Auction timing and locale can affect sales
Occasionally, an unfamiliar design shows up in an auction.
Recently, the Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches listed a tea set, two cups and a teapot with an Art Deco look and unfamiliar marks. The set was white with black and red blocks of color.
The teapot had a vertical spout and rectangular handle creating a new geometric shape. The mark solved the mystery once it was translated. Written on the bottom of each piece in the Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet was the word that translated to “Supremist.” Next to it was the familiar hammer-and-sickle logo.
It was an example of Supremist Art popular in Russia from 1913 to the late 1920s. (The teapot was dated 1923.) The Russian who created the style claimed it to be superior to all art of the past.
Yet something — the extreme look of the set, the high estimate of $7,000 to $9,000, the lack of demand for a teapot with cups instead of a set with teapot, creamer and sugar, or perhaps the Russian origin — kept bidders away. The set did not sell.
At any auction, valuable items can be passed over because that day’s crowd is looking for something else. Timing and location do have an effect on prices and sales.
Q: I have a piece of pottery with a printed mark of a ship on top of a globe. Below that there is a banner with some words I can’t read. I can make out the word “England,” There also is a banner above the mark, with some blurry words. Who made this dish?
A: W.H. Grindley & Co., a pottery in Tunstall, Staffordshire, England, used this mark from about 1880 to 1914. The pottery was in business from 1880 to 1960, when it was bought by Alfred Clough Ltd. The pattern name is on the banner at the top of the mark.
Q: I’m trying to find the thermos for a 1968 metal dome-top Snoopy lunch box with “Have Lunch with Snoopy” on one side and “Go to School with Snoopy” on the other. I’ve seen them with different thermos bottles, so I’m assuming the sellers are just putting what they can find with them. Which is the correct thermos?
A: King-Seeley Thermos Co. made this metal lunch box from 1968 to 1972. A yellow plastic version of the “Have Lunch with Snoopy” lunch box also was made. Some sources show the yellow plastic thermos with the metal dome-top lunch box, but most sources show the metal lunch box with a metal thermos bottle picturing Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Schroeder and Snoopy playing baseball. The thermos bottle picturing the whole gang also has been shown with a matching square metal Peanuts lunch box. The metal dome-top lunch box with thermos is worth about $100.
CURRENT PRICES
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
■ RS Prussia, celery dish, pink roses, green leaves, lightgreen ground, white handles, 13½ by 7 inches, $30.
■ Mardi Gras, parade bulletin, Krewe of Proteus, Zoraster, Walle & Co., 1912, 28 by 42 inches, $340.
■ Trunk, Louis Vuitton, monogram, garment bag, rolling, 54 by 22¼ inches, $365.
■ Paul Revere, pitcher, yellow-andcream lotus-blossom border, taupe, handle, Saturday Evening Girls, 9 by 10¼ inches, $510.