NEW COLLECTIBLES AND OTHER NEWS

Two future collectibles are at your store now. The Kelloggs cereal boxes with a banner saying Immunity on the front of the box have been recalled. The government thought it did not support immunity so new boxes were made. Look for Cocoa Krispies and Rice Krispies. A few are still on grocery shelves. Also look for the Pepsi Throwback bottles with the yellow throwback banner. They are new, and being sold in limited markets. The content is made with real sugar, not the high fructose corn syrup used in the regular Pepsi now being sold. It was first tested in April, 2009 in a bottle with a blue label or a red, white and blue label with a circle as the center design. Dr Pepper is also trying a new formula using real sugar but so far we haven’t seen any of the new cans in our store. They are marked, “Made with Real Sugar”.

Chinese made children’s jewelry is barred from the U.S. again. This time it is because they used cadmium as the metal. It is dangerous, especially for children. Be sure you have not kept any of the last recalled Chinese jewelry that was made with lead paint. All of this will be rare in the future but hopefully never a popular collectible.

The Waterford Crystal factory building in Ireland is for sale. The glass making machinery is already gone. The brand and assets now belong to an American equity firm. Waterford started in Ireland in 1783.

JEERS

Sotheby's had to remove two Ohr pottery vases from a June auction. Both vases were judged to be fakes. The vases were too heavy and had other problems, including a suspicious provenance. The listing said the pieces were from a collection "c.1967." The major group of Ohr pottery was not discovered until 1968 and pieces from the find weren't sold until the 1970s.

Oops--a knowledgeable reader of last week's ezine news, S.B., gently reminded us that the Chinese did not carry inros; the Japanese did. Of course, she is correct.

SOME THINGS OLD ARE NEW AGAIN

• We saw milk at the grocery store this week advertised as "like mother used to make"--as if mother made milk for the whole family. I looked at the pyro ads on the glass milk bottle. The milk is not homogenized, so the cream separates and rises to the top. It's a good bottle for a milk bottle collector to save.
• Beads are back as bracelets. New bead bracelets are like charm bracelets--each bead represents an event. We suggest collecting old beads, including early Chinese porcelain beads that held the cords on inros (boxy Chinese pocketbooks).
• Holt Howard novelty giftwares made in the 1950s are selling well again. They lost favor and were considered "kitsch" in the 1970s, were collected by a small group in the late '80s, dropped in popularity again, and now are moving up in price. The comic heads, sly kittens, smiling mice, realistic roosters, and Christmas figures make an amusing display. A pixieware liquor decanter sells for about $600; an instant-coffee holder with a smiling dark-skinned girl is $250.
• Blue decorated white stoneware is selling for record prices, much higher than in past decades. The newest record is $103,500 for a Boynton Pottery water cooler from Albany, New York, dated 1817 and decorated with birds and fish.
  

AUCTION PROBLEMS WITH ANCIENT CHINESE ART

A pair of ancient Chinese bronzes sold two weeks ago at a Paris auction for $40 million. The buyer was Chinese. Why should that worry the average American collector? Because the buyer has refused to pay. A French court ruling earlier in February let the auction go forward in spite of objections by a group that wants the bronzes given back to China as "national treasures." The reneged purchase may be a protest by this or another group. The botched sale means there may be more problems with sales of historic Chinese art. No one wants a piece with a clouded ownership. And the Chinese government has already tightened customs rules, making business more difficult for foreign auctions. Dealers and collectors have long thought there are warehouses in China filled with old but not fabulous Chinese ceramics, textiles, netsukes, prints, etc. gathered up during the Communist Revolution. What will happen when these collectibles hit the market?

JAMES KENT OLD FOLEY

James Kent Old Foley

Q: I have a collection of James Kent Old Foley china in the Chinese Rose pattern. I'm trying to figure out how old the pieces are but I'm confused by the different marks. Can you tell me when these marks were used?

A: James Kent (Ltd.), Old Foley Pottery was established at Longton, Staffordshire, England in 1897 and was in business until c.1989. The name is now being used by another company in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent. The clues we found indicate that "Ltd." was added to the company name in the mark in 1913. The words "Old Foley Pottery" were used after 1955 (first mark). The first and third marks shown here were used after 1955. The second mark was probably used between 1913 and 1918. The third mark with the word "Ltd." was probably used from 1950 to 1989. Chinese Rose pattern was made c.1897-1989.