Q Since my childhood, there has been a rocking chair in my family that is supposed to have gone back generations. I've been told all my life that it is a Nathan Hale rocker. I can't find any info anywhere. Can you help?
— Diane, Tucson
A Well, Diane, it would be nice to think that the chair is in some way connected to the American patriot who became a martyr in the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Nathan Hale Furniture was a manufacturing company with multiple factories on the East Coast. In 1998, it was sold to a group of investors. Nowadays, mass marketers, including Home Depot, sell Nathan Hale products.
The only way to possibly track the history of your chair is if the present company owners have archived records from previous Nathan Hale incarnations. Generally, much company history is lost with each new takeover. This happened with the demise of glass and pottery makers, also furniture. The problem is universal — I recall a United Kingdom seller lamenting the lost histories of Staffordshire factories, and the huge research process under way to find pieces of their history.
People are also reading…
Until and unless you are willing to track down that history, know that your chair is a mass-produced product from one of the Hale factories. Enjoy it as a piece of family history.
Q Do any books cover opera glasses? I have about 80 pairs and collect them because each is unique.
— John, Tulsa, Okla.
A Sorry. I cannot find a single book devoted to the collecting of opera glasses. Fitting into the collector category of optical devices, they are eclipsed in collector interest by eyeglasses. Even then, in the case of recent glasses, interest is primarily about the frames.
Since advanced collectors write most collector books, you might think about writing that first book on opera glasses after you research the field.
Q I'd like to know anything about my Pairpoint sugar bowl from the 1930s.
— T.J., Williamsburg, Va.
A I can tell you that your piece is not from the '30s. The pattern is typically Victorian.
Founded in 1880 as the Pairpoint Mfg. Co. in New Bedford, Mass., the company produced a variety of tea sets, flatware and decorative tableware. A chief proponent of the Renaissance Revival style in the late 1800s, Pairpoint became one of the country's largest manufacturers of plated silverware. In 1894, the Mount Washington Glass Co. became part of the company. By 1929, only the glassmaking component remained.
The marking "quadruple plate" indicates a standard thickness range of plate for items stamped with that mark. For example, in flatware, triple plate is 6 troy ounces per gross of teaspoons. Quadruple plate is 9 troy ounces. The number on the bottom refers to a pattern number.
Q Can you tell us about our wine glasses given to my wife more than 50 years ago? They seem to be handmade.
— Lois, Lima, Ohio
A The hand-blown, hollow-stem glasses are Italian imports, made for the gift trade in the 1950s. The spiral design in the cup section is mezza filigrana, a technique typical of the period, where fine cased canes of colored glass are spiraled into the glass as it is formed.
Often called Murano glass for the island near Venice where glassmakers clustered, 1950s Italian glass was hot decades ago, but is in a down cycle now. It will come back.
FYI
Trekkies get ready: Christie's has announced that an October 2006 auction will honor the 40th anniversary of the debut of "Star Trek" on television with the sale of Trekkie items from studio archives. More than 1,000 lots will go, including the Romulan warbird ship used in several episodes.
● Send e-mail to smartcollector@comcast.net or write Danielle Arnet, c/o Tribune Media Services, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, IL 60611. Please include an address in your query. Photos cannot be returned.
» AUCTION ACTION
A rare Patek Philippe pocket watch that sold for $448,683 in a recent Antiquorum auction was made in 1994. Using 18-karat gold, 735 diamonds and 112 rubies, the timepiece, at right, sold with a specially-made Patek Philippe 18-karat gold display stand set with 515 diamonds and 39 rubies. The set was one of four made for a royal family. One was set with diamonds, one with diamonds and blue sapphires, one diamonds and emeralds, and one with diamonds and rubies.