October 2003 News from Readers

Oops! Correction: Gremlins got into our picture captions in the article on garden furniture in the August issue, page 139. Keith Leonard from Brunk Auctions told us they sold the pair of carved marble garden urns for $18,700, and the Edward Berge bronze fountain figure for $19,800. (We got the information over the phone and somehow a zero was dropped.)

A reader from Amelia, Virginia, wrote and enclosed a newspaper clipping from the Richmond Times Dispatch. She writes: I had to send this. I know you always say, “There is a collector for everything.” The article tells of a collection of toilet paper from around the world. The collector had a strip from the Vatican, a waxed paper-like piece from a castle in Copenhagen, a Scott napkin offered as toilet paper in Europe, and many printed papers with designs of butterflies or Christmas decorations.

A reader in Georgia wrote to tell us she has damaged several items when she tried to remove price stickers. She suggests you ask the shop owner to remove the sticker when you buy an item. We agree. We have even found damage that was deliberately hidden under a sticker.

From a reader in Casa Grande, Arizona: I collect thimbles and I want to collect something else small. Any suggestions? What about shot glasses, toothpick holders, souvenir spoons, handkerchiefs, Wade figurines, and plastic dollhouse furniture.

A West Palm Beach, Florida, reader sent a photograph of three pewter napkin rings and asked us about their origin. She was told they are part of a set of 12 and wanted to find the others. Her three include a girl holding a lacy umbrella, a girl jumping rope, and a woman in 1910 dress carrying the ring on her back. Each ring is on an irregularly shaped flat base. Our answer: We wrote about these reproductions in the July 1997 issue of KOVELS. The figures were made from old molds. The rings themselves are new designs. The unmarked cutout bases with stamped patterns on the top and bottom are the clue. Old rings have thicker, plain bottoms and most of them were stamped with the maker’s name. The new repros and fantasies are made of a pewter-like metal; some are silver-plated. Many more than 12 different new styles were made. We interviewed a dealer selling these as reproductions on one of our Flea Market Finds with the Kovels segments on HGTV.