Antiques or just old things.

Everyone has a different idea of what an antique is. For me, it's something unique that is at least 50 years old. Usually something that is no longer in production. In the below post, I showed some dishes that I got from my grandparents. I wasn't going to do any research on those items tonight but here it is almost 2 am and I've got news to report. : )

Warning: If you don't give a crap about where things come from, you will probably be bored out of your gourd by reading this post. Hopefully you find this stuff interesting and will keep reading.

The first item in the bottom picture was a milk jug that had "Half Pint Liquid" stamped into the glass. I couldn't find any info on it. From what I read, most dairy companies put their name somewhere on the bottle and this one doesn't have a name anywhere. So this will be a mystery.

The second item in the picture looked like a butter dish to me and it had "Crosley Shelvador" stamped into the glass. After doing some digging, I found some cool info. Powel Crosley Jr. was well known for his work in the automotive industry in the early 1900's. By the early 1920's, he had made quite a name for himself by making radios and starting his own broadcast station. In 1930, he began to make refrigerators and other household appliances. One of his refrigerators even had a radio built-in! He was ahead of his time. The picture below shows an ad from 1937 of the radio refrigerator. Crosley actually invented the idea of putting shelves in a refrigerator and no one else could take this idea until the patent ran out in the 50's. The Shelvador refrigerators came with glass dishes and that's where mine came from. Cool, huh? No pun intended. ha ha


It took awhile to dig up info on the third item in the picture. There was a stamp on the bottom of the bowl that said "Hall's Superior Quality Kitchenware Made In U.S.A.". The Hall China Company was established in 1903 and is still active today. After much searching, I was finally able to tell that the bowl has the Yellow Rose decal and it appears to have been made in the 1930's.

The fourth item in the picture is probably the neatest one to me just based on what I found out tonight and the unique look it has. This little green pitcher has the below info stamped into the bottom.

Hand Made by Cornelisons
Since 1845

Cornelison Pottery
Bybee, KY

4-9 is written in the clay over part of the stamp. Looks like someone wrote it with a stick before putting it into the kiln. After doing some digging, I found an article with a very similar pitcher. According to that, the piece dates back to the early 1900's. If you run your fingers inside, you can tell it's handmade. Pretty neat. Apparently this pottery business was actually started in 1809 but sales records didn't begin until 1845. The company is still active today and still makes their pottery in the same location, using the same processes. A video showing how they make pitchers can be found here. And just in case you really want to know more, click here. I've emailed the company to see if they are able to give me more info on the piece I have but I don't know if I'll hear back from them.

I don't think I'll ever find out info on the last item in the picture because there is absolutely nothing stamped onto the teapot. Oh well.

So there you have it folks!



The Crosley ad picture was taken from this site.

UPDATE 5/2/2009: Buzz Cornelison over at Bybee Pottery responded to my email. He said that I had a #49 Syrup Pitcher. The stamp goes back to his grandfather's era and that he had the shop from 1939-1969. Apparently his grandfather seldom used that stamp so that probably adds some value to the pitcher. Buzz's father took over the shop in 1969 and did away with the stamp. Cool info, huh?