Mitzi's Miscellany

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #74

 I love art from the first quarter of the twentieth century, especially from the 1920's.  One artist whose style typifies that era is Bessie Pease Gutmann.  She was an American commercial artist that specialized in illustrations of young children and infants who achieved her success during the early twentieth century when her work was featured on numerous magazine covers, postcards, and calendars.  Gutmann also illustrated children's books.

This Gutmann print of mine, called "Sunbeam," is in the original gesso frame:

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #73

 I've had two encounters with small sewing machines lately, so that's what I'd like to feature today on Show and Tell Wednesday.  These small machines may look like toys, but they can actually sew.  They were produced by many sewing machine companies for little girls to learn on.  Sometimes they were given as a freebie along with the purchase of the larger machine.  The early versions were cast iron or tin, known as "tinnies."  Before electrical models were available, the machines were run by hand-crank.  The 1950's introduced plastic versions.

This small sewing machine of mine was made in Germany, a huge producer of these types of machines, and has some nice decoration on it.  I recently found it in a box in my basement.  It's probably worth about $65.00:

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #72

The "Show and Tell" topic for today:  vintage needle books, also called "needle cards."  They are a fun and inexpensive collectible that can usually be purchased for five dollars or less, although rare examples can be valued much higher.  They have fun graphics that depict a variety of topics, from a group of ladies having tea to a rocket ship whizzing through space.

Needle books were produced from the late 1800's into the 1950's.  Many of the most colorful and interesting examples you will find are from the 1920's through the 50's.

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #71

 Recently my brother Mike, who happens to be my "picker," purchased a curious set of three figures at an auction.  Made by a Chicago company named Rittgers, they depicted a stern Army general expecting a proper salute from a soldier who is distracted by a bathing beauty.

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #70

The item I'm showing today is something I didn't recognize when I saw it.  I was totally stumped and couldn't even guess what it was.  Do you know what it is?

It obviously has a handle that you grasp, and a cup-like apparatus with spikes.....

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #69

Most of us have seen the Cupid Awake and Cupid Asleep framed photos somewhere.  I just saw one hanging on the wall of a person featured in a "Hoarders" episode recently. Naturally, there's a little story behind the photos and prints....

M. B. Parkinson, a man who worked in the New York City area in the late 1800's to early 1900's was the original photographer and Josephine Anderson was the cherubic model who lived in Parkinson's neighborhood and became his muse. Josephine's mother wasn't married and she would leave her daughter with Parkinson while she was at work.  Parkinson became her babysitter/photographer, which sounds a little creepy to me, but I'm a suspicious person by nature.

The Cupid Awake and Cupid Asleep sepia photos were so popular, over 50 million prints of the original photos were produced in the early 1900s by Taber-Prang, then the Ohio Art Company, the same Ohio Art Company that produced many popular tin toys. Many of the photos were framed in pressed tin frames with faux wood grain like my examples (below):

The Cupid pictures weren't sold as fine art.  They were sold at Woolworth's, Sear's and Kresge's for a nickle or a dime as affordable art.

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #68

Did you know that Indian maiden prints are a collecting category in and of themselves?  There is even a collector book on the topic.  Whenever I see them at auctions or estate sales, I try to pick them up for resale.

"Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder" by Charles Relyea, circa 1932

Indian maiden images were often part of calendars, advertising, or simply framed art prints. They were initially quite popular in the 1920's and 30's.  Artists well known for Indian maiden art include R. Atkinson Fox; Edward Eggleston; Homer Nelson; Ingerele; Charles Relyea; and F.R. Harper.

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #67

A couple weeks ago I wrote about an auction I attended in Marshall, Michigan.  I purchased a large shelf unit for display in one of my antique mall booths, which was the main reason I went to the auction, but I purchased a few other items too, including some beautiful paperweights.

 Here are some of the assorted paperweights that were up for bid:

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #66

Jewelry caskets, sometimes called trinket boxes, are a commonly found collectible in most antique shops.  They are made from pot metal and are usually painted gold, silver, or an enamel painted color such as ivory.  The interior will have a padded silk liner that is often shredded or missing due to the fragility of silk.

 Many of the trinket boxes have an Art Nouveau motif, using flowers and vines or even a lovely woman's face as a design element:

 

Show and Tell Wednesday Post #65

For today's show and tell, I'd like to share some tin and aluminum toy tea sets that have passed through my hands.  I think they are so charming, don't you?  Before plastic came along, children played with metal or ceramic tea sets.  Lithography added bright color to the metal, and popular illustrators such as Fern Bisel Peat designed some of the toy tea sets that are especially sought after now by collectors.  

The partial set of mine below has graphics by Fern Bisel Peat in her characteristic style.  This set was made in the 1930's:

This Mickey Mouse set by the J. Chein Company is a good example of a "crossover" collectible.  It would appeal to collectors of tin tea sets as well as Disney memorabilia: