August 2002 News from Readers

From a reader in Springfield, Virginia: I collect children’s furniture, especially chairs. Do you think my collection will increase in value? Why do I rarely see children’s chairs for sale? How can I check the value of my treasures? Children’s furniture and riding toys, as well as other childhood antiques like rattles and toys, are always popular with collectors. Good, old, child-size chairs are very popular and hard to find because they sell quickly. They should go up in value, especially those that are close replicas of full-sized chairs. We list children’s furniture in the furniture section of Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price List. Just look at the size of the chair. A full-sized chair is usually over 36 inches high.

From a Pierson, Florida, couple: In your December “On the Road” you said, “Guns and clothes for girls were always white.” No-white was used most often as a background for other colors in children’s cowgirl items. Very few pieces were all white. Masculine colors were most often black or brown. I purchased a cowgirl double-holster rig that’s bright red with a white background, and I found two toy cap guns with pink grips to fit in the holsters.