Long-time hobby keeps folks spinning

Spinning and weaving is a popular hobby right now. Some people are even trying to use old methods and old tools to design their modern creations. Natural dyes can be made from onion skins (orange), oak bark (tan), pokeweed (purple) or marigolds (yellow).

An old spinning wheel can be used to make thread. Then a yarn winder is needed to wind up the long strands into a ball or skein so you can keep it in a tidy, available form. There are many modern yarn winders, but part of the fun is finding the old, efficient, handmade winders and other tools. Old winders work well and are inexpensive, and they can remind you that spinning was a necessity in the old days.

Q: Our Kiwanis club hosts a rummage sale every year. We received a small maple highboy that’s well-made and wonder if you could help us price it. There’s a small label that reads, “Thomas Edison Industries, Thomas Edison Little Folks Furniture, Edison Wood Products, New London, Wisconsin.”

A: Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), the famous inventor, bought the Wisconsin Cabinet and Panel Co. in 1917 and renamed it Edison Wood Products. At first, the factory made wooden cabinets for Edison’s phonographs. In 1927, it started making a children’s furniture line called “Edison Little Folks Furniture.” Simmons, the mattress company, later purchased the factory and renamed it Simmons Juvenile Products Co. The factory has since closed.

The highboy donated for the fundraiser was made for a child’s bedroom. It probably dates from the 1930s. Depending on its condition, price it at $100 and ask for offers.

Q: My aunt gave me an iridescent vase in about 1940. I always thought it was glass, but other people have argued with me. They think it’s porcelain. The mark on the bottom is a crown and shield. The crown encloses the word “Turn,” and the shield encloses the word “Vienna.” Another mark is the phrase, “Made in Austria.”

A: Your vase is porcelain, not glass. The mark was used between about 1899 and 1918 at the Turn, Austria (now the Czech Republic), porcelain factory owned by Ernst Wahliss and his sons, Hans and Erich. Your vase probably was made between 1902 and 1910.

In 1902, Wahliss bought hundreds of molds from the closed Royal Porcelain factory and started making reproductions of Vienna porcelain and figurines. And after 1910, Wahliss cut back on porcelain production in favor of faience.

Wahliss porcelain vases in excellent condition sell for $400 and up.

Q: I just found a set of uncut fabric for a set of Three Bears cloth dolls. I think they’re early Kellogg’s advertising premiums. Instructions for sewing are printed on the fabric between the front and back of the brightly colored doll patterns. I found a similar set on the Internet, but my bears are wearing different clothing. My Mama Bear is holding a bowl that reads “Kellogg’s.” She’s wearing a red skirt with white stripes and a yellow shirt and cap. Papa Bear, holding a Kellogg’s cereal box, is dressed in a red jacket and green-and-blue checkered pants. And Baby Bear, also holding a Kellogg’s bowl, is wearing a blue shirt and red-and-yellow polka-dot pants. The patterns are marked “Kellogg Co., London, Ontario, Canada.” What are they worth?

A: Kellogg Co. was founded in Battle Creek, Mich., in 1906. It expanded into Canada in 1924. Your dolls are the same as the U.S. advertising dolls Kellogg’s issued in 1925. A second set of cloth doll patterns for Goldilocks and the Three Bears, dressed differently and slightly shorter, was issued in 1926. Those are probably the dolls you found online.

Originally the patterns were mailed to customers who sent in a dime and a box top for each doll. If your set included Goldilocks, the four dolls could sell for $200 or even more. Each of your bears might be worth about $50.

Q: I have a set of Buffalo Pottery Blue Willow dishes marked with the year 1907. They’re in good condition. What are they worth?

A: Buffalo Pottery Co. was founded in 1901 by the Larkin Soap Co. of Buffalo, N.Y. Larkin’s owners, John Larkin and his brother-in-law, Elbert Hubbard, wanted to make dishes that could be given to customers buying their Larkin soap products.

Dishes in the famous Blue Willow pattern have been made in England since the 1780s, but Buffalo Pottery claimed to be the first to make the pattern in the United States. Its “Old Blue Willow Ware,” made from 1905 through 1917, was marked with the year of manufacture.

Your dishes, from 1907, are valuable. A dinner plate, in excellent condition, can retail for more than $60.

Tip: Don’t retouch gold-leaf picture frames or other gold trim with anything but real gold leaf. Examine a piece of furniture and look for unexplained holes, stains and fade marks. They might indicate a fake.

Ralph and Terry Kovel’s column is syndicated by King Features. Write to: Kovels, (Las Vegas Review-Journal), King Features Syndicate, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019.