Antiques & Collectibles: Old spice boxes are valued

Spices were an important part of cooking in the days before refrigeration was available in most homes. Meat and fish were smoked, pickled, peppered, salted or treated with combinations of spices that kept the food from rotting.

A home garden included spices, herbs and edible flowers, all plants that either made it possible to store food or made slightly spoiled food taste better. Fresh spices were used when in season, but most were dried and stored for use later in the year.

Some, like salt, were not always found locally and had to be imported. In medieval times, herbs like tansy, rue, hyssop and pennyroyal were used, but today's selection is more likely to be pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and dozens of other flavorful spices.

The spice box was an important piece of furniture kept near the cooking area. Sometimes it was made of tin, but most spice boxes were made of wood decorated with paint or inlay.

An exceptional spice box from Pennsylvania, dating from about 1750-1770, sold at a recent Skinner auction. It featured a compass design made of four different woods. It also had border designs. The box, about 21 inches high and 16 inches wide, had a door covering with 10 tiger maple and one walnut drawer. The estimated price of $30,000 to $50,000 was surpassed when the buyer paid $90,000.

Q&A

Q: I have a pink Kelvinator gas range made by American Motors . It was originally purchased in 1964 and still works perfectly. Is it worth anything?

A: Kelvinator Co. was founded in 1914 in Detroit as Electro-Automatic Refrigerating Co. The name was changed to Kelvinator in 1916 in honor of Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), the British physicist who defined the temperature known as absolute zero. The company merged with Nash Motors in 1937 to form Nash-Kelvinator Corp. Nash-Kelvinator introduced other appliances, including ranges, to its line of products after World War II.

The company merged with Hudson Motor Cars Co. in 1954 to form American Motors Corp. and Kelvinator became a division of AMC . Today the brand is owned by Electrolux of Sweden.

Your 1964 pink range is a collector's item today because the retro look has become popular in kitchen design. That means your range, if in working condition, could sell for about $300 to $500.

Q: We recently came across a box of 40 cream-colored china dishes, all in the same pattern. The pattern consists of three decorative shields around the rim with the head of a woman in the center of the shield and a swastika on each side of the shield.

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