What's it Worth? Boxes made for entertainment, storage used to communicate
Boxes are the subjects of today’s What’s It Worth? Actually, one of the items is a box that held things, the other is a mid-century version of a box that changed the way we communicate. It is a radio, but not one you’d have in your home.
Q. I’ve always thought my little wooden thread box — it is about 4 inches square, 11/2 inches high — was a cute and useful object. A friend said I should find out if it was worth anything and, maybe, how old it is. Can you help? — Sharon in Othello
A. This small box (it would have held four spools of thread) is English. It was at the same time useful, decorative and an advertising vehicle for the Brooks Thread Company.
Established in Huddlesfield, England — a large industrial town about 200 miles north of London — Brooks dates to as early as the 1850s as major manufacturers of sewing thread.
In 1896 they joined forces and merged with the J & P Coates Thread Company. That new international firm was a huge operation and employed almost 11,000 workers in England, the United States and elsewhere around the world.
The history of the Brooks firm tells us this box with the dancing kittens is from the the mid to late 19th century. It most likely dates to the later years of Brooks’ production — as earlier versions of their thread boxes were lithographed tin, and featured small locks.
These are seen in antique shows, salesrooms and auctions on a fairly regular basis. They appeal to several collector categories. Box collectors like them, sewing collectors will be interested, as will collectors of all things cat and kitten.
When you have many different kinds of people wanting an object, values tend to go up. This box — which seems to be in excellent condition — would be fairly priced in the $65 to $75 range.
Q. I bought this radio years ago when a motel in our area went out of business.
Originally, it seems to have had a coin slot, where a guest made a payment and could listen to the radio for a set period of time. The coin-operated mechanism was long-gone when I got it. Does that make any difference in value and what would be the value of something like this? — Ron in Joseph, Ore.
A. What you have is a product made in the Northwest.
The Jet Sales Company of Seattle manufactured and marketed their “Jetco” motel and hotel radios after World War II and into the early 1950s. This model stands about 25 inches high and features aluminum legs and an aluminum frame. They came in either a woodgrain finish or with a black top.
Jetcos were console radios which tuned to AM stations only. There was also a clock and the overall design is what collectors now call “Mid-Century Modern.”
The clock operated all the time. It was run from one power cord. Another cord powered the radio, but had to be activated by inserting a coin into the now-missing mechanism, which was located along the back edge of the console top. Ten cents got you an hour.
These were popular with motel owners of the era. It was a time before every room in every hotel and motel had a television set. In fact, TV was such a newfangled thing, hardly any hotels had them.
The Jetco hotel/motel radio wasn’t entirely a creation of the Seattle firm. What they did was purchase radio chassis from the Packard Bell Company of Los Angeles, then fitted them out with a new front, modified the cabinet and mounted the legs. Jet also made a tabletop model, but this one with legs is the most commonly-seen.
A creative, if short-lived, company, Jetco was located on Seattle’s North Aurora Avenue. Today, an outlet of another innovative Seattle firm occupies the site. There is a Starbucks there now.
Jetco radios come to market from time to time and are popular if they are in good working condition. The missing coin slot and pay-to-play mechanism have little impact on value. We’ve seen them sell for anywhere from $50 to $200.
This story was originally published January 25, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "What's it Worth? Boxes made for entertainment, storage used to communicate."