Antiques & Collecting: Look for the union label

“Have A Good One — It’s Union Made” is the slogan on this cigar store advertising sign. It could also work as a Labor Day salutation.

The first Labor Day celebration, held in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, was planned by the Central Labor Union.

Labor activists in other states adopted the holiday, and it was signed into national law by President Grover Cleveland in 1894.

At the time, the Cigar Maker’s International Union was one of the most influential trade unions in the country. This union started in 1864, about the time cigars were becoming popular in the United States.

Many non-union shops employed immigrant families, including children, who worked in cramped, filthy tenement house shops for more than 12 hours a day at low wages.

In 1880, the Cigar Maker’s International Union introduced the “Blue Label” to be put on any box of cigars made in a union shop and, therefore, under safe, sanitary conditions by fairly compensated adult workers.

You can see the blue label reading “Union-made Cigars” on the front of the store counter in this advertising sign, which sold for $1,625 at Rich Penn Auctions.

The sign, with its design printed on an oak panel, was made by the Meyercord Company, which was founded by George Meyercord in Chicago in 1896.

The date of this sign is not known, but the clothes on the figures indicate the early 1900s. So, by the time it was made, the Blue Label had been in use for years, and Labor Day was established as a national holiday.

I have a small collection of hobnail glass and would like to know how I can find out what it is worth.

Hobnail is a glass pattern with small, raised bumps covering the piece. There are dozens of hobnail patterns made by many glass companies.

One of the most famous hobnail patterns was made by Fenton Art Glass Company starting in 1940. The value of a piece depends on factors like its condition, age, color, maker and rarity.

General price guides like Kovel’s often have sections for hobnail and other glass patterns. Look for glass-specific price guides at your library.

Check the directories on Kovels.com and AntiqueTrader.com for glass collectors’ clubs. They often have resources to help collectors identify and value their glass.

Tip: Advertising collectors should check every address, phone number, name and price information that is on a label, a sticker or the container. They will help with the research to determine the age of the product.

Current Prices

Toy, car, Chevrolet, Corvette Stingray, painted, white, swiveling headlights, black tires, die cast, box, Corgi, 3 3/4 inches, $125.

Buffalo Pottery Deldare, tankard, Dr. Syntax Entertained At College, 10 1/2 inches, $265.

Furniture, easel, Lucite, canvas holder, three-beam mast, four beveled knob handles, 20th century, 71 inches, $930.

Photography, photograph, Workers at American Woolen Company, black and white, silver print, unsigned, Margaret Bourke-White, c. 1935, 14 x 11 inches, $1,205.