|
If you have a French
compact from the 20s, it could be worth £30. A
British Yardley’s compact could fetch £25, especially if the original puff
is still there and not too grotty.
Magical combinations
Bigger ‘vanities’ from the
30s had compartments for lipstick and (very
chic) cigarette holders - if yours is still all in one piece you’re looking
at upwards of £100.
 And
a silver or gold hallmark, especially if
combined with enamelled decoration, should have you rushing for a proper
jeweller’s valuation - check, though, whether any coloured decoration is
really enamel rather than simply lacquer: enamel looks glassy and is
heavier, more easily chipped. An enamelled compact from the 20s could reach
£550. A lacquered one of the same age, maybe £50.
End of an
era (and in with the new)
Production stopped in WW2,
then boomed again in the 50s, by then more likely to contain pressed or
‘cream’ powder rather than the looser stuff. Plastics came into their own
and collectors prefer the earliest ones, where hinges were still metal and
the plastic moulding a bit uneven: £180 is a fair price.
From the 50s on, virtually
every jewellery maker and fashion house got in
on the act. A silver compact by Danish silversmith Georg Jensen fetched £100
at Sotheby’s a few years ago and would be more today.
In Britain, Stratton became
the big post-war brand, but they made so many that values haven’t peaked
(yet). A simple Stratton might be £20, although a ‘special’ merits more: a
1977 Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee commemorative could fetch £55, an early
60s Beatles £125.
Maybe a girl doesn’t ‘go
to powder her nose’ any more, but if she goes
to an internet website (eg eBay) she’ll see a hundred compacts up for sale,
priced in dollars as well as sterling: Americans
just love to collect them.
Previous editions:
Family Treasures - 1
Family Treasures - 2
Family Treasures - 3
Family Treasures - 4
Family Treasures - 5
For subsequent editions - see the laterlife
interest index
|
