Hats aren't as popular today as they were years ago, so fewer hat shops are making special hats fitted to a particular buyer.
Hats aren’t as popular today as they were years ago, so fewer hat shops are making special hats fitted to a particular buyer.
But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, milliners were found in every city and town. A hat was designed and created with the help of a milliner’s head. The milliner shaped, cut, pinned and fashioned the hat on the head. Then the finished hat was displayed in the shop.
A life-size head made of soft wood or papier-mache was used. Sometimes the top of the head was made of padded cloth so it was easier to pin the hat to the head.
If you plan to buy an old milliner’s head, look for pinholes. There probably will be flaking or damaged paint, too. Early ones were painted, but by the 1850s, some were made with printed eyes and mouths pasted in place. The hairstyle also helps date the head.
Folk art collectors like these heads, so they’re pricey. An early one could cost $1,500; a 20th-century example, $500 or more depending on condition.
Q: I have a six-piece dresser set of Val St. Lambert’s uranium glass from the 1890s. With the uranium in it, is it safe?
A: Uranium glass was first made in the 1800s by adding uranium dioxide to melted glass. The uranium gives the glass its bright yellow-green color and makes it fluoresce under ultraviolet light.
Most uranium glass contains only a small amount of uranium, although older glass might contain as much as 25 percent uranium. The amount of uranium in the glass will set off a Geiger counter, but it isn’t considered unsafe to use.
Production of uranium glass ceased during World War II, when uranium was unavailable for nongovernmental use. Small amounts of uranium are available today, and some uranium glass is being made.
Q: I have a toy potbellied stove that my husband bought about 30 years ago. It’s embossed “Grey Iron Casting Co., Mt. Joy, Pa.” The stove is about 13 inches tall and has a piece to open the top and another to stir the ashes. What is it worth?
A: Grey Iron Casting Co. was in business from the late 1800s until the mid-1900s. It made toys, banks, hardware, tools and other iron products. It was sold in 1967; in 1974, the name was changed to Donsco Inc.
Your stove is worth about $100.
Prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States.
• World War II Sweetheart plaque, woman kissing soldier, painted plaster, original hanger with string, 81/2 inches by 111/2 inches, $155.
• Johnny Ringo Western game, board, red and blue plastic markers, spinner, 1960, Transogram, 9 inches by 17 inches, $160.
• Effanbee Olive Oyl doll, sawdust-stuffed fabric, hard-rubber head, red dress, arms outstretched, tag reads “I Am Olive Oyl, Popeye’s Sweetheart,” 1930s, 163/4 inches, $400.
• Rookwood Vellum swan vase, landscape, three white swans, trees and flowers, dated 1907, E.T. Hurley mark, 9 inches, $2,115.
• Berkshire Bitters bottle, Amann & Co., Cincinnati, amber pig, applied mouth, circa 1870-75, 9 inches by 4inches, $2,400.
Terry Kovel, an authority on collectibles, writes for King Features Syndicate. Write to her in care of The Dispatch, King Features Syndicate, 888 7th Ave., New York, NY 10019. The volume of mail makes personal answers impossible. She can’t guarantee the return of any photograph but will try if a self-addressed stamped envelope is included. Visit her at www.kovels.com.