What’s It Worth via WorthPoint.com with Harry Rinker

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What’s It Worth via WorthPoint.com with Harry Rinker

A glass Blanke’s aerial globe baking powder bottle.

QUESTION:  I recently purchased a glass Blanke’s aerial globe baking powder bottle for a quarter.  It has a screw on top.  There are no chips.  It might be World’s Fair related.  I would appreciate any information you can provide.  – LC, Alamogardo, NM, Email Question

ANSWER:  Dick Sheaff’s “Fantastic Monumental World’s Fair Globes” appeared in the February 13, 2013, issue of the “Ephemera Journal.”   The article described a globe designed to rival the French Eiffel Tower that was purposed for the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair:

“St. Louis businessman C. F. Blanke of the Blanke Coffee Company purposed to build a…huge globe…

READ THE REST AT: https://www.worthpoint.com/articles/blog-entry/rinker-on-collectibles-q-a 




A blueprint measuring five feet by ten feet was unveiled on September 9, 1901.  The structure was never built.

READ THE FULL Post at: https://www.worthpoint.com/articles/blog-entry/rinker-on-collectibles-q-a

A Bently 100c Battery Operated TV

QUESTION:  I have a few 5-inch black & white, battery, 110 volt powered televisions.  Popular brands included Craig, Panasonic, and Sony.  These 5-inch portables were popular promotional giveaways at timeshare and other presentations.

I received a Bentley 100c, made in Korea, at a timeshare promotion in the Poconos.  The case measures 8-inches by 13-inches.  Since these battery-operated televisions have old tech tuners and no inputs for convertors, they basically are good now only as night lights.




Is there a collector market for these or are they only recycling fodder? – RD, central Montgomery County, PA, Email Question

ANSWER:  Portable televisions still are being made today.  Most have 9-inch screens and are digitally driven.  Collectors differentiate between portable televisions (too large to fit in a pocket), pocket televisions, and wearable televisions (often found in wristwatch form).

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.worthpoint.com/articles/blog-entry/rinker-on-collectibles-q-a

This Valmont Haviland platter sold for $51 in 2014.

QUESTION:  I have my great-grandmother’s Valmont Haviland china.  She was born in 1866 and died in 1938.  There are 12 dinner plates, salad plates, dessert plates, cups and saucers.  In addition, I have two serving bowls and a platter.  I am seeking a value estimate for estate purposes.  Can you help? – DM, Darby, MT, Letter

ANSWER:  First, value is contingent on the popularity of the pattern—the more popular the pattern, the greater the ability to find replacement pieces if one is broken.  The pattern does not appear in my “Dinnerware of the 20th Century: The Top 500 Patterns,” published by Random House in 1997.

Second, value in any china service rests in the serving pieces.  At a minimum, a service should have three platters, creamer, sugar, gravy boat, and two different size vegetable bowls, ideally one of which is covered.

Third, the phrase “my kids do not want grandma’s china” is the most common lament heard in the antiques and collectible trade today.  This is especially true if the dinnerware is not dishwasher safe.

Finally, one cannot rely on the asking prices on www.replacements.com to value a service.  Rather, they serve as an indicator as to the level of secondary market demand—the lower the price, the lower the demand.

A fair estate value for your set is around $100.00.  My best advice is to use the service and create memories.  Hopefully, this will create a desire among one of your heirs to keep the service in the family.




A Hopalong Cassidy, black case radio.


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Rinker on Collectibles Q/A: A Blanke Bottle, a Battery Operated TV, Haviland China, and Hopalong Cassidy Radio