collectible

We’re Fans – Putnam Dyes and Tints

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today I have this rather remarkable item I purchased for Kim for his birthday this year. Mike Zohn (@obscuraantiques) has been sort of doing video sales on IG which I always try to catch – some great stuff and this isn’t the only Deitch birthday gift I purchased, more to come.

This antique advertising fan flashed by and I grabbed it right up for Kim – I knew he would see the beauty of it; perfect for his sensibility. It arrived and sat in a box under my desk for a couple of months. (Frankly, I am rarely this organized – for example I accidentally let Kim open his anniversary gift when it arrived in the mail having forgotten I ordered it.) I even remembered I had it when his birthday came around. (My mother was famous for buying things early, putting them away and forgetting about them or where she put them. As a result, she always wanted to give you her gifts early or was finding them and randomly giving them to you late.)

It is fragile and Kim has a vision for where he wants it hung on the wall in Jersey when we head there for the summer. It is resting back in the box under my desk for now. Lots stored up to go on the walls this year, but those are other stories and posts. The fan measures about 8.75″ x 6.5″ and the wooden handle about another 6″.

The rather psychedelic scene depicted is of a nymph painting this amazing, colorful butterfly. She has two sprites as her helpers, holding the jars of colors she is using like palettes. There is foliage in glowing green behind and around them and the helpers perch on purple limbs of a tree which grows and leafs up and around. At the center is this exotic butterfly critter – I say that as my knowledge of butterfly anatomy is admittedly a bit thin. His pinks, yellows, purples and blues play against all the green behind his glowing presence. At the bottom it says, Putnam Fadeless Dyes-Tints.

Putnam Dyes was an early player in the development of synthetic dyes with its origins tracing back to Unionville, Missouri in 1876 first as a purveyor of drugs and other ancillary products, but it wasn’t until 1893 that their line of synthetic dyes was developed. It rapidly took over the company which meant that by 1895 it marketed nothing else. In my opinion its most spiffy advertising saying was, Dying Saves Buying.

Back of fan. Transcribed below.

Of course, in the early 20th century these new synthetic dyes were used in boiling water (cold water dyes wouldn’t come along for years), and were replacing, I assume, the natural dyes of the day. Their fade-proof quality was another selling point, as I am sure, was the vast color selection. I wonder a bit about the difference between a tint and a dye which I think is answered by the info below.

Personally, I love the advertising patter on these items, so I share below. On the back we are told that this fan was Compliments of Alvin C. Walker Beavertown, PA but no information on what that company may have been. At the top it reads, Putnam Fadeless Dyes + Tints [to dye use boiling water] [to tint use warm water] Colors all materials. Below that it advertises bleach, Improved Putnam no-kolor bleach remaoves color without boiling. Try it. and Improved Putnam no-kolor will not harm any fabric. Harmless as water. Try it. (There are additional small pictures of a man riding a horse with his arm aloft – I guess spreading the word?)

Further below: Why Putnam Fadless Dyes and Tints are best for you. SAVE TIME – LESS WORK. Dissolve instantly – (no melting as with dyes in solid form) – leave no undissolved particles to spot good. BEST VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY. More highly concentrated, therefore dye better – go farther – last longer. Compare Putnam Fadeless Dyes with ANY DYE at ANY PRICE, ANYWHERE at ANY TIME – Putnam Fadeless Dyes will do what any other dye will do and more.

And at the bottom: A FREE OFFER IF YOU HAVE GRAY HAIR. Write to Mary T. Goldman. Dept. X. Goldman Bldg., St. Paul, Minn. Give your Name…City…State…..Street….Color of Hair….
and receive FREE TEST PACKAGE of Mary T. Goldman Gray Hair Color Restorer, that clear, colorless liquid that you simply comb through the hair – the Gray goes and shade wanted is restored. (My gray undyed hair and I tremble to consider – and who the heck was Mary T. Goldman?)

On the other half of the back, Improved Putnam no-kolor will not harm any fabric, harmless as water. Try it. and, PERFUMED PUTNAM FADELESS DYES-TINTS. Leave the garment slightly perfumed. Beautiful pastel shades. (I suspect without knowing that pastel shades were harder to acquire and achieve.)

At the bottom, PUTNAM DRY-CLEANER the original dry cleaner. Putnam Dry-Cleaner works in gasoline and naphtha the same as soap in water. “You would not think of washing clothes in water without soap.” Renews the lustre, prolongs the life of suits, dresses and other clothing at very little cost. Save cleaner’s bills, dry clean at home with Putnam Dry-cleaner. WRITE FOR FREE BOOKLET – “THE CHARM OF COLOR” Address dept. 25 MONROE CHEMICAL COMPANY QUINCY, ILLINOIS. And, Printed in the USA, the…Steiner Corporation, Chicago.

Part of what I find interesting is that in telling you all about what is good about these dyes you get a litany of what the problems with dyes actually were – perhaps still are. It was hard to achieve success it seems.

So tempted by this display case I took a photo last summer.

Dye advertisements and displays have always interested me. The displays seem to often be wonderful little tin or wooden cabinets made up of a series of cubbies. Even contemporary dyes come in appealing and tempting brightly colored disks. I have been very tempted by these antique dye cabinets, as you can see above. That display case is (was, as of last winter) in the Red Bank Antiques Annex where it tempts me. Only having not a clue of where I would put it and what I would use it for have stopped me from buying it. More to come on whether I stay strong or the cabinet wins on that one. Our summer time in Jersey looms shortly on the horizon so we shall see.

The Corticelli Kitten

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Continuing on a bit with our classic cat theme here at Pictorama, this wonderful bit of early advertising came in the door this week. A former IG seller messaged me and asked if I was interested, remembering my feline predilections. I paid up a bit for it, but I think it is a great piece of advertising which I have never seen before.

Go cats, go! Early print advertising for Corticelli using kittens.

Evidently the Corticelli kitten began his (or her) advertising career all the way back in 1900, making it in the earlier era of emerging cat advertising. A kitten was stamped as a logo on each spool and advertisements showed a kitten or kittens playing with and chewing on the thread to show how strong it was – also that as superior thread that it was unlikely to tangle. Anyone with cats and threads knows pretty much what is likely to happen when the two are together and, strong or not, I would not want to put any thread to the test.

On the back it reads:

I am the Corticelli Kitten. As Corticelli silk costs you no more than poor silk you are saving your own time and money when you ask the cleark especially for Corticelli silk, because while you may pay as much you are sure of getting more silk, better silk, purer silk, brighter silk, longer silk and stronger silks every time you as for “Corticelli.”

When I Tell You that for over 70 years Corticelli silk has held the World’s Record for Superiority, having won 40 Highest Awards at Expositions at home and abroad,

You Will Know it was not the Corticelli Kitten that first made Corticelli silk famous – it was the remarkable smoothness, length and strength of the Silk itself.

The next time you buy silk for any purpose (sewing, stiching, crocheting or art needlework) JUST THINK of the Corticelli Kitten and the superiority of my silk and tell the clerk you just must have Corticelli or you will go to some other store.

FUN FOR THE CHILDREN. A Cortecelli Kitten given free by any dealer selling Corticelli silk in exchange for 2 empty Corticelli spools or send to us for one. As your mother to save all the Corticelli Spools for you.

Corticelli Silk Mills, Florence, Mass.

Back of the card. You can see where the bit folds out so it can stand.

The company, its roots go back to the 1830’s, has an interesting history which includes a period as part of a Utopian commune from 1842-46. It was purchased and in 1852 had a revolutionary development when the company figured out spool silk thread strong enough for sewing machines. The Northampton town where the factory called home was renamed Florence to capitalize on a desire for European millinery.

Meanwhile, the company had a vast expansion in the early years of the 20th century and their products included a line of hosiery. Their apex of their advertising is said to have been a neon sign in Times Square. I share the only image of it I could find. The company folds in the post WW1 years for a variety of reasons, around 1932.

Corticelli Kitten neon sign in Times Square, undated photo.

I think it is hard for us to imagine what a major role spools of thread played in the world of 1900. Ready-made-to-wear clothes for the rank and file had entered the public consciousness in this country with the rise of department stores and catalogue buying in the 1880’s but a majority of Americans still sewed either to make clothes, tailor or repair them.

Reproduction advertising available on Etsy.

A well supplied sewing box was a necessity in every home – I can remember my grandmother’s (Ann, my mother’s mother – I have written about her here and here) sewing box which was substantial and she wasn’t even an especially good seamstress but could swing a hem, a button or a simple adjustment.

So while today it is hard to even find a notions store, the idea of not being well stocked with thread, needles and buttons was unimaginable for the early years of the 20th century.

This little fellow has a spool of bright red silk thread under his chin, as if he was wearing it like St. Bernard out rescuing folks with a bit of whiskey in a cask. A careful look shows however, that he holds the spool in his mouth by a thread – proving how strong it is! The label is cheated toward the viewer and of course he has this nice, tiny date calendar, still fully intact, on his chest for the year 1909. He is designed to stand up and still does – sort of. The calendar appears to have Clint E.M. written at the bottom.

While my own skill with a needle and thread is extremely limited, I do love the early advertising for thread. I have been tempted by the beautiful display cabinets from stores so we’ll see. If a Corticelli kitten one every came my way I think I would have to snag it.

Commuter Cats

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: There are a few rather interesting things about today’s card – an image I have never seen before but cracked me up. It posits six cats in a flying machine that is both futuristic while still being of its early 20th century time – a nice commute indeed for these workaday kits, I must say. I want to say the flying machine is one part kite on the top and this wing advertises, Why trouble to drive? Aerobus Trips in the Sky. It has, oddly enough, skis as well as wheels. I assume that although no snow currently threatens the bucolic green town below, one has to be prepared for all eventualities and seasons. (Wain is a Pictorama favorite and if you are new to the fold you can find more past Wain posts here, here and here for starters.)

On the side of the aeobus there is a partially obscured inscription, Catlands Branch…and then what likely is Service. The plane appears to be made of something reminiscent of balsa wood, but we will hope for their sake that it is something a bit more substantial. A little put-put propeller seems to be the force behind flight, perhaps helped along with the kite-like design. Just behind the propeller and hard to read is the name of the vehicle, evidently christened Mouse No. 15.

It is a tabby filled load, heavy on the oranges (orange tabbies seem to be a favorite of Wain’s, perhaps their natural tendency toward trouble making), although there are a variety of shades within that, light and dark, and one black and whiter for good measure. A jolly fat fellow is steering, wheel and stick I notice. He sports a cap in case we doubt his official role. The other cats seem to be enjoying themselves, looking at the view. I’m surprised no one is reading the newspaper or coming home with bags and boxes from a shopping trip in town – it could use a middle-aged female cat.

The town below sports a church and a single, very large home, a bridge in the distance and tended fields awaiting crops. There seems to be a sea which drifts almost invisibly into the sky.

Notably, in case you did not know, this card is a contemporary reproduction which was advertised as such online. I was curious and not unsatisfied with the results. After all, the “real” postcards have wide variation from multiple printings as well and what is real when it comes to postcards. The image is sharp and not dupe-y which is what I was most curious and concerned about. There is a somewhat undefinable not oldness about it. There is no manufacturer’s info on the back. It would have originally likely been the product of Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd.

I have been unable to find versions of the original card online which lead to an interesting thought – what if this isn’t really a Louis Wain but instead a very crafty modern mix up and reassembly of existing and new parts? I don’t really think this card is, but it begs the question about our new world in the not too distant future will be we be parsing real versus actual reinvention?

To me it is also interesting that it is my inclination that I would mail this postcard and I never mail my old ones – too expensive and too fragile. If I give one it is generally framed. At $5 this was about the price of an average greeting card these days, although maybe a bit more with postage. I guess we will just have to wait and see if “new” Louis Wain’s start to appear and then we can judge them on their own merits. However, modern reproduction does bring the possibility of bringing them back into play so to speak and using them again for their original intention. (Does anyone actually even know what a postcard costs to send in the US today?)

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For those of you who are wondering, Paw Day was a huge success yesterday at the Second Avenue Street Fair here. While the block long Japanese food fiesta might have topped our block marginally, we were packed with interested parties and lots and lots of dogs (and a few adventurous cats) and curiosity. Many existing clients visited with us and our docs but also lots of people with puppies and new pets who were curious. It was fast paced and exhausting but great fun.

A brave cat visitor to our table yesterday and Blackie exacting a lap toll this morning (slowing me down some) for yesterday being mostly a day out of the apartment.

Beauty

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Yesterday’s postcard show did not disappoint, and Kim and I wiled away an hour or two perusing the wares. This is a single day show and therefore a bit smaller and folks say they don’t bring as much stock but we made out just fine. We will wait for Friday and Saturday, June 5 and 6 for that. Meanwhile I present one of my purchases which caught my eye, however it is more fun now that I have transcribed the message on the back. The message is for a new kitty, named Beauty, that has clearly joined the family.

It would appear that these cats are ice skating – and this Mom (?) cat is putting a skate on the young cat (boy? it has a blue bow) although there is only one, which she has just placed on his foot. (Where is the other skate?) The chair is somewhat mysteriously placed out on the ice, another cat skating with what appears to be a cane in the background. In the foreground there is a black kitty, who looks like my Blackie with just some white on his neck, also standing with a cane. (Do cats need canes to stand like humans? Is this something we should know if we want them to become bipeds?)

Youngster looks like the one I am calling Mom and has a matching tabby stripe to his fur. The skater in the background also appears to have stripes but is at a distance and somewhat indistinct. The weird sea green ice (which makes them appear to be actually standing and seated on water) goes to an only slightly lighter background. Dad pokes out of the frame and Mom perches right on it.

Back of card – very embossed indeed! Makes it a bit hard to read at first.

This card is embossed, creating a very three-dimensional effect, and around the edge is some snow decoration, also embossed. The postcard was made in Germany, however no artist is identified with it. Youngster is eager to get skating I’d say.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Bagel Pub.

I didn’t understand the message at first as it took some decoding. Despite the neat script the back of the card is pitted with the embossing making it hard to read. Anyway, it reads as follows, October 2d 1910. Well, my one eared Beauty how are you? Snoozing in your mother’s big chair I presume. Be good to little Georgie and never scratch him. Hope you will live many years. Auntie B. It was mailed to, Beauty Dunham, 782 Commercial S, East Weymouth, Mass. and just in case below that, To Georgie Dunham. It’s nice that she dated it because the postmark does not show the year, although October 3 and 6 AM show, as does New Jersey, but only Brio…? shows on the postmark for location which I cannot figure out. And gosh, what happened to one of Beauty’s ears?

Spotted this interesting building – the old bit in front seems to have actual gas lamps. The ancient building on the other side is interesting too. This is 13th Street, I think between 7th and 6th, southside of the street.

Meanwhile, Kim had his maiden voyage on the subway, his first long trip out since surgery. I think a change of scenery swept away any cabin fever he had, although admittedly he has been deep into his work so I am not sure how much he was suffering from his time at home as a result. However, all is onward and upward here at Deitch Studio.

Easter Egg

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This year it is a foggy, rainy Easter morning here in New York City. Hardly the harbinger of spring that you want it to be, however I am celebrating with this somewhat whacky card. I bought many months ago at the postcard sale and I bought it for the sheer, delightful, oddness of it.

Just noting that I have an odd fondness for these chocolate Easter eggs from childhood and still grab one or two annually.

The card is heavily embossed with thick looking gold highlights. A careful look tells that it appears to take place in a dark forest, if you peer behind the large egg house the trees almost bend around it. Easter Greetings is engraved with gold highlights, nestled among the trees. Meanwhile, a pretty little decorative, curtained window on the second floor of this egg house reveals a rooster portrayed in dignified profile. Below him is a sweet little green door complete with a mail slot and a red portico (you want to get into the house in the rain comfortably, after all), and even a little pull chain for a doorbell. There are a few front steps to complete the image.

Below, running wildly are two little chicks – I say little although somehow they are much larger than the rooster – who I grant you is at a bit of a distance up in his window, but still! They are in a race with each other on a grassy turf; the light one has a worm the one with brown feathers wants to share. Is there a cryptic and symbolic meaning in this? The artist was very conscious of shadow, bottom of the egg, under the chicks, under even the tiny window ledge, giving the card a three dimensional appeal.

The border of the card is a colorful riot of flowers, leaves and (pink!) eggs on a gold background. The eggs are dispersed in odd groupings of single, three and two, again not sure if there is some symbolism I am missing.

Back of card.

Like many lately, I find that this card was addressed on the back but never stamped and postmarked so therefore not mailed and no date for us. I show the back above, the sloping child’s hand going off the card and barely crams in the address. It appears to read, Miss Eleanor Bigwood, 928 Helamont Avenue, Schenectady, NY. Upside down on the other half, in the same hand but very hard to read is, Myra and Victor – presumably the senders. I will assume that this precious missive was ultimately put directly in Miss Bigwood’s hands.

With today’s weather we can only cheer ourselves with the old adage, April showers bring May flowers. And it is true! The pansies, tulips, magnolias and cherry trees are in bloom after a long winter’s nap. New York City is shaking off its long-held mantle of winter at last this year and it is all we can do from burying our heads in the flower filled tree wells lining the blocks here.

Meanwhile, we had a gorgeous spring day yesterday. Kim and I endeavored to undertake his first long walk since his surgery, about a mile round trip to Orwashers bakery and back. This weekly walk to get a nice loaf of bread for the week has become somewhat of a ritual and during the hospital stay and the MoCCA convention last weekend, it has been interrupted. However, the walk was much longer than anything he has done since the surgery, although still using a walker now and for the coming month. He did it like a champ though which makes us feel he is well on the way on the, albeit long, road of recovery from his back surgery.

Homemade matzoh making a holiday appearance at Orwashers this weekend.

Although Orwasher’s was all sold out of their as advertised, yummy-looking hot cross buns when we got there (oh my!) a small amount of homemade matzohs were still available. Although not our mission for the day (we stuck to our loaf of sourdough and a bonus olive stick), it was a reminder of the dual holidays, Passover and Easter, which signify this season of renewal and regeneration.

Pictorama readers may remember that with a Jewish father and a mother who was raised in a Catholic/Episcopalian household, I grew up recognizing both holidays, admittedly in a secular and food related way. I can remember Easter weekends with matzoh brie (my mom had mastered that) followed by an Easter Sunday family brunch at my maternal grandmother’s of ham and homemade Easter bread. We dyed Easter eggs but also, at least roughly, knew the rituals of a Passover seder. It all means the return of spring to me now – tied to the blooming of the magnolia in my front yard in New Jersey and streets filled with masses of blooming cherry trees.

A day or so in the ER and even a short stay in the hospital will always remind you of your blessings – other people’s problems are indeed frequently worse than your own, and we have seen that recently. For now, I remain grateful to say spring is arriving, Kim’s recovery and walking improving apace, and there are many signs for a significant growth and blooming in the next part of this year.

Any Luck?

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: It’s a Wain wannabe card again today. While Mainzer has the most Pictorama posts (one of those can be read here) dedicated to his pursuit of the Louis Wain feline illustrator fame, today’s card is a very fair competitor in this race.

This card reminds me of where I used to go running along the river here in Manhattan and where often in the warmer seasons there would be folks fishing – some looking quite business like about it and others more at their leisure. Although I haven’t done a lot of it myself, I grew up around fishing and long-time Pictorama readers might remember that my maternal grandfather repaired outboard motors and made lead sinkers – weights for bottom fishing. There was a time when I would clean fresh caught fish in the backyard – making me very popular with the cats – and although I guess muscle memory would take over I have no desire to gut fish these days.

It’s a sunny day in the cat neighborhood here and our protagonists are an orange striped fellow wearing a sporty sort of huntsman’s hat and City kitty, tricked out in a bowler, bowtie and carrying walking stick. Fishing cat has a tin of bait and a straw bag to hold his catch; his line is bobbing in the water and the look he gives the other kitty distinctly lacks welcome – annoyed that his fishing is being interrupted.

Tiny boats are way off in the distance on the water, including way that appears to be steaming along at the very tip of the horizon. Gulls have been sketched in, wheeling above in a sky with puffy clouds and there is some pretense at water current. A cheerful blue border puts the finishing touch on this as a summery scene.

Meanwhile, our town puss has a genial look with his white collar and paws that could almost pass for white cuffs too. He is clearly the one inquiring, Had any luck? His hat is set straight on his head (no wise guy this one) and I like the way he fills the space – it is a dynamic composition even if a bit awkward. His stick points one way and the fishing pole another. It might be fair to say that neither of these cats is very firmly installed on the ground below him – they both float a bit in space despite a light shadow cast by each.

The image is signed VR and a quick search turns up Cornelis Van Vredenburgh as a Dutch cat card artist with that signature. Clearly riding the wave of Wain and active during part of the same early 20th century period Van Vredenburgh has a less ironic and sometimes sweeter attitude. Nor does he find his way into the psychedelic realm of Wain’s latter period. I show a Wain beach scene from my collection for comparison. (The post can be read here.)

Pam-Pictorama.com Collection from a 2018 post.

Evidently cat cards were a sideline for VR who signed his full name to his Impressionist landscape oil paintings (example below) for which he is perhaps better known although these cards are sought after today as well.

Landscape by Cornelis Van Vredenburgh – found online. It is possible to buy prints of some of his non-feline work.

This card was mailed from Luzern, Switzerland in 1913, not sure how to read the month and the day. In a light blue ink it reads, Luzern, Aug 1 I leave for Mayence then a boat ride down the River Rine, EGA and mailed to Master Jamie Thayer, Farmington, New Hampshire, USA. In pencil and likely a more contemporary note, it says in caps, VIOLET ROBERTS. The publisher is The Photochrom Co., L1D, London, Tunbridge Wells and it is the Celesque Series. Photochrom was a significant publisher of postcards (they started with Christmas cards) which were characterized but a tri-color Swiss photochrom process.

Verso of card.

It is snowing – yet again – as I close this post. Luckily I think today we will get away without any real accumulation. However, not a wonder as this snowing winter makes its way into March that I needed to pull a sunny summer’s day card out of the pile this morning.

Boxed

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Pictorama readers may already know I have a hard time resisting a good box or cabinet – decorative storage tends to make me feel like I will, at long last, be able to organize my life and wayward possessions into some beautiful state of organization. And although time and experience show that I continue to fall short, I remain quite drawn to beautiful boxes.

I purchased this box for myself for my birthday this year. Around my birthday I received a Valentine’s Day invitation for a two-day sale at a location I have been curious about and never had a chance to visit, Maxim Dimitry. It originally appeared in my Instagram feed a while back and I signed up for emails, but the holidays were busy and I was out of town for part of December, so I had not been yet. However, a few weeks back I stopped by on my way home on the first evening of a two-day sale. At first the address, 75 East 93rd Street, confused me and I wandered the corner of 93rd and Park for more than a few minutes. There was even a folding sign for the sale, so I knew I was in the right place. However, the building is a Russian Orthodox Church and therein the confusion until I found the appropriate side entrance.

Other side of the Orthodox Church enclave I was in? Found this online.

The interior of the building was architecturally interesting on its own as I went up a worn staircase (having noted faux Russian icons for sale at the front desk), however the room I was shown to was small but quite exquisite, paneled in lovely old dark wood with a beautiful marble fireplace. Large windows look south and provide beautiful light for looking at things, although it was winter and the light started to fail early. There are a few jewelry cases and other items line the windowsills and shelves. Along one wall was antique jewelry (what I was really there for), and the held other lovely designs by the young man proprietor, Maxim Schidlovsky.

Maxim and I chatted while I looked and ultimately compared notes a bit on our Russian heritage – dad’s family for me. Although I did purchase something from the jewelry showcase (spoiler – an opal, no surprise, right?) which I will show in a future post, I was also very attracted to the display of antique boxes along the window shelf. (Please note that his own designs can be found on his website here.)

From the Maxim Dimitry website. I didn’t think to take a photo.

As I have already opined, boxes are like catnip to me and there is something about the heft, feel and look of this small bronze box that is very reminiscent of my paternal grandmother, and I picked it up immediately. (I have written about Tootsie, aka Gertrude, Butler before and one of those posts can be found here.) Although I do not have such a box from her, nor do I have a specific memory of one, the very tactile experience of something similar comes to mind when I hold it. I’m quite sure in the endless poking around in her things I did as a small child there must have been something similar tucked away in my brain. With her love of stuff, purchased endlessly at auction, it is fitting of the esthetic I would conjure for her as well.

Box is about not quite 3.5 inches by 4 inches.

Although I believe I will keep my (admittedly many) rings in it I believe it started life as a cigarette box. Its markings inform us that it was made for RH Macy Department stores, probably around 1912. It is lined with cedar wood (which I gather was used for cigars and cigarettes to keep them fresh), and the bronze finish was one the company called verde. It is the deep green color and the intact silver trim which really sell this little beauty. The company which produced it, Heintz Art Metal Shop, would have only just patented this process (it seems to be about applying the silver decoration smoothly without soldering it?) when Otto Heintz began selling these to Macy’s whose empire was still in its ascension.

At that time Macy’s would have been in more or less its sixth decade since its founding originally on 14th Street here in New York and would of course continue to grow through the early decades of the 20th century. It also would be about to embark on a collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art for a project to bring modern design to the public that last from 1914-1928.

Cedar wood lining
Maker’s mark

Otto died unexpectedly young and Heintz Art Metals, a family business he inherited and reimagined, ends up being a relatively short-lived venture with him at the helm after his top person left for a competitor. However, I do see evidence of these boxes and related desk item for sale online although this one is in fairly pristine condition. Frequently either the silver or the bronze has been poorly cleaned and damaged driving the price down or lovely examples like this one going for more.

Although there were other very beautiful boxes which might have suited my intentions (still that vague idea of a jewelry box for the house in New Jersey – I may ultimately have to go back for another), this one reminded me so of Gertie that it was hard to let go. It has been like having a little visit with her. Mr. Schidlovsky, saw my dilemma and stepped in with an offer I could not refuse and remain very grateful for. My only dilemma is that I like it so much I am not all inclined to take it to New Jersey where I will see it less often and I think I need a spot for it here on my dresser where it can pick up some of the small jewelry overflow. I will happily keep a weather eye out for his next sale.

Quarter

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I believe I recently mentioned in passing that most days Kim walks to work with me. This started after a nice summer of a lot of walking and the desire to keep the good habit up. My morning walk is from 86th Street to 62nd, right down First Avenue or York. Often I walk home as well, weather permitting, but it is rare that I don’t walk in the morning as the subway is too far and the bus down York is slow and crowded. It’s something between 4-5 miles roundtrip.

Kim walks to about 68th Street before turning back to get on with his day working in the apartment. I finish the walk and end with a stop at a deli on 62nd`where I generally get a breakfast sandwich and fill a small thermos (glorified travel cup – I wrote about it last week here) with coffee. The bodega is called Space Market and at first I wondered what was always turning up on my credit card bill that way. I talked to a friend who worked in the area decades ago and it turns out that Space has been there a long time. It is neat and clean and they play rather remarkable jazz – not the early music I prefer but still, some very interesting and good contemporary jazz. It is some sort of list or play loop but very long before I ever heard it repeat. Someone knowledgeable person has put it together very lovingly.

In the beginning while I was finding my rhythm I experimented with buying lunch there but really a sandwich was too expensive. Eventually I shifted to bringing leftovers for lunch, never having found an affordable option in the neighborhood. However, their perch less than a block from my office makes it my go to for breakfast – and I am not alone, I see much of the hospital staff there. I have a regular order (one egg over medium on a toasted English muffin) and now all I need to do is nod at the grill guy and he gets it ready.

Well-meant but also unfortunate other portraits from the series.

The woman behind the register changes periodically. For a long time there was an extremely cheerful young woman who asked about my jewelry and chatted about all sorts of things. I was sad to see her go. They have had trouble replacing her and recently I got the wrong sandwich (scrambled eggs on an everything bagel with hot sauce!) and on another day a batch of coffee which was undrinkable. I am a creature of habit but I’ve started eyeing other establishments if they can’t pull up their socks a bit.

Most days Kim and I are chatted about the day ahead, the story he is working on or the meetings I have, or something else entirely like a television show he watched as a kid or how some dogs greet each other on the sidewalk. (New York City has a lot of dog on the street activity and since I took this job my dog awareness has been heightened.) Sometimes though we are both mulling the day ahead to ourselves and yesterday was more one of those.

Kim is the one who usually stops to pick coins or more often interesting bits of metal off the street. He has a large (and it seems still growing) collection of metal washers, organized by size and thickness, which lives in our bathroom for some reason. Most often though it is interesting heavy screws or metal bits, copper is a bonus, and this practice is hell on his pockets. However yesterday it was I who happened to have eyes on the ground and spotted a shiny bit.

I stopped in my tracks (always a bit dangerous to stop short on a busy sidewalk here) and picked it up. I was rewarded with a rather mint looking Anna May Wong quarter! Kim and I have been very curious about these since their issue in 2022 and have yet to run across one. While the design seems a bit unsatisfactory (unflattering) the concept carries it. It would appear, depending on the particulars of your quarter and condition, that it is valued at something between 30 cents and $1000 – although on the higher end I would say asking is not getting. (Nor does ours display any visible printing malfunctions that would increase its value.)

Still from Pavement Butterfly.

As most Pictorama readers probably know, the actress. Born on January 3, 1905 she rose to fame in silent film as a rare Asian American leading lady. While her early films like Toll of the Sea (1922, it can be found here) allowed her to make her way into film, it was the later many sound films from the 1930’s with titles like Dangerous to Know (’38)and Island of Lost Men (’39) that she is best remembered for. Recently Kim and I had a chance to see a little available German silent, Großstadtschmetterling or Pavement Butterfly (’29), with English subtitles and her true range as an actress is on display. Sadly it is only available online in German at the time of writing this. As per a Wikipedia synopsis: A Chinese dancer in the nightclubs of Paris, becomes involved with a Russian painter and becomes his model. She is persecuted by a man named Coco, accused of theft. Later, in the French Riviera she is at last able to prove her innocence. Don’t miss it if you have a chance to see it.

Another still of Anna May Wong from Pavement Butterfly.

The Anna May Wong quarter, a part of a series honoring American women of note, was the final release on October 25, 2022. Others honored included Dr. Sally Ride (first woman in space) and Maya Angelou in somewhat equally unflattering portraits. Years ago there was a series of quarters which did a tribute to each state and the art was far superior. I often stopped to admire one and I kept Vermont and Tennessee for a long time I liked them so much. Not all, but some, were like little works of art.

I remembered Vermont as a cabin but I do remember this. Can’t find the cabin imagery I remember though!

So it is more in tribute to Anna May Wong and her skill as an actress that this find enters the Pictorama collection today and we consider it a bit of a find.

Jack and the Giant Kitty

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: It seems only fair to launch 2026 with Pictorama’s best foot forward so today I share a tatty but wonderful Louis Wain card to help set the tone.

As always, it is impossible to entirely follow Wain’s train of thought. While we all know Jack and the Beanstalk, what might have possessed him on a given day to make a one off cat version? Hard to say, however I will share that frequently as Kim and I go through the world, he pops with one-off ideas that could be one or two page comic strips but because of the nature of his work (long, complex stories) he will likely never use. We might blow them out a bit while we’re walking but know they are unlikely to ever go anywhere. For example I pointed out the other day (we were discussing the idea of a short piece about the orderly way he tends to eat food – I call him a largely linear eater) and he took it down the line a bit of how it could be a comic. That would be if he had a weekly deadline, like back in the days of papers like New York Press, and then he’d be using them all.

Anyway, I imagine Louis Wain, at least at one protracted point in his career, was just grasping at every single idea and utilizing it. Either that or his brain just overflowed with them. Hard to say. (I have happily embraced writing about Louis Wain, his life and work, via a number of items which can be found here, here and most recently here for starters.)

Wain is in his full glory in this card. His humanoid-ish giant cat wields a bread knife with a small potpie in front of him and an oversized mug (stein?) which tiny (rat-sized) sword wielding kitty hides behind. (Would the giant be less dangerous if he had a larger pot pie? Just asking.) The giant has a three-prong fork grasped (awkwardly) in his other fat, white tipped paw. It is a formal table setting and another fork and spoon are in front of his pie. There is a lit candle and, sort of funny, a salt cellar and pepper shaker to his right, our left. A potted plant on a doily is on the other side which is sort of a funny middle-class household look. You can almost imagine Wain added that touch from his own tabletop.

Early Wain post from ’18. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.

The giant and Jack are both brown tabbies – a coloring I am not sure is prevalent in the real world of cats. (Putting Bengals aside as I don’t think they were known at that time.) Giant bully kitty has his ears back (same color as the tapestry design covering the back of his substantial throne-like chair so they blend a bit) in a very real annoyed feline fashion. His fangy toothies show in his whiskered grin, but it is the look of merry mayhem in his eyes that tell the tale! Yep, he sees Jack and he’s thinking a bit of extra protein on the run for today.

Meanwhile, we only see Jack from the back, tiny sword in hand. As noted, he is a slightly darker odd brown version of a similar tabby stripe. He’s sort of portly (hang-y kitty tummy) to be our hero – usually portrayed as a kid or in this case kitten. At the top right it just says, The “Louis Wain” Series. Bottom left says, Jack the Giant Killer and Louis Wain. This card is a bit grimy and found its way to me with some folds – there are indentations (although not holes) which might mean it displayed somewhere – hence the grime but also the survival.

The back sports a somewhat illegible postmark but I can make out April 19 and 1907. This was sent in the United States (most I have seen were sent in Britain) and addressed to Miss Miriam Hall, Bangor, ME 395 Center Street. He writes, Dear Miriam, What do to you think of these Pussies? Papa. I think that’s what it says – Pussies looks more like Jussies though. (However, to go off on a bit of a sidebar – have any of you seen the articles about how the post office is no longer saying that mail will be postmarked on the day it is picked up? It is now going to sorting centers where it will be postmarked before distribution, hence days later. So much for a world where there were AM and PM postmarks!)

Back of card.

Despite the card having been mailed in the United States, it was printed in Great Britain by the ever popular Raphael Tuck & Sons company of Wain fame. The card, it is noted, was designed in Britain and chromographed in Germany. It also bears the indicia that Tuck was the fine art publisher to their majesties the King and Queen, and to TRH the Prince and Princess of Wales.

This jolly card joins a growing subset of Wain cards in my collection. Whatever else that can be said about Mr. Wain, more than 100 years later, he always puts a smile on my face.

A Pig Painting for Pam

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today I am kicking off the New Year with a special pig painting post. Kim and I bought this painting (he bought it for me) the day after Christmas while prowling here at the Red Bank Antique Annex.

I wonder if it had just been put on display recently or if I had just never really looked up and at it before. (I have written about trips to this enclave of shops in a post most recently here.) It was on a wall with a jumble of other paintings, but it caught my eye this time and we snatched it up.

These three paintings above pulled off of Facebook, people looking for information and verification that these are his. I vote a resounding yes to the first; scratch my head a bit on the second (although there is something of him in it); and vote a likely yes to the third. Sorry I can’t do better on the photos!

It is signed by the artist, Louis H. Clawson, and datde 1961. A quick internet search brought him up the other day, but now the results are a bit more brief which makes me wonder if the other was conflating him with several other artists with similar names. Not surprisingly he was a regional painter and of some note and he is lightly collected today. However, as I add tidbits to the AI search it becomes more clear that we are talking about this artist.

Signature on my painting.
This may be a cyanotype of him, comes up on the page about him but no information.

I seem to have identified with some certainty that he died on July 1, 1963. Something comes up with a July 15, 1881 date for a date of birth (to a Jesse Clawson) which works with the date of death but again I can’t quite confirm. He also appears to have married Leora Gertrude Hammond on May 25, 1910. they had a son and a daughter.

He is associated with living in and painting Fayett, Columbia County which appears to be in Indiana, although SW Pennsylvania came up first. Although an artist identification Facebook page says he was of some national note, I am unable to find much more than this about him. Clearly he was a landscape painter and he may or may not have also painted portraits – I only have the clown above to go by which is not a ringing endorsement. I believe that he was trained at the National Academy of Design (probably the National Academy of Art) in New York City. His forte seems to have been covered bridges, although regional landscape in general. His period of (relative) popularity seems to be the 1930’s.

Covered bridge painting as below. Substantially earlier than mine which was done shortly before his death.

One Facebook entry from Kathy Lynne Brandenburg Harmon shows a covered bridge painting above. (I gather he was sort of known for those) and writes the following:

I have this painting done by L H Clawson.  Probably done around 1930.  It is a covered bridge on State road 44.  The top of the hill is my grandfather Will Goss’ farm , lower left is the home of the Jesop’s (the taffy family). I can’t find out too much about his works but I spoke with the owner of the antique store by the Daniel Girls Farm restaurant  and told me that he was a relatively known artist of landscapes.  I would love to know more.

Next to mine I like these best and would think these are definitely by him. I’d have grabbed these too.

None of his other paintings seem to have an interesting homemade frame like mine which definitely adds to its appeal. (Actually, hard to see but the second painting of the two above might have one but I can’t quite make it out.) It does leave me wondering a bit if he made it or someone else but it seems to be so much a part of it that I defer to thinking it was him. The painting is on masonite board, not especially heavy, even with this frame. For me this painting is mostly about these hogs, although for Kim it is, in part, the painting of the foliage which seems to be something he did employ and excel at. The composition, with the winding path and the light hitting the trees, is strong too.

This too on FB and I can sort of buy that it is by him looking at the foliage. Again, sadly I cannot make any larger.

I will say that of his paintings I could find I did not see any other ones with animals in them and the hogs are much of the charm for me in this painting. His landscapes seem to generally be at more of a distance as seen in the others shown above, mostly pulled off a facebook page devoted to people looking for info on the artist. (I will attempt to post a link to this later but at least maybe anyone searching him in the future will benefit from all the pieces I have pulled together.)

Going back to this painting, I like the pattern made by this hand hewn fence winding through the picture, a slightly oversized crow perches on it. Piles of sticks are on the other side of the fence from where these big fellows are enjoying a bit of a wallow in a mud holes and wandering up this path. They appear to have a hog house further back and one fellow (or gal) is having a rub on a tree. It is very evocative of its place and time.

Tiny at bottom of frame; I think this was made by a label maker.

Finally, I want to draw you attention to the tiny sign at the bottom of the painting which says, Culhwch. (It looks like it was printed on a labeling machine.) This Welsh name appears to refer to a figure in Welsh mythology (Arthurian story?), whose mother was frightened by swine when pregnant with him – he is later found in a pigsty and taken to his father, no further mention of his mother and he goes on to do all sorts of things – none additionally related to pigs. It is a bit complicated for the uninitiated, even on Wikipedia. It is (sort of) pronounced Kill-hook. The swine reference is clear but interesting for him to have in mind and where did it come from I wonder.

This wonderful little painting now proudly hangs just outside the kitchen here in New Jersey where you can get up close and get a good look at it. Although I am partial to cats I wouldn’t have missed this pig painting and am very glad to have it as part of the extended Pictorama collection!