September, 1913 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



IX 



Readers of American" Homes and Gardens who are interested in old furniture, silver, prints 

 brass, miniatures, medals, paintings, textiles, glass, in fact in any field appealing to the collector are 

 invited to address any enquiries on such inatters to the Editor of the "Collectors' Department," and 

 such letters of enquiry will receive careful attention. Correspondents should enclose stamps for reply. 

 Foreign correspondents may enclose the stamps of their respective countries. 



L. V. : There are several well-known 

 menders of lace in America. If you care 

 to have the address of a Xew York lace- 

 mender the Editor of "The Collectors' 

 Mart" will be pleased to send it on appli- 

 cation. 



O. W. M. : Regarding your Carey plat- 

 ter we would say that it was an English 

 pottery of about 1800 but not valuable, 

 the design being stamped or printed and 

 not painted. It is worth about five dol- 

 lars. The Brissot engraving you speak 

 about sells for two pounds in England 

 but there is no demand for it here. It 

 would probably bring about three or four 

 dollars in America. 



C. F. J.: Referring to your copy of "Lit- 

 tleton's Tenures" would say that it is a 

 standard book in law used to-day and 

 has had many editions. Yours, that of 

 1594, is worth, however, only about five 

 dollars. The edition of 1498 would be of 

 greater value. 



F. W. C. A. : In reply to your inquiry 

 about the Chippendale bed, we would say 

 that it will bring a better price in Eng- 

 land than it would here and if your rela- 

 tions are not willing to accept the four 

 hundred pounds you say they have been 

 offered, we suggest that they see some of 

 the dealers who have shops both in Eng- 

 land and America. They might consider 

 its purchase. If you will send a good 

 photograph of the bed we will give you 

 an approximate value of what it would be 

 worth here as nearly as this is possible 

 to do from a description and an illustra- 

 tion. 



F. R. : Embroidered crepe shawls of fair 

 size, such as you describe, can be pur- 

 chased for $25. If you will let us know 

 if your teapot and cream pitcher have 

 any maker's mark, we can then deter- 

 mine the ware. 



J. B. J.: As the work of American and 

 English steel engravers was very ex- 

 pensive and excellent in quality, it would 



be difficult to send you in the limits of 

 a letter a list of the foremost workers 

 of this sort. Archer B. Durand was one 

 of the most noted of American en- 

 gravers (1825-1850). His most famous 

 engraving, "Ariadne," after Vanderlyn's 

 painting, is considered the finest Ameri- 

 can engraving. T. A. Dean (1850) was 

 one of the best-known English engravers. 

 We suggest that you refer to the various 

 excellent volumes on the subject of Prints 

 and Print Collecting, any of which we 

 can supply on receipt of published prices. 

 W. K. : Referring to your chairs we 

 would say they are of the following 

 periods and values : 



1: Late mahogany (1840-1850), value, 

 $7 to $10; 2: Sheraton about 1790, value 

 armchair, about $150, plain chair, about 

 $100 to $125 ; 3 : Dutch marquetry, value 

 $25 or less; 4: Slat back (first part of 

 eighteenth century), value, $7 to $10; 5: 

 American early nineteenth century, value, 

 about $15. The table is probably Duncan 

 Phyfe make, about 1830. Value, $75 to 

 $100. We regret that the description and 

 photograph of the lamp, box and bottles 

 is not adequate enough to permit us to 

 give an opinion or value on same. 



E. S. F. : In reply to your letter of June 

 3, we beg to state that the description 

 of the first coin to which you refer (that 

 dated either 1737, 1757 or 1787) is not 

 sufficient to positively identify the coin. 

 If copper it would have no value what- 

 soever, if silver it might have. The sec- 

 ond coin is one of Ferdinand the Seventh, 

 1825, coin of George the Fourth, has no 

 premium, and if silver, would be worth 

 its face value only. The one-cent pieces 

 dated 1810 to 1856 would be worth about 

 five cents each unless in particularly fine 

 condition in which case the cent-piece of 

 1810 would be worth $1. The Canadian 

 dime, dated 1858, if in fine condition, 

 would be worth 10 cents, or in Canada 

 in any condition its face value only. The 

 fourteenth coin is a poor copy of the 

 Fugio (United States) cent. If it were 

 in fine condition it would be worth about 



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