We had two correct guesses for our August What Is It. Dennis Thode of Broomfield, Colorado says, “The vessels displayed are pharmaceutical graduates-conical used by “druggists” for measuring liquids.” Terry Cook of Fort Morgan, Colorado says, “I am thinking the glass resembles chemistry beakers. But the pic is so shaded it is hard to see if the glass is […]

    We had several correct answers for our July’s What Is It. This picture is from the book by Margaret Lynn Rosack called The Expanded Guide to Collecting Trivets. In the book she had this bit of advice:    “During hard times the prevailing thought is to hunker down, be frugal, continue to save, and hope that the economy improves soon, […]

   We had several guesses for our June What Is It. Jerry Michals of Aurora and Byron Roderick of Broomfield, Colorado correctly identified the object as a Muffin Bell, so called for two brass dome bells with an interior clapper. Mr. Michals tells us the muffin bell (ca early 1800s) was originally used by volunteer fire companies in the Eastern USA […]

   Yes, they are ocarinas. These pictured include a bass (top), a tenor (right), a red alto and a soprano. The rare bass, probably Russian-made, is valuable.    Ceramic ocarinas have been around more than 12,000 years. Ancient examples have ben cited – small whistles shaped like birds or other animals and made of terracotta were in India for 6,000 years. China […]

   We had several guesses for April’s What Is It but only one person correctly identified the objects pictured to the right. Kate Loyle of Wichita, Kansas tells us these are antique tape measures. Congratulations, you have won a year’s subscription to the Mountain States Collector.    All three of these items are miniature sculpture cases for measuring tapes which are rewound […]