Q: I have a ceramic egg timer featuring a design of a Dutch girl. It is in fairly good condition and probably from the 1950s. I bought it for $3 at a garage sale. - Betty, Lawrence, Kan.

A: According to the Antique Trader Kitchen Collectibles Price Guide edited by Kyle Husfloen, your egg timer is probably worth about $35.

Q: My dad was quite a marbles player when he was a child, and I recently found a small bag of his special sulfides, tiger-eyes and swirls stashed away in a little leather pouch. Any value other than sentimental? - Carl, Durango, Colo.

A: Bill Blair - owner of Blair Collectibles, a company that buys, sells and appraises marbles - is especially interested in machine marbles made since the 1930s and handmade ones that date prior to 1915. He cautions that values have declined in recent years. 

Q: My grandparents recently gave me a set of china, the Brittany pattern, made by Homer Laughlin and Company. I would like to know about when it was made. -Barbara, Wheatridge, Colo.

A: The Brittany pattern was issued during the spring of 1936. According to information from "The Collector's Encyclopedia of Homer Laughlin China: Reference and Value Guide" by Joanne Jasper and published by Collector Books, this pattern was popular and continued to be issued until the early 1950s.