Small antiques always appear deceitfully modest: a pin, a clamp, a carving the size of a palm, a desk item. However, it is in such works that one is likely to find the most condensed form of craft, history, and collectability, the qualities which may add actual worth to items that can still be easily installed in a coat pocket.
The new mentality of touch-sensitive living brings a different dimension of context. With the current trend of analog lifestyle being spread over the internet, objects that are designed and made to be performed in real-life rituals such as pinning, stitching, flipping, carving, setting the table, etc. are less likely to seem like a relic and more like a practical design.
1. Fishing license badges
Fishing licenses of the early-1900s were commonly issued as vivid and hardy badges to be displayed and worn rather than stored up. That initial application is one reason why what remained of the color and hardware will attract attention at an estate sale: they were touched, left in the sun, and can be readily misplaced. Common ones range between 20-100 dollars and some areas have larger fanbases; badges of the Eastern Seaboard- especially Pennsylvania- are common in the vintage market. Southern problems that are scarcer can fetch up to $500, particularly when the badge is hard, readable, and in full.
2. Sewing birds (and other sewing clamps)
The sewing bird was patented in 1853, and it worked as a third hand, using clamps to hold onto a table and a piece of fabric to hemming and hand-finishing. And in addition to their use as utilities, the clamps also served as sentimental items: in the mid-1800s, they were deemed suitable as gifts during engagements and weddings, and their makers would sculpt them into birds and cherubs, deer and dogs and fish and frogs among others.
In America, Charles Waterman of Connecticut had patented it in February 1853 and period advertising boasted of the health-preserving effect of the tool. Many of these vintage pieces are now in the 75-200 dollar range, and appeal is determined by decoration, condition and completion (including cushions or additional sewing items).
3. Desktop perpetual calendars
Perpetual calendar exists in a special kind of design niche: technical enough to be clever, non-noisy enough to sit on desk without being noticed. It is most commonly linked to the so-called watch complication that was patented in 1889, and manual desktop versions started gaining traction in the early 1900s.
Their resurgent popularity is slotted just next to current desires of paper planners, actual books, and other offline rites. Styles of edwardian wooden turn-knobs can go as high as $1,000 and a great number of midcentury brass turn-knobs fall into a more accessible price range of between 50 and 200 dollars and are often sought after more due to their appearance than their functionality.
4. Miniature duck decoys
The folk-art of full-size working birds is squeezed into miniature decoys, usually 5 inches or smaller, which can be displayed on a shelf like sculpture. Even miniatures carved by hand can fetch up to 5000 dollars, which makes the small-scale carving a subject of seriousness among the collectors. On the upper end of the larger decoys business, headline prices indicate how desperately it was needed: an Elmer Crowell wood duck brought 504,000 at the Decoys and Sporting Art auction at Guyette and Deeter. Miniatures do not require that pedigree to become compelling, however the larger market is an indication of the fact that craftsmanship, form and story can travel far, despite the size.
5. Silver toast racks
Toast racks were developed to address one problem, namely, how to hold a toast with butter on it until it remained crisp and not soaked in a plate. They are exceptionally easy to convert to useful service on a modern desk as either corrals of mail or corrals of stationery because of that single-minded practicality, combined with sculptural handles and repetitive arches. The cost of values can be affected by age, design and whether a rack is made of sterling or plate though there are some that can cost more than $550. In the case of sterling items, information such as hallmarks and maker stamps are important; such items are often described as toast racks, hallmarked to show that they meet known standards of silver purity and assay place.
And in categories, size is not the most consistent separator but specificity: a legible badge, a modelled clamp, a calendar with its mechanism intact, a miniature carving with no hesitating paint, a toast rack with clear marks on it. Minor details do not allow so much space to conceal bad workmanship.
To people who like to stick to the more silent, pre-mechanized traditions the antiques provide a rare thing; they can be put on to display, taken in your hands, and read at a glance, and handed on with their accompanying legends intact.
