A smart woman created Father's Day in 1910. Sonora Smart Dodd wanted to honor her father, William Smart, in the same way mothers were honored on Mother's Day. The idea caught on, and in 1972 Congress made the third Sunday of June the official holiday. It can be difficult to find a gift for Dad, but cufflinks are back in style and collectors can find many vintage examples anywhere from $10 to more than $1,000. But be sure Dad has at least one shirt with cuffs that have holes, not buttons. An expensive pair of cufflinks and a matching tie bar sold last year at a Sollo Rago auction for $1,715. The gold cufflinks and tie bar in an abstract design were made by a now-famous artist, Ed Wiener (1918-1991). He was a self-taught jeweler who worked in Greenwich Village in the late 1940s. His unusual modern pieces were made of sterling silver until the late 1950s, when he started to use gold as well as silver. Any piece by Wiener brings high prices today, and since he sold jewelry to many tourists, it's not unusual to find examples in all parts of the country. The best news is that he always marked pieces with his name, so they can be easily identified.

Moxie, the soft drink that was introduced as a medicine in a Massachusetts drugstore in 1876, used some early automobiles in advertising campaigns. In 1915 or '16 Frank Archer, the Moxie adman who started as a clerk at the Moxie Nerve Food Co., designed the first Moxie horsemobile. It was an eye-catching full-size car with a live horse mounted on the back. The first Horsemobile was top-heavy and dangerous to drive, so it was redesigned with a horse made of papier-mâché. In later years the horse was molded from aluminum. The first car was a Dort Speedster, but in later years the car was a Buick, a LaSalle or a Rolls Royce. Horsemobiles were driven in parades by daring drivers who rode the horse while controlling the vehicle's speed and steering with specially designed pedals and extensions. Moxie advertised in many ways and sold a lithographed tin toy replica of the horesmobile. Today there are organized groups of collectors who search for Moxie-related items. In March a rare version of the toy horsemobile with a blue car sold at Bertoia Auctions in Vineland, N.J., for $5,750.

Twentieth-century art glass is attracting adventurous buyers who search for relatively unknown European pieces. Because most of this glass is unmarked or marked with a handwritten name or a paper label, it requires study. John Moncrieff started the North British Glassworks in Perth, Scotland, in 1865. He made industrial glass, bottles, tubing and glass for lamps. During World War I, he developed a heat-resistant glass later sold as "Monax glass." In 1924 his glassworks began to make art glass. It was called "Monart," a tradename that combined the names "Moncrieff" and "Ysart," the last name of a family of glassblowers at the factory. One of factory's designers was Isobel Moncrieff, the wife of John Jr. Most Monart pieces were free-blown. They included everything from bowls and vases to ink bottles and table lamps. Pieces were produced in many colors, some with metallic flecks. Clear glass pieces were made with additions of colored enamels that created intense shades. Bubbly art glass was introduced in the 1930s. Monart was produced until about 1961. The glassworks went through many changes of management and in 1980 was taken over by Stuart & Sons. Art glass pieces sell for bargain prices today. A 7 1/4-inch mottled glass vase sold this spring at DuMouchelles Art Galleries in Detroit for only $152. It looks like the American Cluthra glass made by Steuben.

Dual-purpose furniture is not a new idea. Many unusual pieces were made in the 19th century. Ever see a desk that became a bed? Or a chair that turned into a bathtub? Both were made in the 1880s. The best-known of the metamorphic pieces is probably a highchair that can become a child's chair and sometimes even a stroller. This type of chair, popular in the late 1800s, was usually made of oak with heavy iron gears and wheels. The highchair had a tray and was supported by legs on wheels. The legs could be lowered and the tray removed, so the chair was the right height for a child to use. Sometimes the chair's legs could be moved so the chair was on wheels and two of its "legs" became the handle of the stroller. Fun and interesting today, but don't use it for a child. The tray is positioned so a child could slip under it and the seat and back are hard. We learned long ago that a crying child will throw his or her head back and hit it on the hard wooden chair. Most furniture made for children in past centuries would not pass today's safety standards.

In the 1950s, America's best-known folk-art wood-carver was Wilhelm Schimmel of Cumberland Valley, Pa. A carved eagle by this man was the dream of many a collector. His pieces, even then, went for thousands of dollars, and of course each was one of a kind. Schimmel (1817-1890) was born in Germany and immigrated to Pennsylvania after the Civil War. He worked for neighboring families and took care of their children in exchange for food and shelter. He also traveled in the area, staying overnight in jails or poorhouses. He carved birds and animals that he sold or traded for supplies and evidently a lot of liquor. Local bars wound up with many of his painted carvings. Most of the animals he carved were made from pieces of pine taken from local woodworking shops and sawmills. He carved the wood, covered the carving with plaster, then painted or varnished it. Most figures, particularly his eagles, had deep-cut crosshatching as part of the surface decoration. Schimmel was best-known for carved eagles, but he also made roosters, parrots, lions and dogs. His carvings now sell not just for thousands of dollars, but into the tens and hundreds of thousands.

Next time you go to a house or garage sale, be sure to look for glass kitchen utensils and containers from the 1930s to the 1960s. Range sets (salt and pepper shakers and jars for drippings or grease), reamers, rolling pins, measuring cups, pitchers, mixing bowls, refrigerator containers, syrup pitchers, water bottles and ladles made of glass, pottery or even plastic are likely to turn up. All are collected, but glass pieces are especially popular. Jeanette Glass Co. of Jeanette, Pa., made Jennyware, a blue or green ribbed glass. The company also made Depression glass tableware in popular patterns, including Iris and Cherry Blossom, and kitchenware in Delphite, Jadite, shell pink and other colors. Delphite, a light-blue glassware, is a collector favorite. A Delphite range set was offered recently at DepressionKitchenGlass.com for $245.