Large pair of Chinese early 20th-century enamel on porcelain vases, artist signed and marked. Estimate: $800-$1,000. Image courtesy of T A C Auctions. SAUGUS, Mass. – Tonya Cameron of T A C Auctions will conduct an Asian, Fine & Decorative Arts Auction on Thursday, Jan. 13, beginning at 5:45 p.m. Eastern. Previews will be held between Wednesday, Jan. 12, noon-5 p.m. and Thursday, Jan. 13, noon-5:30 p.m.
Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.
Cameron offers something for every collector, from novice to the most experienced. The auction will include many Chinese items of interest, such as a 19th-century blue and white garden seat; a large pair of early 20th-century Chinese enamel on porcelain vases, artist signed and marked; small Chinese dish with Yongzheng mark; ivory netsukes; and other ivory items including figurines, chess and mah-jongg sets. Several early bronzes, Ming Dynasty pieces, jade and cloisonné will also be offered. Oriental textiles, including a robe with a dragon and metallic thread motif, Imari, Satsuma and other interesting Asian items will be available.
The decorative arts portion of the sale features Tiffany Favrile bowls, KMP porcelains, Royal Vienna, Meissen and other Continental porcelains and china. Signed Muller Freres and Pate-Sur-Pate table lamps, plus other lamps and decorative objects will be featured. Of particular interest are a 1856 Harvard College yearbook with American signatures; a 19th-century marionette wearing a brass suit of armor; an important large lot of PSA graded baseball cards with sleeves; championship fight boxing tickets including Ali, Frazier, Clay, Ellis, Bonavena and Bugner; 1920 Seneca Indian Baseball Club ticket, plus an array of paintings, prints and etchings.
T A C Auctions invites you to visit their comprehensive website for full catalog and information at www.tacauctioneers.com. Their beautiful gallery is located at 113 Bennett Highway in Saugus – only 10 minutes from downtown Boston. Catering and parking are available.
For details contact Michael Riendeau or Ruthann Zanti at 781-233-0006 or e-mail info@tacauctioneers.com
Pair of ivory tulip form vases, 10 inches. Estimate $300-$500. Image courtesy of T A C Auctions.Blue and white garden seat, 19th-century, 19 inches high by 12 inches diameter. Estimate: $800-$1,000. Image courtesy of T A C Auctions.Small Chinese Dish with Yongzheng mark. Estimate: $300-$500. Image courtesy of T A C Auctions.Georges Plass oil on canvas, soldiers riding motorcycle and sidecar. Estimate: $400-$600. Image courtesy of T A C Auctions.Tiffany Favrile bowl, signed L. C. Tiffany Co., 2 inches by 6 inches. Estimate: $350-$450. Image courtesy of T A C Auctions.
Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society, greets visitors outside the 200-year-old gristmill that was renovated to house the group’s museum. Image courtesy of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society. GARDNERS, PA. – A hall of fame is being established by the Appalachian Trail Museum Society to recognize those who have made a significant contribution toward establishing and maintaining the 2,181-mile footpath that passes through 14 states from Maine to Georgia.
“The Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame is a natural fit with the museum that opened last June,” said Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society. “The trail and the museum represent the collective efforts of volunteers who have made countless contributions in ways that are as varied as the personalities who have been involved. The hall of fame will recognize those people who have unselfishly devoted their time, energy and resources toward making the Appalachian Trail a national treasure.”
With the announcement, the Appalachian Trail Museum Society released the following details about the nomination criteria and nominating and selection processes:
Criteria – Those eligible for consideration include anyone who has made a major contribution to the Appalachian Trail, or otherwise has advanced the cause of the Appalachian Trail. These include, without limitation, pioneers who conceived of and developed the trail; those who organized or directed major trail organizations like the
Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Appalachian Trail maintaining clubs; longtime trail maintainers; leaders who promoted and protected the Appalachian Trail; hikers who have made significant accomplishments, and other persons who have enriched the culture or community of the Appalachian Trail by their association with it.
Nominations – Nominations will be solicited from throughout the hiking and trails community, by using a unique Internet survey address. The address is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/63PYPCT
Deadline for nominations – March 20, 2011. The survey address is open to accept nominations through March 31, 2011. Anyone may submit a nomination, without charge, regardless of whether he or she is a member of a hiking or trails organization. Only one nomination should be submitted per year per person. The survey site will ask a nominator to justify his or her nomination in a brief statement not exceeding 200 words that describes the nominee and why he or she fits the criteria.
Hall of Fame Committee; Election – An Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Committee has been selected by the Appalachian Trail Museum Society Board of Directors to supervise the election process and to submit the finalists to the board. That committee is chaired by Jim Foster, a museum volunteer and 2007 thru-hiker of the Appalachian Trail. Other members of the committee are Noel DeCavalcante, Tom Johnson, Larry Luxenberg, Laurie Potteiger and J.R. Tate. The Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Committee will deliver the slate of finalists to the museum board by April 30, 2011, for subsequent review and elections. For the first three years, founding classes to the Appalachian Trail Museum will be named. These initial classes will emphasize important historical figures who were critical to the creation and development of the trail. The Appalachian Trail Museum Society Board can elect up to six people in the first year, and up to three each in the second and third years. After the third year, only a single person may be elected each year.
Announcement and recognition of inductees – Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame inductees will be announced during the Appalachian Trail Museum’s annual festival, scheduled for the third weekend in June. The inductees will be enshrined on an Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame Wall of Honor to be located in the Appalachian Trail Museum.
Located in Pine Grove Furnace State Park and at the midway point of the Appalachian Trail, the museum is across from the Pine Grove General Store on Pennsylvania Route 233. The museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day and on weekends from noon to 4 p.m. in the spring and fall.
The Appalachian Trail Museum Society, a 501-C-3 not-for-profit organization formed in 2002, organizes programs, exhibits, volunteers and fundraising nationwide for the Appalachian Trail Museum. The museum opened on June 5, 2010, as a tribute to the thousands of men, women and families who have hiked and maintained the 2,181-mile-long hiking trail that passes through 14 states from Maine to Georgia. Located in the Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Gardners, Pa., the museum is conveniently near Carlisle, Gettysburg and Chambersburg, Pa. Additional information is available at www.atmuseum.org.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society, greets visitors outside the 200-year-old gristmill that was renovated to house the group’s museum. Image courtesy of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society.
Circa 1740-1750 Georgian quoined “stone” dollhouse known as the van Haeften House, owing to its prior ownership by the Baroness Ann van Haeften, top lot of the sale at $132,250. Noel Barrett Auctions image.
NEW HOPE, Pa. – A significant chapter in antique-toy history drew to a close on Nov. 19-20 as Noel Barrett auctioned the spectacular collection of dollhouses, toys, miniatures and holiday items formerly displayed in the Old Salem Toy Museum of Old Salem, N.C. The 902-lot sale, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com, consisted of a premier collection intensively assembled over the last decade by businessman Thomas A. Gray and his mother, the late Anne P. Gray, members of a prominent North Carolina tobacco family. The collection had been housed at the toy museum from 2002 till its closure in May 2010.
Proceeds from the $1,437,050 auction (all prices quoted include 15% buyer’s premium) will be used to acquire and conserve Moravian and Southern decorative art objects for the Old Salem Museum & Gardens, a restored 18th/19th-century North Carolina Moravian community that is part of a National Historic Landmark district.
The auction’s top lot, a superb circa-1740-1750 dollhouse styled as a Georgian quoined “stone” mansion, was a runaway favorite with the crowd. Its provenance included ownership by the Baroness Ann van Haeften – hence giving it the name by which it has been known to collectors for many years: The van Haeften House. Its rich history also included tenure in the Vivien Greene collection of antique doll’s houses in the Rotunda Museum, Oxford, England. At some point later in its life, the 52½-inch wide by 49¼-inch tall structure was discovered to have the signature “Schuster,” possibly that of German artist Johann Martin Schuster (1667-1738), inscribed on the reverse of its facade. Estimated at $20,000-$30,000, the celebrated dollhouse was aggressively bid to $132,250.
Collectors of dollhouses, miniatures, and outfitted shops and room boxes were spoiled for choice at the auction, with many hundreds of articles from which to choose. A remarkable 19th-century English butcher shop equipped with two buildings, outdoor stands, three stout butchers and nearly 200 carved and painted replicas of cuts of meat and poultry, had formerly been on view at the Mary Merritt Doll Museum in Pennsylvania. It sold within estimate for $33,350.
A magnificently detailed, possibly unique cigar shop/tobacconist room box attributed to Christian Hacker featured every possible inclusion required to replicate faithfully its grand, real-life counterpart of the Victorian era. “No fine detail was overlooked,” said Noel Barrett. “It even contained faux-marble columns, a glass-topped cigar display box stocked with miniature faux cigars, and a Schweitzer chandelier.” With expectations of making $8,000-$12,000, it breezed to a $21,850 conclusion.
Also selling above its estimate was a Spanish Second Empire dollhouse whose interior was signed and dated by the maker: “1888 Pintor Rafael.” Pictured in the book Dollhouses Past and Present (Donald E. Mitchell, 1980), the handsome faux-brick townhouse achieved $16,100.
As anticipated, the top lot among American tin toys entered in the sale was a circa-1870 clockwork boat replicating the Monitor. Of painted and stenciled tin with cast-iron wheels, the patriotically themed craft was offered together with an original hand-painted page depicting the toy from an example of the famed George Brown Toy Sketchbook. The boat made its estimate, gliding off to a new owner for $26,450.
Other American toys finishing in the top 10 included a charming Fallows horse-drawn painted-tin fire pumper, $18,400; and a Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus bandwagon with musician figures, $21,850. Also exhibiting a circus motif, a Merriam tinplate “Barnum’s Menagerie” circus wagon once owned by pioneer toy collector Barney Barenholtz (1914-1989) realized $16,100.
One of the surprise lots of the sale was a trio of Simon & Halbig bisque dolls in traditional travel attire, accompanied by suitcases, satchels and even a small metal bicycle attributed to Carette. The smartly dressed travel companions were offered with hopes of reaching $1,500-$2,500, but obviously had loftier ambitions. They arrived at their final destination with a winning bid of $9,775.
Other highlights included a Muller & Kadeder (Germany) airplane carrousel, which landed at $14,950 against an estimate of $4,000-$5,000; and a Wilkins painted cast-iron floor train that chugged to $12,650, more than double its low estimate. An Erzgebirge painted-wood ship with Turkish soldier figures sold within its estimate range for $8,500.
Noel Barrett commented after the sale that he felt “honored to have been selected to sell such an amazing collection,” continuing, “It was a lot of fun to deal with such high-quality material that presented so well.” Barrett said interest in seeing the collection as a whole one last time had drawn “one of the largest live crowds [at the gallery] since Internet live bidding came into common use.”
Barrett added that his greatest pleasure came from playing a role in a project that will benefit an important ongoing cultural project for North Carolina. “Tom Gray has shown great generosity in auctioning his toy collection for the purchase of Moravian and Southern decorative antiques to be enjoyed by many generations to come in his home state. I’m very pleased to have helped him in creating this contribution.”
Noel Barrett Auctions will conduct its next sale over the weekend of May 21, 2011, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com. The auction will feature a great variety of antique toys from several different lifetime collections. To contact Noel Barrett call 215-297-5109 or e-mail toys@noelbarrett.com. Visit Noel Barrett online at www.noelbarrett.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog from Noel Barrett’s Nov. 19-20 auction of the Old Salem Toy Museum collection, complete with prices realized, online at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus bandwagon with musician figures, $21,850. Noel Barrett Auctions image.Muller & Kadeder clockwork carrousel with Wright Brothers-style airplanes, $14,950. Noel Barrett Auctions image.George Brown clockwork tin boat replicating the Monitor, offered together with color page from the George Brown Sketchbook depicting the toy, $26,450. Noel Barrett Auctions image.Fallows horse-drawn painted-tin fire pumper, $18,400. Noel Barrett Auctions image.Wilkins painted cast-iron floor train, $12,650. Noel Barrett Auctions image.Late-19th-century English butcher shop with butcher figures and an extensive array of carved and painted replicas of various meats, poultry and sausage, $33,350. Noel Barrett Auctions image.Victorian tobacco/cigar shop room box with deluxe appointments and two finely dressed Simon & Halbig gentlemen dolls in attendance; attributed to Christian Hacker, $21,850. Noel Barrett Auctions image.Trio of dolls in fashionable travel attire, accompanied by luggage, satchels and a bicycle attributed to Carette, $9,775. Noel Barrett Auctions image.
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. (AP) – A southwest Florida man is being held without bond in the slaying of an antique store owner.
Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron says 64-year-old Jeffrey Mazur was found shot in his Englewood antique store on Wednesday. Mazur died Friday.
Cameron says tips that came in after detectives released surveillance camera photos from a nearby convenience store led to 33-year-old James Besaw’s arrest Saturday.
Besaw is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated robbery with a weapon. On Sunday, a judge ordered him held without bond on the murder charge. Jail records did not show whether he had an attorney.
Sheriff’s office detectives say they believe Besaw acted alone.
Besaw served about a dozen years in prison in South Carolina on various burglary charges.
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ATLANTA (AP) – Murals of slaves harvesting sugar cane on a Georgia plantation and picking and ginning cotton are coming off the walls of a state building on the order of a new agriculture commissioner.
The murals are part of a collection of eight works painted by George Beattie in 1956 depicting an idealized version of Georgia farming, from the corn grown by prehistoric American Indians to a 20th-century veterinary lab. In the Deep South, the history in between includes the forced use of slave labor.
“I don’t like those pictures,” said Republican Gary Black, the newly elected agriculture commissioner. “There are a lot of other people who don’t like them.”
Slavery was indisputably part of 19th-century farming in Georgia. By 1840, more than 280,000 slaves were living in the state, many as field hands. Just before the Civil War, slaves made up about 40 percent of the state’s population.
Beattie’s murals tell part of the story. In one painting, two well-dressed white gentlemen in top hats and dress coats leisurely inspect processed cotton. They’re framed on either side by black slaves doing the backbreaking work of cotton farming.
On the left, a slave hunches over to pick cotton bolls by hand. Two other slaves are using a Whitney gin to separate cotton fiber from seeds as a white overseer weighs cotton bags behind them.
“I think we can depict a better picture of agriculture,” Black said.
There are no signs of the whippings, beatings, shackles or brutality used to subjugate the slaves, who appear healthy, muscular, even robust.
Black said less controversial murals, a scene at a state farmers market, for example, may find a new home in a conference room or elsewhere in the building.
Few have openly protested the murals, maybe because the agriculture department is not heavily visited. Black’s election marks a generational shift. He will succeed Democrat Tommy Irvin, who was appointed to the post by a segregationist governor in 1969 and won re-election ever since.
Black’s plans after the inauguration next month include painting rooms, cleaning offices, patching walls – and taking down those murals.
A full century after the Civil War, Southerners still argue over how to handle potent symbols of slavery and segregation in public places. It’s nothing new. The same year Beattie finished the murals, state lawmakers put the Confederate battle flag back into Georgia’s state flag to protest integration. Only in 2001 did Gov. Roy Barnes replace it, and some say it cost him the election the following year.
Those conflicts spill into art. In 2007, a black lawmaker lashed out at white colleagues for refusing to support putting a portrait of Coretta Scott King in the Statehouse beside that of her husband, slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The sponsor suggested her white colleagues were bigoted. The opposing lawmakers argued that portraits in the capitol should be reserved for Georgia legislators.
In 1995, shortly before he died, Beattie defended his murals in a department-sponsored article that mentioned the art had spurred debate and concern among visitors and employees.
“As a human being, I am vehemently opposed to slavery, as anyone should be,” Beattie said, “but it was a significant epoch in our history; it would have been inaccurate not to include this period.”
His paintings showing slavery could be interpreted as an indictment. They hang in a lower lobby opposite a painting of colonial founder James Oglethorpe, a utopian who dreamed of making Georgia a classless society free of slavery.
One of Beattie’s friends, the sculptor George Beasley, said Black should commission new artwork if he has a new vision, not remove the originals.
Beasley, a professor emeritus at Georgia State University, admits that Beattie stretched reality to build his scenes. His friend was an optimist with an artistic tendency to gloss over life’s roughness.
“It kind of reflects George Beattie’s personality,” Beasley said. “He always looked on the bright side of life … He liked to portray the history and the beauty of things. I would have rather had seen the scene maybe not so sunny, and muddy, and maybe the slaves under more duress, as they would have been.”
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The St. Augustine High School "Marching 100" photographed while performing with the Krewe of Endymion in New Orleans’ 2010 Mardi Gras. Photo by B1ed2. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
NEW ORLEANS – The New Orleans Museum of Art (NoMA), now in its centennial year, will host a festive birthday party on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011, and everyone is invited. Event hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The free celebration will commence with a rousing parade down Lelong Drive, led by the “St. Aug 100” marching band from St. Augustine High School. Additionally, there will be performances throughout the day at the museum from the New Orleans Ballet Theatre, the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans, and the New Orleans Opera Association.
The world-famous Cafe du Monde will provide coffee. “And, of course, there will be lots of birthday cake,” said NoMA’s director of communications and marketing, Grace Wilson.
As the museum enters a new year, there are welcome changes to announce. NoMA is now open six days a week, Tuesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Fridays till 9 p.m. for after-hours fun called “Where Y’Art?” The new event will include live music and other performances, children’s activities, exhibition walk-throughs and guest speakers.
Out-of-towners will no longer pay different admission prices to visit NoMA. The new flat rate is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors, students or active military; and $6 for children 7 to 17. Children 6 and under are free, as are students who present a current ID from Loyola, Tulane, Nunez Community College, University of Lafayette, Our Lady of Holy Cross, UNO, Delgado or Xavier.
Wednesdays are free-admission days to all, thanks to sponsorship from the Helis foundation. Also, the NoMA Sculpture Garden is always free of charge.
Visit NoMA online at www.noma.org.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The St. Augustine High School "Marching 100" performing with the Krewe of Endymion in New Orleans’ 2010 Mardi Gras. Photo by B1ed2. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
War correspondent Ernie Pyle. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. DANA, Ind. (AP) – A community group is searching for enough money to reopen a western Indiana museum dedicated to World War II correspondent Ernie Pyle.
The Indiana Natural Resources Commission agreed in November to turn over the closed Ernie Pyle State Historic Site to the nonprofit Friends of Ernie Pyle group, which hopes to raise $1 million for an endowment fund that could sustain the museum.
The Ernie Pyle museum’s move into private hands began a year ago, when state agencies were ordered by Gov. Mitch Daniels to shave their budgets by 10 percent. The Department of Natural Resources decided to save $50,000 a year by closing the Pyle museum, which was by far the least-visited of the state historic sites with about 1,500 visitors a year.
Plans for moving key Pyle memorabilia to the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, hasn’t satisfied residents in his Vermillion County hometown.
“Well, Ernie Pyle wasn’t born in Indianapolis!” Cynthia Myers, president of the Friends, told The Indianapolis Star. “He was born in a little town, he was born in Dana, and that’s where all his writings came through.”
Members of the Friends board have been with the American Legion and other veterans groups as they look to start raising money.
“We don’t have covered bridges. We don’t have rock formations,” said Phil Hess, a Dana farmer and the Friends’ vice president. “Ernie Pyle is all we have. If you meet somebody traveling, they say, ‘I’ve never heard of Dana.’ ‘Well, it’s the home of Ernie Pyle.’ That’s just what you say.”
Pyle grew up on a farm outside Dana and attended Indiana University before embarking on his journalism career. He was a household name during World War II for his dispatches about individual soldiers.
His columns for Scripps-Howard Newspapers won a Pulitzer Prize in 1944, but he was killed by a Japanese machine gunner on a Pacific island in April 1945.
The state historic site opened in 1976. It was expanded in 1995 with the opening of a new visitor center constructed from two authentic World War II Quonset huts, but was only open May through September.
Hess said he feels a responsibility to try and keep the museum going despite being in a little-traveled rural area some 30 miles from the nearest interstate.
“We’re going to advertise,” Hess said, “but I don’t know how many people we would attract. You have to want to go to a small museum about World War II and journalism. And not everybody wants that.”
___
Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Home Run Cigar tin with colorful baseball theme, one of few known examples, top lot of the sale at $18,400. Morphy Auctions image.
DENVER, Pa. – The 40-year collection of antique advertising tins, signs, store displays and promotional items amassed by Chicago design executives David and Marcia Hirsch made $560,000 (inclusive of 15% buyer’s premium) in a Nov. 19-20 auction held at Dan Morphy’s gallery in Lancaster County, Pa. Internet live bidding was provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
More than half of the articles offered in the 1,520-lot sale pertained to tobacco, with as many as 500 of them associated with cigars – a category that has continued to show strength in the marketplace. The auction’s top lot was an early, richly illustrated tin that once held Home Run Cigars. As implied by its name, the tin’s motif depicts baseball players in action on a baseball diamond, with a runner sliding across home plate to score a run amid clouds of dust. Described in the auction catalog as “one of few known examples,” and displaying the best condition among those whose existence is known, it easily surpassed its $8,000-$12,000 estimate to achieve $18,400.
Made by a different cigar manufacturer but having a similar name, a Home-Run Stogie tin from J.A. Rigby Cigar Co., of Mansfield, Ohio, featured images of baseball players on both sides and the price “3 for 5 cents.” Retaining its rich sky blue, crimson and white coloration, the near-mint tin shot past its estimate to land at $4,600.
Yet another rarity with a baseball theme, a Spalding Athletic Goods double-sided porcelain flange sign depicting the company’s stitched-baseball trademark measured 19½ inches in diameter and was in eye-popping near-mint condition. Estimated at $3,000-$5,000, it was bid to $7,500.
A Poppy Cigar tin manufactured in California was decorated with the image of a turn of the century beauty surrounded by border of red-and-yellow poppies. Described by the auction house company’s owner and CEO Dan Morphy as “a highly sought-after but rarely found tin,” it garnered a winning bid of $3,450.
Other “pretty lady” images that found favor with the crowd included a 1902 diamond-shape sign for Burdena Broad Leaf Cigars, $3,200 (estimate $800-$1,200) and a stunning reverse-on-glass advertisement for Opia Cigars with a mysterious veiled woman posed dramatically against stars and poppies, $2,200 (estimate $1,000-$1,500).
Another lovely feminine character was the brunette lady in off-the-shoulder evening attire gracing the Exquisite Cut Plug Tobacco flat pocket tin from Larus & Bro., Richmond, Va. Against an estimate of $900-$1,200, it hammered $2,185. An elusive Columbia Dome square-corner tin created for Cameron & Cameron’s Mixture No. 2 boasted colorful graphics on all sides. It sold for $3,750.
A handsome metal with glass store counter display for Ever-Ready Shaving Brushes retained 10 soap brushes with variously colored handles, as well as six packs of razor blades. Its die-cut marquee included the company’s widely identifiable man with lathered face and razor logo. Against an estimate of $2,000-$4,000, it made $5,750.
Predicted to be one of the sale’s top lots, a 19th-century lithographed heavy paper sign advertising Sweet, Orr & Co. Union Made Overalls featured a cartouche with the image of two teams playing tug of war with a pair of seemingly indestructible denim pants. Given a generous estimate range of $4,000-$10,000 owing to its rarity, it realized $5,750.
A crowd-pleasing lot that drew a surprising price was the Yellow Kid Ginger Wafer tin with bonus addition of a cloth-gowned puppet depicting the early comic strip character. Around the puppet’s neck was a celluloid cigarette pin with Yellow Kid patois reading: “Dis is Easy Shot.” The two-piece lot with multiple crossover appeal handily outdistanced its $600-$1,200 estimate to reach a final bid of $10,350.
Dan Morphy remarked that a “strong crowd of interested bidders” was present for the sale. “Everyone who collects antique advertising knows David and Marcia Hirsch. They are two of the most involved and best-liked collectors in the hobby,” Morphy said. “It was such a pleasure to be able to offer their collection at auction. Our entire team loved working with them and handling the amazing assortment of signs and tins they had acquired over so many years.”
After the sale, David Hirsch commented: “I could not have asked for anything more from an auction house. The entire staff at Morphy’s is a very skilled group of people. I particularly enjoyed working with the design and production group. They were most gracious in incorporating my comments and suggestions. Since my professional background is in graphic design, it added to the enjoyment of the whole project. It was like working with family.”
Marcia Hirsch remarked that she and her husband did not fully realize what a major undertaking it would be to prepare their collection for auction until they were actually immersed “into the process…Unless you were there, you couldn’t imagine the amount of detailing and quality of service we received.” As for seller’s remorse, there wasn’t any, Marcia said. “We had no regrets about parting with the collection, but once the decision was made to sell it, we just moved forward. It was the right time to do it, and we were just fine with it,” she said.
Morphy Auctions will conduct an Antique Advertising sale on Jan. 8, a General Antiques sale on Jan. 22; and an Antique Toy sale on Jan. 29, 2011. For additional information on these and other upcoming auctions, tel. 717-335-3435 or e-mail dan@morphyauctions.com.
Poppy Cigar tin, rare California tin made by American Can Co., $3,450. Morphy Auctions image.Ever-Ready Shaving Brushes store display with 20 brushes and six packs of razor blades, $5,750. Morphy Auctions image.Columbia Dome square-corner pocket tin, $3,750. Morphy Auctions image.Framed Sweet, Orr & Co. Union Made Overalls lithographed heavy paper advertising sign, late 19th century, $5,750. Morphy Auctions image.Lot of two Yellow Kid items including Ginger Wafer tin and puppet/doll on stand with celluloid cigarette pin attached to gown, $10,350.Continental Cubes curved tobacco pocket tin in rare 6-inch-tall size, $3,450. Morphy Auctions image.Porcelain flange sign advertising Spalding Athletic Goods, one of three known examples, $7,500. Morphy Auctions image.
Fish, birds, a crayfish, moth, dragonfly, kingfisher, duck, water lilies and iris are all part of the foliage and scenery on this aesthetic plate. The 17 1/2-inch charger was made in France by Barluet & Cie and recently sold at a Skinner auction in Boston for $1,007.
Daring designers created a new look for dinnerware, furniture and other household furnishings in the late 19th century. It was part of a new philosophy that promoted the power and importance of art and beauty. Life was to be led for pleasure, not for moral or useful reasons. You were to depend on personal experience and intuition, not science, when making decisions. Furniture was made in the aesthetic style with ebonized (black) finishes and gold trim. Many designs were influenced by traditional Japanese designs and were usually asymmetrical — perhaps a single off-center branch, bird or flower. All types of natural subjects, including realistic insects, butterflies, animals and plants, were included. The ceramics of the period also featured nature: living creatures, plants, mountains and streams. For about 30 years, ending in 1901, aesthetic designs were widely used in France, England and the United States. Today, collectors can find furniture made by Herter Brothers in the United States or dishes made in France and sold by Shreve, Crump & Low of Boston that exhibit aesthetic ideals.
Q: I recently bought an old Turkish fainting couch made by Naperville Lounge Co. My husband says it’s the ugliest couch he’s ever seen. The upholstery is worn. I’m planning on selling it, but I’m wondering if I should have it restored first?
A: Naperville Lounge Co. was founded in Naperville, Ill., in about 1893. Peter Edward Kroehler, the company’s bookkeeper, bought Naperville Lounge Co. in 1902. The company’s name was changed to Kroehler Manufacturing Co., and by 1915 it was the largest manufacturer of upholstered furniture in the United States. The factory in Naperville closed in 1978. Your fainting couch probably was made around 1900. Don’t pay to upholster it before you try to sell it. It will cost you more than the couch is worth.
Q: I have an antique print of Daybreak by Maxfield Parrish in an original antique frame with leaded glass. The print is 18 inches high and 30 inches wide and was produced and signed by the House of Art in New York. I can’t locate a date, but it seems to be quite old and has been in my family for decades. Can you give me an approximate value?
A: Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966) was an illustrator who designed magazine covers, posters, calendars and advertisements and also painted murals. He often painted from photographs, which he took. The House of Art reproduced several of his paintings in the 1920s. Daybreak, done in 1922, is one of his most popular prints. More than a million copies were sold. By 1925 cheap copies were being made. Original prints sell for about $200.
Q: How can you remove old adhesive tape that has been on a painted metal surface for about 50 years? It won’t peel off. Scraping would scratch the painted surface. This is a small object, so I could soak it in something.
A: There are several methods you can try. Test each method in a small area before using any kind of solvent or solution to be sure it doesn’t remove the paint. Start with the safest methods first. Try softening the glue by using a hair dryer set on high. Stop if you see the color coming off when you start to remove the tape. Try soaking the object in a solution of dishwashing liquid and vinegar or ammonia in warm water. If the paint is washable, you can try covering the taped area with a cloth soaked in warm vinegar. To remove the remaining traces of glue, try rubbing them with mayonnaise, lemon juice, peanut butter or WD-40. You also can use a commercial solvent like Goo Gone.
Q: I have a bottle labeled “Dr. Baker’s Grape Cure.” It says it “regulates your system” and lists several ailments it supposedly cures. Can you tell me how old it is?
A: Dr. Baker’s Grape Cure was a patent medicine developed in 1892 and owned by William Kelsey (1851-1935). It was manufactured and sold by the Kelsey Press Co. of Meriden, Conn. There may not have been a real Dr. Baker. The formula was mixed by a local pharmacist and included sherry or port, herbal extracts, glycerin, water and acetanilide, a pain reliever. Kelsey added a “secret ingredient.” The cure sold for $1 a bottle. Kelsey retired in 1923. Unfilled bottles of Dr. Baker’s Grape Cure were used to bottle ink reducer from about 1901 to 1960.
Q: I’ve been collecting cast-iron trivets for many years and have more than 100 different ones. Many are by Wilton. One has the year 1894 on the front. I also have about a dozen decorated with the embossed initials “JZH” that are dated from 1948 through 1952. I would like to know what they’re worth.
A: Wilton Products made cast-iron trivets, doorstops, match safes, kitchenware, sconces and figures from 1935 to 1989. The Wilton family founded Susquehanna Castings in Wrightsville, Pa., in 1893. But it was not until years later that reproductions of early American trivets were cast and decorated at the Wilton foundry. Trivets marked “JZH” were made by John Zimmerman Harner (1872-1965) at the Union Manufacturing Co. of Boyertown, Pa. Union Manufacturing made a series of alphabet trivets in cast iron from 1944 to 1958. Designs were reproductions of antique trivets. Each was marked with a letter of the alphabet, the date and the initials “JZH.” Some of the company’s popular designs were reissued. Trivets are useful, so even reproductions sell for $25 and up.
Tip: Crayon marks can be removed from wooden furniture with mayonnaise. Rub in the mayonnaise, let it sit for a few hours, then wipe with a damp cloth.
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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.
1946 World Series Fenway Park ticket, Oct. 9, Red Sox defeated the Cardinals, 1 1/4 x 4 inches, $115.
Advertising calendar, Jerome B. Rice Seed Co., Cambridge New York, young girl holding up flowers, cardboard top, 1902, 11 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches, $140.
Toy cooking stove, metal, green and cream, scene of child, electric, 75 watts, Metal Ware Corp., Two Rivers, Wis., 1930, 8 x 7 inches, $120.
Knickerbocker Seven Dwarfs “Bashful” doll, composition, name on hat, red velvet shirt, gold velvet pants, 1930s, 11 inches, $325.
Wrought-iron chairs, painted white, upholstered circular seats, balloon back, scrolled arms and legs, 1930, 45 x 18 x 16 inches, set of six, $345.
Disney toothbrush holder, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, Donald with arms around both, bisque, “Copyright Walt Disney,” 1920s, 4 x 3 inches, $400.
Sterling-silver punch ladle, Bridal Rose pattern, monogram, Alvin, c. 1903, 12 1/4 inches, $1,665.
Daum Nancy cologne bottle, enameled, opalescent white, river landscape with boats, windmill and trees, marked, 1880s, 8 inches, $1,720.
Hooked rug, wool, center vase with multicolored flower blossoms and berries, pair of bluebirds, black ground, gray border, red hearts in each corner, 1890s, 29 x 43 inches, $1,775.
Just published! The best book to own if you want to buy or sell or collect. The new Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, 2011, 43rd edition, is your most accurate source for current prices. This large-size paperback has more than 2,600 color photographs and 42,000 up-to-date prices for more than 775 categories of antiques and collectibles. You’ll also find hundreds of factory histories and marks and a report on the record prices of the year, plus helpful sidebars and tips about buying, selling, collecting and preserving your treasures. Available online at Kovelsonlinestore.com; by phone at 800-303-1996; at your bookstore; or send $27.95 plus $4.95 postage to Price Book, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.
