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- The Antique Detective
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- The Antique Detective
- Children's collectibles vary greatly in
age and price
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- By Anne Gilbert
- For many years adults have been collecting not only
 children’s
antique and vintage china and furniture, but also clothing.
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- Call it nostalgia or just another collecting category, but
whatever propels this market keeps growing along with prices.
They are being used not only as decorative objects but in the
case of clothing, it's often worn by children for special occasions.
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- Children’s antique and vintage clothing is often too
valuable and fragile to wear so it is often museum-mounted under
glass. Other times these items are being turned into new family
heirlooms and children are photographed wearing them. One mother
who collects says as her children grow older she looks for larger
sizes.
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- Dealers have found that museum curators are collecting as
well.
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- What is collectible? Christening dresses, purses and other
accessories. Prices can range from $50 to several hundred dollars
for 19th century pieces. Workmanship, condition and rarities
determine the price as well as eye appeal.
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- By the 1920s, there were patterns for children’s clothing.
They are being collected and framed. Children’s china, first
made in the 18th century, is popular as well as 20th century
artists designs by Susie Cooper or early Disney subjects.
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- It all began as gift giving, often as a reward for good behavior.
China mugs, plates and bowls sometimes had just the child’s
name imprinted along with “to a good boy (or girl).”
Others, more imaginative, were decorated with transfer prints
or hand-painted nursery rhymes and scenes.
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- By the 1850s, they often had a serious purpose with messages
extolling virtues and social reforms. Early English children’s
china was made by many potteries. Among them Staffordshire, Wedgwood
and Minton. In France, they were made by Quimper in their typical
motifs. Many of the Staffordshire pieces were not marked.
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- Pieces made in lusterware usually command a higher price,
especially when they include a scene. In the 19th century, Germany
also made it for export.
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- Collectors should keep their eye out for colourful pieces.
This is especially true when the pieces have bright, “canary
yellow” borders and designs.
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- One way to tell if the china is late 18th to early 19th century
is if the children are elegantly dressed. By the mid 19th century,
country scenes were popular. Homey family scenes were also done.
By then most were being made in great quantities. The result
was that a close examination of the prints will show less attention
to detail.
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- If you are lucky, you will be able to collect by motif category.
Examples could be cartoons, religious subjects and school lessons.
Raised decorations and hand-painted examples still turn up.
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- These days, collectors often come across a piece here and
there. Collectors have competition from the British and the Japanese.
However, good sources for discovery can be eBay and general auctions
and of course consignment shops and garage sales. Serious collectors
can also subscribe to ArtFact that lists auctions around the
world.
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 Extremely
popular in English auctions, rarities can fetch from $300 to
over a thousand dollars. At U.S. auctions, they are often sold
by the lot with estimates as low as $100.
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- Collectors of children’s furniture not only are buying
antique examples, but examples from Arts and Crafts, Modern and
even post modern 60s and 70s. They become not only decorative
but often functional accessories.
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- You may be surprised to learn that some of the 19th century,
one-of-a-kind pieces are less expensive than 20th century examples.
For instance, Modern movement pieces designed by Charles Eames
can be costly, priced sometimes at over $1,000.
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- What makes children’s furniture so popular is the versatility.
Since pieces were made for every room, from kitchen to bedroom,
the children’s pieces can mix and match with adult furnishings.
Small decorative chairs can be hung on the wall. Cradles can
be used to display antique linens or a collection of children’s
quilts.
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- Children’s furniture shouldn't be confused with miniatures.
It was made for children to sit on, eat at or put toys into.
The term “miniatures” describes several sizes ranging
from doll’s furniture and dollhouse furniture to scale furniture.
Unlike miniatures, children’s furniture prices have been
on the low side, until recently.
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- Historically chairs, stools and cradles made for children
can date as early as 15th century Europe. Very rare are examples
of American Colonial pieces. Those in museums include Carvertype
chairs, 18th century wing back chairs and banister back chairs.
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- The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has an unusual
chair-table and carved chest dating to the 17th century. Cradles,
handed down in families, are varied in designs and could almost
be collected as a category. 19th century examples still come
to auction with prices depending on quality of design and detail.
- Cradles and other children’s furniture followed the
furniture fashions of the period. Hence, there are Windsor cradles
with turned-spindle hoods and Pennsylvania Dutch styles decorated
with typical painted motifs that include hex signs and hearts.
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- The same holds true for chairs. Considered choice would be
a painted Hitchcock-type child’s chair made in the 19th
century.
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 In
the early 19th century, there were many American chair makers
who also made children’s chairs. By the 1840s, Joseph Meeks
& Sons, New York, and John Hall of Philadelphia, were making
a wide variety of mahogany children’s furniture.
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- Near the end of the 19th century, when folding chairs with
carpeting upholstery became fashionable, they were also made
in children’s sizes.
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- Reproductions of Pennsylvania Dutch and Colonial cradles
can plague collectors. Apply the same principles you would to
adult furniture construction; signs of age, new paint and artificial
aging.
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- Ice cream parlor sets, popular in the early 20th century,
were heavily reproduced in the 1970s. The authentic pieces had
a heavy wire bent frame. The wood seats were framed in copper.
Repros have pressed wood seats with white metal frames.
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- To learn more about collecting children’s items check
out the many books in each category. Keep track of prices and
opportunities available on the Internet.
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- Photos:
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- 1 - Early 19th century English presentation mug, courtesy
of Markreinfurt@Equinoxantiques.com
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- 2 - Child's cotton dress, c1900, courtesy of Old Lace and
Linen Shop, Plantation, Fl.
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- 3 - Child's dress, circa 1930, courtesy of Cynthia@antique-Linens.com
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- Anne Gilbert has been self-syndicating her column The
Antique Detective and special art and antique features since
1983. She has authored nine books on the subject. The Antique
Detective appears in the Chicago Sun Times, Palm Beach Post,
Patriot Ledger and many other newspapers. Over the years, she
has appeared on network television and has also been an appraiser
for major museums and private individuals.
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2011
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