HEINZ AD CARDS OFFER A TASTE OF COLLECTING.

Byline: Ralph and Terry Kovel

Old advertising cards often came in sets in the 19th century, and collectors try to find each one.

The Heinz company gave away many small advertising pieces in the years since it was started in 1876. Perhaps one of the best known is the tiny green pickle pin that was once made of a plaster material but is now formed from plastic.

In 1893, the company started giving away a 5-inch-long cardboard pickle-shaped card. On the front of the card was one of 25 different designs. The cards usually pictured a girl holding a Heinz product in her lap. The back listed many of the products made by the company, from apple butter to horseradish.

There were at least 39 different variations of the Heinz pickle card made until 1904. The rarest and most expensive cards picture the girl with a dish of spaghetti or baked beans.

Another was a girl in a chef's hat serving canned tomato soup.

The more common versions show her with a bowl of soup or a jar of pickles.

Trade cards of all types are now seriously collected. There is much company and city history to be learned from such cards.

Q: When I took down the porch light on my house, I discovered it was copper. I found the mark "Moe-Bridges." Do you have any information?

A: The Moe-Bridges Co. worked in Milwaukee starting about 1923. It made pierced-metal and bent-glass shades for indoor and outdoor lights.

Moe-Bridges outdoor lights sell for about $175 apiece.

Q: I have a few composition dolls from when I was a little girl. I know they're breakable. From what material are they made? How should I take care of them?

A: Every doll manufacturer had its own version of "composition." Doll makers combined wood pulp, sawdust, flour, rags, papier-mache, cotton and cardboard mixed with resin, adhesive and paint.

The resins can dry out, become brittle and shrink.

Keep your doll in a well-humidified environment and out of the hands of overeager children.

Q: I have two mugs with the Sleepy Eye Indian Chief on them. Are they worth anything?

A: The Sleepy Eye Milling Co. of Sleepy Eye, Minn., gave away sugar and creamer sets, vases, steins and mugs to its customers.

All Sleepy Eye collectibles are valuable. The mugs are worth $200 to $225.

Q: I've been collecting empty Scotch whisky jugs for years. I just found one that is marked "Imported by Mihalovitch Fletcher and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio." What gives?

A: In the late 1800s, the Scots began to export their trademark Scotch whisky to the United States. When it was sold in the United Kingdom, the scotch was packed in earthenware jugs that were decorated with transfer prints.

Some scotch distillers sent filled jugs. Others, realizing that the jugs weighed a lot and took up space, shipped their scotch in bulk to be rebottled in the United States. American-made jugs were lighter and frequently are glazed on the bottom.

Q: I paid $17 at a flea market for a plaster statue of a pretty woman labeled "Miss America." It's 17 inches high. She's wearing a two-piece bathing suit and leaning on a pier. There are "waves" crashing at her ankles. I think it's art. My wife thinks it's junk. Who's right?

A: You both are.

The Miss America figurine from the late 1940s or early '50s was a prize given away at carnivals, amusement parks and boardwalk arcades. The plaster figurines, called "chalkware," were made in the shape of everything from King Kong to Mae West. They were made in the early 1900s and began to decline in popularity by the 1950s.

Once considered cheap and tawdry, the figurines are now popular collectibles with high prices. Miss America sells for about $75. A 1920s girl with mohair hair sells for $150. A floppy-eared dog seen in the '50s sells for $35.

Q: What is chintz china? I always thought chintz was a fabric.

A: Chintz china has an all-over floral design. It's sometimes called "wallpaper china."

Workers would cut a pattern from a floral lithograph and apply iQt to a dish or cup. They had to match the flowers perfectly, like matching wallpaper strips.

Chintz china was made from the early 1900s through the mid-1960s.

The most sought-after versions are from the Staffordshire factories in England. The china also was made in Japan, Czechoslovakia and Germany.

Look for factory names such as James Kent, Crown Ducal, Lord Nelson and Royal Winton.

Tip: Most shaving-mug reproductions are imaginative copies of old mugs that would not fool a serious collector. There is often no space for the owner's name. Some examples are marked "Brandenburg." Copies include designs such as Currier & Ives prints, a hearse drawn by horses and trade names such as Peddler, Fireman or Painter.

Current prices: Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.

Song Fan magazine, color photograph of Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum on cover, "River of No Return," Vol. 1, No. 3, 1954: $35.

Disneyana, cereal bowl, Mickey Mouse, Post Grape-Nuts premium, Beetleware, marked "W.D. Ent.," circa 1930s: $45.

Christian Dior dress, shift, pale pink linen, jeweled neckline, 1950: $130.

Peck Stew & Wilcox coffee grinder, No. 4,000, cast iron, top box mill: $150.

Sterling-silver flatware, ice cream spoon, Audubon pattern, gold wash, Tiffany: $165.

Royal Bayreuth tea set, tomato, three pieces: $245.

Barracuda atomic sub, 24-man crew, rafts, four missiles, six torpedoes, Remco: $275.

American Empire dining chairs, mahogany, caned seats, saber legs, circa 1835, set of six: $495.

Doll, Simon & Halbig No. 979, bisque swivel head, upturned nose, almond eyes, slender waist, 27 inches: $2,500.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo This turn-of-the-century Heinz ad card - picturing a girl eating pickles from a dish in her lap - sells for about $25.