I don’t have a clue as to what this is, except that it’s a carpenter’s tool of some sort. It was my father’s, who was a cabinetmaker in Chicago, and has been in our family for more than 50 years. What is it?
— George Zmrhal, Berwyn
I’ve been in the arts and antiques business more than 20 years and I’ve never ceased to find tools like this interesting. Your grandfather must have built some wonderful pieces of furniture with this wooden clamp.
Your clamp, which dates to about 1900, was most likely used by your grandfather in conjunction with his woodworker’s table, which would have had various slots and interchangeable parts. He would have grasped the handle, which is attached to the toothed spindle, and turned it to tighten or loosen the triangular-shaped jaw. The jaw, then, would hold a piece of wood in place for gluing or carving.
Collectors look for tools with original parts. Inspect the jaws to make sure they’re the same size, as some models differed by as little as 1/8 inch. Also look to see if the chamfer, or beveled edges, are exactly the same.
Tools, while highly collectible, are generally not highly valuable. They were made to be durable and so are not hard to find. Your clamp is worth about $40.
I know this very heavy cranberry cut-glass container is at least 70 years old. The glass has no chips and stands 9 inches tall without the cover. Does it have any value?
–Pamela Ryan, Clearwater, Fla.
Glass is the third most popular collectible in the United States. Your roommate’s mother’s piece is an American-made version of a pokal, which is a type of covered cup resting on a high stem of German origin. Yours has a delicate waffle pattern in clear glass alternating horizontally with faceted colored glass.
Pokals were used for ceremonial purposes originally. They often were used in pairs and it is possible yours once had a twin.
You are right to call this cranberry glass because of its deep, tart color, but it actually is something a bit different called flashed glass. Flashed glass consists of a piece of glass with a very thin layer of another piece attached as an outer layer. The outer layer is known as flashing and sometimes is cut away in patterns to expose the colored layer.
This beautiful, deep-colored glass–whether called cranberry, ruby or flashed glass–is highly collectible. A quick glance at the on-line auction site eBay shows more than 800 auctions of it occurring at once. You can read more about this glass in “Ruby Glass of the 20th Century” by Naomi L. Over (Antique Publications, $29.95).
Your pokal is worth about $75.
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Leslie Hindman is the founder of the on-line appraisal service www.eppraisals.com and host of two HGTV television shows. She welcomes letters but cannot reply to them individually. Send photos of object (sorry we can’t return them), a brief history, and your phone number to: Home & Garden, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611, Attn.: What’s It Worth?
