Metal 'thief catcher' will ring in the cash

Q: I paid $1,000 for this cash register and stand in 2002 at an antique market. Apparently they served their years in a menswear store in Galt (now Cambridge) until it closed in the 1980s.

The stand is quarter cut oak, made by Kent McClain of the Toronto Show Case Co. The cash register, which is in working order, is a National Cash Register model and made of metal with a painted wood-grain finish. It weighs over 90 kilos (more than 200 pounds) and it takes two burly men to lift it.

Simon, Toronto

A: Believe it or not, cash registers revolutionized the business of doing business. By 1850, most merchants were still using a simple cash drawer for money, doing calculations by hand on paper which made transactions vulnerable to error, as well as susceptible to theft by employees who might "forget" to note every sale.

The first cash register was invented in 1879 by Dayton, Ohio saloonkeeper James Ritty, who understood all too well the need for a better way of recording sales.

In 1884, after buying a few of Ritty's machines, another American, John Patterson, founded the National Cash Register Co.

He became the biggest manufacturer and took the machines to a whole new level. By then, cash registers were commonly called "thief catchers" since they recorded every single sale on paper and provided a tally at day's end.

The old brass cash registers are the most valuable, but this one with its matching stand is clean and interesting and worth about $1,200.

Q: My mother-in-law bought this vase about 40 years ago at a house sale, but I don't know what she paid. It's about 25 centimetres tall (10 inches) and there's a mark carved into the bottom that reads, "Loetz, Austria." The vase is a lovely peacock colour in a certain light, but looks pink when viewed from a different perspective with different light.

Eric, Ottawa

A: This is a spectacular piece of glass with great shape and design. Any type of iridescent glass like this tends to get attributed to either Loetz or Tiffany, even though a number of other companies also made it.

Johann Loetz was a glass entrepreneur from Bohemia who bought a glass factory in 1840, but died shortly thereafter. His widow took over the business, which carried on until 1947.

Loetz developed a lot of outstanding art nouveau designs around the turn of the century – like your vase, for example – and was awarded prizes at the Paris World Exhibit in 1900. Loetz signatures aren't always reliable verifications of authenticity since they have been faked. The glass is what identifies Loetz with certainty.

Your vase is definitely Loetz and as such is worth about $1,000.

Q: I recently came across this old Tru-Vue viewer, which had been packed away for years. It includes six rolls of film featuring the Bobby Jones Golf Series. It's in excellent condition, other than missing the glass eye inserts for the viewer and contains a couple of original papers. I bought it at a yard sale about 15 years ago for $20.

Dave, Toronto

A: Bobby Jones was one of the world's greatest golfers and the fellow who once said, "Competitive golf is played mainly on a five-and-a-half-inch course – the space between your ears."

Born in 1902 in Atlanta, Ga., he won his first tournament at age 6. He also won all four golf majors in 1930 and retired from golf when he was just 28.

Each of the six rolls of film offers instruction on a different aspect of the game: putting, woods, long irons, short irons, bunker play and short approaches. The viewer itself is made of Bakelite, a type of plastic. Your Tru-Vue was made in the 1930s and is generically known as a stereo filmstrip viewer.

The missing glass eye inserts will hold back value to about $1,000. If it was pristine, you could add a few hundred bucks to that. Not bad for a $20 yard sale find.

John Sewell is an antique and fine art appraiser. To submit an item to his column, go to the "Contact John" page at www.johnsewellantiques.ca. Please measure your piece, say when and how you got it, what you paid and list any identifying marks. A high-resolution JPEG photo must also be included. (Only email submissions accepted.) Appraisal values are estimates only.