January 2006 Alerts on Confusing Collectibles

Take special care if you’re tempted to buy turn-of-the-century beer posters with or without attached calendars. Experts have spotted fakes either torn out of Will Anderson’s 1977 Beer Poster Book or reproduced from posters in the book. The posters pictured in the book date from about 1890 to 1915 and are smaller than originals. Other fake posters based on early beer ads have also been showing up at shops and sales. Some of the fakes have attached calendars deliberately aged to fool collectors. (Rich La Susa’s “Brewmaster” column in American Breweriana Journal)

Watch out for china doll-heads that have no holes at the base of the neck. Old doll heads were stitched to the body. Repro heads are often glued.

McCoy fakes are appearing at shows. A stringholder shaped like a cat and marked McCoy comes in different colors; blue and yellow are known so far. A pink and yellow turtle watering can has been seen at shows west of the Mississippi, and so have three wall pockets-a frog, a clock, and a bird on a cornucopia.

Door of Hope dolls, originally made in China from 1917 to about 1950, have been copied and the copies are being sold as originals. The old dolls have removable clothes made by hand, with no machine stitching. Their pear-wood heads have painted features, but not painted skin.

Beware: “Masterprint” is a new manufactured word meant to confuse collectors. It is often used to describe movie posters for sale on the Internet. A masterprint is a digitally reproduced poster printed on card stock. It’s not an original.