SAMSON TABLE

Q: This label is on a card table with a checkerboard top that has been in my family since the late 1930s or early 1940s. I wasn't able to find any information about the company that made it and hope you can help.

A: Jesse Shwayder founded Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing in Denver, Colorado, in 1910. His brothers Ben, Mark, Maurice and Sol joined the business between 1912 and 1923. The name "Samson" on your card table label was based on the character in the Bible known for his great strength. It was first used on Shwayder's suitcases in 1916. The company began making folding tables and other products when sales of suitcases declined during the Depression. The five men pictured standing on a board balanced on the table are the Shwayder brothers. The company advertised its suitcases and tables as "Strong Enough to Stand On." The name of the company was changed to Shwayder Brothers, Inc., in 1931. A patent listed on your label was issued in 1934, so your table must have been made after that. The company name was changed to Samsonite in 1965. After several changes of ownership, it now operates as Samsonite Corporation, with headquarters in Massachusetts.

DECORATING WITH VINTAGE TEXTILES

Decorate your holiday table with your vintage textiles. Use mismatched Vera or other napkins with a one-color tablecloth. Or use vintage lace over a colored cloth, or a multicolor printed tablecloth from the 1940s-60s. Or several small cloths can be used to cover the table. If you don't have a collection that would help you decorate in any of these ways, start looking for usable linens in 2009

ART BASEL MIAMI 2008

Art Basel Miami 2008

Just back from Art Basel and Art Design in Miami, one of the largest art and design shows in the world. ("Art" includes paintings, drawings, photographs, things that hang on the wall or stand on the floor or table and look good. "Design" includes chairs, tables, dinnerware and things that look good and are useful.) I see things through the eyes of a "collector of the past," so my views are biased. I noticed things at the shows that had borrowed from the past.

Moss Gallery of New York City is known for selling the latest modern pieces, so I was surprised to see a set of Bavarian furniture made by Studio Job of the Netherlands. There were six different Indian rosewood pieces with colorful laser-cut inlay of animals, birds and trees. Seventeen different colored dyes and many types of wood were used. It looked like a child's drawing of a farm. Very different from the other furniture at the show--a LOT more color--but at $70,000 to $125,000 for one piece, it seemed too playful and different to sell

well. Shows what I know about the buyers of the ultra-modern. I heard three of the six-piece sets sold in the first two days.

The good news about the show is that the economy did not ruin the show--although the early newspaper reports said it did. The crowds were a little smaller and buying carefully. Last year it was "Grab it as soon as you see it." This year it was "Take your time, check to see if the price could be lower, and buy carefully." There have been many doom-and-gloom articles about the collecting world, but we have seen that "good" will sell, "great" will still sell for high prices, and "ordinary" has problems unless it's useful (like a chair or kitchen bowls). But all require extra effort in marketing and display. (A longer report, "Everything That's Old Is New Again," will be in our February "Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles" newsletter.)

STICKLEY TABLE

Stickley Table

Q: We purchased an unusual table a few years ago. It's a drop-leaf square table that actually "drops" on the diagonal. The joints all have pegs. Can you tell us how old it is?

A: The table was made by L. & J.G. Stickley in Fayetteville, New York. The company was founded c.1902 by Leopold and John George Stickley, younger brothers of the more famous Gustav Stickley. Early designs were similar to those of Gustav, but veneers and laminated wood were used as well as solid fumed oak. Leonard and John George bought Gustav's business when he retired in 1918. A line of colonial reproduction furniture, the Cherry Valley Collection, was introduced in 1922. Pieces in this line were branded "Stickley Fayetteville Syracuse." After John George died in 1921 and Leonard in 1958, Leonard's wife took over the business. In 1974 the company was sold to Alfred and Aminy Audi. Some of the old Mission furniture designs were reintroduced. Alfred died in 2007 and the company is now run by his wife and son. Company headquarters are in Manlius, New York. The company historian may be able to help identify your Stickley furniture. Send photos to Historian, Stickley Furniture Co., One Stickley Dr., Manlius, NY 13104; or send digital images to History@Stickley.com.