This Might Be ‘Eggsactly’ What You Need To Do

Nothing could be more of an Easter tradition than coloring Easter eggs. Egg-dyeing is fast, easy to do, and the whole family can participate. But unless you are a group that takes the time to blow out the eggs and make real works of art out of them, colored Easter eggs do not make good collectibles!

A generic egg carton, with the graphics in a dark blue color. There's no question about how many eggs are in this box. Old Stuff photo

What can be a fun collection, however, are farm items that were used for handling eggs.

The cartons the eggs have been sold in for many years are an easy starting point. The graphics are elaborate on some, amusing on others, and sometimes just plain and bold. Especially if your home is decorated in primitives or the country look, old egg cartons can fit right in.

On the plus side, they are quite inexpensive. Most fall in the $5 to $15 range. On the minus side, they are not very sturdy. I tried to bring an interesting one home from New York to photograph for this article, and despite my best efforts, it ended up too bent out of shape to use.
There are other egg collectibles, too. An egg candler was used to determine the interior quality of an egg or whether or not it was fertile. It was a box made of metal, usually tin, with a hole covered by a thin sheet of mica and a candle or alcohol burner inside. The egg was held against the “window” of mica for checking.

Egg scales were used to calculate egg weight, which in turn would determine the grade. There were several kinds. One kind had springs. Another had a balancing arm with a sliding weight. A third kind had flip-up leaves marked in ounce fractions.
The farmer also needed baskets for collecting the eggs. The collector might find both wooden and wire baskets. A good egg collecting basket had a raised center, which helped to distribute the weight.

Transporting the eggs to market required special crates, since eggs certainly aren’t the easiest of items to ship. Heavy cardboard carriers were sometimes used, but more often wood-slat square boxes were used. There were also metal boxes that could actually be used to mail eggs.

A note of caution: many of these items, including baskets, scales and egg crates have been reproduced in recent years.

And if you’re going to collect egg items, you’re going to need a chicken or two worked into the arrangement somewhere. We won’t go into chicken collectibles here, as that’s a very large collectible category of its own. It’s no problem to find chickens made of every conceivable material.

The one shown here is from the Old Stuff files. It’s made of concrete and was offered for sale two or three years ago by Liz Dodge of Coos Bay, Oregon, for $55.

Most reference books on farm antiques will have sections which describe egg collectibles.

Donna Miller

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Eggs An Easter Tradition

The custom of offering Easter eggs has been around for many years. Although there were some earlier societies that gave eggs as gifts at Easter time, the practice of coloring and decorating Easter eggs as it is known today originated in the 18th century in eastern Europe.

In the Slavic countries, eggs were first blown to leave the hollow shell, and then elaborately painted with oils or watercolors. The traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs are still beautifully made today.

By the end of the 19th century, a variety of artificial eggs was being made. In Germany, papier-mache and cardboard eggs were made with handpainted designs.

Spun-sugar eggs were also made for the first time in Europe about the turn of the century. These concoctions were decorated with flowers on the outside. Either one end or one side of the egg would be left open, and a view built on the inside. Sometimes the view was made of lithographed die-cut paper; other times, 3-dimensional figures were used.

Egg-shaped candy containers appeared in the early 20th century. Cardboard ones from Germany were the first to appear. Tin eggs, painted and lithographed, became popular in the 1930s. There were also clear glass molded eggs. By the 1960s, plastic eggs which separated in the middle were inexpensive and common; however, they lacked the interesting and colorful decorations of the earlier lithographed ones.

Easter eggs were made of celluloid when this material was widely used. Milk glass eggs with embossed designs or inscriptions were another product of the early 20th century.

In the early 1970s, porcelain Easter eggs made their appearance, manufactured by such well-known companies as Limoges, Noritake and Wedgwood. They were definitely directed at the collector’s market.

Dying of Easter eggs with commercial dyes takes place in almost every home with children in the United States today. Prior to the advent of the packages with six little tables of dye and a wire egg holder, egg dyes were made of natural vegetable juices. Beets, spinach and onion peel juices were just three of the materials that would satisfactorily color an egg.

Any mention of Easter eggs must include mention of the most famous eggs of all time, those made by Carl Faberge, goldsmith for the Russian Imperial Court. His first creation, made in 1886, featured diamonds and rubies. Very few of Faberge’s eggs are known to exist, and they are all in museums. Modern “Faberge” eggs - that is, those of the same type as Carl Faberge made - are again being made by skilled craftsmen.

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Staffordshire A Region For Pottery

Any collector of pottery is going to frequently encounter the word Staffordshire. This is an area in the midland industrial region of England that has produced pottery since the 17th century.

Their products were earthenware, which is opaque and porous before glazing; stoneware, which is nonporous; and some porcelain. It was also in this area during the 1700s that such new types of pottery as basalt, jasper and bone china were developed.

By 1800, close to 150 potteries operated in the Staffordshire district. These included such famous factories as Josiah Wedgwood, Josiah Spode and Enoch Wood. They all worked within an area of about 50 square miles.

To many, the term Staffordshire brings to mind the transfer-printed tableware that was imported to the United States from England during the late 1700s and well into the 1800s. Although the process was not actually invented in Staffordshire, this quick way to decorate dishes was quickly adapted by the many potteries in the region.

When other collectors think of Staffordshire, they think of the figurines and animals which have been favorite collectibles for many years. These were originally intended as inexpensive ornaments for mass markets. Some were completely molded and painted. Others were “flat backs,” with the backs left flat and unpainted, so they could be easily placed on a mantle. One of the most thorough reference books on Staffordshire figures is Victorian Staffordshire Figures 1835-1875, by A. and N. Harding (Schiffer Publishing, 1998.)
 

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A Fancy Leather

Shagreen was a specially prepared leather that was once used for items such as watchcases, snuffboxes and knife handles. Most popular in the 18th century, it is rarely seen now.

Skin from a donkey, horse or camel was used. Small hard seeds were worked into the skin while it was still moist and supple. When dried, the process produced a pitted or mottled appearance.

Then the skin was dyed green using copper shavings and a substance called sal-ammoniac (ammonium chloride.) The rough spots on the skin were rubbed off, and the resulting smooth skin showed light spots on a green background.

The shagreen was then ready to be used. Monograms in gold and silver were often applied to the final product, also.

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