September 2004 Hotlines

Stainless steel flatware from the 1930s to the ’60s is worth looking for. Stainless was developed in the early 1900s. By about 1919, it was used to make knife blades. Modern designs for knives, forks, and spoons with simple undecorated handles were popular in the 1920s and ’30s. Old Hall stainless steel tableware made before 1950 is a popular collectible in England. Look for Dansk pieces from Denmark and stainless by Oneida or Russel Wright. By the 1960s, stainless tableware was common and sometimes badly designed, so it lost favor (Collect It, January). We featured stainless steel flatware in our October 2002 Dictionary of Marks.

Newly popular Hawaiian collectibles are appearing at flea markets and sales. Look for elaborate figurines made by Julene Halvary Mechler, who was working in Honolulu in the 1960s. Pieces are marked “Julene, Honolulu.” Some already sell for hundreds of dollars. There are many other collectible Hawaiian tourist pieces, like surfboards, posters, signs, hula figurines and lamps, boxes and trays made of Koa wood, and Ming’s sterling jewelry shaped like native plants and flowers. Even paintings of local flowers and trees done on black velvet are wanted.

Cube teapots are hot collectibles in England, where they were first made in the 1920s but went out of style by the 1950s. The patented, cube-shaped pot has a cutout handle and a small hole at the corner that serves as a spout. The pot was designed in 1917 by Robert Crawford Johnson, who formed Cube Teapots Co. in 1925 to protect his patent. Manufacturers licensed to produce the pots included Arthur Wood, Wedgwood & Co., T.G. Green & Co., and Foley China. The pots, which did not drip and were easily stored, were used on the

Decorators are no longer trying to hide small kitchen appliances. Instead, many suggest using and displaying new appliances made in ’50s designs.

Siam jewelry is usually black with silver designs. The hottest sellers at Midwest flea markets are the pieces with white or blue backgrounds. They are harder to find.

The new-toy business is changing with the closing of some major chains, but toys still sell. Collectors can expect to find fewer toys on the market, and many new toys will be based on 1980s toys. There will be fewer collectible-toy shows and more interest in toys made after the 1940s, because older ones are pricey and scarce. (predictions by Toy Shop)