Antiques Attic

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Cast Iron -- A Love Affair

The Early Iron Age, following that of the Bronze, is regarded as 1500 B.C. to A.D. 100, the period in our civilization when iron weapons and tools were introduced. Bronze was available only to the ruling classes; when iron came along it was available to everyone.

Cast iron is iron or a ferrous alloy which has been heated until it liquefies, and is then poured into a mould to solidify. SO because it liquefies, it can be poured into molds and be mass produced, everything imagineable has been made of cast iron, weapons, tools, cookware, furniture, clocks, toys, nick-nacks, etc. It is still being manufactured today because of its flexibility and strength.

Victorian Mantle Clock

Industrial Pulley

Toy Truck

Outdoor Bench

This blog post is about cast iron collectibles from the Victorian Era and forward, of which there are many different catagories. Iron was used for everything imagineable because it was less expensive than other metals and extremley durable.

Wrought iron was fashioned by hand - heated, hammered, and beaten into forms. The transition from wrought to cast iron evolved gradually from increasing labor costs and a shortage of professional craftsmen who could rapidly turn out quality items in volume.

The 1830's through the mid 1850's has been called the "Great Era of Cast Iron". Victorians couldn't seem to get enough fanciful castings in truly intricate and beautiful patterns, using them indoors and out. Thus a "Love Affair" began.

Foundries were hard pressed to supply innumerable neccessities while also trying to concentrate on the fancy appendages and furniture. Walls of kitchens were literally lined with cast iron cooking vessels. In the photo above an entire cast iron stove and fireplace built as one, with fancy iron trim surrounding.

Catalog page for furniture pieces

By 1845 cast iron building frames and bridges were produced. The cast iron furniture was made for both indoors and out and included lawn ornaments such as animals. Many castings represented classical Greek and Roman motifs, actual and mythological, flowing drapery, flora, and fona. Because of durability many of these items still exist today.

Cast Iron Pillars

The following photos are just to show you the variety of items made, some are practical items, some are decorative, and some were needed.

Match Safe

Grate covers

Window Grill

Bell

Tractor Seat

Lamb Food Mold

Water Pump

Shoe Stretcher

Mortat & Pestle

Bulldog Doorstop

Mailbox

Cookstove

Spurs

Chandelier

Bank

Childs Toy Stove

Garden Urn

Fence Fenial

We always have plenty of cast iron items available for sale so come by and check us out sometime.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Simple Useful Practical and Attractive

Well what the heck is it? Hint, it has to do with flies/insects! The antique ones are hand blown or a two piece molded pressed glass. This one shows a cork as a stopper on top and an opening at the bottom where the glass goes inward leaving a well for a liquid such as sugar water (in the Victorian era people used milk mixed with arsenic). It can be found in many sizes and colors of glass. Some are found with metal tops or a decorative glass stopper for a closure (most had cork stoppers) and some have a wire bail to hang by. They were made in different shapes and sizes, usually have feet on the bottom for elevation and easy entry, or somewhat warped on bottom, and the top is covered. If they do not have feet, they were made for hanging only with a wire bail attached.

Have you figured out what they are yet?

They could hang in a tree, be found on the porch, or sit on a table in the house.

They are fly/insect traps.

The genius is their simplicity, extremely useful for catching the pests, practical because they can be used anywhere, and when displayed in an area with the light shining through they are attractive.

The fly,bee, or any flying insect attracted to sweet nectar, will enter at the bottom hole, and the hole is just the right size so that you wouldn't catch larger bugs such as moths. They will then drink from the liquid in the bottom well. When they decide to leave apparently they only fly sideways and upward, not downward, and not back the way they came in through the bottom. Doom

Interesting huh?

The photos above show the bottle shaped traps which are from the 1900's. Earlier forms are usually in two pieces and shaped differently. In the early 1900s, there were many "bottle" fly traps that were apparently made from bottle molds. These pieces have definite mold marks, molded lips and simply appear to be bottles with the bottom pushed in.

These are still being made today because of the genius and simplicity involved. Only experience in recognizing the difference in old versus new glass can help you determine if you have found an antique bottle or a brand new version. You will usually not find a new one that is hand blown but that doesn't mean they are not out there.

For some history -- Many of the Victorian fly traps (1890's) were either blown by art glass makers or they were two-piece pressed glass contraptions.

An older blown glass fly trap. Note the blown glass stopper.

Dome shaped Victorian flint glass, pressed, two-piece fly trap, patent dated 1890.

Close up of fly finial.

Pressed glass fly trap with fly finial.

The "Unique Fly Trap" has a 1914 patent date, an inserted fly screen cone and a tin lid. This is a blown-molded piece and some examples do not have the patent day, just Pat. Appl'd.

So, the next time a fly is in your house, you might wish you had one of these on a table to attact it, instead of running around with a fly swatter trying to get it.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Pearlware/Creamware FEATHEREDGE

The simple design yet very elegant appeal - FeatherEdge stoneware/china - - dishes that are known as featheredge creamware pottery was produced by many 18th and 19th century pottery companies.

Close up view of edge

Creamware is a cream-coloured, refined earthenware created about 1750 by the potters of Staffordshire, England, which proved ideal for domestic ware. It was popular until the 1840s.
It served as an inexpensive substitute for Chinese export porcelain. The most notable producer of creamware was Josiah Wedgwood. Around 1779, he was able to lighten the cream colour to a bluish white using cobalt in the lead overglaze. Wedgwood sold this more desirable product under the name pearl ware.

Each company that made creamware, also sometimes called pearlware, had several variations in design, depending on the artists design concept. Each company had its own design pattern for the featheredge used on a given item. The pottery piece was formed from a soft paste clay, and glazed in cream color, with a color used at the edge that slightly bled into the cream color. The edges also possessed an impressed design, hence the name featheredge. There were several colors used for the color at the edge. Color's such as: hues of green, red, yellow, and blue.

Feather Edge Ware, also known as Shell Edge Ware, (most collectors today use term featheredge), was used in the housholds of all classes for everyday use. It was made mainly in the Staffordshire and Leeds areas of England and exported to many areas of the world. The United States was the main importer. It was made with salt glaze stoneware, whiteware, pearlware, creamware and ironstone bodies. The older pieces have incised designs on the edge.

Feather Edge is a period term used by English potters and American importers for common 18th century creamware items having an embossed “comma-like” rim design. The term is specifically used in pattern books published by Wedgwood, Leeds, Castleford and the Don Pottery. It is most often found on plates and platters, but occasionally appears on hollowwares.

There are alot of collectors for featheredge stoneware/china. It is difficult to find and therefore rather pricey. You will find more of the colbalt flow blue edge than the other colors. Some pieces will have minor chips or cracks, which are also collected, and priced accordingly. This just proves how hard it is to find. We have been fortunate to purchase several platters, soup bowls, and plates from someone who hunted for and collected it for 40 years.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

BAKELITE--Some History and Facts

Bakelite Mahjong Game Tiles

OK WHAT IS BAKELITE?
Bakelite is another name for phenolic resin, an early form of plastic. Today, objects made from Bakelite are considered highly collectible, although in its glory days of the 1930s and 1940s, it was seen as an inexpensive alternative to high-end jewelry materials such as jade and pearl. One of its original uses was for pool balls. It is collectible in all its forms, including jewelry, buttons, radio cases, lamps, dresser sets, plus many more items. Bakelite could be used for electric insulators or as an insulating coating for automotive wiring.

Bakelite Bangle Bracelets

Necklace

Belgian-born chemist named Leo Baekeland used his profits from the sale of Velox, a film treatment used by newspapers, to set up an independent lab in Yonkers, New York around the year 1901. Dr. Baekeland spent several years working on a durable coating for the lanes of bowling alleys, similar to today's protective polyurethane floor sealants. He combined carbolic acid and formaldehyde to form phenolic resin. This resin would remain pourable long enough to apply to hardwood flooring, but then become insoluble and impermeable after curing. Dr. Baekeland patented this early form of plastic and started his own Bakelite corporation around 1910.

I have included some photos so you can see just a small amount of the variety of items that were made. Probably the most desireable collected bakelite is jewelry, radios, and game pieces.
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