The go-to source for expert antiques and collectibles information.
The go-to source for expert antiques and collectibles information.
In 1910, Sonora Smart Dodd, the daughter of American Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, wanted to honor her father in the same way mothers were honored on Mother’s Day. The idea caught on and in 1972, Congress made the third Sunday of June the official holiday. Here are some interesting vintage and collectible presents we think will make fathers smile this year.
A collection of rare and coveted Staffordshire historical blue transfer-decorated china is getting high prices. For more information, and for prices of pieces like this 1825 vegetable dish that pictures the Arms of Virginia, see Kovels’ sale report.
This $20 face-value coin was a good investment! A never-circulated, 1933 U.S. gold coin sold for a record $18.87 million at a New York auction in June. The Double Eagle, with the image of Lady Liberty on one side and an American eagle on the other, was the last U.S. gold coin made. Right after it was made, President Franklin D. Roosevelt removed America from the gold standard and ordered the coins destroyed, except for two given to the Smithsonian Institution. However, in 1937, several of the coins appeared on the market, sparking a Secret Service investigation in 1944 that ruled that the coins had been stolen from the US government and were illegal to own.
Q: I’m writing about a 24-inch doll my mother left to me. My mother was born in 1926. The doll’s arms, wrists, legs, and neck are all moving joints. Her eyes close when she lies down, and I believe her hair is real. Her face looks porcelain but I don’t know what the body is. The back of the doll’s neck is marked with the letters “AE” within a rectangle and “Made in Nippon.” I’m hoping you can tell me something about the doll and what it might be worth.
Kovels Antiques, Inc., was founded by Ralph and Terry Kovel. Hailed as “the duke and duchess of the antiques world,” they have written more than 100 books and special reports about collecting. Their bylined column is the longest-running syndicated weekly column in the country, distributed to more than 150 newspapers. Their guides include the annual Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, which has sold over 4 million copies since its first edition.
