Architect awarded for modernist furniture designs

Postmodernist is one of the newest styles in the United States. Walt Disney World’s Swan Hotel, with a 47-foot swan on each side of the roof, and its Dolphin Hotel with two 56-foot dolphins on the roof, are examples.

Michael Graves, the architect of these buildings, also designed kitchenware, furniture, jewelry and hospital furnishings in his unusual style. His teapot with the whistling bird is so well-known that he made a less-expensive copy with a whistling whistle.

Graves designed his first furniture in the 1970s, and by 1982 he was winning awards for his designs. His modernist furniture was made in geometric shapes with features added in colors that included blue, orange and brown.

One 1980s table was made of maple, painted plastic, painted wood, brass and glass. It is unmarked, like many of his designs. In spite of signs of wear and a few chips, the table sold for $3,840 at a Rago auction in October 2014.

Q: I have a teapot and two matching cups and saucers. The mark on the bottom is crossed swords with an “S” below. Can you identify the maker?

A: Samson &Co. of Paris, used a crossed swords mark with the letter “S” below the swords from about 1873 until about 1905. The use of crossed swords as a mark was started in about 1725 by the Royal Porcelain Manufactory of Meissen, Germany. It has been used by many other companies since then.

Samson &Co. was in business in Paris from about 1873 to 1969. The company made copies of Meissen and other china, often used as replacements for older pieces.

Q: I would like to know if there’s any value to “Gone With the Wind” playing cards. There is a picture of Clark Gable as Rhett Butler on one deck and a picture of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara on the other deck. The cards don’t look like they have ever been used and are in a tin with a picture of the couple kissing on the front.

The bottom of the tin is stamped “The Heirloom Tradition, No. 144109.” There are three dates on the back, 1939, 1967 and 1989. Is there any value to these cards?

A: Your decks of cards were issued in 1989 to mark the 50th anniversary of the movie, “Gone With the Wind.” The movie, first released in 1939, was re-released in 1967. The only way to guarantee that the cards have never been used is if they are still sealed in plastic wrap. This set of two decks of cards in its tin often sells online for $4 to $10.

Q: I have a plate marked on the back “La Seynie, Limoges, P&P, France.” There is another stamp, “Pat March 3rd 1909,” and also the name “Dubarry.” The plate has gold scalloped edges and pictures palms with a lake. How old is it?

A: The Paroutaud Freres company used the initials “P &P” (for brothers Pierre and Paul Paroutaud) and its location, “LaSeynie (the factory), Limoges (the city), France” as a mark from about 1903 to 1917. The patent date is the date the design was patented. Dubarry is either the pattern name or the decorator’s name.

Q: I have a Hilda doll marked “JDK 1914.” The doll has several other marks, one in German, and numbers on the back of her neck. Can you tell me about the doll and how I might go about selling it?

A: “JDK” stands for J.D. Kestner Co., a well-known German dollmaker that operated in Waltershausen, Germany, from 1805 until 1938. The company started making dolls in 1820.

During the 19th century, Kestner made high-quality papier-mache doll heads and bodies, leather doll bodies, molded-hair china-head dolls with china limbs, celluloid dolls, kewpies and Bye-Lo babies. In the early 1880s, Kestner began to make dolls with bisque heads on jointed composition bodies. This is the type of doll that made Kestner famous, particularly since the company was the only German dollmaker that made both heads and bodies.

The Hilda character doll was introduced in 1914. With peach-tinted cheeks, real hair eyelashes, a pug nose and an open mouth with two tiny upper teeth, Hilda dolls are wanted by doll collectors. They have sold for $900 to over $5,000, depending on the doll’s size, details and condition.

The numbers on your doll’s neck are mold and size-code numbers, which will help further identify your Hilda. Old dolls in great condition sell quickly at auctions that specialize in dolls, such as Theriault’s of Annapolis, Md.; McMasters Harris-Appletree Auctions of Newark, Ohio; and Frasher’s Doll Auction of Oak Grove, Mo.

Q: I have a Firestone rubber-tire ashtray from the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The tire is a Firestone Champion. A glass ashtray fits inside the rubber tire. The glass is etched with the Trylon and Perisphere and reads, “New York World’s Fair.” Does the ashtray have any value to a collector?

A: There are plenty of collectors of World’s Fair memorabilia, and some specialize in a particular fair. Ashtrays like yours also are wanted by people who collect things related to cars and advertising. Firestone tire ashtrays like yours sell for about $25 to $30 today.

Tip: Keep dolls away from direct sunlight to avoid fading their hair and clothes.

Terry &Kim Kovel’s column is syndicated by King Features. Write to: Kovels, (Las Vegas Review-Journal), King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.