Sandwich markers might find a place at ‘Downton Abbey’ buffet

Millions will be watching tonight as the super popular TV series Downton Abbey airs its final episode and ends a six-year run on PBS.

We don’t know any of the details of how it all ends, but certainly there will be much drama. Huge estates and the lifestyles and upper-class manners and mores like those of the fictional Grantham family were coming to an end in the late 1920s.

In today’s What’s It Worth? we answer a timely question about a fancy set of English sandwich “flag” markers — an item emblematic of the changes then affecting Britain’s landed gentry.

Q. This boxed set of markers was my great grandmother’s. I think they are old. They seem to be British and the little flags or pennants are interchangeable. My thought is these were used as markers to identify items on a buffet table. Is that a good guess? — Kristen in Richland

A. A very good guess. Made by Amnora in England, these were indeed meant to tell you which little sandwich was made of what on a buffet serving table or sideboard. They are silverplated and date to 1927.

That’s about the time the major sea change in lifestyle was hitting the landed gentry of England very hard.

One challenge TV’s Downton elite had to deal with was servants; they were simply many fewer of them in the great houses after World War I.

Soldiers returned from the war with different expectations. Many former footmen and household staff left service, going on to other pursuits and different careers.

At the country estates, lunches and dinner were always “served.” For breakfast — a less formal meal — there would be a buffet.

This set of markers would have been used when the luncheon tradition shifted to a meal more like breakfast — that is, serve yourself. They could have also been used for the ubiquitous afternoon tea.

The pennant-shaped celluloid markers name 20 items — from anchovy to tongue. There are also some blanks to be filled in. These were marketed to the masses as well as the upper class.

While little is known about the Amnora company or how long sets such as this were made, we did find several examples that have been sold recently.

Last April in southern England, a boxed assortment nearly identical to this one went for $275 at auction.

Q. I have a painting of a female socialite signed “Sweet 1946” (looks like Margaret Thatcher to me and that is what I have named it).

My uncle purchased this at a garage sale in Massachusetts in 1983. It has been hanging in my garage ever since 1985. I believe it is a William Russell Sweet painting. I don’t know much about Mr. Sweet. Any information you can share regarding this painting would be appreciated. Thank you — Scott in Kennewick

A. This is a tough one to pin down. It could be by William Russell Sweet — but probably not.

There have been many American painters named Sweet. William Russell was active in Rhode Island in the later part of the 19th and into the 20th centuries.

If that particular painter named Sweet was the artist of this attractive portrait, he would have painted it during the last months of his life. W. R. Sweet died in October 1946.

Of all the other painters named Sweet found in our research, none are likely to have been the artist responsible for this painting. They either died before 1946, were known for painting other subjects or worked in another media — watercolor, sculpture or drawing, for example.

In providing appraisals, when an artist can’t be conclusively identified, what is termed “decorative value” comes into play.

If an artist is unknown or unlisted in major reference works, the decorative value represents what someone is likely to pay for it as an ornamental object.

That is, if you like a painting — but it is not by an identifiable artist with a record at auction or in gallery sales — what would you pay?

In this case, the amount is about the same.

William Russell Sweet’s works aren’t well known and there are few auction records. A painting identified to be by his hand would likely be valued between $500 and $1,000. In this instance, that would also be the “decorative value.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Sandwich markers might find a place at ‘Downton Abbey’ buffet."