Kovels – Antiques & Collecting: Week of May 11, 2009
Ruth, Mantle are MVPs in Grey Flannel’s $1.4 million sale
The final tally for the 854-lot auction was $1,418,046 (all prices quoted are inclusive of 20 percent buyer’s premium). As predicted, the two most highly publicized lots finished at the top of prices realized.
The earliest known Mickey Mantle game-used autographed home jersey, worn by the young Oklahoma phenom in his first years with the Yankees, took the blue ribbon with a closing bid of $188,318.40. Not far behind was a Babe Ruth bat from the 1926-1929 period, into which the legendary slugger had carved 11 notches to represent 11 home runs. 
A great surprise, said Russek, was the number of underbidders who had never before participated in a Grey Flannel auction. “There were many extremely important items in this sale, and they drew the true collectors out of the woodwork.” Continue reading
Dan Morphy buys back operating assets of Morphy Auctions
In a deal finalized on May 8, 2009, Dan Morphy assumes sole ownership of the company he established in 2004. The new firm will be known as Dan Morphy Auctions, LLC, with all current staff retained.
The purchase package also includes the Adamstown Antique Gallery, the multi-dealer retail venue that serves as Morphy Auctions’ headquarters; and the semiannual event known as Morphy’s York Antique Toy Show. Both properties were part of the original sale to the Geppi companies in 2005.
Continue reading
DuMouchelles presents all-star auction series May 15-17
While elections for the Baseball Hall of Fame began in 1936, the first induction at Cooperstown, N.Y., was not held until 1939. The living members of the Hall of Fame inaugural class consisting of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Cy Young, Walter Johnson, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, Larry Lajoie, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Connie Mack and George Sisler all signed the “Official Centennial League 1839-1939” baseball. It is dated June 12, 1939. DuMouchelles has set the estimate at $10,000-$15,000, however, a photograph of the inaugural class of Hall of Famers autographed by all but Cobb, sold at Sotheby’s in 1999 for $63,000.
Babe Ruth’s iconic autograph is on another team-signed baseball in the sale. This one commemorates the 1934 American League All-Star Team’s tour of Japan. Among the signatures on the “Davega Sports Liberty League” baseball is that of backup catcher Moe Berg, who was also a spy for the U.S. government. The ball has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate.
Baseballs autographed by presidents include one by John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and another by Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Kennedy ball has an $800-$1,200 estimate, while the Clinton ball has a $200-$300 estimate. A baseball autographed by all four members of the Beatles carries a $1,000-$1,500 estimate.
The Beatles’ “White Album,” autographed by each member of the group above his picture on the inside cover has generated much interest. The lot, which also includes unsigned publicity prints of the band and both records, has a $1,000-$2,000 estimate.
Saturday’s sale will begin at 11 a.m. and include an 18th-century American highboy, probably New Hampshire. Standing 65 inches high and 39 inches wide, the two-piece maple highboy has a $12,000-$14,000 estimate.
Antiquarian books, art and decorative arts from several prominent Detroit area estates will cross the auction block Sunday, May 17, which begins at noon.
The auction will be conducted at the DuMouchelles galleries 409 E. Jefferson Ave. in Detroit. For information phone 313-963-6255. To view the fully illustrated catalogs for the DuMouchelles auction, or to sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet, click here:
View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Furniture Specific: The Family Story
Early in the outline was the requirement to recite some family history – who we were and where and from whom we came. Easy enough. Just ask Mom and Dad since we had no other nearby relatives and long distance telephone calls were a luxury then. One of my parents had little to say on the subject and that was that. The other one told me the wonderful story of how my surname ancestors had been among the first settlers in Georgia, having been released from debtor’s prison in England to help colonize the New World in the expedition led by James Oglethorpe in the 1730s. Since there had been many generations of illiterate farmers in the family history there was little or no written family history so the story was all I had to go on and it suited me just fine to know that I was not some Johnny come lately just off the boat.
Years later, after a casual meeting with a distant relative who planted some tantalizing seeds of doubt, I became interested in my genealogy and learned how to do some serious research. Boy was I surprised! Turns out my surname was not that of my ancestors. It was an adopted named introduced into the family only a couple of generations earlier. My real ancestors did not help settle Georgia. In fact that side of the family only made it to Georgia in the 20th century. On the other hand they were among the earliest settlers in other parts of the country and the real story of the family history was at least as interesting and informative as the old family tale.
That has turned out to be true many times since then in encounters with readers and customers who have a piece of family furniture that has an interesting family history that proves the worth, sentimental, monetary or both, of the family treasure. Continue reading
Say ‘aloha’ to Hawaiian shirts again
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Spring is here, and that means the season has arrived for tropical print camp shirts, better known as Hawaiian shirts.
After a harsh winter, a change of attire can spark a change of attitude.
“The minute you put them on, you feel a little more relaxed,” said Doug Wood, chief operating officer of Seattle-based Tommy Bahama, one of the nation’s top sellers of upscale versions of Hawaiian shirts.
Hawaiian shirts have been riding one of their periodic waves of popularity in recent years, thanks to the influence of surfer chic. Despite their humble 1930s origins and iconoclastic image, Hawaiian shirts are a serious business and subject of academic study. And they are popular everywhere, said Linda Arthur, a textile professor at Washington State University in Pullman who has written several books about Aloha shirts, the preferred name among aficionados.
“The Aloha shirt has covered the globe,” Arthur said.
Aloha shirts were invented in the 1930s, when mom-and-pop tailors in Hawaii began making Western-style garments out of a common material, colorful Japanese kimono fabric. The shirts at first were sold to tourists, but eventually caught on with locals. Continue reading
Minnie Mouse is big cheese at Government Auction.com sale May 10
A scarce stuffed toy Minnie Mouse by Knickerbocker is expected to be among to top lots in the collectibles category. Except for staining on the face this 1930s cloth doll is in good condition and has a $3,000-$6,000 estimate. It has an old button pinned to one ear, but it has been there for a long time and may be removed.
Another valuable 1930s doll is a Topsy by the Gem Co. The dress contains the Topsy/Gem label. This black doll is in excellent condition, but missing one of her shoes.
Antiques will include a large Black Forest mantel clock that has its original movement. A stag tops the finely carved wooden case, which is 25 inches high. The clock has an estimate of $8,250-$16,500.
High interest gold coins include an 1868-S $2.5 U.S. Liberty Head-type, which has a $465-$930 estimate.
A 12.98-carat ruby and diamond ring in 14-karat gold is a stunner. GovernmentAuction.com uses retail replacement value appraisals for jewelry lots, and this ring has an estimate of $24,000-$48,400.
The auction will begin Sunday at 9 a.m. Pacific.
View the entire online catalog at LiveAuctioneers.com. For information call GovernmentAuction.com at 661-823-1543.
View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Click here to view GovernmentAuction.com’s complete catalog.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Complete with original works, this Black Forest mantel clock stands 25 inches high. Image courtesy GovernmentAuction.com.[/caption]
Case to auction Leon Kroll painting May 16
Also offered are several pieces of Southern regional art and a variety of fine antiques.
The sale, which includes nearly 400 cataloged lots, is the company’s largest one-day offering of art and antiques to date. Leading the art is a 48-by-36-inch oil on canvas portrait of a woman lounging in an armchair by Leon Kroll (American, 1884-1974). Kroll, a realist painter, studied at the National Academy of Design and the Academie Julien in Paris, where he won the Grand Prix for painting the nude. He went on to participate in the famed Armory Show of 1913 and frequently exhibited with friends Robert Henri and George Bellows, and other members of The Eight.
“The female form was a constant theme throughout Kroll’s acclaimed career, and this is an exceptional example of his work,” said gallery president John Case. The painting bears the stamp of the Leon Kroll estate.
The four pencil and charcoal drawings by Jonas Lie (American, 1880-1940) depict a copper mine in Bingham, Utah. They date from 1917, a year when Lie produced a series of paintings of the mine. While the Phoenix Art Museum owns a Lie oil painting with a view identical to one of the drawings, the current whereabouts of most of his other mine paintings are unknown. Continue reading
Hayter’s ‘Blues’ expected to be a top hit at Susanin’s sale May 9
One of the featured paintings is an abstract work by Stanley William Hayter (British 1901-1988) titled Blues. The acrylic on canvas, 51 1/4 by 38 1/4 inches, is signed and dated on the lower right and on the stretcher. It also has a dedication inscription on the stretcher: “For Desiree Moorhead Happy Xmas 1968 From Bill with love.” Moorhead, an Irish poet and writer, later became Hayter’s third wife and they were living together in Paris at the time of his death in 1988. The painting has a $20,000-$40,000 estimate.
Two landscapes by Jean Metzinger (French 1883-1965) have $15,000-$20,000 estimates. Metziner became a leading exponent of Cubism, but early in his career he painted in Neo-Impressionist and Fauvist styles. Both paintings at Susanin’s are oil on wood panel and both have gallery labels from Coleman Art Gallery, Philadelphia. Poppy Fields measures 8 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches, 15 1/2 by 17 1/2 inches framed. “Road With Trees and Town in Background” is nearly the same size. Continue reading
13-year-old boy not a typecast collector
“Well, these are your ’30s,” he says. “And this one was patented in 1898 but, actually, it was made in the 1900s. This one right here … ” He bends down to read an old inscription dulled by time. “This one was Nov. 5, 1912.”
You nod and peer closely at a few old machines. “So these are the Oliver Standard Visible Writer No. 3?” you say.
“Yeah,” says Jett.
And this one?
“That’s the same typewriter actually, just a different model. It’s mainly referred to as an Oliver Number 9.”
An old label is prominently placed on the front of the machine, so you read it aloud: “Oliver Typewriter Company. Chicago, USA. Keep machine cleaned and oiled.”
“Yeah, and this one definitely was not,” Jett says, and you detect just a dollop of indignation. Continue reading