Catalog (459)

Measuring 4 inches long, this circa 1920s, miniature, Black Mammy doll is unique in construction- its head and body have been fashioned from an old rubber baby nursing nipple!

Mammy’s sweet little face has been carefully hand-painted, and she has been nicely dressed in a red dress featuring flowers and watering cans, a linen apron, a linen under-slip(not usually found on nipple dolls) and a red head scarf. Her apron is entirely hand-sewn as is the hem of her dress which is also atypical.

Condition of this wonderful miniature Mammy is very good! With the exception of her nipple face which has dried out a bit due to the ravages of time making her look very much the old-aged mammy, she is in delightful condition!

(It was difficult to get a good photo of the nipple base due to the unusual addition of the linen under-skirt which made it impossible to turn the skirt completely inside out.)

The resplendent colors of this vintage, 1940's, all-hand-stitched, wool felt tote bag with rolled hand straps are pure eye candy!

This never-used tote bears the original paper tag which states, "Handmade by African Cripple; Ematupeni / Zimele Cripple Care Centers; Durban, England".

The artistry of the wool felt, hand-appliqued cut-outs featuring a mother and her three children is further enhanced by colorful bead work which was carefully placed for symmetry in design and form! A gorgeous piece of vintage African Artwork!

Measuring 14 long x 14 wide x 2 deep, the bag retains a "brand-new" appearance with no fading, rips, stains, or other blemishes.

Please see the companion "tea cozy" offered for sale and priced separately.

Offered is this very scarce, circa 1910, Willie Dunn, Smooth Face Hickory Shaft Golf Club. Although smooth face golf clubs fell out of fashion by the very early 1900s, they were still offered in catalogues for a number of years beyond this date.

This smooth face club is stamped on the back "WILLIE DUNN - NEW YORK". The leather grip is in good condition, and the slightly bent hickory shaft sports a nice aged patina.

Measures 39 inches from heel to top of shaft and is probably a MASHIE although it is not marked as such. There are various small dings, mild pitting to the metal surface and examples of wear commensurate with this club's 110+ years of age and use.

Of Scottish origin, Willie Dunn settled with his wife and son in New York and established his club manufacturing business there. Not only was he a very talented golf club maker, he was also an accomplished professional golfer, finishing 2nd in the inaugural US OPEN, but also had gained a fine reputation as an outstanding golf course designer.

Having conceived of the revolutionary idea of a lithographed, molded-mask doll face in 1901, New Yorker, Albert Bruckner applied for and was awarded the patent for his idea that same year. All Bruckner dolls were then stamped, "PAT'D JULY 8th 1901" on the lower right neck edge.

From 1901-1924, Bruckner produced this original, 12" Topsy Turvy doll for Horsman's Babyland Rag Doll line that features Caucasian, "Betty", on one end and African American, "Topsy", on the other. The inspiration for this doll is based on the character of Topsy in Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic 1852 novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

The Bruckner Topsy Turvy doll was advertised in a 1907 Babyland Rag Doll catalog as follows:

"TOPSY-TURVY---What is this?
Looks like just a pretty miss.
But turn her over and you'll find,
She is quite another kind.
First she's White and then she's Black,
Turn her over and turn her back.
Topsy that side--Betty this--
Yet complete, each little Miss."

The detail on this hard to find classic doll is lovely. Both heads indeed have the pressed, molded mask faces with lithographed features. Topsy's face is in mint condition! Betty's face is also in excellent condition with no superficial rubs to the flesh-toned coating of her mask; her lithographed facial features remain just beautiful!! (Such rubs are not unexpected as these particular doll masks are, unfortunately, very prone to rubbing. To find one of these 100+ year old dolls without such rubbing is quite rare!)

Grinning Topsy has red bows tied to her black mohair braided pigtails which are tucked into her red headscarf. Her red blouse, which matches her head scarf, is trimmed with cream banding around the sleeve and neck edges. The cream scarf she wears around her shoulders tucks into her very full, red/cream checked, gingham skirt. Topsy’s cream banding is lightly soiled and there is also some subtle fading to her red head scarf, most notably in the back. Flip her over, and....

Betty's more subtle Anglo face and her hair are lithographed. She wears the same red/cream checked gingham fabric of which both her dress and ruffled bonnet are constructed. Over her very full gingham dress, Betty should also wear a sheer, ruffled, white pinafore, however, it has been lost over time. Betty’s cream banding around each sleeve is also lightly soiled as are her hands.

Both dolls have the typical "mitten" hands of the stuffed rag dolls of this era. There are no other difficulties to report other than some tiny, stray (original) glue spots here and there. No rips, tears, or odors, and she has been stored in a smoke-free home. The 1901 Patent Bruckner Topsy Turvy doll typically carries a $650+ dollar price tag, but deductions to price have been levied to account for the minor imperfections that are noted in this doll.

The photos show it all- these two girls are a charming pair! A very difficult to find doll in such wonderful condition!

Also offered for sale is a COMPLETE 1901 Patent Bruckner Topsy Turvy doll with absolutely no soiling or fading. To view, simply type Bruckner into the SEARCH box on our homepage.

Offered is a bucolic and beautifully-colored, medium-folio, copyrighted 1854, Nathaniel Currier, New York, lithograph entitled, "Catching A Trout". The image measures approximately 10" x 14", and depicts a fancily-dressed African-American man "netting" the trout caught by one of the two well-dressed gentleman enjoying a relaxing day of fishing. This Currier + Ives lithograph is infrequently found, and is quite highly collectible.

Condition of the litho is considered very good given the rich coloration that remains. Some minor wear does exist: 2 small tears measuring less than 1/2 inch each on either side border edge-- one in the trees on the right side and the other on the left side in the water. There are several teeny holes in the sky to the right of the bearded gentleman's fishing pole as well as one single hole in the black gentleman's hair. (Please see photos.) Some wear to the border at top as shown in photos.

Despite the noted imperfections, this lithograph displays beautifully, with rich color and crisp lines. It presently resides in an early 1920's frame; ideally from a conservation point of view, it would benefit from a re-framing with acid-free materials to continue to preserve its historic importance.

An exceptional example of 19th century Folk Art-- a very rare needlework cross stitch sampler with Black Americana theme! This highly unusual example dates to circa 1880's and depicts two young girls on a primitive, “make-do” seesaw--- a wooden board placed over a log-- complete with a grapevine trellis in the background! This wonderful piece is accented with a multi-toned, Greek Key border design with fringe edging.

The needlework measures approximately 15 by 14 inches and is in good condition overall, given its 120+ years of age! The central design is superb with no problems, but the two upper corners show evidence of some unraveling, particularly the upper right, which has a small hole. This little hole could be repaired, or if the piece was framed, it could be visually eliminated; however, it truly does little to detract from the central focal point of the children on the seesaw, when viewed in its entirety. The piece does show subtle evidence of typical, age-related discoloration.

An utterly wonderful and scarce example of 19th century Black Americana themed Needlework!

Offered is a rarely found, Ca 1890s, celluloid and brass mourning brooch featuring a handsome, young African American man.

Housed in an ornate, brass frame, the mourning pin measures 1 1/8th inch in diameter.

The celluloid image is quite crisp with some staining evident in left lower and side edges that do not obstruct the gentleman's image. The magnified photos emphasize this staining to a much greater degree than what is evident when viewed with just the naked eye. The brooch is missing its backside pin.

This a Vintage 1920's "Clear-Sight Spectacle Co." Self Test/Sales Kit with Original Paper Info, Instructions, Tester & Original Box.

Included are: Instruction Sheet, Sheet with choice of glasses available with prices, pictures and list of satisfied customers, greeting letter, Special Notice, Mailing Label, Guarantee, Order Blank, Tester with Original Shipping Box. The Original Shipping Price Shown on the Box is 3¢.

The Tester is made of wood, sports a lens and a tiny metal eye chart. The condition is very fine except for a small scratch to the chart and minor wear to the paper inserts.

Very unusual home eye exam tester!

Offered is a fabulous, 19th century antique, hand-carved, wood, FLYING GARGOYLE from a South Carolina estate. Exquisitely crafted in the gothic-style, this piece undoubtedly was once an interior architectural focal point in a grand Victorian mansion.

Significant carving expertise and skill was required to create such a wonderfully executed object of art which emanates fierce expression and unrelenting strength.

The gargoyle is crafted from a hardwood, and it sports an unfinished surface with a patina reflecting its 125+ years of age. The length of the gargoyle measures just about 14 inches from the tip of its nose to the flat end of its tail, and its height is approximately about 9.5 inches high. The wing span is 7.25 inches, and its weight is 3 pounds. In terms of condition, the gargoyle is in quite fine condition given its significant age, with expected, age-related imperfections: a very small piece of wood is missing from the underside of the tongue and various, very tiny unobtrusive pieces of wood are missing here and there on its body.

A fabulous work of gothic architectural art!

Offered is an extremely rare collection of eight, very colorful, 19th century artist paint pigments in diminutive, corked, glass vials from makers S.J. Pardessus, New York, Chas. Moller, New York, and Bender & Phillips.

Each of these very scarcely found vials sport their original paper label noting color of pigment and the manufacturer. The vials have either contents or traces of contents remaining that lend color and interest to the grouping.

Pigment colors are as follows: Ultramarine Blue, Chrome Yellow, Solferino, Yellow Ochre, Magenta, Carmin..., Cadmium Yellow, and Brilliant Yellow. All vials measure approximately 2.25 inches tall and are in very good condition. The paper labels are darkened and somewhat worn from decades of exposure, yet they present very well, and all are completely readable but one.

An early and exceptional find which will surely delight the artist in your life!

Measuring approximately 3" x 3", this rarely found tin mechanical toy features a monkey at the unfortunate mercy of a black lady hitting him with a mallet!

Unmarked, the toy was likely produced in post WWII Germany. It is in wonderful, barely-used condition with just the tiniest degree of scratching wherever metal rubs metal during toy movement. To operate the toy, one simply squeezes the metal lever on the back, which causes the woman to hit the poor monkey on the head with a mallet!

A RARE toy with crisp color and which displays wonderfully!

Produced as a souvenir piece for the 1884 New Orleans Exposition, this diminutive, antique, metal match holder measures just 2.5 inches high!

Marked "Pat Applied For" on its base, this darling match holder features two small black boys playing around a rather large cotton bale (the bale is labeled "COTTON").

Well-executed detail! A lovely piece seldom found in today's collectible market!

Measuring approximately 10.5 inches tall, these sweet, hand-made, circa 1930's, Great Depression era, Mammy and Pappy dolls feature dried apples as heads! Common household items such as chicken or turkey breast bones, dried corn cobs, old rubber baby bottle nipples, wooden clothespins and dried fruit were frequently employed to make play-dolls when money was tight and store-bought toys were beyond reach!

These two folk art pieces came straight from the 93 year old great grandma who played with them as a child!

While the heads were constructed from dried apples painted black, the bodies were cut from various pieces of sponge which were then hand-sewn together. Hands were cut from pink--- and not brown or black felt--very interesting---while the teeth were formed from tiny white beads, and the white fuzzy hair fashioned from nothing more than small, cotton batting pieces. Eyes are glued-on googly eyes.

The homemade clothing is nicely constructed via a combination of hand and machine sewing. Mammy's green, teal and rust flowered dress is embellished with a bit of lace at the sleeves, and she also wears a fancy, white eyelet petticoat and a soft pink crocheted shawl. She is barefoot. Pappy's light blue shirt features 3 button detailing, and he wears denim pants and black felt shoes and hat with a red felt vest.

Condition is quite fine with no observable issues! No odors, rips, stains or missing parts. A very sweet pair!

De-accessioned from the inventory of the ill-fated Middle Passage Museum (see museum history below), this very unusual and atypical, 19th century, estate document is offered for sale, the purpose of which was to itemize and execute a division of property from the estate of the deceased, southern plantation owner. This document was purchased in the 1960s by one of the founders of the Middle Passage Museum from a descendant of this Sumter County, Georgia, plantation owner.

This is single page, partial document written on both front and back sides. It is missing its first page which would have shown the name of the deceased slave owner and the listing of the interior household goods and furnishings, and the last page which would have noted the date and county in which the document was executed as well as witness and judicial signatures. However, the most historically significant page exists and is offered here- a plantation estate document in which the slaves are referenced by name and further described by their family position and marital status!

What makes this document EXTRAORDINARILY RARE, UNUSUAL, and ATYPICAL is that it proceeds to, first, categorize the 40 slaves using the word SLAVES instead of the common verbiage of the time -Negroes-, and secondly, it proceeds to list the male slaves BY NAME, ALONG WITH THE NAMES OF THEIR WIVES AND THEIR CHILDREN, with monetary value listed in the right column of the document!!!! In two instances, the number of years married is also listed! Children are labeled "Girl, "Boy", or "Infant". Total value of these 40 slaves was calculated at $24,200.00!

Given that slaves were viewed as property and not human beings in any way equal to the Caucasian race which enslaved them, it is extraordinarily unusual to find a document which recognizes and lists slaves as "Family Units", further designating family position- husband, wife or child! Typically,there was little, if any, thought given to the pain and anguish such slave families would suffer if their "owner" chose to sell off any one of them at any given time. Such estate documents as this listing ENTIRE SLAVE FAMILIES BY NAME is simply without precedent! It would indeed be a phenomenal discovery to be able to identify the plantation and/or deceased slave owner as such an estate listing speaks to an uncommon, albeit, rare and unique perspective of slave ownership. Such a personalized and humanized account of the slaves owned makes this particular document all the more heart-wrenching, and it certainly begs the very sad question of whether or not these slave families were allowed to remain united and intact once the final estate disposition was conducted.

The document measures approximately 8 1/2 inches wide x 14 1/8 inches long, is double-sided and is in good condition, with fold lines evident along with some age-related foxing at top and bottom fold lines. 1 3/4 tear along the fold line of the top fold at right edge. The ink color is sepia toned (likely as a result of some fading over time) on a pale blue, vertically-ruled, heavy paper. This phenomenal piece of cultural ephemera is ready for appropriate archival preservation/framing.

The listing of slaves is on the back side of the document with the front side listing farm animals, equipment and supplies along with values- "The following property set apart for the use and benefit of the farm".

Middle Passage Museum History: The Middle Passage Museum was the dream of Jim and Mary Anne Petty of Mississippi as well as that of an anonymous Georgian benefactor who had together compiled a collection of slave artifacts numbering over 15,000 pieces and who had hoped to find a permanent site in Mobile, Alabama, for their museum. While they formed a non-profit organization to raise funds for their hoped-for museum, their dream was never realized.

In a 2003 statement, Jim Petty remarked, "The importance of the exhibit of these artifacts is to understand the harshness of what slavery and segregation was all about. The items in the exhibit remind us of the terrible heinousness of slavery. Viewing the collection can be very emotional, but it is a tool through which we can understand, honor and respect a great culture. We want to realize that out of slavery, a great culture emerged, and carried on, and continued to strive for a better life regardless of the adverse conditions that were placed upon them."

This 1867 educational text was published by Charles Scribner and Company of 654 Broadway, New York City. Intended for students under nine years of age, the object of this delightful introductory school text, as stated by Mary Howe Smith, a Princeton University colleague of text author, A. Guyot, is “to impart geographical knowledge to prepare the student for its successful acquirement in the future.”

Contains numerous black and white line drawings which prove to quite adequately visually supplement this interesting text! At the back of text is an 1865 colored map of the world as well as Questions for General Review and Review Exercises for use by teachers!

Hardcover- Medium Folio Size (8 x 10 inches), 118 pages; good condition (please see photos): use wear to cover, minimal foxing, overall tight binding with loosening of last two pages, corner edge wear to covers, pencil inscriptions on frontispiece and back by former students.

A delightful addition to the School Memorabilia collection!

This very rare, 1894, historically significant work of factually-based fiction by Marietta Holley, recounts the author's perspective of what life in the post-Confederate South was like, detailing the significant adjustment Southerners experienced once the Civil War ended and slavery was wholly abolished.

This nearly-lost historical work was originally published in 1892 exclusively for the subscription market and was entitled, "Samantha on the Race Problem". Two years later when the work was to be sold on the "popular" market, the publishers, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, deemed it appropriate to re-title the work, "Samantha Among the Colored Folk", including the subtitle, "My ideas on the Race Problem" on the title page only. Interestingly, this re-titled, 1894, popular market edition still retains the title, "Samantha on the Race Problem" at the top of each of its 387 pages! This is truly a fascinating read, particularly for those who have a keen interest in this tumultuous period of American history.

The author, Marietta Holley of New York, born in 1836, was an American humorist who employed satire to comment on American society and politics. Early in her career, she published not as Marietta Holley, but as "Josiah Allen's Wife", sometimes with her own name also added in parentheses beneath his, as is the case in this particular edition. Interestingly, Marietta was never married, and Josiah Allen never existed. She eventually published under her own name enjoying a prolific writing career and becoming a bestselling author by the turn of the 20th century, although, sadly, she was largely forgotten by the time of her death in 1926.

Illustrated by Edward Windsor Kemble, this work contains over eighty of his pen and ink drawings. Each drawing is titled and a listing of all illustrations can be found at the beginning of the book. Kemble, who enjoyed a prolific career as a political cartoonist for a variety of the top US newspapers and periodicals, was well-known for his caricatures of African Americans, and he illustrated for some of the most famous American writers of the day such as Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin") and Washington Irving (Knickerbocker History of New York).

Written in dialect, this nearly 130 year old book bears evidence of its many, many years. The cloth-bound hardcover is very well-worn along all edges with the cloth spine showing the worst of the wear: small tears at top and bottom with some very small areas of missing fabric. The binding is separating from the spine, but all 387 pages still remain bound and attached (some pages just barely - see photos) with the exception of page 109/110 (see photo) which is present, but for some reason, was cut with scissors from the book. A good number of pages have some degree of staining (see photos), there is foxing throughout, and a very teeny tear here and there. An inked ownership inscription exists on the inside front cover.

Having described its significantly aged condition, it must again be emphasized that this 1894, 2nd edition, is EXTREMELY rare, seldom found available for purchase on the retail marketplace.

"Samantha Among Colored Folks - My Ideas On The Race Problem" is a must-read for those interested in the author's perspective of the societal, political, racial and economic struggles which existed in the post-Civil War South.

Measuring just 3 inches in length, this unusual 19th century heart cookie cutter is in fine, all-original condition! From the renown, Pennsylvania Robacker Estate, published experts in Pennsylvania Dutch decorative art and culture, who passed away in the 1980's.

No breaks or other damage. A tiny spot of very superficial rust here and there that may be removed, if so desired, by polishing with a clear paste wax.

A sweet accent piece for the country kitchen!

Measuring 27 inches long x 18 inches wide, this wonderful, vintage, School Crossing Guard sign remains in all-original condition and is even dated "5-64"!

Double-sided, this visually-appealing school collectible displays stunningly whether displayed on the bright yellow "SLOW" side or the nearly-glow-in-the-dark red and white "STOP" side!

The metal sign retains its original wooden handle as well as its share of age and use-related surface scuffs, scratches and even a couple of errant paint spots that absolutely do not detract from its conversation-provoking appeal!

An interesting and unique enhancement to one's Vintage School Collection!