American art pottery artists often painted pictures on their vases, pitchers and other pieces. They painted bats, frogs, rabbits, birds and other animals in their natural form, as well as fantasy animals represented as well-dressed humanlike figures.
The marks on the ceramics often indicate the age, company and artist, as well as some other factory information about type of clay or glazes.
What better way to suggest the origin, age and value of a piece today?
Robert Bruce Horsfall (1869-1948) was an artist at Cincinnati’s Rookwood factory in 1893 when he decorated a Standard Glaze pitcher with pictures of the Toad of Toad Hall from The Wind in the Willows, the 1908 children’s classic by Kenneth Grahame. The finished pitcher was then sent to Gorham Manufacturing Co., where it was given a silver overlay.
Despite minor imperfections, the piece sold for $4,375 in March at a Rago Arts auction in Lambertville, N.J.
Q: I have a Lloyd Loom baby carriage that was bought for my dad when he was born in 1924.
The inside has been re-covered, but everything else is original and in good condition.
A metal tag on it reads, “Lloyd Loom Products” and “Method Patented Oct. 16, 1917.”
Can you tell me when it was built and the current value?
A: Marshall B. Lloyd (1858-1927) was an inventor and manufacturer. He opened Lloyd Manufacturing Co. in Menominee, Mich., in 1907 and made children’s wagons.
In 1914, the company began making hand-woven wicker baby carriages. Then in 1917, Lloyd was granted a patent for making a wickerlike material by weaving twisted brown wrapping paper around wire.
He also invented a loom that wove the material, making the process faster.
Lloyd Loom fabric is the name of the woven material. In 1919 Lloyd sold the patent for the process to a British furniture manufacturer.
Your baby carriage was made between 1917, when the patent was issued, and 1924, the year your father was born.
Today these carriages aren’t considered safe to use, so they usually sell to doll collectors or decorators. It is worth about $300.
Prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States.
• Whiskey jug, the Greybeard, stoneware, black transfer, 8 inches, $95.
• Party dress, Emilio Pucci, silk, navy, Lord & Taylor, circa 1964, size 14, $270.
• Weller Hudson vase, white flowers, light blue background, bulbous, loop handles, Mae Timberlake, 8 inches by 9 inches, $480.
• Wool-work diorama, bird on branch, fruit, yellow, green, brown, frame, circa 1850, 131/2 inches by 18 inches, $490.
• Nantucket basket purse, Jose Formoso Reyes, whalebone plaque, knobs, circa 1960, 7 inches by 10 inches, $2,240.
Terry and Kim Kovel, authorities on collectibles, write for King Features Syndicate. Write to them in care of The Dispatch, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019. Or visit www.kovels.com.