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1904 World's Fair souvenir is a shoe-in

Q. Enclosed is a photo of a pair of porcelain shoes that belonged to my grandmother. On the bottom of each shoe are the words "World's Fair - 1904." They are a cream and tan color with a flower on each of the toes. They are in perfect condition, no cracks or chips.

Is the pair of any value?

A. The 1904 World's Fair was held in St. Louis to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803, the United States acquired the 828,000 acres of the Louisiana Territory from the France. Napoleon gave up the plan to have a French territory in the New World and Thomas Jefferson, the president of the United States, quickly agreed to the purchase.

Singer Sewing Machine Co., Buster Brown shoes and Bissell Vacuum Co. were just some of the manufacturers that had displays at the exposition. Myriad souvenirs were sold that included porcelain fancy shoes, jewelry, clocks and clothes.

Your pair of porcelain shoes would probably be worth $25 to $50.

Q. I have a service for an eight-piece set of porcelain dinnerware. This mark is on the back of each dish. The set is decorated with bands of pastel flowers on the borders against a white background. There are 72 pieces in the set and all are in mint condition.

The set belonged to my great-grandmother and I plan to insure it. Even though I would never sell it, I would like to know its value and anything else you can tell me.

A. Your set of bone china dinnerware was made in Noritaki, Japan. The Morimura Brothers founded the company. They were importers who were located in New York City and imported porcelain to the United States. Bone China was developed by potter Josiah Spode in England in the late 1700s. It was made with bone ash, feldspar, kaolin and quartz. The formula produced dishes that when held up to the light were translucent and were both strong and chip resistant. Bone china is made today and continues to be popular.

Your set was made around 1930 and it should be insured for $1,000 to $1,500.

Q. I have a cream pitcher that stands about 5 inches tall. It has a dark brown glaze at the top and the lower portion is tan and decorated with cream colored Egyptian figures in relief. The spout is the shape of a pharaoh's head. Marked on the bottom are the words "Doulton, Burslem." We found it in my mother-in-law's house after she passed away and we don't know anything about it.

Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

A. Doulton & Co. located in Burslem, England, made your jug/cream pitcher. It is an example of their Egyptian series that was inspired by the interest in the 1922 discovery of King Tutankhamun's tomb. They produced pitchers in several sizes.

Your pitcher was made sometime between 1922 and 1929. It would sell in an antiques shop in the range of $75 to $125.

• Address your questions to Anne McCollam, P.O. Box 247, Notre Dame, IN 46556. Items of a general interest will be answered in this column. Due to the volume of inquiries, she cannot answer individual letters.

© 2018, Creators Syndicate

The Morimura Brothers were importers with offices in New York.
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