Questions and Answers

QUESTION: I own a game called Animal Bingo, made I believe in the 1940s.  In addition to the lithograph tin spinning wheel, I have the bingo cards and the period box, albeit the box has a tiny hole in it.  The number on the box is 290.  I am wondering what it is worth?  -- JS, Allentown, PA, E-mail Question

ANSWER: I found several examples of your Animal Bingo game for sale on eBay.  The game was made by the Baldwin Manufacturing Company of Brooklyn, New York.  The rotating wheel has a rectangular metal base.  The base is 8 1/2in wide.  The height to the top of the wheel is 9in.

According to one of the eBay listings, the spinning wheel is accompanied by a card entitled “INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAYING ANIMAL BINGO” which included a “Checking Chart” and four bingo cards.  The bingo cards featured pictures of animals rather than numbers.

I had difficulty locating information about the Baldwin Manufacturing Company.  I did learn that it was located at 114-120 Forrest Street in Brooklyn and also manufactured a marble-laying chicken. The chicken toy was lithographed tin shaped as a hen sitting on a nest.  Marbles were inserted inside the chick.  When a handle was cranked, the chicken clucked and laid an egg.

The Animal Bingo game featuring the lithograph tin wheel, instructions, and four cards sold for $24.99 plus shipping and handling on eBay.  My first reaction when I saw the price is that someone got a bargain.  The fact that you have the box in which the game came is a definite plus.  Unfortunately, your e-mail did not contain information about the box’s graphics.  If the box has stand-alone display value, this further adds to the game’s value.

Assuming the box graphics are average, the value of your game in its period box is between $40.00 and $50.00.

QUESTION: My husband has his dad’s Ronson Crown cigarette lighter.  It has to be over fifty years old.  The bottom is marked “Newark, N.J.” followed by a patent number that I cannot read.  Does it have any value?  --  DM, Allentown, PA

ANSWER: By the 1920s the cigarette lighter enjoyed a prominent place in most American homes, even those of non-smokers who kept a lighter handy for guests.  Well-known manufacturers include Bowers, Dunhill, Evans, Marathon, Parker, Ronson, and Zippo.  Well over a thousand different manufacturers produced lighters.  Although the principal manufacturing centers were Japan and the United States, there was at least one lighter manufacturer in every industrialized country during the twentieth century.

Ronson produced table top lighters in one form or another from the 1910s through the mid-1970s.  Louis V. Aronson founded the company in 1886.  Initially located in New York City, the company moved to Newark, New Jersey, in 1887.  Today Ronson’s headquarters are in Somerset, New Jersey.

Ronson produced its first pocket lighter, the Wonderlighter, in 1913.  It was a striker lighter, one that utilized a wand that was struck on a strip of flint to produce the spark.  In 1926, Ronson developed and patented the Banjo lighter, a one-motion lighter utilizing a pivot motion.  In the 1930s and 1940s, many of Ronson’s most popular lighter bodies were designed by Frederick Kaupmann.  For more information about Ronson’s early history see the website, www.vintage-ronson.com.

James Flanagan’s Collector’s Guide to Cigarette Lighters (Collector Books, 1995; 126 pages, $17.95) pictures a “‘Crown’ quadruple silver plated table lighter, made by Ronson, circa 1936, 2 1/4” H., 2 3/4” W. $25.00-$40.00.”

Ronson’s Crown lighter was one of Ronson’s most popular models.  Each month two and one-half to three dozen examples appear for sale on eBay.  Final sales of working examples range between $10.00 and $18.00.  The quality of the silver plate explains the broad range.  Examples accompanied by the period box and literature realize around $25.00.

QUESTION: Enclosed are pictures of two items that are part of a collection of kitchen items that my husband has acquired – the first has a tapered glass body with a metal grinder on top that is red in color, the second has a bulbous glass body with a metal grinder on top that featured a checkerboard diamond pattern on a white ground.  The first glass jar is marked “Androck / 49 / 5 Made in USA.”  The second glass jar is marked “5935 / “A” with an inverted “U” over its top / 8F.”  They seem to be some type of spice grater or sifter, although they seem too small for sifting flour or sugar and don’t seem strong enough for grating nutmegs.  Can you identify them for us?  --  RW, Asheville, NC

ANSWER: According to Linda Campbell Franklin’s 300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles, 5th Edition (Krause Publications, 2003; 896 pages, $29.95), your items are nut grinders.  I know this is true because I have fond memories of shelling nuts and grinding them in virtually identical nut grinders in order to assist my mother in preparing ingredients for use in her Christmas cookie recipes.

Franklin provides this information concerning the type of nut grinder that you own: “Probably the ‘father’ of all nutgrinders made since the 1930s (is the--author’s addition] ‘Nut Chopper,’ pat’d May 14, 1935, by Carl A. Sundstrand, Pat. #2,001,075.  The jar shown (bulbous body—author’s addition) is the earliest shape of receptacle; the ‘fanned’ teeth of steel move the nutmeats through a slotted piece between hopper & jar, and cut them into small pieces…Sundstrand also patented a rotary grater with hopper & jar combo; the crank moved a grating drum cylinder while you pressed ‘cheese, crackers, chocolate, toast, cocoanut, nut meats and many other dry and semi-dry foods’ against the grater.  The most interesting element was the annular groove near bottom of jar, made for a wide rubber band that would encircle the jar and the edge of the bottom, and keep it from slipping.”

Campbell also notes: “Look on eBay for a few weeks and you’ll find quite a variety in several jar shapes & makers, paint colors, and crank knobs.  As far as I can tell, all of these familiar gadgets were based on a patent by Carl A. Sundstrand….The patent drawing clearly shows a jar shaped exactly like the Hazel Atlas jar #5935 11F….”

In late July an example of a nut grinder with the “Androck” jar base but the top you currently have on your Hazel Atlas jar was offered for sale on eBay.  Based on this information and Franklin’s comments, the bases of your two nut grinders are reversed.  Reverse the tops to correct this.

Nut grinders made between 1935 and 1960 are a very affordable collectible.  Common examples sell in the $10.00 range.  Harder to find examples bring between $20.00 and $25.00.  Numerous examples abound on eBay.  Stress condition when acquiring examples.  Avoid examples that exhibit rust or paint damage.

QUESTION: I have a vacuum cleaner that my grandfather purchased “used” for a quarter in the early 1930s.  The emblem on the front reads “Busy Bee Vacuum.”  It is a hand pump vacuum cleaner with a long hose.  What value does it have?  --  PG, E-mail Question

ANSWER: The website, www.vachunter.com, contains a detailed history of the vacuum cleaner.  The site attributes the first vacuum cleaner to Daniel Hess, West Union, Iowa, who patented a carpet sweeper (he did not call it a vacuum cleaner) in 1860.  However, Hess’ carpet cleaner did feature a rotating brush and an elaborate bellows mechanism designed to create suction.

The site provides this information about hand pump vacuums:  “It is amazing to realize how many different colors, styles, and operating designs were launched into the marketplace between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  Some machines were made from sheet metal, some from cast iron, and still others from fabricated wood.  You often will see cleaners made from combinations of materials, for example, metal and wood.  Most cleaners are mounted on a wooden board or sled runners for stability.  They typically have a large handle to provide power.  Every machine has a diaphragm chamber to create the suction and a compartment to capture and hold the dirt…..

“The easiest way to utilize these hand pump machines was to have two people operate them.  One person would pump the vacuum while a second would use the hose and wand or tools to clean…”  The website pictures the Busy Bee Vacuum, but provides no historical information about it.

After evaluating the pictures attached to your e-mail, I believe your Busy Bee Vacuum was manufactured between 1920 and 1935.

There was a strong market for all types of old sweepers during the Country craze of the 1960s and 1970s.  During this period, your vacuum had a secondary market retail value around $150.00.  The market has shrunk considerably.  Today old sweepers are a tough sell unless they have strong decorative value, i.e., great body decoration, or are a very scarce model.  The value of your vacuum in today’s market is closer to $75.00.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth century.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5093 Vera Cruz Road, Emmaus, PA 18049.  You also can e-mail your questions to rinkeron@fast.net.  Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

Watch Harry as the COLLECTOR INSPECTOR on weekdays at 11:30 AM ET/PT on Home & Garden Television (HGTV).  Check your local TV schedule for the exact time in other time zones.
 

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