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Connecticut is home to some of the most famous American clockmakers of the 18th and 19th centuries. Names like Eli Terry, Seth Thomas, and the New Haven Clock Company are familiar to today's buyers of antique clocks. There are plenty of lesser-known Connecticut clockmakers who did not quite reach the same levels of fame, but whose designs continue to generate interest from collectors.
Jonathan Clark Brown, or J.C. Brown, born in Connecticut in 1807, worked as a case maker for several clock companies. His designs often had distinctive shapes, which have descriptive names like Acorn or Beehive. He also experimented with unusual materials and decorations, like his papier-mache picture frame clocks. These clock cases are rectangular with a beveled edge, like a picture frame, but housing a clock instead of a painting or photograph. To fill the rectangular frame, there is often a reverse-painted glass panel below the clock face. The cases were often painted black with decorative stencils and inlaid pieces of mother-of-pearl, a popular adornment on 19th-century papier-mache.
One example, with a portrait of Brown himself on the lower panel, sold for $480 at an auction by Schmitt Horan & Co. During his career, Brown apparently ran into financial difficulties and eventually left Connecticut. Perhaps his designs were ahead of their time.
Q: Is there any value to my antique glass table lamp? It is made of pale green pressed glass, and its shade is tall with ridges. I have read the shape is called a skyscraper.
A: Skyscraper table lamps are an art deco design popular from the mid-1920s to the 1930s. Many companies made them. There were several variations on the design; for example, whether they were cylindrical or square, the shape of the base, whether the shade and base appeared separate, or the addition of opaque geometric panels.
Some popular designs used the same material for the base and shade, usually glass or hard plastic. Pale green glass was also popular in the art deco period, with jadeite glass (also spelled jadite or jadeite, depending on the manufacturer) emerging in the 1930s. Skyscraper lamps like yours by unknown makers can sell for about $100 to $300.
Q: We were wondering if there is a market still for Rosemeade. A family member is in a nursing home and we are clearing out his house. He has two curio cabinets of Rosemeade and we are wondering if there is any value to it and where we could sell it to pay for his expenses.
A: Yes, there is a market for Rosemeade, going by prices we have seen at recent auctions and online sales. Wahpeton Pottery Co., founded in Wahpeton, North Dakota, in 1940, changed its name to Rosemeade in 1953, after co-founder Laura Taylor's birthplace, Rosemeade Township. Taylor was also one of the company's principal designers. She is credited with choosing the naturalistic designs that made the company popular, including the realistic animal figures that can sell for over $100 today.
The company closed in 1961. They made a variety of decorative and functional ceramics, including figurines, novelty salt and pepper shakers, tableware, and vases. Prices vary depending on the type of piece and its design. Small, simple pieces like a miniature pitcher can be worth as low as $10. Sets of figural salt and pepper shakers are usually worth about $15 to $50, but some unusual shapes, such as a set shaped like long, thin, realistically decorated pike fish, can sell for more than $200. Abstract vases can sell for about $50 to $100.
There are several possibilities for where to sell a pottery collection. It is usually best to sell pottery locally to avoid the risks of shipping your fragile pieces. You can sell the entire collection to a shop, dealer, or auction house in your area; preferably a specialist in mid-century pottery, if you can find one.