Beer steins have long been popular. Today's stein is a beer container with a hinged lid and a handle. The lid was the result of health regulations.
The bubonic plague of the 1300s, which killed more than 25 million Europeans, and an influx of flies in Europe in the 1400s led to laws that required food to be kept in covered containers. A hinged lid was added to a mug to make a stein.
Most beer steins collected today date from after 1800 and are made of pottery. One famous German company that used the mark "Gerz" opened in 1857 and remained in business until the 1990s (a new company with the same name was recently established in Germany and is using the old Gerz triangle mark).
Gerz made steins using glass or pottery. Its regimental and figural 3-D character steins that look like animal or human heads, usually comic, are especially popular. An amusing Smiling Face pottery stein marked "Gerz" sold for $529 at the Stein Auction Co.'s June auction in Schaumburg, Ill.
Q: I have an old ticket that was my great-grandfather's. It's for a "Mexican Bull Fight" held in the Cripple Creek District of Colorado in August 1895. I understand this was the only bullfight ever held in the United States. Any idea what the ticket might be worth?
A: The Mexican bullfight held in Gillett, Colo., on Aug. 24-25, 1895, was billed by its promoter as the "first bull fight held in the United States." Two professional bullfighters from Mexico were hired, but the bulls, whether imported or homegrown, were unenthusiastic participants. So, according to most accounts, the event was a fiasco, a planned third day was canceled, area humane societies protested and those who attended wanted their money back. The Denver Public Library has a ticket like yours in its collection, and other historical societies around Cripple Creek (south of Denver) probably would be interested in owning one. So you might consider donating yours. If you decide to sell, contact an "Old West" auction. That's where you'd probably get the most money, and it's impossible to predict how much. Gillett, by the way, was a Gold-Rush town that's now a ghost town. Bullfighting was banned in the United States in 1957, although so-called bloodless bullfights are held in some U.S. communities.
Q: We found a Civil War discharge paper for Jasper Noon in my mother-in-law's estate and are wondering if it has any value. There is a faded paymaster's stamp, an eagle, flags and stars at the top under the words "To all whom it may concern." The soldier joined Company C, 50th Regiment of Indiana Infantry, on Nov. 1, 1861, and was discharged on Jan. 5, 1865.
A: A collector of Civil War items might be interested in the discharge papers. Interest in Civil War items is expected to increase this year, since it's the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War. Jasper Noon's regiment was organized in September 1861 and mustered out in September 1865. More American soldiers died during the Civil War than in any other war, but two-thirds of them died of disease, not battle wounds. The 50th Regiment of Indiana Infantry listed 57 men killed in battle or who died of their wounds and 161 who died of disease. Civil War discharge papers sell for $60-$80.
Recent Prices
Prices are recorded from shows, flea markets and sales nationwide but can vary locally.
>> "You and I" sheet music, theme song of "Maxwell House Coffee Time" radio show, by Meredith Willson, 1941, $10.
>> Masterware cake carrier, chrome, square, holds a 12-inch cake or pie, box reads "Masterware Stylune Design," by Master Ware, Buffalo, 1960s, $40.
>>Waterford crystal pitcher, Lismore pattern, signed, 6 1/2 inches, $110.
>>Stork Club bud vase, figural stork wearing top hat, painted wood with glass tube, 7 1/2 x 4 inches, $385.
>>Dave Clark Five figures, rooted black hair, jointed at neck, embossed "Dave," "Rick," "Dennis," "Mike" and "Larry" on shirts, Remco Toys, 1964, set of five, 4 3/4 inches, $395.
>>Vogue Jennie Southern Belle Make-Up Doll, blond hair in curls with bangs, pink flower-print bonnet, dress and petticoat, carrying purse with cosmetics, 1940s, 19 inches, $550.
>>Cast-iron Cat and Mouse mechanical bank, clock with cat face, press lever and mouse sitting on top spins to reveal cat, mouse and ball, J.&E. Stevens, 9 inches, $645.
>>Queen Anne-style lowboy, curly maple, rectangular top, fluted chamfered corners, long frieze drawers, knee-hole apron, Spanish feet, cabriole legs, late 1800s, 28 x 33 inches, $655.
>>Painted and silk-embroidered mourning picture, blue, green and ochre, young woman seated at the foot of a gravestone under a willow tree, c. 1820, 6 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches, $835.
>>Ayer's Pills poster, stone lithograph, girl with white bonnet holding a box, "Ayer's Pills Are Sugar Coated, Will You Have One?" J.C. Ayer & Co., c. 1905, 28 3/4 x 41 inches, $1,150.
>>Terry Kovel can be contacted through kovels.com.
Source: http://www.courant.com/features/home/antiques/hc-kovel-antiques-20110902,0,3742615.story
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