Knowing an item’s backstory can add to value

In today’s What’s It Worth?, we answer readers’ questions about ceramic — well, actually, ceramiclike — items. One has a direct holiday connection.

Q. We inherited a group of small figurines that advertise Jell-O and are marked as “Sebastians.” We’d like to know more about them, especially the Christmas Santa Claus we have sent you a photo of. Thanks for any information and possible values. — Dorothy in Cambria, Calif.

A. First produced in the late 1930s, Sebastian figures were developed by Prescott Baston of Massachusetts. They were sold across the country, but were most popular in New England.

In addition to gift items, Baston contracted with several companies to make awards for sale competitions and for use as in-store promotions. Foremost among the brands he designed and made pieces for was Jell-O.

The Santa figure was made for General Foods (the Jell-O brand owner) in 1955. It was part of an advertising campaign in Reader’s Digest magazine and only about 3,000 were made.

Active in the business until the mid-1970s, Baston eventually stopped production and made a deal to supervise the manufacture of Sebastians, as another company made 100 designs from the Sebastian line.

Most of what Dorothy has in her collection are the advertising items, which are among the most collectible and valuable.

Sebastians are made from a product called “Ceramastone,” a material that is primarily a resin.

Most Sebastian figures are quite small, averaging no more than 3 or 4 inches high.

Values have fluctuated. In 1995, you could buy the Jell-O Santa for about $300. Six years later, one sold at auction for $550. When we checked last week, another was offered on a large Internet auction site for $280 — and it hadn’t sold.

Buyer beware. Unauthorized Sebastian copies have been produced through the years and many sell for only a few dollars.

Q. I bought this plaque with an Indian head at an estate sale in our region several years ago. It is about 13 inches high and the back is fully marked and dated and has the artist’s signature. I’ve done some research using what’s on the back and am curious as to its history and proper value. — Sherry in Richland

A. This is by the artist Emmett A. Sullivan, about whom little seems to be known. Active throughout his career in the Black Hills area of South Dakota, Sullivan (1887-1970) is said to have worked on Mount Rushmore. However, details of what that work might have involved are sketchy, at best.

The shield is plaster of Paris and the figure is of a stonelike material.

The writing on the back tells us this is the image of Wamble-ska-we — translated as Princess White Eagle — of the Oglala Sioux. And that it was made and copyrighted in 1939.

Sullivan signed himself as “cowboy sculptor of Paha Sapa,” the Lakota name for their sacred Black Hills.

In his early years, Sullivan focused on relief carvings, such as this one; they were mostly of Native Americans. In the mid-1930s, he designed the concrete, life-sized dinosaur figures in Rapid City — you can still visit them in a park there today.

Later, he made models of live snakes to sell to tourists at such places as Reptile Gardens and Wall Drug. He was also the sculptor of Christ of the Ozarks, a seven-story-tall statute in Eureka Springs, Ark.

Sullivan’s plaques and smaller works come to market from time to time, but that market is not very strong. He is relatively unknown outside South Dakota, and perhaps not even very well known there in this day and age. Such artistic anonymity does not lead to vigorous sales, avid collectors or strong prices.

We have seen other small Sullivan works sell between $60 and $80. With the chip on the upper left corner of the arrowhead background, this piece would be valued in the lower end of that range.

This story was originally published December 13, 2014 at 10:49 PM with the headline "Knowing an item’s backstory can add to value."