Kovels Komments

Q: I have had this horse bike for some time. I'd like some history and the value. The saddle is leather, the wheels are wood with steel spokes, and there is a steel band over the wheels. Login for more.

Q: An elderly lady gave me this "lemonade stand," as she called it, and silver goblet. The writing on the front of the stand says "Congratulations of Weisbrod & Hess." It has two circular marks on the bottom. One pictures scales with the words "Meriden B. Company" around them and the other says "Quadruple plate." It also says "Pat'd June 13, 1868" and "Pat'd Nov. 30, 1868." Can you give me any information about it? The front feet are bent. Will it lower the value of the piece if I have it repaired? Login for more.

A cigar store Indian that had been in the family basement since the 1960s gave the owner an unexpected legacy. The Indian, in fine unrestored condition, was sold by Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas for an amazing $203,150. The Indian had been purchased by the owner’s late husband before they were married. The record price for a cigar store figure, set in 2007, is $542,400 for a 19th-century carved Punch figure attributed to Samuel Robb. Most cigar store figures are Indians and the highest priced usually sell for about $50,000. But an Indian sold in Canada in 2006 brought almost $74,000.

Look carefully through boxes of old photographs. A picture of two slave children was found in an attic in North Carolina when the owners of the house were getting ready to move and preparing for a house sale. The photo, probably taken in the early 1860s, was found with a document describing the sale of one of the boys. The photo and document sold for $50,000.

A new record has been set: The world's oldest leather shoe has been unearthed in Armenia. The single piece of leather laced front and back is about 5,500 years old. The shoe, stuffed with grass, was found at an archeological dig in a cave. It is a few hundred years older than the shoes on Otzi the Iceman, the mummy found frozen in the Alps in 1991. A fiber sandal even older than the Armenian shoe was found in Missouri.

Chocolate molds can be used to make candy and other party food. Pour melted butter into the mold, then put the filled mold in the freezer. Take the frozen butter mold out and unmold the fancy shaped pieces of butter for parties.

Q: This platter is part of a cake set that was in my mother's family. The mark on the back is a crown above the initials PIS or PJS and "Wurtemberg Germany." I can't find out anything about the manufacturer or the platter's age. We know the platter has been around since the 1930s, at least. Hoping you can provide some history. Login for more.

Q: I have an old photograph of several baseball players in front of a delivery truck that has the words "International 'Fro-joy' Ice Cream" on the side. Can you tell me anything about it and how old it is? Login for more.

If you're selling the contents of an empty house, act as if the house is still occupied. An empty house is an invitation to a thief. A friend who traveled a lot and was picked up by taxi to go to the airport would stand at the half-open front door before he closed it and call, "See you in a few days, Mom" and then wave. Lights were set to go on and off at intervals during the evening to "prove" someone was first in the library, then the bedroom, then asleep.

Another very expensive comic book sold a few months ago. A copy of Flash Comics No. 1 (the 1940 comic book that introduced the Flash and Hawkman) in pristine condition sold privately for $450,000. It had been sold in January 2006 for $273,125. The sale was not an auction; it was part of a new "Make Offer to Owner (MOTO)" selling feature for Heritage Auctions registered users (HA.com). If you see an item auctioned by Heritage Auctions in the past that's listed in the Heritage Permanent Auction Gallery, you can make an anonymous offer. The owner can then decide to sell, set a different selling price or refuse to sell.

Bobble-heads, those figures with heads that bob up and down and sideways, not yes or no like earlier nodders, are popular again. They were, and still are, given away at baseball games and other sporting events. They lost favor, but came back in 1999. Today there are bobble-heads that represent popular book characters, aliens, rock stars, even Sarah Palin. Most sell for about $20, but old and rare ones can bring thousands.

Make a chandelier from hanging electrified fruit jars or wine bottles--or display all the old bottles you find--and look like the "with-it" rooms in the Pottery Barn catalog. Oversized wine bottles sell in the catalog for up to $279 each. The wine bottle chandelier is $399. You can buy the same type of bottles for much less at a bottle show or flea market.

Q: When my great-aunt died, I inherited a tray that belonged to her mother. Unfortunately, the tray had been broken and poorly repaired. Newspaper got glued to the back of the tray and covered up part of the mark. Can you tell me who made this and how old it is? Login for more.

Q: My husband received this toy zeppelin when he was a young boy. It’s probably at least 65 years old. The box is in good condition and the wording on it says, “No. 2017, Strauss Flying Zeppelin.” The price on the back of the box is 48 cents. Can you tell me anything about it and what it’s worth? Login for more.

Museums are being more careful about de-accessioning art and other collections because of legal issues and the bad reactions of donors and the general public. The Brandeis University board, after a storm of criticism for authorizing the sale of paintings from the university museum, is considering other options to raise money from the use of the collection. Donors of the art are suing the university to prevent the sale of the art.

Original comic art is getting "younger." Animations cels picturing SpongeBob, introduced on Nickelodeon in 1999, as well as classic Disney characters and more were auctioned last week by Universal Live of Northbrook, Illinois. Martin Shape, president of Universal Live, told us SpongeBob is the auction's best-selling cartoon character and represents about 22 percent of the cels it's offering. Prices of SpongeBob cels ranged from about $20 to $50 each at Universal's May auction. The company hosts an online auction every few weeks. The next is today, June 2.

Dinner plates have gotten bigger in the past 1,000 years; so have servings of food. A researcher analyzed the plate and food sizes in the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting of The Last Supper and found that today's plates are 66 percent larger than they were in the late 1400s (when Leonardo painted The Last Supper), and that today's food portions are 69 percent larger. The last plate size change we remember was from inches to centimeters, when dinner plates were made a fraction of an inch larger and became too large for a standard 1960s kitchen cabinet. Check size if you are dating vintage plates. Many patterns have been made continuously for years; old dishes are measured in inches and newer ones in centimeters.

If you're buying animation art, know the product. A production "cel" is a hand-painted picture made for a movie or TV cartoon and is one-of-a-kind. The many pictures on the cels were used to show motion. A "sericel" is a special lithographed or hand-painted piece made in limited editions to sell as art. Sericels were never used to make a cartoon. A "lumicel" is a special product made by Disney. It's a framed cartoon image that talks and moves when activated.

Q: This photo is of two teacups that my late mother purchased, probably in the 1950s. She thought it was a Lipton Tea Company offer made on television's Garry Moore Show. I would appreciate any information you can give me about them. Login for more.

Q: I have a pitcher and washbowl my husband bought for me at an estate sale. The bottom is stamped "Alba China" and has a picture of the earth with a sword through it. The words around the globe are "Bona Fama Est Melior Zona Aurea." Login for more.