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closeSunday, Nov. 01, 2009
Knowing item's history can help sale
By Terry Maurer, What's it Worth
Saturday night was Halloween, the holiday that's fast closing in on Christmas as being the most interesting to collectors.
In this edition of What's it Worth we'll explore the rising popularity of items from the spooky holiday.
And, music in the form of bird songs is in the air, as we answer a question about an unusual Swiss music box.
Q. I inherited this small, rather odd oak box from my grandfather, who was a collector of many things. Research has come up with nothing as to what it is or was used for. When you wind the large key and release the stop on the side, it starts making bird songs. They sound just like real birds and the songs are all short and all different. A metal plate on the bottom reads "D. Allard & Cie." Any ideas what this was used for? -- Michael in Spokane
A. Measuring about 7 inches square and 5 inches high, what you have is a rather special Swiss music box.
D. Allard and Co. started business in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1882. They mostly made cylinder music boxes, the kind of instrument we've valued in previous What's It Worth columns.
The firm was also well known for their "pop up" bird boxes. Small, highly decorative metal boxes feature when the mechanism is activated a tiny bird who pops up from the top and sings a pretty song.
Yours is different in that it is quite plain. There's no external action at all (no birds, nothing visibly mechanical). Frankly, this had us stumped. Until we talked with Larry Karp.
Karp is a music box expert and novelist whose works include The Music Box Murders and Scamming the Birdman. He told us the box is not common and once was thought to have been a device used indoors to encourage pet birds to sing in their cages.
"That may be more myth than fact," Karp says. "Perhaps they had an excess of mechanisms and put some into these plain boxes. The mechanism is essentially a small slide-whistle with a bellows to supply air and linked gears to run the bellows and shift the slide to produce the different notes that mimic bird songs."
Karp told us that's exactly the same setup Allard used in the pop up bird boxes and automata of caged birds.
"Though I've seen one of these sell quite high at auction," Karp said, "a fair estimate of its value to an informed collector would be between $250 and $500."
Seen & Sold
At the huge antiques EXPO show and sale in Portland many of the booths featured Halloween items.
With good reason, as Halloween is fast catching up to Christmas as the most collected of holidays.
What's it Worth caught up with dealer Jonathan Crawley, who specializes in holiday collectibles. His terrific display of old Halloween is pictured with today's column.
Crawley told us that, while there still are plenty of collectors interested in Christmas-related items, there seems to be "more of a fervor among Halloween collectors."
The history of the Halloween celebration is an interesting one, said. "In the 1920s, it was mostly an adult holiday, and that's the era of the really great papier-mch jack-o'- lanterns, candy containers and devil figures." Devil pieces are at the top of the value pyramid.
The earliest Halloween collectibles are postcards, made in Germany from the first years of the 20th century. Today there are very few Halloween postcards priced at less than $30 each.
At the Portland show, postcard specialist David Torretta told us his best cards sell in the $75 to $100 range. "I have some more common ones, and they're perfect, priced at about $35," he said.
Beginning collectors are cautioned to look out for Halloween reproductions -- there are plenty of them out there.
"Do your research; talk with people who know," cautions Crawley. "Know how to spot the reproductions." For instance, the bottoms of authentic American jack-o'- lanterns have a recessed circle. New items don't.
Halloween collectibles are an area where buyers really want to handle the merchandise in person. Crawley and Torretta agree there's no substitute for being able to hold a possible purchase in your hands, examining the condition closely and getting some history from the person offering it for sale.
"Another good thing to do is get a statement from the seller describing just exactly what the item is. Get it in writing," Crawley says.
That's good advice in any area of antiquing.
w Terry Maurer, a Tri-Cities personal property appraiser and antique dealer, is a member of the Certified Appraisers Guild of America. You may submit your antiques and collectible questions to What's it Worth by e-mail to whatsitworth@ clearwire.net.
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