Wicker Furniture’s Long History
Wicker has been woven into comfortable furniture since the early 1800s. Makers created copies of solid wooden furniture by cleverly weaving the wicker into similar shapes.
The elaborate, curved furniture of the 1890s created a special problem for manufacturers. Heywood Brothers and Wakefield Co. of Garner, Mass., a company formed by a merger of two large wicker manufacturers, made Victorian-style wicker marked with that name from 1897 to 1918. By the time the company name became Heywood-Wakefield in 1918, styles had changed and curves were out of style.
Victorian wicker furniture often used spiral or “spit curl” wooden trim, spider-web cane work, and plain cane seats and backs. The most outrageous of these chairs is a type now nicknamed the “photographer’s chair.” It was usually asymmetrical with a triangular back, splayed legs and a cane seat with a curved front.
Wooden-bead trim as well as spit-curl trim gave a lacy look to the chair. A study of Victorian photographs will show versions of this chair in many portrait pictures--hence the name. It was an uncomfortable, impractical, fanciful chair, but it did look good in a picture. Few of these chairs have remained in good condition because they were utterly out of style by 1910.
*
Question: When I was at a flea market a few months ago, I bought an old wooden milk crate with metal grids to separate bottles. It’s marked “American Box & Crate Co., Louisville, Kentucky.” How old is it?
*
Answer: Milk crates were used by dairies at least as early as the 1920s. The crates were made of galvanized iron or steel, sometimes with a wooden frame, and had separate compartments to hold round, glass milk bottles. Many different manufacturers, most of them in Midwest dairy states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio, made milk crates.
*
Q: What can you tell me about my lithographed tin Buck Rogers wind-up spaceship? It’s 12 inches long and colored orange-red, yellow, green, white and black. The mark on the bottom reads, “Made for Daisy Manfg. Co. by Louis Marx & Co., 200 5th Ave., N.Y., U.S.A., patented March 15, 1927, 1,621,266.”
*
A: You have a Buck Rogers 25th Century Rocket Ship, a toy tied into the Buck Rogers comic strip, introduced in 1929. A radio show started in 1932. In 1934, the Daisy Manufacturing Co. of Plymouth, Mich., started working with the National Newspaper Syndicate to market toy pistols and other Buck Rogers licensed merchandise.
Daisy had exclusive rights to make Buck Rogers toys, but it could also give approval to a toy that it could not make on its own. That’s how Louis Marx & Co. was able to produce your rocket ship, which should shoot sparks when it is pushed across the floor.
Although the patent date on your ship is 1927, the patent was actually filed in 1924--but the toy was not made until 1934. Depending on your toy’s condition, it would sell for $200 to $600.
*
Q: A newspaper ad for a Manhattan gift shop says the shop is selling “French Art Noveau glass by Eughne Rosseau, Ernest Livailli, Eugene Michel and Alphonse Reyen, circa 1880-1890.” I have heard of Galli and Daum French art glass, but I don’t recognize the names of the four listed in this ad.
*
A: No wonder you were confused. The ad misspelled not only the word Nouveau, but also the names of two of the artists, Rousseau and Liveilli. All four were major French glass artists during the last quarter of the 19th century. Rousseau (1827-1891) is known for his Japanese-inspired crackled glass designs. Reyen collaborated with Rousseau starting in the late 1870s, and Liveilli worked with Rousseau during the mid-1880s. Liveilli later collaborated with Michel, who also specialized in crackled glass. Glass by all of these artists is wanted by serious collectors.
*
Q: My collection of dishes marked “Ridgway” has begun to confuse me. Are all pieces marked “Ridgway” made by the same company?
*
A: Ridgway is a famous name in English pottery. Members of the family made pottery from the late 18th century to the present. Each branch of the family used a different mark so that pieces could be easily identified.
Job and George Ridgway worked together in 1792. They separated in 1802 and opened new potteries. Job’s sons, Hohn and William, took over the pottery Job owned in 1808. They took over George’s pottery in 1814. About 1830, the brothers split and worked at their own factories. These firms changed names many times, but they are still working. The trade name Ridgway is not used today. The old marks can say Ridgway or Ridgways. They might or might not include initials of the brothers.
*
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.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Current Prices
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary because of local economic conditions.
* Trivet, black, wrought iron, “Good Luck to All Who Use This Stand,” No. 35, horseshoe shape, handle, star in center of motto, 4 1/2 by 7 3/4 inches, $25.
* Sunrise Beer tin tray, Sunrise Brewing Co., Cleveland, Ohio, 1930s, shows sun coming up over green field, bottle of beer on side, 12 inches, $185.
* Skippy, the Trick Cyclist, windup clown, pedaling on unicycle, fixed key, tin, felt jacket, satin pants, bow tie, marked “Tokyo Plaything Shokai,” c. 1955, 5 1/2 inches, $200.
* Rowland & Marsellus plate, blue and white, Panama Pacific Exposition, Horticulture building, 1915, 10 1/2 inches, $340.
* Bakelite brooch, articulated soldier, brown torso, arms and face, yellow legs, attached by brass rings, red, white, blue and black details, brass buttons, 2 by 3 1/2 inches, $700.
* Movie window card, “Gone With the Wind,” Rhett holding Scarlett, Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh cover, 1939, 14 by 22 inches, $910.
