November 2005 Hotlines

Save your Thanksgiving decorations and dishes. Holiday collectibles keep getting more important. Most popular is Christmas, then Halloween, Easter, the Fourth of July, and Thanksgiving. Learn more about value and availability in the large paperback book, Thanksgiving and Turkey Collectibles by John and Sandra Thomas (Schiffer, Atglen, PA, $29.95, c2004).

Supply and demand determines price for lost teaspoons. Replacements Ltd. charges just $4.99 for a soup spoon in the Brighton stainless pattern but $14.99 for a teaspoon. Forks and knives are $7.99 each. Pfaltzgraff knows the teaspoons mysteriously disappear. Its stainless flatware sets now include an extra teaspoon for each place setting.

A lock of Napoleon’s hair sold for $35,055, a Titanic deck chair for $36,883, and an 1840 six-sided jug picturing William Henry Harrison on four sides for $39,547 at MastroNet’s August auction. MastroNet is an auction house best known for selling sports memorabilia. It pays to check for the unusual in every auction.

Trolls were a collecting phenomenon of the 1960s, then again of the ’90s. They are back again. Look for the vinyl trolls of the ’60s by Dam of Denmark and the new “Trollz” by Hasbro that are colorful and very feminine. The Trollz are named for gems like Amethyst or Topaz with hair and clothes to match the name. Each 6-inch figure with an added 6 inches of hair comes with extra clothes and accessories, all packaged for $14.99. Old trolls sell for $5 to $50. Dam is introducing its own line of new trolls in January.

Two weekends of public tours at the old Fostoria glass-manufacturing plant in Moundsville, West Virginia, ended in September. Donations were taken before the tours and some factory items were sold or given away. The factory, which operated from 1891 to 1983, is set for demolition. Two other buildings at the site will be restored, one as an artisan

Royal Doulton Bunnykins figures are selling in England at prices lower than those listed in British price books. (Collect It, September)

Antiques and collectibles are reaching into the “with-it” clothing and accessory stores and catalogs, blurring the line between antique shop and dress shop. Urban Outfitters, a chain of stores for the 16- to 40-year-old, is now selling one-of-a-kind Scandinavian-design furniture made from the 1950s to 1970s. Included is the life story of each piece. When we looked, the pieces offered were simple and attractive, and none were identified as the work of name designers or furniture factories.

First, in 1964, came the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Then in 1971 came the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Now in 2005, we have the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Each has inspired collectibles and today the older ones are going up in value. New merchandise is pouring out this year including collector cards, posters, magnets, t-shirts, mouse pads, key rings and lunch boxes. The Chocolate Factory looks like a growing area of collecting.

Charm bracelets are not new. Queen Victoria wore one with little lockets containing pictures of her family. She is said to have been buried with 150 charms, including her children’s baby teeth on bracelets.