Private collections abound in Morphy Auctions’ Dec. 8-10 no-reserve Winter auction
Oct. 31, 2005
DENVER , Pa. - When in search of holiday gifts for a collector, it’s only natural to head for antique shops, art galleries or fine jewelry and gift stores. Morphy Auctions brings all of these shopping venues together under one roof in a 2,300-lot Winter auction to be held Dec. 8-10 in Denver, Pa. In keeping with the Morphy tradition, all items will be sold without reserve to the highest bidder, and live Internet bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
The opening session, on Thurs., Dec. 8, features a single-owner collection of trains out of New Jersey comprised mostly of postwar Lionel, with a small selection of prewar tinplate types, as well. Also in the Thursday lineup are a large assortment of vintage dolls and an eye-pleasing array of early holiday material. At the core are vintage Santas and belsnickles, with the highlight being a very desirable Santa on nodding-head reindeer.
More than 100 Big Little Books will be offered, including several rare titles featuring such popular characters as Flash Gordon, Mickey Mouse, Buck Rogers and Green Hornet. From the same general time period comes a selection of more than 20 highly collectible premium rings, including a Superman bubble gum ring with original insert.
Sports fans can try their luck at a grouping of approximately 25 nodders representing baseball and other sports teams. A top lot is a Roberto Clemente nodder accompanied by its original box.
A spotlighted collection in the Thursday session is the Tim Lentz Fisher-Price toy collection. Many early examples of the distinctive paper litho on wood toys are seen in this collection, including a Disney Easter Parade consisting of Donald Duck, Clara Cluck and three bunnies. Together with its very rare box, the toy is estimated at $1,500-2,000. Carrying an even higher estimate at $2,000-3,000 is an example of Fisher-Price’s Pushy Pig, complete with its often-missing original push stick and coveted box. “Last year a Pushy Pig box, without the toy, sold for $1,500,” noted Morphy Auctions co-founder Tommy Sage Jr.
Among the other Fisher-Price entries in the sale are a rare Donald and Dora Duck toy, a Woodsy Wee Pet Set and a Woodsy Wee Zoo Set, each estimated at $1,500-2,000; and three wind-up “back-up” animals – a donkey, elephant and puppy dog – each with its very rare, correct original box with paper labels. The animals are estimated at $1,000-1,500 each.
“This is one of the best Fisher-Price collections known,” said Sage. “There are over 200 pieces, and many are the really nice, early pre-1940 toys that all the collectors want. There are rare Donald Ducks from 1931, the first year Fisher-Price manufactured toys.” Rounding out the Thursday session are marbles, comic character and Disney toys and Steiff soft toys.
Friday will be cast-iron day, with more fabulous figural doorstops, bookends, doorknockers and bottle openers of the type that brought out the seasoned collectors at Morphy’s $2 million Labor Day weekend auction. Most of the bottle openers are from the Craig Dinner collection. The first offering of Dinner’s bottle openers brought very strong prices in the Fall sale and reportedly ignited an interest in many new collectors who were drawn to the interesting and colorful forms.
Next up will be cast-iron mechanical and still banks. A highlight, according to the company’s other co-founder, Dan Morphy, is a “really good, yellow-base ’Spise a Mule that walked in right off the street from a local person. It’s fresh from a local home.” The bank is estimated at $3,000-5,000.
Friday is also the day to buy from a beautiful selection of German tin toys, including no fewer than 25 tin boats by Bing, Carette, Arnold and Fleischmann; more than 50 penny toys including an excellent CKO motorcycle, and many early hand-painted toys by Lehmann, Gunthermann and other manufacturers. “There’s a really nice Marklin pram in a dark bluish-green color that I’ve never seen before,” said Morphy.
The Winter sale represents the first time Morphy’s has offered a collection of British diecast toys, this particular grouping coming from a consignor in Chicago. Along with the “nice, fresh Corgis and Dinkys, mostly boxed,” Morphy said there will also be excellent examples of Matchbox and TootsieToys in the sale.
There is little disagreement that the top automotive lot, offered in the Friday session, is a superb midnight blue Chrysler Imperial, mint in a good-condition box. It is estimated at $15,000-20,000.
Other specialties to be sold on Friday include 75-100 figural glass candy containers, including a rolling pin and swing; and antique advertising, led by a selection of soda fountain syrup dispensers. Among them are a pedestaled Hires Root Beer dispenser with green pinstriped lid, a Cherry Chic, Cherry Julep and others. Another highlight of the Friday session is a single-owner De Laval advertising collection comprised of more than 150 pieces encompassing such subcategories as advertising signs, calendars, tip trays, match accessories and other small promotional items.
Saturday’s session will showcase the many divergent areas into which Morphy Auctions has been expanding its focus of interest. One of the key portions of the sale consists of 50-60 fine art glass lamps from a 35-year collection out of Lansing, Michigan. Makers include Pairpoint, Handel and Tiffany Studios, with two of the highlights being a Handel 18in Daffodil lamp, a Handel red Bird of Paradise and a Pairpoint Puffy. Additional Tiffany Studios art glass and leaded glass lamps have been consigned by a Pittsburgh collector, including two with swirling lemon shades, one geometric style, and an Acorn lamp. Another desirable lot is a Tiffany Studios art glass floor lamp with Favrile shade.
Strong prices were paid in the Fall sale for figural silver napkin rings, prompting an eastern Pennsylvania collector to consign more than 30 premium examples. Within the collection in the Winter auction are a Rip Van Winkle, man on high-wheel bike, baseball player, tennis players and several Kate Greenaways.
It has been years since a significant collection of figural British biscuit tinswas seen on the open market. Morphy’s will offer more than 200 examples from the Hal and Rochelle Shapiro collection, from manufacturers including Huntley & Palmers, McVitie & Price, Crawfords, and Carr & Co, as well as a few from Continental Europe. Most are from the golden age of biscuit tins – the latter 19th and early 20th centuries – and range in theme from trompe l’oeil shapes like stacks of books, sundials, handbags, boats (including a 1934 W. & R. Jacob Water Witch houseboat), urns, vases, a china cabinet, field glasses case, etc., to royalty (many Queen Victoria images are in the collection) and juvenile, including a rare 1934 Crawford Mabel Lucie Attwell Fairy House. The Shapiros also amassed an enviable array of sample tins and rare, small promotional premiums.
The Saturday session also includes antique guns and swords, folk art, a single-owner collection of early figural tape measures (including many of celluloid), and a quality selection of Louis Icart artist-signed prints from a 25-year collection out of New Jersey.
Morphy Auctions’ Winter 2005 sale takes place Dec. 8-10. View the fully illustrated catalog and bid absentee or live online at www.liveauctioneers.com.
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