Juke box is a classic
Published Saturday November 28th, 2009
Q: This vintage juke box belonged to my father. I know very little about it since he's now living with Alzheimer's and cannot tell me himself, although I think it was purchased in the 1960s or '70s. It's marked 'AMI Lyric' and it plays 45s. Our whole family enjoyed listening to music on it until the 1980s, and I believe it's still in working order.
-- Elissa, Toronto
A: Drop your coins in the slot and get tappin' to Tossin' And Turnin' by Bobby Lewis, or Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles. Those tunes were among the Top 100 hits of 1961 -- the same year your juke box was made.
This wonderful old Lyric model was made by the Automatic Musical Instrument Company (AMI) out of the United States. While Wurlitzer was the biggest manufacturer of juke boxes, AMI still made 320,000 of them between 1935 and 1979.
There's something fascinating about the old mechanical operation of these machines, where an arm would find the record you selected, pull it out then fold it down onto the turntable.
Interest in these nostalgic machines has increased in recent years and the prices have escalated accordingly. In addition to reviving the old tunes, they're great conversation pieces, which is why so many of them have found their way into recreation rooms across the continent.
If this is in working order, as you suggest, it could be worth as much as $6,500.
Q: I bought these miniature circular paintings quite some time ago at auction. They're about 10 cm in diameter (four inches,) are hand-painted and have a gilt wooden frame. All six are impressed on the back with the name of the old English manufacturer "Bodley," along with the hand-painted initials of the artist, which looks like 'McF.'
-- Gil, Brighton, Ontario
A: These miniature works of art are over 130 years old. They're porcelain plaques and definitely made in England, but there were several Bodley companies operating there in the late 1800s so it's tricky determining precisely which one made these. I do, however, think the most likely candidates are E.J.D. Bodley of Hill Top Works pottery, or possibly Bodley & Son, both of Burslem. As for the artist's monogram, 'McF,' I wasn't able to identify it although with more extensive research, possibly through a resource like the Royal Ontario Museum, it might just be possible to pin down the painter. These pretty little plaques have captured pleasant daily activities from the time in which they were made. I think they're each worth roughly $125 or $900 as a set.
Q: About 30 years ago, my father bought this set as a 25th wedding anniversary gift for my mother. He paid about $1,200 for the coffee pot, cream and sugar. The coffee pot is marked on the base 'Tiffany & Co.,' and 'sterling silver.' It's 20 cm tall (eight inches) and has a hand-chased fern and flower pattern with ivory accents. The sugar bowl and creamer are hand-chased with a slightly different flower and leaf pattern, and are also marked 'sterling. Even though the coffee pot does not match the sugar and creamer, they were sold together.
-- Joyce, Toronto
A: It's always nice to see the Tiffany name, a company renowned for its high quality workmanship. These pieces were made in the U.S. around 1890. The coffee pot is Tiffany, but not the other pieces -- and therein lies the rub as far as value is concerned. You might be interested to know the decoration on your pieces is not hand-chased, which is a carving out process; it's actually repoussé, which means the pattern is pushed out by hammering into a mould from the reverse side. It's difficult to say how these three pieces ended up together. Since they weren't bought new they must have been 'matched up' somewhere along the way. As for value, the Tiffany coffee pot is worth about $1,500. The cream and sugar set is worth about $350 on its own. If this was a matched, three-piece Tiffany set it would be worth $2,500, possibly more.
* John Sewell is an antique and fine art appraiser. To submit an item to his column, go to the 'Contact John' page at www.johnsewellantiques.ca. Please measure your piece, say when and how you got it, what you paid and list any identifying marks. A high-resolution jpeg photo must also be included. (Only e-mail submissions accepted.) * Appraisal values are estimates only.*
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