THE KOVELS | Antiques and collecting In case you can't recall, the doll is Betsy McCall

If you are over 50, you probably remember Betsy McCall. She was a popular paper doll introduced in McCall's magazine in May 1951. She soon was part of a family of dolls that included her mother, father, cousin, friends, pets and her dog, Nosy.
In 1952, the Ideal Toy Co. designed a Betsy McCall doll based on the popular paper doll. It was a 14-inch doll with a vinyl head and a saran wig. The doll was marked "McCall Corp." on the head and "Ideal Doll P 90" on the back. In 1958, an 8-inch Betsy McCall doll was made by American Character.
Several other Betsy McCall dolls have been made since the 1950s, some even in the 1990s.
Q. I have a 24-inch statue of a Greek woman that's impressed "Art Union London" near the base. It is all white and looks like marble, but a friend said it is parian. Isn't parian a type of marble?
A. The Art Union of London was a society in England that attempted to raise the taste level of the public. People joined for a guinea a year, and membership entitled them to an engraving of a work of art and a chance in a lottery. Names were drawn in April, and prizes of statues and other works of art were awarded. Your statue must have been a prize. Parian marble, a natural stone, is very white. Parian ware is an unglazed white porcelain that imitates real marble. It is not true that parian ware is made of crushed marble.
Q. My old cedar chest has two claw-and-ball front feet and a straight wood back and brace. The front has V-shaped patterns made from inlaid pieces of different types of wood. Inside, there are brass fittings and a wood-burned mark that reads "Caswell-Runyan Co., Huntington, Ind." I believe the chest is about 70 years old.
A. In 1907, Caswell-Runyan Co. built a factory in Huntington, Ind., to manufacture cedar chests. A three-story plant replaced the original factory in 1918. By 1924, Caswell-Runyan employed 600 people and was also manufacturing radio cabinets. A 1929 merger led to Caswell-Runyan becoming a division of a Chicago firm. Another merger took place in 1946. The Huntington factory closed in 1956. It is likely that your cedar chest was made before 1929. Caswell-Runyan cedar chests in excellent condition sell for up to $500. Old cedar chests can be dangerous in a house with children, though. Be sure that yours cannot slam shut and lock a curious child inside.
Q. A little more than 60 years ago, when I was about 10 years old, my uncle showed me his figurine of Moon Mullins, the comic-strip character. Mullins was wearing just a barrel. What's unusual is that when the barrel was lifted, a string inside pulled up a part of Mullins that made the figurine pornographic. I don't know what happened to the figurine, but I'm wondering if you can tell me who made it and where I might find one.
A. Your uncle's figurine was not a licensed product. Another one might not exist. Frank Willard introduced his Moon Mullins comic strip in 1923. It became one of the most successful strips in history. Moon's kid brother, Kayo, joined the cast of characters in 1927. Kayo's name and character were licensed to promote a chocolate drink. Several Moon Mullins licensed toys were made to promote cereal, soap or oil companies. None of these firms issued a figurine like your uncle's. What's interesting is that many pornographic cartoon booklets featuring Moon Mullins and other early comic-strip characters were printed during the 1920s and '30s. These wallet-size "pulps" are often called "Tijuana bibles" because many of them were printed in Mexico. The artwork inside was produced by both amateur illustrators and professional cartoonists trying to make some extra money.
Q. I have had no luck finding information about a set of six Art Deco plates I bought at an antiques store in Wisconsin. Each round plate is three-quarters black and one-quarter lime green. There's a faint circle in the center with three orange rays spreading out from the circle across the center of the black section. The mark on the bottom is an anchor within a circle. The letter P is on either side of the anchor. The word "Porsgrund" is above the anchor and the word "Norge" below it. Can you tell me when the plates were made and where I might find more of them?
A. The mark was used by the Porsgrund Porcelain Factory of Porsgrunn, Norway, from 1911 to 1937. The word "Norge" means "Norway." The fact that the country name is in Norwegian indicates that the dishes were not specially made for export to the United States or England. The Art Deco style of your dishes dates them to the late 1920s. The Porsgrund factory was founded in 1885 and is still in business. Many Scandinavians who emigrated to the United States settled in the upper Midwest. So, you would be most likely to find dishes in your pattern at shops or house sales in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Tip
Never hang a garment that's knit, cut on the bias or ornately beaded. Store it flat in an acid-free cardboard box.
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