Analyzing antiques: Driven to search

March tile puzzle. Photo by SuppliedArticle content

As a farewell and after 21 years of contributing a regular column to the Ottawa Citizen on the topic of antiquing, John says goodbye and reflects on his years of collecting and his motivation for doing so.

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Hunting for art and antiques that strike one’s eye is similar to Birding for Life List additions. This past week, I was in Woodstock and had an hour to kill waiting for new glasses to be prepared. I decided to target the local antique market, one that I had not been to in over four years.

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It was a bit dizzying, without proper glasses glancing at two factory floors full in an hour but I spotted this vase in one of the locked cases. I confirmed its perfect condition and quickly paid the $130 price – today’s going rate.

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It is a 15 cm tall (six inches), rainbow mother of pearl satin glass made in England during the 1880s. This glass is rare. The diamond quilt ‘air trap’ design is formed in the middle layer of cased glass. The booth had just been replenished by a dealer from Brantford.

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I remembered seeing either this vase or one identical to it in my early collecting years in Ingersoll at a collector’s home – unavailable and slated for their daughter. Déjà vu! Maybe. Ingersoll, Brantford and Woodstock – a small triangle in southwestern Ontario. I have made one call to confirm it is the same one without success. When I saw the ‘other one’ 45 years ago it was worth about $450. Do things come to those who wait? Searching is more fun!

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Research has always been rewarding for me and it was time to solve the mystery of the maker of this six-inch-square (15 cm) ceramic tea tile (trivet), titled ‘March’, which I have had for many years. Decorative tiles were used for home and building accents from the 1870s to the 1920s. The metal frame is original and the back stamp revealed only the letters ‘land’ which I assumed to be England.

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Purple slag butter dish. Photo by SuppliedArticle content

I was familiar with a series of ‘Month’ tiles put out by Wedgwood but knew this was another series. My library harbours a standard work by Terence A. Lockett, ‘Collecting Victorian Tiles’ published during 1979 by the Antique Collectors’ Club, of England which held the answer. The book illustrates two of the months by the Copeland firm that operated in the Spode Works in Stoke, England. The designs were done by Lucien Besche, circa 1879 for Copeland. Mystery solved for a tea stand possibly worth $65.

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Matching up parts to incomplete dishes was common years back – the reason dealers kept lids and bases. In the 1970s I spied the lid of the butter dish in the back room of my mentor’s home and antiques shop. It is ‘purple slag’ or marble glass in a pressed glass pattern called ‘Flower and Panel’ produced by Challinor, Taylor & Co. of Tarentum, Pennsylvania, circa 1890.

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She gave me the lid, which she had harboured for many years, and wished me luck. It was probably 10 years before the base presented itself. An ‘antiquer’ friend of mine, who was aware of my lid, brought another enthusiast along for a visit who promptly and excitedly produced the matching base.

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He exclaimed “I’d like to buy your lid!” I replied “we will come to an agreement” and suggested we secretly write down what we would pay for the other person’s piece. My $100 bid was testament to my commitment, which topped his and he handed the base over with some reservation.

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Today, the internet would likely do the same but with much less fun. The dish would not hold a profit for me now but I still enjoy it every bit as much as when I first saw the lid in that off-limits back room.

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