Chinese silver not as well known as porcelain

Chinese artisans have copied Western wares for centuries. In the early 18th century, they made shiploads of dishes in the European style that were ordered with special monograms, crests or other designs. By the end of the 18th century, dishes could be ordered to fill in existing sets of dishes.

They also made silverware, paintings, furniture and other things that sold well in Europe. The Chinese firms, just as today, made products that were popular with their customers even if they were in designs that were unpopular in China.

Chinese Export china was a "hot" collectible in the 1950s and after, and there was much research into the "who" and "where" pieces were made. But silver was little known. It was not until the Museum of the American China Trade (now the Peabody Essex Museum) was established in Milton, Mass., in 1965 -- and some exhibits and publications explored the subject in 1975 -- that information was available to dealers and collectors.

Today, collectors can find late 19th- and 20th-century Chinese silver made for the American market at many sales and shows. But the names and marks are unfamiliar to many. One source in Hong Kong was Wang Hing, a jeweler, who marked his pieces with Chinese characters or the initials "WH" or even the words "Wang Hing."

The number 90 was also used to tell the grade of silver -- not quite sterling quality. Many pieces with these marks are found. The silver often has Asian designs like bamboo branches, Chinese people and pagodas, but other silver looks European. Prices of the silver are less than for similar pieces made with English designs.

Q: Can you give me any information on a furniture manufacturer named Nicholson-Kendle? I have two four-poster twin beds marked with that name on a paper label.

A: Nicholson-Kendle Furniture Co. was founded in Huntington, W.Va., in 1901. It appears to have gone out of business during the Depression. The company specialized in bedroom furniture.

Q: I own an old Anheuser-Busch advertising display for Budweiser beer. The title at the bottom is "World Champion Clydesdale Team," and the long, narrow display shows a team of eight Clydesdale horses pulling a wagonload of beer cartons. There's a driver, passenger and Dalmatian in the front of the wagon.

The display is a 70 inches long, 201/2 inches high and 101/2 inches deep. Could you give me an idea of the display's value?

A: Anheuser-Busch distributed Clydesdale advertising displays like yours to bars and wholesalers across the country from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s. Variations were offered to the public in the 1990s.

If yours is an early version and it's in excellent condition, it could sell for $400 or more.

Clydesdales became an advertising symbol for Anheuser-Busch when Prohibition ended in 1933. On April 7 of that year, the company drove a Clydesdale team down a St. Louis street carrying the first case of beer to come out of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. A Dalmatian is pictured in the wagon because that breed was trained to guard the wagon when the driver and his partner made deliveries.

Q: I have a large pottery jardiniere marked "Haynes, Balt." Do you have any idea who used that mark?

A: The mark was used by D.F. Haynes and Son, which operated the Chesapeake Pottery in Baltimore from 1896 until the pottery shut down in 1914.

Q: I recently inherited a plastic daguerreotype case. It has an elaborately embossed front and back that say, "Constitution and Laws." Inside it says "Littlefield, Parsons & Co., manufacturers of Union cases, patented Oct. 14, 1856." Can you tell me more about it?

A: Union cases are thermoplastic cases made to hold pictures in the 1850s. They were molded in elaborate designs. "Constitution and Laws" is the name of one of the designs that appeared on many cases.

Littlefield, Parsons and Co. was the largest maker of union cases and made more than 350 case designs. The company was in business in New York and Massachusetts from 1857 to 1866. The patent date refers to the "embracing riveted hinge" design patented in 1856.

In 1857 the patent holder, Alfred P. Critchlow, sold his business and the name was changed to Littlefield, Parsons and Co. The company was incorporated as Florence Manufacturing Co. in 1866.

Tip: Marble will eventually react to rain and deteriorate. Keep marble ornaments out of the rain and frost.

Ralph and Terry Kovel's column is syndicated by King Features. Write to: Kovels, (Las Vegas Review-Journal), King Features Syndicate, 888 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019.