RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1457

Copyright © Harry Rinker, LLC 2014 

Questions and Answers

QUESTION.  I have three metal, round wall decorations (plaques) featuring relief stamped images.  They appear to be brass.  The images pressed into them are in relief.  The large one is 14 inches in diameter and portrays men on a ship standing around a barrel or pot.  The two 8-inch plaques appear to be a pair.  The one pictures a Dutch family, the young girl of which is ringing a bell.  The other shows three Dutch men (or boys) skating.  I believe these are rather common and do not have much value.  Am I correct? – KJ, Bozeman, MT, Email Question

ANSWER:  You are correct on both counts.  They are common and have only minimal decorative value.

Stamped relief brass wall hangings, mostly round, were the rage in the early 1950s.  Almost all the scenes portrayed on these wall hangings were nautical or English/Continental in theme and had an eighteenth/early nineteenth century flair.  Many were sold as pairs.

While my research established that most are marked “Made in England,” I was not able to identify the manufacturer.  These wall hangings were sold in mid-level departments, decorating shops, and early Big Box stores.  Although my collection of merchant stamp redemption catalogs remains in storage, brass wall hangings were a decorative item available for redemption of filled stamp saver books.

I remember seeing brass wall hangings in the 1950s at the homes of several of my aunts and uncles.  Although gaudy and tacky, brass wall hangings were in vogue. While I cannot specifically remember one or a pair hanging in my parents’ home (nor do I want to), they may have participated in the craze for a brief period of time.

A www.tias.com dealer has an identical pair of your 8-inch plates listed for $24.00 plus shipping.  They have not sold.  The average asking price for the smaller 1950s brass wall hangings on eBay is $4.00 to $6.00 each.  The asking price jumps to around $10.00 for the larger examples.  There always are the optimistic sellers whose asking prices are double this.  Anyone interested in buying one of these 1950s wall hangings is advised to comparison shop.

1950s Retro/Modern is a hot decorating style.  However, not every 1950s object is Retro.  Some are kitsch.  Others are (it is best I do not finish the rest of this sentence.)

QUESTION:  My husband Mitchell Jones died in July 2014 and left behind two boxes of his self published book, “The Dogs of Capitalism: Book 1 Origins.”  The book was listed in Books in Print from 1988, when it was published, until Books in Print started charging for its services.  My husband and I sold some copies through Amazon.com.  The reviews were good.  However, orders stopped when the book was no longer listed in Books in Print.  When I checked Amazon.com, I found two copies of “The Dogs of Capitalism: Book 1 Origins” for sale.  One seller was asking $395.00, the other $500.00.  An example sold through on eBay for $197.50.  There were eight bids from five different buyers.  The eBay listing said it was a “RARE BOOK, which may be true except at my house.  I also have copies of two other books my husband wrote.  My question is: how should I market the copies that I have to achieve the maximum return?  -- CJ, Brownwood, Texas, Email Question.

ANSWER:  You never indicate exactly how many copies you have.  I am assuming the number ranges between 24 (12 to a cartoon) and 48 (24 to a cartoon).  For the sake of analysis, I am going to assume the number is above 30 and that all are in “off-the-press” condition.

Your situation is common in the antiques and collectibles trade.  A person finds a hoard of a specific product that is hard to find or scarce in the market.  Demand is limited.  The finder knows that if all the items are released into the market at one time, supply will exceed demand.  The key is to control the secondary market to achieve the maximum return on as many copies as possible.

The idiom “honesty is the best policy” may not be the best approach.  If your hoard becomes known to the buying public, buyers are going to hold out until prices are lowered.

Unless you need money immediately, I suggest doing a slow release of your hoard into the marketplace.  Bundle the three books by your husband into a single package.  Release three to four packages a year into the secondary book market.  Every four years, take a year’s break.

I checked the eBay listing.  The seller obtained the book from the library of a person who loved dogs.  Given this, one might assume the book has more value in the secondary market for dog related than book items.  I am not certain this is the case.  The book goes beyond the history of dogs.  Your husband frequently digresses into a discussion of the impact of capitalism, freedom, and other rights.  “The Dogs of Capitalism: Book 1 Origins” appeals to the academic and intellectual elite.

The difficulties are twofold: (1) gauging market demand now and (2) recreating interest in the book to reinvigorate market demand.  My immediate suspicion is that there are less than 10 buyers who would pay $100.00 or more for the book.  However, there might be 50 buyers willing to pay $50.00 each.

I do not recommend listing the book bundle on Amazon.com or Abebooks.com.  Buyers are directed to this site only if they do a specific search.  eBay is a much better option.  Assuming you have no experience selling on eBay, look for a relative, neighbor, or friend who does.  eBay has options for selling multiples.

Another alternative is to locate booksellers who specialize in out-of-print titles about dogs.  Two possibilities are Dog Lovers Bookshop (www.dogbooks.com) in New York City and Dogwise.com. Share your story with the owner and ask what interest and at what price he/she might have in purchasing five or ten copies.  The lower you make the per book offer, the more likely you are to sell the books.

Finally, there is an old adage in the trade that 80% of a collection’s value rests in the top 10% of the items in the collection.  The same applies to your hoard.  There is maximum value in the first five copies, modest value in the next five, and little to no value in the remainder.  The ideal situation would be to find a dealer who would purchase your entire stock.   You might not get as much money as you would by selling each book separately.  But, you have the money; and, the buyer of the books now has the problem of disposing of them.

QUESTION:  I have an etched glass pane from an entry door to a house that was built in the mid-1800s.  The house was located in Perry County, Ohio.  The center of the pane contains an etched seascape scene.  A peasant man and woman, the latter holding a basket, walk hand in hand along the shore line on the left.  Fishing boats with sails are in the background on the right.  The scenic panel is surrounded by a geometric style frame, bent leaf border above and below with elaborate red flowers.  Any information you can provide would be appreciated. – LH, Somerset, OH

ANSWER:  While the three photocopies that accompanied your letter were helpful, I wish you would have included a photograph of the full pane and its dimensions.  I am going to make the assumption that this etched pane was a skylight pane above the entry door.

The etching is based on a painting/print of the period.  While I was unable to identify the artist, I keep thinking “I have seen this before.”  The image is from the Barbizon era (Romantic Realism) but far from the quality of Jean Francois Millet’s “The Angelius” or “The Gleaners.”

Neither LH’s letter nor the photos accompanying it reveal whether the pane still is in its wooden frame, a critical factor in determining its value.  I assume it is not.

Before commenting on its value, it is necessary to raise the question: what would anyone do with it?  While two-dimensional, the pane has no value flat.  The pane needs to be backlit to have display value.  This means any buyer is going to factor into the price he/she is willing to pay to have the object framed so it can be hung in front of a window or suspended from a ceiling.

The etched glass pane’s value is decorative.  It has little collector value.  It does have value to someone who is restoring an old home and is seeking such a pane.  As it stands, its value is between $50.00 and $65.00 unframed.

QUESTION:  I have two pairs of vintage Cabbage Patch ear muffs in their period box.  The hair is blond.  Do they have any value? – G, Janesville, WI

ANSWER:  The Cabbage Patch Original Appalachian Artworks earmuffs were licensed in 1984 during the height of the Cabbage Patch doll craze.  Coleco started mass producing Cabbage Patch dolls in 1982, ceasing its involvement in 1989 when the company declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI 49512.  You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time.  If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.gcnlive.com.

SELL, KEEP OR TOSS?: HOW TO DOWNSIZE A HOME, SETTLE AN ESTATE, AND APPRAISE PERSONAL PROPERTY (House of Collectibles, an imprint of Random House Information Group, $17.99), Harry’s latest book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via www.harryrinker.com.