be found as part of a lady’s dresser set along with a hair and clothes brushes; a shoe horn, button hook and powder box; a hair receiver, comb and looking glass; a hat pin holder and a glove stretcher.   These items could be in combinations of sterling, crystal, porcelain and even wood. 

Your flask is quite fancy with intricately chased ribbons and a triple monogram.  It could have been made any time during the last third of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th.  I’m sure it’s sterling but without being able to see the marks I can’t tell you who made it. 

These powder flasks are quite rare.  Many of the tops have been lost or they’ve been mistakenly moved to the dining room and used for pepper!   Yours is one of the prettiest I’ve seen:  depending on the maker it would sell in the $100-200 range.

20th Century Traditional Diorama Shows 19th Century Interior

I'm very curious about this piece. It's almost 18" by 10 1/2" and 2" deep made out of wood. It says on the table cross piece 1848 and on the back made in Austria. I can't read the writing on the note on the back and suspect it's not written in English. My grandparents gave it to my dad and I've always been fascinated with the intricate pieces and detail and enjoy just looking at it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

Although the date on the table reads 1848 this diorama is a 20th century creation.

What you have is generally called a 3D diorama or a shadow box interior scene.  This craft is most typically found in towns in Germany and Austria along the Erzgebirge range of mountains.  It is a nice example of a region re-inventing itself economically after the original industry bringing settlers to the town was depleted. 

Erzgebirge translates to Ore Mountain.  According to geologists, locals began excavating tin – a component of the bronze alloy - in the area as early as 3000 B.C.   The heavily forested landscape provided ample wood used for firing the tin smelters; local waterways provided hydropower and transportation.   Over the centuries, as tin mining spread westward across Europe, tin deposits in Erzgebirge depleted.   According to the website for the central Erzgebirge town of Seiffern, the mining office there closed in 1849, signaling the end of the industry. 

Fortunately for the region, the same landscape that provided wood to fuel smelters could also be also harnessed to turn steam and water powered lathes.  The woodturning and carving industry turned the Erzgebirge region into what is today one of theworld’s great today a great wooden toy producers.

If you have a nutcracker, a candle pyramid, a smoker figure or even wooden Christmas tree decorations it’s likely that they were made in the German or Austrian towns of the region.  Cozy shadowbox scenes like yours, composed of carved, turned and painted elements, are also typical for the area. 

These wooden pictures are still being produced and continue to delight with details of home live, professions and hobbies.  They are not terrifically valuable.  You can find them in specialty shops selling in the $100-300 range. 

Shirley Temple - An Advertising Icon at the Breakfast Table

I am interested in the value of blue Shirley temple cereal bowl, drinking glass and small milk pitcher. The etched face of Miss Shirley is truly visible on each piece.

The bowl, mug and milk pitcher were gifts with purchase and mail im premiums

Who has the most appearances on a box of Wheaties?  Well, it’s Michael Jordan with 18 but our gal Shirley Temple is second in line with 12. 

General Mills offered these 10 movie stills on Wheaties boxes in 1936

Shirley Temple was born in 1928 and by 1934 she had won a special Academy Award for “Outstanding Personality.”  Her trademark 56 curls, her dimpled cheeks and her dandy song and dance performances cheered the depression era population.

Shirley’s rise to stardom coincided with the rise of pre-packaged (and hygienic!), ready-to-eat breakfast cereals.  General Mills was a major player in this industry:  they introduced Wheaties in 1924 and followed with Bisquick baking mix in 1930. 

General Mills had a great marketing sense. They developed brand loyalty by introducing Betty Crocker Coupons in 1929.  They understood the value of radio:  the first commercial jingle ever performed was in 1926 when a barbershop quartet in Minneapolis sang, “Have Your Tried Wheaties?” 

They recognized brand ambassadors and created Jack Armstrong, All American Boy as product spokesman.  Jack’s success in capturing imaginations led to the General Mills creating a Jack Armstrong had a radio show:  this radio show offered tie-in premiums in exchange for box tops.

General Mills expanded the scope of Wheaties popularity in 1934 when they began featuring real life celebrities like Lou Gehrig and America’s Sweetheart, Shirley Temple. 

With the purchase of two boxes of Wheaties, consumers could receive a cereal bowl printed with an image of Shirley Temple.  A mug was given away the purchase of a large box of general Mills’ Bisquick and, to encourage children to drink more milk, a small milk pitcher giveaway rounded out the set. 

Shirley Temple's partnership with Bisquick urged kids to drink more milk

Hazel Atlas Glass- maker of ubiquitous household items like canning jars, medicine bottles and lamp bases – were commissioned to produce the Shirley Temple set.  Her image was transfer printed onto honeycombed blue glass and millions of sets were produced between 1934 and 1942.

I’ve seen three different images on this glassware and your set features one of each.  Your mug features the youngest version and your bowl a second but still early image.  Your milk pitcher sports 7 year old Shirley in her 1936 role in Captain January. 

These sets are sure to bring fond memories for any contemporary of Shirley Temple.  My mom and her twin were born the day before the stock market crashed in 1929.  Mom remembers these cobalt blue sets but swears she never had one.

Like so many things, your set has more nostalgic than monetary value.  Individually, the mug, bowl and pitcher sell in the $5-10 range.  A full set of the three pieces can command $30-50. 

Fenton - A Century Old Glass Company Adapting to Modern Trends

I am sending you photos of my 3-piece Fenton Glass Perfume Set. The round jar and bottle are both numbered 786/1000. When I Googled it I got a $500.00 value but I don’t know if that’s right.  I tried getting a price guide from the library, but couldn't find it. I would appreciate any info you could give me. I know Fenton Glass is no longer being made. I noticed there are several Fenton Clubs listed in the price guide but nothing local.

Brothers Frank and John Fenton founded their business in Martins Ferry Ohio in 1905.  At first, Fenton decorated glassware made by other manufacturers.   In 1907 the brothers decided to produce their own glass and they opened a factory in Williamstown, West Virginia.   That same year they introduced Iridescent Ware.  

Iridescent glass was all the rage at the turn of the last century.  Louis Comfort Tiffany introduced his Favrille glass in 1896 after, it’s been anecdotally reported, a visit to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. At the V&A he saw ancient Roman and medieval glass and, struck by their soft iridescence, determined to develop a product to simulate that look.

Frederick Carder and Thomas Hawkes formed Steuben Glass in 1903. In 1904 they introduced Aurene, their version of iridescent glass.  (Tiffany sued Steuben over what he believed was a stolen process.  The case never came to court.)

Fenton never aspired to the luxury market heights of Tiffany or Steuben.  Fenton mass-produced wares for middle class homes.  In addition to their iridescent line, Fenton produced custard glass, stretch glass, hobnail glass and milk glass – almost all in imitation of existing wares from other companies.

Fenton Glass Painting: 1900s; 1970s; 21st century

Fenton was a nimble company able to anticipate and meet popular demand.  They continued to innovate and thrive through the 20th century. 

In 1988, Fenton began a partnership with the shopping channel QVC.  Lines developed specifically for QVC followed the first collaboration of collectible Birthstone Bears.  Some items were copies of old pieces and some were re-imagined favorites using original molds and decorating with modern styles. 

Your dresser set is one of these re-imagined pieces produced for QVC.  The silver oval label printed in black with a script F could indicate a manufacture date any time between 1988 and 1996.

During the QVC years, Fenton marketed their products as limited edition and hand painted.  While these statements are factually true, the edition numbers were large and the amount of hand painting was minimal.   As you noted, Fenton stopped production in 2011 and now produces glass jewelry.

I see sets similar to yours listed for sale at $500 – I don’t find any records of any selling for that price.  On eBay these sets sell in the $80 to $130 range. 

I have to congratulate you on the extent of your search!  You consulted two of my favorite sources for information:  the public library and collector clubs. Googling alone doesn’t yield results.

Downton Abbey Mixing Bowls - Just Like Mrs. Patmore's!

I bought two bowls from Laurel House Antiques.  The way they nest I think it was a set of three originally. Does this lessen the value? 

These Mason Cash bowls haven't changed  much since their introduction in 1901

You have two classic Cane patterned mixing bowls by the English pottery company Mason Cash of Church Gresley, Derbyshire.   They made these bowls in a variety of sizes so they are not found in conventional “sets”.  I would estimate the values on these bowls individually. 

Like its neighbor, the better-known Staffordshire, Derbyshire was home to a number of potteries dating to the 18th century.  In his 1878 book The Ceramic Art of Great Britain from Prehistoric Times Down to the Present Day, author Llewllynn Frederick William Jewitt describes Derbyshire pottery as “buff or yellow” and declares, “The local clay from which these goods are produced is peculiar to this district, and is not found precisely the same anywhere else.”

Beginning about 1813, Mason pottery made household goods, as did fellow Derbyshire Watt and Cash.   In 1901, Thomas Cash, son of Watt and Cash founder William, purchased Mason and combined the two names. 

Daisy, Mrs. Patmore and Lady Sybil bake a cake - and use their Mason Cash mixing bowls!

Mason and Cash have produced their “cane” patterned bowls almost without change since 1901.  The zig-zagged rim and the textured exterior of the bowl provide solid one-handed grip and the narrow foot provides stability.  If you look at kitchen scenes from any British drama you’ll see cooks – including Downton Abbey’s Mrs. Patmore – using these bowls.  As far as I can tell, they’ve never been out of production. 

Mason and Cash currently make these bowls in 10 sizes ranging in diameter from 12 to 35 centimeters so I suppose having two rather than three nesting bowls does not lessen the value.  In good condition, these vintage bowls sell in the $25 to $70 range.  You can buy these bowls new for about the same price. 

(Mason and Cash have expanded their line of wares.  They have a line specifically for pets!)

Harvey Girls and Navajo Trading Posts

My mother-in-law's mother Hazel was a Harvey Girl in Arizona. I'm not certain of the exact time period, but she started in Kansas City and then went to Ash Fork Arizona. My mother in law was born in 1915, and her mother was married in 1912. Harvey Girls couldn't work and be married so it had to be before 1912. I don't know how long she worked for the Harvey Houses but she came west to find cowboys! She did find her future husband!

A Harvey Girl in Civilian Clothes, circa 1905

This rug was hers and I’m assuming it came from Arizona but I have no idea how she got it or any history of it.  It measures 24" square.  Can you help? 

Was this Navajo Saddle Blanket a Wedding Gift in 1912?

I confess I was ignorant of the cultural phenomenon of Harvey Girls and Harvey Houses until I came across their stories while driving across country 25 years ago. 

Between the 1880s and the 1940s over 100,000 women worked as “Harvey Girls” in restaurants all over the west.  Established by Fred Harvey, a peripatetic Englishman transported to the United States, these restaurants and hotels truly contributed to the western expansion of the United States. 

Fred Harvey worked as a postal clerk and freight manager for the Burlington Railroad; his base of operations was Topeka, Kansas.  Prior to his restaurants, train travelers had no dining options while traveling and were at the mercy of unregulated roadhouses or local women selling meals out of their homes.  These independent operators were subject to no standards of quality, nor were their schedules always aligned with train schedules:  if you weren’t finished with your meal when the engineer was ready to over on you either abandoned your meal or missed the train. 

Harvey proposed the idea of building cafes along the railroad but his employer turned the idea down.  He brought the idea to the Atchison Topeka Santa Fe Railroad and was given an open-ended budget to secure sites and build restaurants across the west.  These restaurants produced consistently fresh, high quality meals served in predictably clean dining rooms by strictly regulated waitresses.  The railroad itself delivered fresh produce and meat; the Santa Fe railroad even ran two of its own dairies.

Harvey advertised all over the east coast for neat articulate women of good moral character with at least an 8th grade education to staff the dining rooms.  These women received their tickets west, salary, room and board.  They had to agree to stay in the Harvey employ – including not getting married – for at least six months.

If Hazel lived in Ash Fork, she and fellow Harvey Girls likely worked and lived at the Escalante Hotel.  Harvey Girls abided by strict rules of dress and deportment both on and off duty.  Still, most of these women married and stayed to raise families and communities; they are the ones considered to be responsible for bringing civility, culture and stability to the west. 

Along with restaurants and hotels, the development of Trading Posts grew along the rail lines.  Trading Posts offered Navajos the economic opportunity a place to purchase items like flour, coffee and tobacco – to which they had become accustomed to during their years of forced internment – with wool, pottery, baskets and rugs.  The Navajo items gained popularity with traders and collectors across the United States, even having some influence on some of the design elements.

If Hazel married in 1912, the Navajo weaving might have been gifted to her as a wedding present by friends or co-workers.  The colors and texture of the wool together with the pattern suggest that this saddle blanket sized piece was woven in the first quarter of the 19th century. 

The blanket itself is in poor condition:  the looped ends are worn and the warp and weft seem to be unraveling.  It could be repaired but the restoration would diminish its charm without adding much to the minimal monetary value it currently has.  Make sure the frame’s backing is acid free and you can enjoy your Navajo saddle blankets for generations to come. 

Souvenir Spoon Celebrates a Woman - But Not Who You'd Think!

I found this Chicago World’s Fair spoon cleaning out a relative’s house.  I love the woman on the handle.  Is the spoon valuable? 

Souvenir Spoon of the Woman's Building, 1893 Columbian Exhibition, Chicago

This depends on how you define value.  From a monetary point of view your sterling silver spoon generally sells in the $10-15 range.   From the vantage of architectural, women’s history or sociological attitudes, your spoon is a lot of fun.

The Woman's Building, like many of the World's Fair Buildings, favored neoclassical architecture

The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the new world; secondarily, it celebrated the rebirth of Chicago after the great fire of 1871 which left more than one third of the city’s 300,000 residents homeless. 

More than 200 largely temporary buildings were built on 600 acres of gardens, waterways and promenades.  The Woman’s Building was one of the most popular. Socialite and philanthropist Bertha Palmer, head of the Board of Lady Managers, led the logistics and financing of this endeavor. 

Palmer conceived a completion and invited only female architects to compete.  The winner was 21year old Sophia Hayden, the first female graduate of MIT’s four-year architecture program.  Hayden designed a building with a gloriously light filled interior behind a relatively austere neoclassical exterior. 

Hayden and Palmer had strong disagreements about the building design:  Hayden wanted purity in her design; Palmer thought the exterior should incorporate ornate architectural features donated by her wealthy friends.  After her design changes were not met, Palmer fired Hayden.  At 21, Hayden retired from architecture, married and spent the rest of her life a painter.

Bertha Palmer was immortalized on spoon but none of the women artists working on the building were acknowledged with souvenir spoons.   Sculptor Enid Yarnell made caryatids on each pillar; Ellen May Rope designed plaster relief panels of Faith, Hope, Love and Charity. Mary Cassatt painted an interior 12 x 58 foot mural “Modern Women” and May Fairchild MacMonnies painted the corresponding “Primitive Women.”   19-year-old Alice Rideout from California designed the pediment and sculpted the four allegorical statues rising from the corners of the building.  Interestingly, Alice Rideout, like architect Sophia Hayden, retired after the Fair and never worked again as a sculptor.  The building was torn down at the completion of the fair and none of the statuary, murals or plasterwork survived. 

The bowl of your spoon depicts architect Sophia Hayden’s Woman’s Building at the 1893 World Columbian Exhibition.  Looking up the handle, your spoon features Alice Rideout’s rooftop statuary robe draped woman with upraised arms cradling a globe; a pair of putti and a profile portrait of a Bertha Matilda Honore Palmer wearing a multi-stand pearl choker, pearl earrings and a garland of flowers.

The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition showcased the fascinating friction coming to life as the world modernized and women demanded equality.  For more information about the 1893 Expo look for The Fair Women: The Story of the Women's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago 1893 by Jeanne Madeline Weimann or Women Building History:  Public Art at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition by Wanda Corn. For an overall view of the times and the trials of hosting a world event I can’t recommend Erik Larson’s 2004 book, The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America highly enough.

(Lastly, while the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair may be famous for the anecdotal introduction of the ice cream cone, the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair truly did introduce the chocolate brownie.  Bertha Palmer instructed the kitchen of her hotel to make a portable chocolate dessert for ladies’ boxed lunch.)

 

 

 

 

Symphonion Music box - An Early Disc Player

I hope you can help me with the value and market interest of my Symphonion.  It is 20 x 16 x 11 inches and works when a nickel is inserted in the coin slot.  I also have 22 13.5 inch steel disks.

Tabletop music boxes evolved from clock and watchmakers.  As early as the 16th century, a Flemish clockmaker developed a clock with a central cylinder. Pins covering this cylinder hit tiny tuned bells to produce recognizable music (rather than simple chimes).  The genius of his invention was the removable pins which could be placed anywhere on the pierced cylinder to produce custom music. 

The clockwork mechanism led to the development of the cylinder music box.  These music boxes contained large horizontal pinned cylinders.  As the cylinder revolved, pins would strike tuned metal combs.  Owned only by the wealthy, these boxes were expensive and limited to the tune programmed into the cylinders.  Some boxes featured multiple cylinders, but the mechanics of swapping out one for another was awkward.

Music boxes playing flat disks like Symphonion were more user friendly and less expensive to produce than the cylinder music box. In both cases, tuned metal combs have their teeth plucked by precisely placed pins. The genius of these music players was the shaft drive rotating a plate, which enabled each machine to use interchangeable disks. The relatively modest price and easy storage of the steel or zinc disks meant that consumers could enjoy a huge range of music with the same machine.

Your machine was made by the Symphonion Musikwerks, the German company, which patented the star flywheel vital to the workings of these music boxes.   They were started manufacturing and marketing these in 1880; yours is a little later, perhaps 1895 or so. 

At some point, Symphonion split into two companies: Symphonion and Polyphon.  In 1892, Polyphon employee Gustave Brachhausen left Germany for New to start the Regina Music Box Company.  To keep customers and prevent competition, each music box company produced their own disks:  differences in diameters meant that disks made for Symphonion, for example, would not play on a Regina. 

Most boxes seen on the market today are by Regina and the term has become an almost generic term for flat disk music boxes.   In evaluating these machines, one has to look at the condition of the combs:  if any teeth are missing that note is missed; the complexity of the music and whether it is a single comb or double comb machine. Additionally, the winding mechanism needs to work smoothly and the cabinet should be in good condition.

Your machine is a coin-operated model, meaning it was used in a public place, a tavern or a pool hall.  These automatons saw much harder use than home models and are, consequently much scarcer. 

On the market today, a Symphonion Music box with 22 disks would sell in the $800-1500 range.  Your machine, though, because it’s a coin-operated model, would sell for more.  I’d estimate it to sell in the $2000 to $4000 range.