ALSO: * Maxwell House tin;* Gumby bendable toy
“Folk art” is a term that includes more and more types of collectibles and art. The term first applied to typical amateur art of the people, as opposed to art by trained artists. It was easy to understand: A painting of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart was academic art; a painting of Washington by an unknown local artist was an example of folk art.
Then folk art started to mean any type of art or craft made by the untrained. Chip-carved wooden pieces, tin-can figures and even pieces of commercial work such as carousel horses and cigar-store Indians were considered folk art.
Today the term has become so general that a new term has appeared: “Outsider art” refers to a new incarnation of untrained art.
At antiques shows you might find a table made from broken dishes or memory jars covered with toys and small prints. Even folded cigarette-pack purses and figures made from bottle caps are sold as folk art.
The unusual, the eccentric and the humorous are always good buys even if not really art.
Buy what you like. Base your price on the amount of skill and time needed to make a piece, as well as how much it appeals to you and how useful it might be.
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Question: I have a Maxwell House tea tin, about 3 inches square. The lithographed tin says “General Foods Corporation” on the front. I have shown it to antiques dealers, but no one has ever seen anything but Maxwell House coffee tins. Can you help?
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Answer: The name “Maxwell House” is best known as a coffee brand, but it was also a brand of tea for a short time.
In the 1880s the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., was known as one of the best hotels in the South. Salesman Joel Cheek sold a new coffee blend to the hotel in 1892, and the coffee became known as Maxwell House.
Cheek opened a coffee-packing firm in Nashville in 1897. In 1928, his business was sold to the Postum Co. of Grand Rapids, Mich.--which a year later became General Foods Corp.
Your Maxwell House tea tin was made after 1929. Other Maxwell House tea tins are marked “Cheek,” which dates them before 1929.
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Q I remember watching Gumby cartoons on television when I was a youngster. I have found an old bendable clay Gumby toy at my mother’s house. Is it worth anything?
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A “The Adventures of Gumby,” a series of five-minute shorts, were first shown on “Howdy Doody” in 1956. The green clay character Gumby was invented by Art Clokey. He used stop-action photography and clay figures to make his films, a process now called claymation.
Clokey had his own Saturday morning children’s show in 1957.
Gumby TV shorts were shown in syndication in the early 1960s. New films were made in 1966 and 1988. “Gumby the Movie” was released in 1995.
The first Gumby toys were made in the mid-’60s by Lakeside Toys. More toys were made in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The older ones are in demand. Your bendable figure is valued at $200 to $300.
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Q My small teapot is orange with bright blue, yellow and violet flowers. The mark on the bottom says “J. Mrazek, Peasant Art Industry, Made in Czechoslovakia.” Do you have any idea when it was made?
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A Joseph Mrazek was born in 1889 near Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic. He immigrated to the United States as a teenager. After attending art school in St. Louis, he settled in New York City. He started painting and selling pottery in 1917.
Business was so good, he rented a factory in Czechoslovakia to make the pottery in 1925. Mrazek called his company the Czecho Peasant Art Co.
He opened a showroom in New York City. The company’s pottery and lamps were exported to the United States and sold in department stores.
A teapot such as yours could sell for about $50.
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Current Prices
Prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary because of local economic conditions.
* Ezra Brooks whiskey decanter, cigar-store Indian, brown ceramic, war-bonnet top, 1968, 16 inches: $40.
* Krispy-Krust rolling pin, chrome, red handles, unused, original box: $65.
* Kentucky Fried Chicken box, cardboard, Colonel Sanders on lid, KFC jingle on sides, 1954: $75.
* TWA stewardess wing pin, gold finish, half-wing, red-and-white enamel logo, 1960, 2 inches: $125.
* Porcelain figural milk pitcher, Mutt from “Mutt & Jeff” comic strip, 1930s, 5 1/4 inches: $165.
* Continental needlepoint and petit-point panel, “Arabs at the Well,” stretched and framed, 37 1/2 by 32 1/4 inches: $250.
* 1936 Berlin Olympics album, hardcover, 624 pages, Olympic rings and gilt bell on cover: $255.
* Howdy Doody doll, jointed wood arms and legs, molded head, overalls, blue scarf, copyright Bob Smith, 12 1/2 inches: $1,650.
* Limbert Arts and Crafts daybed, No. 651, slanted headrest, cutout sides, drop-in spring cushions, 23 by 26 by 74 inches: $1,900.
