TEPPER GALLERIES CLOSES

Tepper Galleries, a well known New York auction house, just emptied its building on East 25th Street and locked the doors. What happens to those owed money from sales, to those who have items waiting to be sold, to other creditors? We have seen this happen before and consigners are lucky to get either money or their items returned. Be sure when you send things to be sold you know that there is protection for you--that money will be collected in escrow and your pieces insured.

FOOT WARMER

Q: This picture is of the mark on a pottery "pig" we found. It has several places without the glaze. Can you give us any information about its origin and value?

A: You used an unfamiliar but correct name for your antique. Foot warmers are sometimes called "pigs." The proof is in the words "For Cold Feet" on the top of your stoneware jug. It's a foot warmer, which was used to keep a person's feet warm in the cold weather. In the days before homes with central heat and cars with heaters, they were necessary. Foot warmers were made of pottery, tin, or soapstone and held charcoal or hot water. Yours would have been filled with hot water. The warmer was put under a person's feet and then their legs and feet were covered with a blanket to keep in the heat. Your foot warmer was made by the Adirondack Hardware Company in Saranac Lake, New York. The damage hides the words "Ad-Har-Co., Trade Mark, Stone Pigs." Stoneware foot warmers like yours usually sell for $50 to $100, but because yours is damaged it is worth about half.

DH & M COPPER POTS

Q: I inherited a set of copper pots about 1950 from a friend of my mother's who had a restaurant in New York City. I estimate them to be at least 100 years old. The large kettle and fry pan have this DH & M mark on the bottom. Can you tell me who made them and how old they are?

A: This D.H. & M. Co. mark was used by Duparquet, Huot & Moneuse Co., manufacturers of stoves and other equipment for restaurants, hotels, steamships, and homes. The company was founded in 1852 in New York City and had branches in Boston and Chicago. Elie Moneuse and L. Duparquet registered patents for tin-lined copper coffeepots in 1869. Duparquet, Huot & Moneuse Co. went bankrupt in 1936. Their Wooster Street address has been converted to loft condos in the fashionable Soho district of New York. Your pots would sell for about the same as any new quality pot.

BUTCHER PLANE

Q: I have a wooden block plane I think is from the 1840s-1890s. It is marked "W. Butcher." I would like to know something about the maker and the age of this plane.

A: The William Butcher Co. and its successors were in business in Sheffield, England, from about 1821 until the 1900s. The company operated under the name William Butcher Co. from 1821 until about 1828, so your plane was probably made during that period. The number in the mark may be the model number. William Butcher (1791-1870) and his brother, Samuel, were cutlers who made a variety of steel-edge tools, including chisels, files, hammers, hoes, planes, and saws. Samuel was the New York agent for the firm. William and Samuel also made Bowie knives in the 1850s and '60s. Butcher opened a steel works in Pennsylvania in 1867 and made steel castings there. Samuel died in 1869 and William died in 1870. Your plane would probably sell for less than $15.

SILVERTONE RADIO

Q: I inherited this table from my great-aunt. It has a tube-type Silvertone radio inside. Can you give me an idea of age, history, and value?

A: Your table radio was advertised in the 1940 Sears catalog for $34.95 cash or $4 down. The drum table design is based on an eighteenth-century table by Duncan Phyfe. Sears sold Silvertone radios from the early 1920s to 1972. Silvertone radios were especially popular in the late 1930s and 1940s. Many Silvertone radios sold by Sears were actually made by other manufacturers. This model was made by Air King Products Co. of Brooklyn, New York. Air King made radios for Silvertone, GE, and other companies, and also made some radios under their own name. There is a limited market for old radios like this, but you ought to get $200-$300.

NEW COLLECTIBLE FOR NUMISMATISTS

Some communities are printing their own "money" to encourage shopping. The special money is sold at a discount but can be spent for full value. Cities in Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and Massachusetts are trying this to encourage folks to buy from local stores. It's an idea first tried in the Great Depression. Although the bills cannot look like federal money or claim to be "legal tender," they interest collectors who specialize in alternative types of money--like wooden nickels or even trade beads.

CROOKED COLLECTORS

A pair of New York money managers involved in their own Ponzi scheme used some of their profits to buy houses, horses, cars, and collectibles like rare books and $80,000 worth of Steiff teddy bears. We remember several other famous collector crooks who turned to crime because they needed more money to collect. There was a Bakelite jewelry man, a Gaudy Dutch man, and a Tiffany lamp collector. In each case, money from the sale of the collection was given to the victims as partial repayment.

A question from a reader: Does anyone know when the practice began of putting a warning on pottery similar to "For decorative purposes only. Not for food consumption?"

MISSING ART AT THE U.N.

Ever misplace an antique in your house? I have been looking for one of my Roycroft bookends for months. But the United Nations has a bigger problem. The U.N. headquarters in New York are being redecorated soon, and the staff can't find hundreds of pieces of art that should be in the offices. It should be hard to misplace a huge Jose de Rivera sculpture, a Roman mosaic, the stone head of a Mayan priest and hundreds of other artworks. Even more surprising--the art was neither appraised nor insured.

UNION PORCELAIN WORKS

Q: I have a platter marked Union Porcelain Works. The front of the platter has a star that says "Memphis Route." Can you tell me what that means and how old my platter is?

A: Union Porcelain Works was established at Greenpoint, New York, in 1848 by Charles Cartlidge. The pottery made bone china. C.H.L. Smith and Thomas Smith bought the company and began making porcelain about 1863. Union Porcelain Works is known for its white porcelain decorated in bright colors, often with patriotic motifs or fanciful shapes, like a vase shaped like a jack-in-the-pulpit held by a turtle or frog. The pottery also made railroad china and other dinner sets. Your dish with the well to catch juices is a meat platter. Memphis Route is a nickname used by the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad. Union Porcelain Works closed in the 1920s.