Bugatti, a Family With Designer Genes

Artistic talent seems to run in families--the famous painters in the Wyeth and the Peale families span at least three generations. But sometimes the talent is expressed by each generation in a different way.

Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947) is best known as a designer of racing cars, sports cars and luxury sedans, some that sell for more than $1 million today. The automobiles were made in Italy, Germany and France. His Type 41 Royale is among the most expensive cars ever made.

Bugatti developed the engineering and technical designs, as well as the body styles. His son, Jean Bugatti (1909-1939), also designed sports and luxury automobiles and streamlined rail cars in France. He died while testing one of his own car designs.

The first of the Bugatti family to become famous as an artist was Italian-born Carlo Bugatti (1856-1940). He had a workshop that made furniture and silverware, and he also painted.

His furniture designs are considered eccentric today; the designs borrowed ideas from Japan, Egypt and the Middle East and used diagonal back panels for chairs, tassels, fringes, stamped brass trim and vellum-covered wood. No one else was making similar pieces in the early 1900s. There has been renewed interest in his furniture in the past few years, and several museum exhibitions have made them more familiar.

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Question: I know people collect old mechanical pencils, but do they also collect the ordinary wood and graphite pencils that have to be sharpened?

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Answer: Collectors who save wooden pencils usually specialize. They collect advertising or souvenir pencils, with figural tops, or pencils that picture sports team logos.

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Q 10 years ago, I paid $90 for a Kickapoo Indian Remedies poster, 23 by 17 inches. There’s no date on it, but it is marked “J. Ottmann Lith. Co., copyrighted by Kickapoo Medicine Co., New Haven.”

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A Your poster is from the era of American patent medicine shows, when enterprising peddlers traveled across the country, selling concoctions that supposedly cured everything from coughs to venereal disease.

The most spectacular medicine shows were the Kickapoo Indian shows organized by John Healy and Charley Bigelow of New Haven, Conn. The pair hired American Indians to help sell herbal remedies between performances at traveling carnivals. The shows were named for a real Wisconsin Indian tribe, but the promoters probably chose the name because they liked the sound. If your poster is original, it dates from the 1890s and is worth more than $2,000.

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Q My Mickey Mouse rug is at least 50 years old. It is a 26-by- 35-inch dark pink carpet with a running Mickey woven into the center. Mickey’s two-button shorts are turquoise, and his body and ears are white. His legs and tail are black. What can you tell me?

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A Mickey Mouse area carpets and throw rugs have been made since 1935. The colors on your carpet may have faded, but Mickey was sometimes shown wearing shorts that were not red. Mickey Mouse celebrated his 70th birthday last year. Your rug, depending on its condition, would sell for $50 to $350.

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Q Several years ago at different yard sales, I bought five pieces of colorful, floral-decorated pottery. The mark on the bottom of each piece includes a black rectangle surrounding a white unicorn walking on two hind legs. Under the unicorn are the words, “Made in England, H&K;, Tunstall.” What does the H&K; stand for?

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A Your pottery pieces were made by Hollinshead & Kirkham, Ltd., founded in 1870. The company’s factory in Tunstall, Staffordshire, England, was called the Unicorn Pottery. The mark you describe was used by the pottery from 1933 to 1942. In 1956, the Unicorn Pottery was purchased by Johnson Bros. Ltd., which is now part of the Wedgwood Group.

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Q I have always heard that the reason there are so many carved wooden pineapple finials on 18th and early 19th century furniture is because the pineapple is a sign of hospitality. Why?

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A In the 17th century, the pineapple was a rare delicacy found in the New World. When European explorers returned home, they took a cargo of pineapples. Tradition says that when they entered a new port, they put a pineapple on the top of a pole to show friendship and peace. The idea has remained, and the pineapple is still used as part of the decoration on a Colonial-style front door.

For a listing of helpful books and publications, include a self-addressed, stamped (55 cents) envelope to Kovels, Los Angeles Times, King Features Syndicate, 235 E. 45th St., New York, NY 10017.

Current Prices

Current prices are recorded from antique shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary because of local economic conditions.

* Barbie’s We Girls Can Do Anything career game, sealed, by Golden, 1986: $20.

* Stereoviews, Homeward Bound from Arctic Circle, 1899, 6 men in sailboat, copyright 1900: $30.

* Dan Patch Two Step sheet music, from International Stock Food Co., animal feed, photo of horse on cover: $60.

* Advertising calendar, Bradshaw Crandell, 1937, blond woman in white dress by red convertible, 4 cigarette packs on dashboard, 14 by 11 inches: $65.

* Bronze floor lamp, baroque-style, cast with foliage in middle, octagonal base, signed, Oscar Bach, 1920s, 68 inches: $805.

* Political pin, A Row of Democrats, cello, black & white, features picture of Roosevelt, Osborn & Wallace, St. Louis Button Co., 1 1/4 inches: $935.

* D’Argental cameo glass egg-shaped box & cover, yellow cased with crimson, carved azaleas, butterflies on cover, signed, circa 1910, 6 inches: $1,150.

* Silk on linen sampler, Chester County, Pa., worked by Sarah F. Lukens, floral border, verse, flowers, green, yellow & gold, 1815, 16 by 22 inches: $1,700.

* Chippendale tea table, walnut, bird-cage platform, vase & ring turned pedestal, paneled knees, pad feet, circa 1780, 35 by 28 inches: $2,350.

* Findley Stove Works wood-burning stove, 2 warming plates, 2-door oven, circa 1856: $2,650.