PITTSBURGH – Ray Haradin’s Old Toy Soldier Auctions will present a 640-lot selection of antique and vintage figures in an absentee, phone and Internet auction closing Nov. 21. The spotlight will focus on two important collections known to toy soldier enthusiasts worldwide: the late Dr. James “Doc” Wengert’s collection of figures, vehicles and other scale-model toys related to military medicine; and the 30-year Britains collection of Deutschebank managing director Vincent C. Banker. Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

A third-generation physician, Doc Wengert was a U.S. Navy flight surgeon who served in Vietnam. Later in his career, Wengert changed his specialty to psychiatry and worked at V.A. hospitals in his native Nebraska. Throughout his life he harbored an interest in military medical figures – doctors, nurses, orderlies, stretcher bearers, wounded soldiers – and all the accoutrements a collector might desire in setting up a miniature M.A.S.H. unit, like operating tents, field kitchens, rescue dogs and emergency vehicles.

Doc Wengert was well respected among his fellow collectors. “He had a deep knowledge of the history of military medicine, and he never missed attending the Chicago Toy Soldier Show,” said the event’s co-promoter Steve Sommers. “He could spot a Red Cross on a made-in-Japan tin bus across a crowded flea market. No paint variation or casting difference in a figure was too subtle for Doc’s eye.”

“Doc collected medical figures all through his life. He had it all,” said Old Toy Soldier Auctions’ owner, Ray Haradin. “Although his collection included many French and German rarities, he didn’t care so much about the manufacturer, the material or the country of origin; he just wanted for it to be related to war-time medicine. He liked anything unusual, like the circa-1934 Johillco Abyssinian Red Cross unit with black servicemen and a white nurse (estimate $300-$350). He also had several rare French penny toy ambulances.”

The auction contains approximately 150 medical-theme lots from the Wengert collection. A 20-piece circa-1890 T. Krause (German) medical ensemble depicting British wounded, a surgeon, tent, quarters and ambulance is expected to make $900-$1,200. Another desirable grouping is the French, circa-1930 hollow-cast set consisting of a mule carrying two wounded World War I “Poilu” soldiers accompanied by a medical officer. The lot is estimated at $280-$320

The second premier collection in the Nov. 21 sale is the Britains pre-World War II toy soldier collection of Vincent C. Banker. A Yale graduate and former U.S. Marine, Banker began collecting after an impulsive purchase of more than 500 figures he spotted in a London shop window in 1985. In the years to follow, Banker immersed himself in the hobby, “buying the best that Burt Ehrlich and James Opie had to offer,” said Haradin. “His collection was even featured in an issue of Town & Country magazine.”

Vincent Banker has decided to move his troops on to the next generation, and as a result, bidders in OTSA’s upcoming sale will find themselves in the enviable position of being able to acquire exceptional antique figures from a long-held collection. Highlights include the catalog cover lot, a circa-1900 Britains first-version set 101 Life Guard Band in red. The slotted-arm 12-piece set could make $600-$700 at auction. Another top lot, a beautiful circa-1919 Britains second-version Royal Field Artillery Gun Team with mounted officer, carries an $800-$900 estimate.

The auction also includes a number of quality figures and sets from other consignors. Sure to be at the top of many a collector’s wish list is the 1937-1941 Britains Noah’s Ark set presented in an ark-shape box. “This is only the second one I have ever seen,” said Haradin. “It includes Noah and his wife and a variety of paired animals, including penguins, monkeys, elephants, rhinos, flamingos, hippos, llamas, lions and a polar and brown bear. It’s an extremely desirable set and will probably sell for $6,000 to $7,000.”

The Britains Lambeth Walk set depicting a couple dancing was made for only one year, 1939, and was based on the musical Me and My Girl. The two-piece set is estimated at $1,400-$1,600.

A boxed circa-1920 Mignot (French) Hunting Set with mounted hunters, a variety of wild animals, trees, dogs and a cottage is expected to fetch $700-$900, while a circa-1910 Heyde (German) Old Volunteer Corps set 1387 could reach $2,200-$2,800 at auction.

Manufactured under the banner of Britains’ plastic line, Herald, a 1960s store display farm set with an appealing, colorful box is entered with an $800-$1,200 estimate.

The auction also includes a rare 1934 Britains Father Christmas pencil sharpener made as a commissioned item for Fellowes Office Equipment, estimate $320-$350; approximately 70 Vertunni 1950s-vintage Napoleonic court figures, estimate $120-$150 each; and a large selection of artillery sets with various guns.

“This is, by far, the most diversified sale we’ve ever had,” said Haradin, summarizing the contents. “There are close to 60 different manufacturers and many esoteric items that you just don’t normally see.”

For information on any lot in the sale, call Ray Haradin at 412-343-8733 or 800-349-8009. E-mail otsauctions@yahoo.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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Click here to view Old Toy Soldier Auctions USA’s complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

NEW ORLEANS – Neal Auction Co.’s highly anticipated annual Louisiana Purchase Auction on Nov. 21-22 is expected to garner considerable attention from around the country. Typically with a southern regional slant, the trademarked auction has come to epitomize the South – Southerners, what they collect and what they hold dear. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

Paintings included in the sale range from those of an early historic nature, to those that reflect an International artistic movement as explored by a Southern artist.

A certain highlight will be lot 229, a 1780 portrait miniature of the Revolutionary War hero Lt. Col. John Laurens of South Carolina by Charles Willson Peale (American/Pennsylvania, 1741-1827). The portrait miniature has an $80,000-$120,000 estimate. As a testament to the portrait’s significance, an almost identical copy of the South Carolina hero’s likeness was commissioned of the artist in 1784; that portrait resides in the Independence Hall Collection in Philadelphia.

Another oil of historic merit is lot 262 a Jean-Baptiste Henri Durand-Brager (French, 1814-1879), which depicts the salient moment immediately following the famous battle between the Confederate raider Alabama and the USS Kearsage, in which the CSS Alabama begins its fatal watery descent. This large painting, 32 inches by 59 inches, has a $40,000-$60,000 estimate.

The American Scene Movement is well-represented in the auction by John McCrady (American/Mississippi/New Orleans, 1911-1968) with lot 416, an environmentally visionary painting titled Sic Transit, in which Man and Nature are portrayed together in a state of delicate coexistence. The painting depicts an anthropomorphic cloud casting a dark shadow over a clear-cut, cultivated and eroding landscape. The award-winning painting (1941 Blanche S. Benjamin prize) succinctly embodies its Latin inspiration: Sic transit gloria mundi or thus passeth the glory of the world.

Contemporary social realism is also reflected in the sale with lot 455, Stephen Scott Young’s (American/Florida, b. 1957) socially provocative Flip Flops and Lace, a 1991 watercolor. Likened to Wislow Homer, Thomas Eakins and Andrew Wyeth, Young is considered the leading watercolorist of our time.

Original watercolors and drawings are represented by, among others, John James Audubon (1785-1851) and Charles Courtney Curran (1861-1942). An Audubon watercolor, lot 263, depicting The Stanley Hawk (aka Cooper’s Hawk) is sure to be a highlight of the auction, as original watercolors by the artist are rare. Multiple works Curran, a noted American Impressionist are included in the auction through a collection of the artist’s sketchbooks, which are comprised of more than 100 pen and ink drawings and watercolors.

Prints range from Havell edition Audubon engravings from the Birds of America to a rare 1860 Bien edition folio of the artist’s most famous work. Lot 270, the Bien folio is considered one of the finest examples of large-scale chromolithographic art of the mid-19th century. The Bien edition, named for chromolithographer Julius Bien, was conceived by Audubon’s younger son, John Woodhouse Audubon, as a reissue of the 435 images of his father’s seminal work in an effort to save the Audubon family’s dwindling finances. The outbreak of the Civil War, however, put an end to the ambitious project and only 15 of the 44 projected parts were produced. Neal Auction’s Bien folio consists of the first 14 of these parts; the last was likely lost in wartime transit.

The Belle Cheniere Collection, Paris, Texas, will begin this year’s Louisiana Purchase Auction with a 98-lot single-owner sequence. It features a chronological history of American art, as reflected through various mediums and forms—wooden chairs, for example, from the “Pilgrim” century (17th century) to the early 20th century.

Southern furniture in the sale includes a range of early Louisiana examples such as lot 220, a late 18th-century mahogany and cypress scroll-foot armoire descended in the family of Don Esteban de Quinones (Havana/New Orleans 1748-1815); lot 239, an early 19th-century Louisiana Cuban mahogany petit armoire with cabriole legs; lot 316, a circa 1830 “plum pudding” mahogany armoire attributed to New Orleans free man of color Dutreuil Barjon Jr.

The auction will offer a selection of American art pottery including lot 420, a 1902 Newcomb pottery oil lamp base, executed by Harriet Joor, one of the first artisans to attend Newcomb College, as well as a massive 1930s Shearwater bowl, lot 422, designed and carved by Walter Inglis Anderson (American/Mississippi, 1903-1965). Because of its impressive size and its long-since discontinued uranium glaze, the bowl should garner collector interest.

The 2009 Louisiana Purchase Auction will include a host of items of historic import. A War of 1812 scrimshaw powder horn inscribed “Property of John Lovrien” and featuring the American flag with 13 stars carries an $8,000-$12,000 estimate. Historic letters include a Revolutionary War battlefield letter from the “Swamp Fox,” Brig. Gen. Francis Marion, to Brig. Gen. Thomas Sumter; an autograph letter signed by Gen. Robert E. Lee; and an autograph letter signed by Jefferson Davis to the captain of the steamboat Natchez. Confederate treasury notes will also be offered in the sale. Highlights will include two $1,000 Montgomery notes and a $500 Montgomery note.

Neal Auction Co. will also offer a collection of published and exhibited pre-Columbian art from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Other lots in the sale have been deaccessioned from the Bayou Bend Collection of Miss Ima Hogg.

Part II of the John W. Mecom Jr. Collection of Mardi Gras Memorabilia will be sold on the second day of the auction. Proceeds will benefit the Galveston Art Center, Hurricane Ike Restoration Project.

The auction will begin Saturday, Nov. 21, at 10 a.m. Central. The Sunday, Nov. 22, sale will begin at 11 a.m. Central. For details phone 800-467-5329.

View a fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

Click here to view Wittlin & Serfer Auctioneers’ complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE