Author: Donna Welch

Dear Donna,

I was wondering if you could help me. I have a vanity that was my great-grandmother’s, but I just don’t have room to store it anymore. Do you have an idea of what it may be worth and where I could sell it?

Cheryl

Dear Cheryl,

Your walnut vanity was part of a bedroom set at one time. It is from the 1920s to the 1940s. It looks to be in great shape.

Furniture of this age can be a tough sell, even though you have the most desirable piece from a set. Nowadays people will buy them to paint, re-decorate, etc. The value would be in the $100 range. My suggestion for selling would be a local pick-up marketplace, or a consignment store, but then you would have to bring it there. Sometimes that’s not easy to do.

I hope this was helpful and you find a new home for your vanity. Or, if it was painted a new color, it might still fit in your home. It has family history.

Dear Donna,

I know this isn’t worth a dime, but any idea who made this? I found it last week while digging in my basement. It was probably buried some time in the 1920s. Had hoped to find more pieces, but this was it. Must have been pretty.

Benoît from Concord

Dear Benoît,

Your ironstone shard is very pretty. It’s not uncommon to find pottery shards (fragments of broken pieces) in older homes, mostly outside. That is where people would dispose of items from the home. There are collectors today who love digging for bottles and such on older properties.

Your fragment of ironstone is a transferware shard. This means the patterns were transferred onto the pieces. It’s tough to tell the maker by the prong marks; there were so many at the time. But it doesn’t particularly matter; you are right that there isn’t a value because it is just a piece. But it is a piece of the home’s history, and that is priceless!

Dear Donna,

I found all these pins in my parents’ junk drawers. They kept everything — not sure why! Do these have any value to anyone?

Lisa

Dear Lisa,

I was smiling when I read your email — my husband says I save everything as well. I call that collecting!

Your pin back buttons have been around for many years. They were used as advertisements and souvenirs and in political campaigns, and some were meant to be collected, featuring states, birds, comic characters and more.

There used to be several reference books with pricing and history, but I’m thinking your best information now would be online. In general the values are under $5 each. But complete sets and some rarer ones can be much higher, so research on each is worth doing.

Dear Donna,

Can you provide me with any information on this pair of earrings? Are they gold?

Karen

Dear Karen,

Your set of earrings was put out in 1997 by the United States Postal Service, representing 32-cent stamps and characters from Warner Bros. They are not real gold but have a beautiful golden color to them. The top has Tweety Bird and the stamps have Bugs Bunny.

Yours appear to be in great shape, but the value of the ones I found is not very high, maybe because so many were made. It is possible that time might increase the values. For now, though, they are under $10. I would wrap them with this information and check on them in another 10 years, or pass them to someone who will.

Dear Donna,

If you could help me identify what this piece of furniture is, I’d appreciate it. I thought it might be something to store sewing items as there’s a dowel missing from the top, although the picture doesn’t clearly show it. I would like to sell it but don’t know the value of such a piece.

NH resident

Dear NH resident,

Even though some sewing cabinets could be the same size, what you have is a smoking stand. This is why the inside is lined with copper — to prevent the scent of tobacco from being absorbed into the wood, and as a fire deterrent.

Smoking stands were placed on the side of a chair or sofa, or anywhere one would relax and smoke. Yours looks to be from the 1940s era. The bar across the top could have been used to hang a towel for your hands.

The value in complete original condition would be in the $50 range. Without the original bar, it could be a lot less, and smoking paraphernalia seems not to be of interest to collectors these days, so it may be hard to find a buyer.

Dear Donna,

I was given this many years ago. I love it but have never been able to figure out what it actually is or what it was originally used for! There are no markings on it, but I think it’s brass. It’s 9 inches long, 6 1/2 inches high and 3 1/2 inches wide. I’d really appreciate your thoughts on my little catch-all.

Diane

Dear Diane,

At first glance from the photo I thought maybe it was a gravy boat, but after looking more it really couldn’t be. It is definitely silver-plated (silver over a mixed metal). You can see wear inside the dish, down to base metal (possibly brass).

It’s Victorian style (mid to late 1800s) with the north wind face on the side, goose, bird footed and design work. It may have even had a beautiful glass bowl insert at one time.

It is a very sweet catch-all. I think the original with or without a glass insert was a decorative basket. The value would be in the range of $40.

Without marks it is tough to tell when it was made and by whom. So we just have to look at the piece for what it is now to evaluate it.