Antiques & Collecting: Ivory pie crimper

Old tools can be hard to identify because many are no longer used. A carved ivory leg with a little wheel at the top looks like it might be a toy or a drawing aid, but it would be odd to make a tool of ivory.

This auction item, recently sold by Eldred’s Auctions, is a pie crimper, probably made by a sailor to give to a girlfriend or mother. It sold for $3,600 as an interesting, decorated piece of folk art.

Those who bake pies know that the wheel is used to cut or seal decorative edges of a pie crust. But there is another bit of history that makes this antique interesting.

In the 1950s, the identification of unfamiliar objects was based on old letters, ads, family stories and guesses. Today, most of the conclusions are considered myths.

Sailors had time to carve many small ivory objects, often as gifts. Parts of the human body were considered erotic, and at various times the ankle, leg, neck, bust, buttocks, long hair or even total nudity were featured in paintings and pictures to set a risqué mood.

But today the story of the ankle or the leg is considered a myth. Women usually wore boots, long stockings and long skirts for comfort and the leg was rarely visible. So, the pie crimper was a gift of love, but probably nothing more serious.

My father owned a butcher shop and grocery store in the 1940s and 1950s. I have several tins that held coffee, cookies, pretzels, lard and spices that came from the store. Are they worth anything?

The first tin cans were made in the early 1800s. The type of can we use today, with a crimped top and soldered side seam, was first made in 1898.

Some collectors of advertising items collect tins. Some specialize in tins for a single product, like coffee, tobacco, beer or oil.

Tins with modern graphics and streamlined pictures indicate that they are no older than the 1940s. Collectors want older tins and tins for products that are no longer being produced.

Tins with interesting graphics usually sell for more than those with just words. Some sell for a few hundred dollars or more, but common tins sell from about $50 to $100.

Current Prices

Folding ruler, boxwood, brass hinge tips, No. 61 Stanley, 24 inches, $20.

Mixing bowls, nesting, red, turquoise, baby blue, yellow, McKee Glasbake, 1950s-60s, 6 inches to 9 1/2 inches, set of 4, $145.

Toy, Space Frontier, Apollo 15, battery operated, astronaut, revolving, stop-and-go action, hatch opens, Yoshino, box, 1960s, 18 inches, $270.

Doorstop, rabbit, wearing coat with tails and top hat, painted, cast iron, Albany Foundry 94, 10 inches, $540.

Tip: Toothpaste makes good silver polish. It also can be used to clean ceramic doll faces. A toothbrush makes a good small scrubber.