Decorated pottery tells tale from 1900's

New plans to help women and girls have a better life in places as different as African villages and inner-city neighborhood centers are really not so new.

The girls are given instruction in arts and crafts that can be made and sold.

In about 1906, a librarian at the Boston Public Library with the same idea started a pottery class to teach immigrant teenage girls a trade.

By 1912, more than 200 girls were members of the Saturday Evening Girls Club and worked at their own pottery, named Paul Revere Pottery.

The girls made children’s dishes and tiles that were quietly sold.

The children’s sets were decorated with chickens, rabbits, nursery rhymes, ducks, roosters, boats, flowers, trees, windmills or cats.

A customer could order a set with the name and birth date of a baby or the initials as part of the design.

The decorations, applied by the girls, were outlined in black then filled with color.

Pieces were marked with a paper label that said S.E.G. or stamped with a round mark picturing a man on horseback and the words “Paul Revere Pottery.”

The girls earned money for their work, and the pottery remained in business until 1942.

Today a Saturday Evening Girls dish in perfect condition is worth from $200 to $4,000.

Q. When my husband was stationed in Germany in 1954, he bought a 94-piece set of Parisian Spring pattern china by Rosenthal. I have never even used the china because I’m afraid I’ll break a piece. The plates are decorated with a floral bouquet and have gold trim. The marks on each piece include the pattern name (in German), the maker, a piece number and the words “Kronach, Germany, form Bettina von Richard Scharrer and Dekor 3187 von Margret Hildebrand.” My husband paid 393.5 German marks for the set, and I’m curious about its value today.

A. Philipp Rosenthal (1855-1937) founded his company in Bavaria, Germany, in 1879. He had his own factory within 10 years, and it continues in business today, although Rosenthal is now owned by Waterford Wedgwood of England. The word “Bettina” in the mark refers to the shape. The artists’ names in the mark are the designers of the shape and pattern. In 1954, 393.5 German marks equaled about $94, which is now worth about $684. Today, you can get a Parisian Spring dinner plate from a replacement service for about $20, so go ahead and use the dishes.

Q. In sorting my mother’s collectibles, I found a small, gray ceramic elephant with the words “Ike and Bender” on each side. Can you explain this and suggest a value?

A. Your elephant is a Republican Party political collectible that dates from 1956. By then, President Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower had been president for four years and was popular with voters. Sen. George Harrison Bender of Ohio ran for re-election to the U.S. senate that year and used Ike’s “coattails” to help gain votes. It didn’t work. Bender lost to Democrat Frank J. Lausche. We have seen your elephant sell for about $10.

Q. What is a “theorem”? I have seen several pictures referred to by that name.

A. A theorem is a still-life painting, usually of fruit and flowers, done in watercolors, oils or pastels on paper, canvas or velvet. They were most popular from 1800 to 1840, although some are still made. Collectors today want the folk-art theorems that often were made by schoolgirls. Often they were made using stencils, then were highlighted with other details. The young artist had to arrange the stencils in a pleasing manner, usually a bowl of fruit, then color it. The more complicated the design and the more skilled the artist, the more the collector pays today.

Q. I have an Avon bottle that looks like a roll of dollar bills. It held aftershave. Is this bottle — and my other Avon bottles — popular with collectors?

A. The bottle held 8 ounces of Spicy aftershave lotion. It was sold in 1966-67 for $2.50. There was a collectors’ craze for Avon bottles in the 1970s, when the bottle sold for as much as $20. Figural Avon bottles like yours are still collected, but prices are very low.

Tip

Never use commercial window cleaner on a stained-glass window. It could remove the color or damage the lead.

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