Blue Mountain Pottery was made in Collingwood, not Collinwood, Ontario, a Texas subscriber informed us (see News Flash, June). She added: Blue Mountain pottery is not always marked, but it’s unmistakable if you have ever seen and felt it. I inherited my first piece 30 years ago and look for it wherever I go.

In our March issue, we passed on a suggestion from Country Home magazine that costume jewelry looks great displayed in a big glass bowl. We had second thoughts when a California subscriber wrote that displaying jewelry this way could damage it (Readers Write, May). Now a Texas reader suggests a compromise: I use a glass compote to display 1950s-’60s costume jewelry that’s already flawed or damaged. The pieces are not really valuable, but to the casual eye they’re a delight.

A Cleveland reader who combed through our new book, Kovels’ Advertising Collectibles Price List, wrote to tell us what he discovered: The listing for a Tropical Paints sign I designed in the early 1960s blew me off my chair. The fact that someone paid $1,430 for one is most amazing. You also list a Tropical Street Marking Paint Do Not Park Here sign in the Paperweight category. These were made in the early 1920s by Arcade, a Chicago manufacturer of iron toy trucks and cars. The piece was a special order adapted from a toy for a train layout. The base is marked “Tropical Paint & Oil Co., Cleveland, Ohio.” The 4 3/4-inch-high paperweight was given to customers. I don’t know how many were made, but there were two for sure-mine and the one in your book. He went on to list five other pieces he owns that are listed in our book and that are now worth much more than he thought.

Leave a Reply

Featured Articles