The Antiques Lover’s Guide to Bird-Themed Collectibles

Before the widespread use of overhead projectors, hanging charts were popular classroom tools because they could be quickly rolled up or put away when not in use. Charts depicting different species of animals were especially common, with those illustrating a country or region’s native birds being an easy way to engage students in local wildlife. Many vintage charts found today are from European countries, likely because they adapted projector technology later than the United States.

What It’s Worth: Today, charts from across the globe made between the 1950s and ’70s typically bring between $10 and $200 each, depending on size and condition.

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18th-century Swiss clockmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz is credited with developing the singing bird box, which was often affixed to ornate snuff boxes and sold to European royalty. Over the centuries, the windup mechanisms were simplified to suit mass production, and similar singing bird music cages became exponentially more affordable. Drawered music players often doubled as jewelry storage.

What It’s Worth: While serious antiquers shell out thousands for German-made cages from the early 1900s, casual collectors can expect to pay between $25 and $300 for players from the 1950s and ’60s, depending on size and number of birds in the cage. Examples with working automatons bring the higher numbers.

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Patented in 1853, the sewing bird served as a “third hand” for at-home seamstresses. The thumbscrew secured the tool to a table, and its spring-loaded tail pieces could be pinched to open the beak, which would grasp fabric in need of hemming. Over time, designs became more ornate, and grooms-to-be often gifted the birds to their betrothed while she prepared her trousseau.

What It’s Worth: Today, vintage clamps run $85 to $250 apiece. Sewing birds without a clamp and padded pincushion can often be found for less than $100.

Well into the late 1800s, ornithology was most commonly conducted with trapped birds in indoor labs. New York naturalist Florence Merriam Bailey set out to change the approach while attending Smith College, encouraging her fellow students to observe from afar with opera glasses, while outdoors in the birds’ natural habitat. In 1889, at the ripe old age of 26, she published her book, Birds Through an Opera Glass—now considered to be the first field guide to American birds and the basis for bird-watching as it is practiced today.

A popular child’s plaything from as early as the 1600s, bird whistles have been made from a variety of materials throughout the centuries and were occasionally designed with water chambers to produce a warbling sound (bottom right). Rarer brass “Victory Canary Songsters” from the 1920s (center) were crafted with a moving beak and often co-opted by photographers to capture the attention of young subjects—hence the phrase “watch the birdie.”

What It’s Worth: Victorian-era pewter, ceramic, and cast-iron pieces can be found today for $10 to $40. Rarer brass “Victory Canary Songsters” from the 1920s can command up to $200.

Following in the footsteps of his competitor Cadbury, confectioner Harry Vincent established his candy factory in England’s West Midlands in 1927. His popular Blue Bird Toffee was sold in decorative tins often emblazoned with a signature cerulean-hued swallow. Tins from the 1930s through the ’60s are considered collectors’ items—look for “Huntington” in the box address to confirm age—and pieces with interior lid designs are especially sought after.

What It’s Worth: Prices range from $20 for small rectangular tins (top left) to $75 for larger pieces. Rarer circular tins can top $100.

The classic brass duck bookends became popular in the 1960s and can often be found at flea markets, estate sales, and on vintage sites. Birds-in-flight versions (top right) or non-brass variations, like wood-painted ceramic (center), also make for fine complements to your field guides.

What It’s Worth: Brass duck bookends can be found for anywhere from $50 to $200, depending on age and condition. Most wood and ceramic pairs are easily found on Etsy and eBay for around $50 to $75.

Along the riverfront walkway of Wilmington, Delaware, you’ll find a dozen-plus assortment of showstopping birdhouses by celebrated local craftsman Thomas Burke. On display outside civic buildings and restaurants, these jumbo-size pieces (some stand 7 feet tall!) are painstaking re-creations of iconic buildings and homes found in art and popular culture. His rendition of Cantitoe Corners, Martha Stewart’s Upstate New York farmhouse (shown above), is even painted her signature shade of Bedford Gray.

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Long serving as symbols of woodland charm, birds have inspired cast-iron door knockers for decades. Given their rhythmic pecking, woodpeckers are a natural fit for front doors. Briefly popular in the 1930s, smaller indoor knockers produced by Pennsylvania’s Hubley Manufacturing Co. were offered in at least five bird designs. Parrots are the most commonly found, but rarer owls and cardinals (top left and center right) are also sought after.

What It’s Worth: Midcentury versions can be picked up for $35 to $100. Rarer Hubley door knockers of owls or cardinals can fetch $85 to $350.

Before the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, these hand-carved and painted wooden birds were attached to sticks, stuck into the sand, and used to hunt coastal bird species along shorelines.

What It’s Worth: While true decoys from the early 1900s (top and bottom on far left) can fetch well over $1,000, many on the market today fall into the folk art category and can often be found in the $150 to $300 range. Birds that are all one contiguous piece (i.e., the bill was not separately attached) are typically more valuable, as are ones signed and dated by the artist.

American bakers took inspiration from an old nursery rhyme (“4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie”) and created the first bird-shaped pie vents in the 1930s. Playing a crucial role in the pie-baking process, the ceramic vessel’s vented structure allows steam to escape during baking, thus preventing filling-overflow disasters. Pie birds (and their other quirky-themed counterparts) are highly collectible, especially if they are made by notable makers such as Englishman Stuart Bass. Also look for primitive painted “Ralphie Roosters” (bottom center), which trace back to California ceramicist Betty Cleminson.

What It’s Worth: Most ceramic pie birds range from $10 to hundreds of dollars apiece. Most midcentury vintage versions, however, can be found for $50 to $75, while some by notable makers, like Englishman Stuart Bass, warrant a higher price tag (think $100 or more).

While decoy styles run the gamut of colors and materials, some of the highest-value birds come from Detroit’s Mason Decoy Factory, where production was most active in the early 1900s. Known for their realistic painting and attention to detail, their decoys were divided into three categories based on performance grade: premier, challenge, and standard.

What It’s Worth: The decoys shown here range from $250 to $950, with the premier grade at the pricier end. Rare models can garner hundreds of thousands of dollars at auctions.

Cuckoo Clocks: Savage Clockworx

Bird Books: Rare Book Cellar, Endnotes Studio,Vintage Rosie Shop,Vintage Inspiring, Fresh Pie Vintage, Chicory Nook

Sewing Birds: Teal Mercantile Co.

Hanging Charts:Karin Winter, Sputnik Vintage, Pine Springs Cottage

Blue Bird Toffee Tins: Retro Dromme, Dig Vintage Stuff, 100 Cells Vintage, Artizmo Eclectic

Decoys:High Cotton & Co.