The Comstock Flying Hellgrammite, patented June 30, 1883, may be the first wooden bait. This rare example has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Lang’s Sporting Collectibles Inc.
WATERVILLE, N.Y. – Early fishing lures and reels and a scarce limited edition of A River Runs Through It are among the top catches at Lang’s Sporting Collectibles Inc.’s Fall Auction on Nov. 6-7. The online-only sale begins at 11 a.m. Eastern both days. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
The copy of Pennyroyal Press’s 1989 release of A River Runs Through It, which will sell on the first day of Lang’s auction, is No. 10 of just 200. Issued without a dust jacket, the book has red leather backed marbled boards with an illustration inset on the cover. Both author Norman Maclean and illustrator Barry Moser signed the book. Maclean’s semiautobiographical novel about two brothers growing up in Montana was first published in 1976 and adapted into a film directed by Robert Redford in 1992. In near fine condition with the exception of water damage to the back top cover corner, the book has a $2,000-$3,000 estimate.
Another lot in the auction linked to an American author is a Zane Grey Teaser lure, manufactured by the South Bend Bait Co. The box indicates Grey, an avid fisherman, designed and approved the teaser for use in saltwater fishing. A letter of provenance states the teaser was gifted to Grey by South Bend and that it accompanied him on a 1939 trip to Australia. The 11 3/4-inch-long aluminum lure in like-new condition has a $2,000-$3,000 estimate.
An A.H. Fowler Improved Gem fishing reel bearing a June 18, 1872 patent date is a rare find, especially in excellent-plus condition. Because these reels were made of hard rubber they were fragile and few survived. Because the reel in Lang’s auction shows no signs of use, it carries an $8,000-$10,000 estimate.
Also carrying an $8,000-$10,000 estimate is a boxed second version of the famed Meek Model No. 44 trout reel made of German silver. B.F. Meek & Sons, Louisville, Ky., is thought to have introduced this reel in late 1899. The box, which is seldom found, is marked with the retailer’s name, Von Lengerke & Antoine, and has a guarantee card dated Feb. 17, 1914 inside. Also included is the original chamois reel bag.
The only known example of a C.H. Wisner musky-size casting reel made of German silver is another auction highlight. This saltwater size (3 7/8 inches in diameter and 2 1/8 inches wide) is marked “C.H. Wisner, Flint, Mich.,” and hand-marked “Pat Dec 12 – ’99,” on the 4 1/2-inch-long handle. The estimate is $3,500-$4,500. Wisner, a circuit-court judge, also invented a minnow trap in 1898 and a one-cylinder automobile called the Buzz Wagon that debuted in a 1900 Labor Day parade.
A nice example of a Comstock Flying Hellgrammite lure, considered by many to be the first wooden bait, is another rare find. The spaceship-shaped lure having red glass eyes is stamped on the wings “H. Comstock’s Pat. Jan 30-83 Fulton, N.Y.” The turned and ribbed wooden body is 2 1/2 inches long. It has a $4,000-$6.000 estimate.
Four important early paintings by J.L. Petrie will be sold in succession on the second day of the sale. Petrie is best known for his illustration of William C. Harris’ ambitious volume The Fishes of North America That Are Captured On Hook And Line, published in 1895. This 1890s painting of a trout, signed by the artist in script “J. L. Petrie” in the lower right, conforms to the size and quality of those painted for the Harris book. It has a $500-$1,000 estimate.
For details call 315-841-4623.
View the fully illustrated catalogs and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
J.L. Petrie painted fish as soon as they were caught. This 1890s painting, one of four by Petrie in the auction, has a $500-$1,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Lang’s Sporting Collectibles Inc. One of an edition of 200, this signed copy of ‘A River Runs Through It’ is expected to sell for $2,000-$3,000. Image courtesy of Lang’s Sporting Collectibles Inc. South Bend Bait Co. gifted this Zane Grey Teaser to the prolific Western author. In factory-sent condition, the large, hookless lure has a $2,000-$3,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Lang’s Sporting Collectibles Inc. A.H. Fowler’s Improved Gem fishing reels are fragile because they were made of hard rubber. This bass-size reel is 3 1/4 inches in diameter and has an $8,000-$10,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Lang’s Sporting Collectibles Inc. B.F. Meek & Sons introduced the Model No. 44 fishing reel around 1899. Made of German silver, this fine boxed example has an $8,000-$10,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Lang’s Sporting Collectibles Inc.
Michael Goldberg, Winter Study #7, oil on artist board, estimate $15,000-$24,000. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Blanchard’s Auction Service.
POTSDAM, N.Y. – Blanchard’s Auction Service will conduct an unreserved art auction on Friday, Oct. 30 that features 177 artworks deaccessioned from St. Lawrence University’s Richard F. Brush Art Gallery. The sale will begin at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, and Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
The selection being offered by Blanchard’s incorporates abstract, postwar and contemporary art, and includes still lifes and landscapes. The paintings and other artworks, which will be offered to the highest bidder regardless of price, were chosen for deaccession only because they “no longer fit with the gallery’s mission as an educational resource,” according to Blanchard’s.
Some of the works – which were created by more than 40 different listed artists – have been in the university’s collection since the early 1960s. Many of the artists worked in the New York City area during the latter half of the 20th century, like Annie Lenney (American, 1910-). There are more than 65 Lenney oil paintings in the auction. In addition to pictures, the sale includes a few nice sculptures.
Among the top lots are two paintings by Michael Goldberg (American, 1924-2007): an 11-inch by 14-inch oil on artist board titled Winter Study #7, which is estimated at $15,000-$20,000; and a colorful, untitled 1957 abstract oil on canvas measuring 39 inches by 46 inches, which is expected to make $20,000-$40,000.
Another highlight is Leon Albert Golub’s (American, 1922-2004) painting titled The Dead Bird II. The 67½-inch by 31¾-inch work retains an exhibition label from 1956.
The sale includes two entries from Enrico Donati (Italian/American, 1909-2008). His untitled mid-1960s mixed media on canvas depicting Central Park South has hopes of earning $5,000-$10,000 at auction. A similar estimate has been placed on Black Pumice, Donati’s 20-inch by 16-inch mixed media on canvas work that features a combination of sand and paint.
Blanchard’s Auction Service is widely known for its sales of quality antiques, estate contents, fine art and automobiles. The company’s specialties are Mission and Adirondack furniture, Tiffany lighting, wood boats, duck decoys, and fishing and sporting items.
Co-owner Kip Blanchard has been in the auction business for 15 years and is a graduate of Clarkson University, Missouri Auction School and the Certified Auction Institute. In 2007, Blanchard was elected New York State Auctioneer of the Year.
For information on any lot in Blanchard’s Oct. 30 Unreserved Art Auction, contact Kip Blanchard at 315-244-0775 or email sueandkip@twcny.rr.com. View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet through www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Enrico Donati, Black Pumice, mixed media on canvas, estimate $5,000-$10,000. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Blanchard’s Auction Service. Michael Goldberg (1924-2007) untitled oil-on-canvas abstract, estimate $20,000-$40,000. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Blanchard’s Auction Service. Leon Albert Golub, The Dead Bird II, oil on canvas, estimate $25,000-$25,000. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Blanchard’s Auction Service. Enrico Donati, untitled view of Central Park South, mixed media on canvas, estimate $5,000-$10,000. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Blanchard’s Auction Service.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s new American Indian galleries will be receiving a gift of 34 rare objects from a Kansas City couple that have been patrons of the museum for decades.
The Kansas City Star reported that the gift from the collection of Morton and Estelle Sosland will be announced by museum officials Friday.
The 34 Northwest Coast art objects will anchor the new American Indian galleries, which ware scheduled to open Nov. 11.
Gaylord Torrence, the museum’s curator of American Indian art, says the sculptural masks, en textiles and baskets and bowls and totem poles are central to the new galleries.
The museum declined to put a monetary value on the gift.
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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) – Officials say a final mediation attempt to resolve differences between the C.M. Russell Museum and the Great Falls Advertising Federation has failed.
The two sides could not agree at a meeting last week that included mediator Stuart Kellner.
The split concerns an art auction held by the Advertising Federation that raised money for the museum. But some contended the auction instead raised money for the Advertising Federation.
The result is that both groups are now planning simultaneous art auctions in March.
Darrell Beauchamp, Russell Museum executive director, says the groups were too far apart to reach an agreement.
The Advertising Federation, also called the Ad Club, has donated about $5.7 million to the museum from proceeds of its Western art auctions over the past four decades.
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Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Example of a U.S. $1,000 bill, series 1928, featuring a portrait of Pres. Grover Cleveland. Public domain image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
MIAMI (AP) – When Mauricio Hanono’s son got married, he gave him a wedding gift of $1,000 – in a single bill.
The rare 1934 $1,000 bill, one of only a few thousand in existence, was meant as a family memento but ended up getting lost a decade ago after a mix up over who was supposed to pay the monthly fee for the safe deposit box where it was stored.
“He thought I was paying the rent and I thought he was paying the rent,” Hanono said. “And we forgot about it – and we lost it.”
Now Hanono has been reunited with the bill after an official at the Florida Department of Financial Services called looking for the owner of the lost money.
On Thursday, Alex Sink, Florida’s chief financial officer, came to Miami to personally hand the bill to Hanono at his Brickell cigar shop. The department’s bureau of unclaimed property is responsible for returning abandoned jewelry, money, baseball cards and other items to the owners or heirs of abandoned safe deposit boxes.
Sink used the occasion to publicize an unclaimed property auction over this past weekend in Fort Lauderdale. When the department is not able to find the owners of valuable items, it auctions them off, putting the profits into state coffers.
“We’re auctioning off about 40,000 items, not quite as valuable as this (the $1,000 bill), but many valuable items worth more than a half million dollars,” Sink said.
Thursday’s event was also an opportunity for Sink, who is seeking to succeed Charlie Crist as governor in 2010, to tout her economic record in one of the state’s hardest hit regions. Though she did not mention the upcoming gubernatorial race directly, she did say she would be working to put money back into the pockets of Floridians.
“There’s a good chance that the state of Florida is holding your money,” she said. “And my job is to be sure you get your money back.”
Hanono, 70, said he originally got the bill while working as a car dealer, where he had to manage large amounts of money. During his 30 years at the dealership, he came across three $1,000 bills – two of which he gave to friends. When his son got married in 1996, he decided to give the last one away but keep it in the family.
Now that the bill has been returned, he said, he’ll let his son decide whether to sell it or keep it.
“I was very excited,” he said. “When someone calls you and says you have a thousand dollars, it’s like the lotto.”
The bill, which bears the headshot of former President Grover Cleveland, is probably worth more than five times its face value, said Walter Graham, chief of unclaimed property at the Florida Department of Financial Services.
“In every auction, we have at least one $1,000 bill, usually more,” he said. “This item, had it not been claimed, would easily sell for $5,000 or $6,000 at this auction.”
The United States stopped printing large denomination bills, which ranged from $500 to $10,000, in 1945. Because of inflation, a $1,000 bill printed in 1945 would be equivalent to more than $11,000 today.
Last year alone, the CFO’s office returned $173 million to Floridians and has reunited residents with more than $66 million worth of property since announcing the auction three months ago, Sink said.
If the rightful owners come forward after their unclaimed goods are auctioned off, they will be reimbursed for the monetary value of the items, Sink said.
Last year’s auction raised $950,000 for the state.
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ON THE NET:
Bureau of Unclaimed Property: www.fltreasurehunt.org
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Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
A rocking chair shaped like a skeleton is bound to be noticed, especially around Halloween. This 20th-century example brought $3,198 at Jackson’s Auctioneers in Cedar Falls, Iowa, this past June.Skeletons are invited guests at our celebration of Halloween, the Mexican holiday called “Day of the Dead” and a few other ghoulish events. A chair shaped like a skeleton, with boney arms, ribs, feet and skull, is one of the largest skeleton pieces a collector can find, and it’s a mystifying piece of antique furniture. The late Vincent Price, a well-known actor in horror films, owned a whole set of skeleton chairs. At least four variations of the large, scary chairs have been sold in recent years. A few were painted white, one was dark mahogany and one was a rocking chair. The most famous is a Russian chair that has an inscription that solved part of the mystery of why these chairs were made. The inscription indicated the chair was a gift from “Masonic Lodge, 1838,” so at least one of the chairs related to a Masonic ritual. That chair sold in London in 1980 for $36,300, sold again in 1992 for about half that, then sold in 2009 for $3,198 at Jackson’s Auctions in Cedar Falls, Iowa. A popular modern “skeleton chair” is an aluminum chair by Michael Aram. It has a ribcage back, no arms or skull, a pelvis seat and three legs that look like bones. Price: $450. If you want your own skeleton chair to frighten guests on Halloween, you can buy an inexpensive chair slipcover that’s printed with a skeleton to cover the back, arms, seat and legs with appropriate bones.
Q: Recently I bought a pair of old cowboy spurs. They are very rusty and the leather is dried out. Should I condition the leather and use rust remover on them or will it hurt the value?
A: It won’t lower the value if you do a careful job of restoring them. To remove rust from the spurs, use a commercial rust remover. If the leather is very dry, it should not be washed. Just apply a commercial leather dressing. A second coat may be applied after the first coat is dry. After it is thoroughly dry, buff it with a soft cloth. Leather that has not deteriorated can be washed in soap and warm water. Dry the leather overnight, away from sunlight and heat sources. When the leather is thoroughly dry, apply leather dressing. Leather that crumbles to red powder has “red rot,” which is caused by absorption of sulfur dioxide. Red rot is a “terminal illness.”
Q: I have a pitcher marked “Jugtown Pottery.” Is it collectible?
A: Jugtown Pottery was founded by Juliana and Jacques Busbee in 1915, but the term “Jugtown pottery” also is used to refer to handmade pottery made by North Carolina families as far back as the 1750s. The Busbees built a shop in Jugtown, N.C., in 1921, and hired Ben Owen as a potter in 1923. The pottery closed in 1959 but reopened in 1960. It is still operating near Seagrove, N.C.
Q: I have a Holt-Howard candleholder that’s a figure of a girl in a yellow dress. I would like to know something about it.
A: Holt-Howard was founded by John and Robert Howard and A. Grant Holt in Stamford, Conn., in 1949. The company sold humorous condiment jars, decanters, spoon-holders, saltshakers and other tableware. Pieces are often marked with the company’s full name or “HH” and the year of manufacture. The HH mark was used until 1974. Some pieces are marked with a black and silver label. The company was bought by General Housewares Corp. in 1969 and production of Holt-Howard products stopped in 1990. Your candleholder is worth about $25.
Q: I am trying to find some information about an opalescent glass reamer embossed with these words: “Blue Goose Fruit, for most juice and finest flavor, Fry heat resisting glass, 1967.” There are embossed images of geese on the reamer, too.
A: The H.C. Fry Glass Co. of Rochester, Pa. (25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh), made your reamer between 1924 and 1933, the year the company closed after 32 years in business. The “1967” on the reamer is its mold number. Your reamer is well-known among collectors. It was a Pet Milk premium that promoted a summer drink made by combining ice, condensed milk and fresh orange or lemon juice. Blue Goose Growers was a group of citrus packinghouses in California, Florida and Arizona. Dole acquired Blue Goose in 1984. Your reamer is made of heat- resistant oven glass developed by Henry Fry in the early 1920s. Fry Glass Co. called its opalescent color “pearl.” Your reamer is worth $175 to $200.
Q: I have several 78 rpm Columbia and RCA records I bought when I was stationed in Japan from 1949 to 1951. The songs were popular among GIs, but they’re in Japanese. Are the records worth anything to anybody? Where could I donate them?
A: How interesting that GIs listened to American recordings of songs in Japanese. We would like to know if the songs were Japanese songs or American songs sung in Japanese. In any case, the market for your records is small, even in Japan, now that it’s been 60 years since the war and occupation. But there are many historical museums both here and in Japan, some dedicated solely to World War II. You might try contacting those museums to see if they’re interested in your records.
Tip: Don’t try to clean an oil painting with a cut potato. This old wives’ tale can damage the painting.
Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or e-mail addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
Need more information about collectibles? Find it at Kovels.com, our Web site for collectors. Check prices there, too. More than 700,000 are listed, and viewing them is free. You can also sign up to read our weekly Kovels Komments. It includes the latest news, tips and questions and is delivered by e-mail, free, if you register. Kovels.com offers extra collector’s information and lists of publications, clubs, appraisers, auction houses, people who sell parts or repair antiques and much more. You can also subscribe to Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles, our monthly newsletter filled with prices, facts and color photos. Kovels.com adds to the information in our newspaper column and helps you find useful sources needed by collectors.
CURRENT PRICES
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Madame Alexander doll, Glinda the Good Witch, felt, long brown hair, pink tulle gown with silver stars, lavender butterfly on chest, pink leather shoes, 14 1/2 inches, $25.
Black cat candy container, egg-shape body, wire tail, spring-mounted head, bottom of feet marked “Germany,” 1950s, 4 inches, $35.
Advertising button, “Satan-et Will Get You Yet,” winking devil, red ground, 1910-1920, 7/8 inches, $140.
Halloween postcard, embossed, little girl in white-and-pink dress standing in front of large moon, red devil riding bats, copyright 1913, $175.
Fairy Soap trolley car poster, cardboard, little girl sitting on top of bar of soap, blue ground, circa 1915, 11 x 21 inches, $205.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show window card, image of surprised-looking woman, starring Tim Curry, 1975, 14 x 22 inches, $230.
Maleficent (Mistress of All Evil) figurine from Sleeping Beauty, glazed ceramic, long black flowing gown with hood, wire staff with raven attached, circa 1959, 2 1/2 x 3 inches, $1,105.
Dorflinger wine glass set, ruby cut to clear facets, knopped stems, starburst etching on feet, 7 3/4 inches, set of 12, $3,220.
Hooked rug, exotic cat on preprinted burlap ground, 1890s, New England, 26 x 39 inches, $3,500.
