Advertising Art

Advertising and store collectibles have historical significance and brand re- cognition as well as artistic value. A combination of all three brought this lamp a price of $2,700 at Morford’s Antique Advertising Auctions.

The lamp was made by Fenton, a well-known art glass company. Its bell-shaped blue shade for Bell Telephone Co. is eye-catching. The inscription Local And Long Distance Telephone marks it as a relic of the past.

There is little need for public telephones today when most people carry a phone with them and can get service wherever they go. Even before the age of cellphones, people liked having access to a telephone anywhere they went. This lamp probably hung in a hotel lobby to let visitors know there was a telephone available.
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Q: Plastic and metal lunchboxes from the 1960s and 1970s really interest me. I have a Holly Hobbie lunchbox with thermos that I carried in grade school. Are lunchboxes hot collectibles?

A: Collectible lunchboxes bring back childhood memories of favorite television shows, movies, cartoons, sports teams, and musical groups. Holly Hobbie (1944) is an American writer and illustrator whose artwork sometimes appears on lunchboxes. She is the author of the popular Toot And Puddle children’s books and creator of the character bearing her name. In the early 1970s, Hobbie sold artwork of a cat-loving, rag-dress-wearing little girl in a giant bonnet to American Greetings. This series of illustrations be- came immensely popular, and her originally nameless character became known as Holly Hobbie. Your lunchbox, if authentic, is worth about $40.

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