Trinket or Treasure
by Lisa C. Cantwell
Dear Reader: This is a column to help you determine the history and value of your heirlooms, attic finds, flea market purchases, or antique items. Please send a picture and description of your piece, such as how you acquired it and any details about its history, to [email protected]. I’ll research any item, whether it’s a piece of furniture, a painting, a tool, a doll, a figurine, or an article of clothing. An approximate value will be determined to inform you if it’s a “Trinket or Treasure.” Please submit all pictures and questions by the preceding 15th of the month for possible publication in the next monthly issue of The Catoctin Banner. All inquiries will be answered; however, only those selected for publication will include approximate value assessments. Furthermore, not all submissions may be published in the Banner due to space considerations. Please include your name or initials and where you reside. Thank you and happy treasure hunting!
“While cleaning out my in-laws home after their death, we found two of these heavy ashtrays stored away. They are beautifully embossed designs around the edges, with places for holding cigarettes or cigars. The center resembles a town with unusual hats or helmets, long dresses, and an old barrel. Once cleaned up would be an unusual addition to anyone’s collection.”
— Libby Craver, Creagerstown, MD
Unfortunately, in the United States, these mid-century brass or metal ashtrays are only worth about $10.00 a piece, and that’s on the high-end. Rust and corrosion on the surface only depreciates its appearance and any value. If marketed overseas, in the Middle East, Orient, and Europe, where smoking is prevalent, your ashtrays might be of some value. A similar one is selling on a popular vintage sales site for $85.00, shipped from Israel. Consider your cigar-worthy ashtray a trinket in this country and, perhaps, a treasure elsewhere.
My friend, Ruth Lightfoot of Fairfield, Pennsylvania, shared two interesting objects from yesteryear with me recently. The first is a couple of darning eggs.
She inherited these treasures from her grandmother, who worked at Corning Glass Works in Corning, New York. Darning eggs are also known as darning balls or mushrooms. They were once common objects, used to stretch a torn sock, sweater, or glove, for ease when mending. Early darning eggs were made from gourds or cowrie shells, but by the 19th century, these interesting objects were artfully composed of colored glass, pottery, ivory, silver, or wood.
Ruth’s grandmother’s darning eggs are hand-blown, delicate and decorative, with colorful swirled glass. This pair is small, measuring no more than five inches in length. They date from the late 19th century. The Corning Glass Works have been in business for over 160 years. The museum has a collection of darning eggs, dating from earliest years of operation to about 1930. Highly collectible, these once utilitarian tools run the gamut in prices. Plain wooden darning balls can bring as little as four dollars to hundreds of dollars for older, more elaborate designs. These Corning glass darning eggs can still be found. They average about $50.00 a piece in the current market.
The other piece Ruth shared with me is a very small, white vase or bowl, given to her by her son, who received it from his friend’s mother, who identified it as two hundred years old.
Often, treasures come to us with incomplete stories and Ruth wondered its history and value. This beauty is not as old as claimed, but still dates over one hundred years. It’s an opalescent glass bowl or vase, manufactured by the Jefferson glass company of Steubenville, Ohio between 1900 and 1907. A similar one in green was produced as part of their novelty glass division. Jefferson made affordable, quality glass that was marketed as competitive with the finest glassware of Europe. Although I didn’t uncover the name of this pattern, the green example was selling for about $45.00. Jefferson glass is plentiful on vintage and antique bidding sites. Still, I appreciate this pretty example of white opalescent glass from the beginning of the 20th century.
