Antiques & Collecting: American aesthetic

Identify the designer of an antique and it will usually sell for more. Sometimes an attribution is enough.

This Aesthetic Movement table with ebonized finish, incised gilt decoration and flower panels sold for an impressive $6,144 at Neal Auction.

While you can’t dismiss its visual appeal — after all, it was made during the Aesthetic Movement of the late 19th century, the time of “art for art’s sake” — its attribution to New York firm Kimbel & Cabus was probably a factor in its selling.

The Kimbel & Cabus firm was active from 1862 to 1882 and famous for exhibiting furniture at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876.

The ebonized table is typical of their designs, with its dark finish, elaborate gilt and incising, sturdy square shape and nature-inspired decoration. Very little information about the firm survives.

They marked their furniture with paper labels that have worn away over time, so the only way to identify their furniture is to match it to the pictures in their one surviving trade catalog. That is why this table is attributed to them, not confirmed.

Because they are so difficult to identify, Kimbel & Cabus furniture pieces are extremely rare and therefore valuable.

I need help identifying an antique witch ball passed through generations of my family. I don’t know anything about it.

Witch balls are hollow balls of blown glass that are suspended in the air or placed on a pedestal, usually as garden decorations. They became popular decorations in the mid-1800s.

There is plenty of folklore surrounding the name “witch ball.” Some say it is because witches can use them as divination tools; others say they offer protection from witches’ spells and evil spirits.

Yet another story claims that they were originally called “watch balls” because you could see their surroundings reflected in the glass. They are also called gazing balls.

They are made in many different colors and patterns; glassblowers may have made them as whimsies, which were pieces made in their spare time to practice techniques, use up glass remnants or give as gifts. Like many 19th-century glass forms, they experienced a revival in the 1920s and ‘30s.

Antique witch balls sell for about $100 to $350. The value is higher if you can identify a maker and narrow down the year it was made.

Tip: Watch out for fake Bakelite jewelry being made in Taiwan and other Asian areas. The new plastic is heavier than old Bakelite, and if held under water, it smells very different from old Bakelite. Metal pins or decorations are riveted to old Bakelite, but glued to new fakes.

Current Prices

Quilt, appliqué, Sunbonnet Sue, multicolor figures, embroidered animals, hand stitched, crib, 47 x 57 inches, $50.

Auto, gas pump globe, Texaco, flat top, eight-sided, alternating flat and ridged faces, green stars on flat faces, milk glass, 9 1/2 x 8 inches, $660.

Toy, tug of war, two platforms on wheels, each with three children, bobs back and forth, windup, Einfalt, Germany, 9 inches, $1,920.