April 14, 2010 - Auction Central News

Old Toy Soldier Auctions salutes major collections in May 1 sale

Mounted Courtenay knight with exceptional original paint, one of 75 Courtenay lots in the sale. Old Toy Soldier Auctions image.

PITTSBURGH – Collectors of toy soldiers and civilian figures – please stand at attention. These are your marching orders. Report to your phone, fax machine or computer on or before May 1 for Old Toy Soldier Auctions’ 655-lot sale of top-quality figures from revered and long-held collections. This exciting event, which is not to be missed, is headlined by the Bill and Don Thompson collection and part III of the John Graham collection, with various other select properties from additional private consignors. Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

Don Thompson and his late brother, Bill, hailed from Chicago and began collecting toy soldiers at a young age. In 1947, the Thompsons moved to California, and the expansive collection made the journey, as well. There on the West Coast, the cherished toys remained in storage until 2009, when they were unwrapped to be assessed for auction purposes.

“The figures had been exquisitely packed in cotton, and half a century later, the condition is still just amazing,” said Ray Haradin, owner of Old Toy Soldier Auctions. “While some of the sets may not be extraordinarily rare, they are the types of sets that were very popular with kids of their era, and the Thompson brothers took great care of them.”

The majority of items from the Thompson collection, which comprise approximately 120 lots in the auction, date primarily to the 1930s and the height of Britains’ so-called “Whistock era.” As Haradin explained, “Whistock was an illustrator for Britains who did much of the graphic design for the labels and boxes of that period.”

Featured items from the Thompson collection include a Britains Set #12 – the 11th Hussars (estimate $250-$350), a fabulous Set #93, which is a large British Army display containing 71 pieces ($2,500-$3,500); and an example of Set 89, a 30-piece Cameron Highlanders display set with officers and pipers ($600-$700). “These three sets exemplify the many near-mint, prewar Britains military sets to be auctioned in this sale,” said Haradin.

Civilian-figure highlights include a Moultoy Little Red Riding Hood set in its original box, and an array of approximately 30 Vertunni figures, most of which depict members of the French royal court.

A West Coast consignor was the source of 75 lots of desirable Courtenay knights, whose various individual estimates range from $150 at the low end to $800 at the top. “All of the figures in this grouping were purchased new in the 1950s and have been kept in wonderful condition. Also, many of the figures hold banners, which is especially appealing to collectors,” Haradin noted.

Part III of the John Graham collection consists of both early figures and some of the more-contemporary designs by Mignot, King & Country, Banners Forward, Edmunds, Marlborough and Imperial. Essentially all of the figures in this grouping were made in the period between the early 1980s and early 1990s. A special highlight is the early King & Country set featuring glossy-painted Seaforth Highlanders in active service dress. It is expected to make $500-$700 at auction.

Fans of German-made figures are sure to make a beeline for the Heyde lots in Old Toy Soldier’s Spring Sale. A standout is Heyde’s Set #1003, known as The Queen’s Procession. This panoramic circa-1901 set, accompanied by its original box, contains approximately 90 figures commemorating Queen Victoria’s Jubilee. “The figures are from all areas of the former British Empire,” said Haradin. “It shows a lot of diversity and is nearly complete.” Another Heyde favorite in the sale is a large-scale (60-millimeter figures), circa-1905 U.S. Army presentation set.

Other noteworthy lots include a Hafner Frederick the Great set and a nice assortment of Astra and Britains artillery pieces.

Old Toy Soldier’s Spring 2010 Auction will take place on Saturday, May 1. Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.com. Absentee bids, including those placed via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers, must be made no later than 24 hours prior to the sale in order to be accepted.

For additional information or detailed condition reports on any lot in the sale, call Ray Haradin at 412-343-8733 (tollfree: 800-349-8009) or e-mail raytoys@aol.com.

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

Britains 71-piece set No. 93, a replication in miniature of the British Army. Old Toy Soldier Auctions image.

Riding a white horse, Frederick the Great leads his troops to the accompaniment of two drummers in this beautiful set of soldiers made by Haffner. Old Toy Soldier Auctions image.

Cherilea England baseball set with nine-player team, umpire and original pictorial box. Old Toy Soldier Auctions image.

King and Country produced this appealing set of figures depicting the Seaforth Highlanders.

John Jaques & Son Magpie Demons Lawn Tennis set with players, instructor, net, felt 'court' and original printed instructions (not shown). Old Toy Soldier Auctions image. — John Jaques & Son Magpie Demons Lawn Tennis set with players, instructor, net, felt ‘court’ and original printed instructions (not shown). Old Toy Soldier Auctions image.

Johillco greyhound racing set with figures of six dogs and their handler. Old Toy Soldier Auctions image.

Britains 16th The Queen’s Lancers and 5th Royal Irish Lancers set. Old Toy Soldier Auctions image.

Pittsburgh music store spins 78s into specialty

Nine RCA 78 records containing some of the top hits of 1956 fill an album. With rock ’n’ roll classics like ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy’ and ‘Shake Rattle and Roll,’ the album sold for $325 in 2006. Image courtesy Regency-Superior Ltd. and Live Auctioneers archive.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – One bright spot in the rather devastated record industry of the past few years has been the surprising resurgence of vinyl.

In Pittsburgh, the timeline goes back even farther, with the unexpected comeback of shellac.

Earlier this month, Willie Weber opened Whistlin’ Willie’s 78s – a new, separate wing of the famed Jerry’s Records in Squirrel Hill devoted to 78 rpm records, which, if you’re keeping track, would be at least five technologies back from the modern-day MP3.

Willie is not Jerry’s father. Rather, he’s his 31-year-old son, who has been working for his vinyl-loving dad since he was 13. Being the old-soul type, Willie had no interest in filling the second-floor room next to Jerry’s, recently vacated by 720 Records, with a used CD shop. No, he loves the thick, crackly feel and antique sound of grandpa’s records.

“I was getting them all the time in record deals,” Willie Weber says, “and I just fell in love with them. I got interested in them and started collecting them.”

Now he has between 20,000 and 30,000 78 rpm records in genres ranging from classical to big band to country to rock ’n’ roll. The format dates back to the 1890s and stayed in production until about 1960, when finally it was made obsolete by the slicker and slower-playing 45, which had first come along in 1948.

What you won’t find in the milk crates at Whistlin’ Willies are flashy album covers. The 78s largely were sold in brown-paper wrappers and consisted of one or two three-minute sides of music. Walking over to the classical section, Mr. Weber, in black T-shirt, jeans and fedora, pulls out a bound case of Handel’s Messiah that consists of 19 discs and sells for $25. It would take a lot of turntable stacking to get through that, but he doesn’t recommend it – “when they drop, they crack pretty easily.”

Whistlin’ Willie’s is not a store stocked with pricey collectors’ items. Like his father, the owner follows the philosophy that music is meant to be listened to and enjoyed, not archived or put behind glass. The most expensive piece in the store is Bessie Smith’s first record, the 1923 Down Hearted Blues/Gulf Coast Blues, which is priced at $50.

Flip through the stacks and you’ll find Frankie Lymon’s Why Do Fools Fall in Love for $6, Fats Domino’s I’m Walkin’ for $5, Percy Mayfield’s Hopeless for $5 and Pat Boone’s Tutti Frutti for $2. On the pricier side, at $10, are singles by Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and other early rock ’n’ rollers.

“I can’t keep this stuff in stock,” he says. “When I get them in, they sell right way. The old 45 guys, they have the records on 45, but they want them on 78, too.”

The hardest stuff to find, he says, is rock ’n’ roll, vintage blues and jazz. People cleaning out their attic and coming in trying to sell him boxes filled with popular artists from the ’40s might only get five bucks for the whole case. “Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee. … Even though they’re great, I just have multiple copies.”

At the front counter, there are a variety of record players (some for sale), ranging from an old Edison console from the late 1800s to a windup Victrola to a modern turntable hooked up to a CD burner, so he can make copies of rare records before he sells them. Drawn by the title That Awful Day Will Surely Come, he plays a song by Gertrude Ward and the Daughters. It turns out to be an eerie gospel tune that bleeds through the pops and hiss.

“After a while you don’t even hear it,” Mr. Weber says of the crackles. “It’s part of the sound. Even on CDs now, you have artists sometimes putting the crackling on.” If the pop and hiss resides in the middle of the track, what you get on either side of it with old vinyl and shellac are dynamic highs and lows not heard on your MP3 download.

For the connoisseur of vintage music, one of the fascinating things about the shop is discovering artists whose work has never even been committed to LP or CD. As an example, he points to a record by Joe Howard.

“I’ve found artists that I couldn’t find anything about in all the books we have here, and on the Internet.”

Mike Plaskett, who hosts Rhythm Sweet & Hot on WDUQ (90.5 FM), has been a longtime 78 collector and customer of the Webers’. He regularly cruises used record and thrift stores looking for music he can’t find on LP or CD.

“I’m looking for the ones that have slipped through the cracks and have not been reissued,” he says. “Those things will turn up at Jerry’s and will rarely be found at the secondhand stores, because grandma has cleaned out her closet and grandpa has cleaned out his garage. They’re either in the hands of serious collectors, moving through the auctions or in places like Willie’s store.”

The ’DUQ deejay shops for rare 78s, transfers them into his computer, cleans up the scratches and burns them onto a CD to play on his radio show. His best example of an artist who requires this special treatment is Guy Lombardo.

“Guy Lombardo was absolutely huge through the ’30s, but very few Guy Lombardo records were reissued – just the dozen biggest hits. He recorded the cream of the American songbook, but no one’s put them out. And yet, I get a great reaction when I play them on the show.”

Among the rarest gems in Whistlin’ Willie’s are the quarter-inch Edison records, of which he has about 100. He pulls out a copy of Sidewalk Blues by the Golden Gate Orchestra ($10) and manually spins the turntable on the Edison console. He still marvels at the way he acquired it.

He got a call from an elderly woman in Claysville who said she had some old records to sell. The Webers have gotten used to calls from people who don’t even know the difference between 78s and 45s. “She had plastic bags on her feet, she was so poor,” Willie says. “She had a bunch of 78s, stuff I’d never seen before.” She took him out to the barn, and he was shocked to find the Edison phonograph. When she saw his reaction, she told him, “I wish I had known. I had four more I burned for firewood.” He gave her $500 for everything, including the metal pieces of the Edisons that didn’t burn, and he estimates that the Edison is worth at least that.

It’s one of the few things in the store that’s not for sale. Generally, he isn’t concerned about his own collection.

“I’m so young I can probably sell everything because I’ll eventually end up getting it back – probably from the same people!” he says, laughing.

Most of the trade for 78s takes place these days on the Internet. Jerry Weber, who knows the record business, feels confident that Whistlin’ Willie’s will be the only store dedicated to them on the East Coast. He never made much room for them in his own shop, even as they were piling up in his warehouse.

Like his son, though, he loves the magic of the shellac.

“In some cases, you’re listening to a 90-year-old record that someone played on a windup record player – and it still plays! It’s like touching history.”

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Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com

AP-ES-04-10-10 0002EDT

Civil War prisoner’s painting captured heat of battle

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (AP) – In a time of war, he managed to create as well as fight.

During the final years of the Civil War, John F. Gisch was a Confederate prisoner at the Rock Island Arsenal. While there, he created several paintings depicting scenes from the war or the prison.

His most recently found painting recently brought a film crew from Public Broadcasting’s History Detectives to the Quad-Cities to learn more about it and Gisch.

“The (painting) that our guy owns is completely unknown,” said Renato Rodriguez, a researcher and associate producer for the show.

Gisch was a foot soldier with the Confederate 24th Alabama Infantry Regiment, Rodriguez said. In November 1863, his regiment fought a Union force to control the high ground around Chattanooga, Tenn.

The fighting lasted three bloody days, ending with the Confederate soldiers being driven from the area, according to the National Park Service, which oversees the battleground. Thousands died on both sides, with Gisch captured during the final battle, the federal assault on Missionary Ridge, Rodriguez said.

The painting researched by the show is a portrayal of the fight for Lookout Mountain, an earlier engagement of the campaign. Gisch’s name is clearly visible on the yellowing margin around the scene that shows Union soldiers advancing through a field as Confederate soldiers back their way up a steep, wooded hill. Nearby is a white house. Both sides are shooting. Men are dying.

“It was one of the big fights,” Rodriguez said of the battle. After the fighting, Chattanooga became the base for William Tecumseh Sherman’s drive further into the Confederacy.

The ground in the painting has changed little, Rodriguez said. He knows, because he and his crew walked it while researching Gisch’s story.

“We stood right in that spot,” he said, adding it has been slightly altered by development. But the house and the hill are still there, he said.

Rodriguez said Gisch’s painting found its way into the hands of Thomas Cocke, a fellow prisoner and sergeant in the 29th Mississippi Infantry Regiment who fought at Lookout Mountain. His accounts of the battle may have helped Gisch create the painting.

Cocke’s name also can be seen in the painting’s margin in a commemoration indicating he gave the painting to Mary B. Robertson. Rodriguez said she was the great-great-great-aunt of Bill Dodge of Portland, Ore., who now has the painting.

The show learned of the painting from a colleague who knows Dodge. After contacting him, the show’s researchers began investigating the history of the painting and the people associated with it.

There were challenges in unearthing the tale, Rodriguez said. The show had names, but several Confederate soldiers had the same names, according to documents the researchers uncovered. Different records also varied the spelling of Gisch’s name.

“It was a lot of cross-referencing,” Rodriguez said.

Records at the arsenal’s museum helped. As the crew set up for interviews Thursday, museum staffer Jodie Wesemann used a microfilm machine to share a document from the prison – a prisoner list with most names faded to the point of being illegible. But at the end of one column, Gisch’s name appeared dark and bold.

“Look at that,” Wesemann said. “It was almost like it was meant to be.”

With his name was a registry number that all prisoners received. A check of the number in the registry showed the same name, Gisch’s regiment and other information that confirmed his identity, she said.

The records, and other interviews the crew will be doing, are also helping History Detectives tell the story of the prison, which had a bad reputation over its treatment of prisoners, Rodriguez said. That appears to be a misrepresentation, he added.

“Here they had a library. They had hospitals,” Rodriguez said. “They allowed the prisoners to work and earn some money.”

Despite the discoveries, there are some things History Detectives has not been able to find. Rodriguez said researchers could not discover much about Cocke or his relationship to Mrs. Robertson. But they do know much about Gisch and what happened to him after the war. They just aren’t telling, Rodriguez said.

He said the researchers have yet to tell Dodge about their findings. They don’t want him learning the information through newspapers, he said. The show also won’t air until later this summer.

Rodriguez did say Gisch survived prison, and that his tale has a happy ending. As an indirect hint to confirm that, the painter lived long enough to have a family, with one of his descendants coming to the Quad-Cities to share what she knows with History Detectives.

AP-CS-04-13-10 0502EDT

Former auctioneer sentenced to 9 years in prison

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) – Former auctioneer Jim Durham has been sentenced to nine years in prison on four felony counts of writing bad checks.

Durham was sentenced Monday in Forrest County Circuit Court.

The Hattiesburg American reports that Durham, former vice president of Durham Auctions, was convicted on April 8 on passing bad checks of more than $230,000 including a $125,000 to the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

Prosecutors say Durham used an escrow account to hold money that should have gone straight to consignors after an auction. They say Durham used the money to pay off loans and investors.

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Information from: Hattiesburg American, http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com

AP-CS-04-13-10 0845EDT

Skinner to open auction for musical instruments on upbeat, April 25

Italian violin, Giovanni Grancino, Milan, circa 1690, certificate: Etienne Vatelot, Paris, December 12, 1991, estimate: $90,000-110,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc.

BOSTON – Classic stringed instruments will have the stage April 25 when Skinner Inc. conducts a Fine Musical Instruments auction. Offered will be nearly 350 lots representing the best in classical and modern instruments including vintage guitars by Gibson and Martin, exceptional solid body guitars, fine Italian violins and fine French bows. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

Outstanding violins grace the auction including one by Giovanni Grancino of Milan, circa 1690, with a certificate of authenticity by the eminent French expert Etienne Vatelot. The instrument is estimated at $90,000-$110,000.

The catalog cover lot is an Italian violin by Giovanni Baptista Ceruti of Cremona, 1803, with a W.E. Hill certificate from 1905. The violin is in near pristine condition showing almost no wear to its original varnish and its edgework. Ceruti had an original style with bold outlines and long luxurious corners that are perfectly preserved in this example. In an old Rhode Island family for more than 100 years, the violin is estimated $80,000-$120,000.

From the same family is a rare Italian violin from Pietro Guarneri of Venice, 1734. Meticulously restored by the Hill Shop in 1900, the state-of-the-art restoration work still remains unsurpassed in quality. While the scroll is Italian, probably Venetian, it’s likely by another maker of the same period. The piece is an extraordinary example, rarely ever seen at auction, and is estimated $30,000 to $50,000.

The auction also features an unusually good offering of modern Italian violins from 20th-century makers.

French bows include excellent examples by Sartory, the most popular maker of the 20th century. One example from 1930 retains its original screw and eyelet. A collectors piece, it is estimated $6,000-$8,000. Another example from Sartory’s finest period, circa 1910, is in beautiful condition, and estimated $11,000-$14,000. Other makers include Pajeot, Ouchard, Tubbs, Gaulard, Voirin and Nurnberger.

Among the fretted offerings is a good selection of Martin and Gibson vintage acoustic guitars, including a 1927 Martin 000-18, a large body acoustic flattop guitar, which is a fine choice for fingerpicking, estimated $4,000-$6,000. Also featured is a 1946 000-28 Martin, another large body fingerpicking guitar, with Martin’s famous “herringbone” edge binding, estimated $6,000-$8,000.

Solid body electric guitar enthusiasts will appreciate a Fender Telecaster from 1968 with sunburst finish estimated to bring $3,000-$4,000. Other Fender highlights include a Precision bass guitar in “as new” condition, estimated at $5,000-$6,000 and a Stratocaster from 1958, certified 100 percent original parts, estimated at $12,000-$16,000. Fans of the mod era will love a Rickenbacker model 365 from 1961. A model popular among bands like The Beatles and The Who, this instrument is estimated at $2,200-$2,800. For the jazz player, a Gibson ES-175 from 1959 in “as new” condition with original case, strap, cord and hang tags is expected to hit $6,000-$9,000.

Also on the block, an unusually good offering of Gibson mandolins and a rare mandolin Artist model by the Bacon Manufacturing Co., circa 1921, estimated $100 to $200. Also from the reputable Groton, Conn., manufacturer are three outstanding tenor banjos, all Silver Bell models, with estimates ranging from $1,500 at the low-end to $5,000 at the high. One other outstanding banjo is an Epiphone model Deluxe Recording tenor banjo in excellent condition and estimated at $3,000-$5,000.

Previews for the auction, which will be conduted at Skinner’s Boston gallery, will be April 23, noon-7 p.m.; April 24, 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; and April 25, 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. J-Way Jazz String Quartet will play at a reception April 25. RSVP to 617-350-5400.

Illustrated catalog no. 2501 is available by mail for $35 ($42 for foreign requests) from the subscription department at 508-970-3000 x3240. It is also available at the gallery for $32.

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

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