Sol Lewitt aluminum structure sculpture 38 inches high, circa 1989. Sold for $118,000. Image courtesy Nest Egg Auctions. MERIDEN, Conn. – Nest Egg Auctions’ Spring Art and Antiques Auction on Saturday, May 5, had many pieces soaring above estimates.
“We are thrilled with the results. The Auction did really well,” said auctioneer Ryan Brechlin.
The 240-lot auction proved to be full of surprises as the afternoon progressed. A sterling silver octopus-form chatelaine made by Gorham Silversmiths in the late 19th century was holding the attention of many serious buyers during the preview.
“It is rare to see American silver like this come to market” said Brechlin.
Bidding started slowly at $1,100, and proceeded with an in-house buyer competing against an online bidder. The online bidder was victorious at $11,800. A chatelaine is a decorative belt hook or clasp worn at the waist with a series of chains suspended from it. Each chain is mounted with a useful household appendage such as scissors, thimble, vinaigrette, buttonhook, etc.
An archive of early Connecticut papers, photographs and ephemera from the Pratt family of Old Saybrook brought $5,664, well above the $1,000-$2,000 estimate.
A rare carved blackamoor head humidor with ivory teeth and shell eyes exceeded its estimate of $500-$1,000, closing at $3,540.
The featured item of the sale was a Sol LeWitt painted aluminum outdoor structure. The 38-inch, seven-pointed star rises into a flat-top pyramid. It was owned by Michael Hayes, a friend, neighbor and fabricator for Sol LeWitt for many years. Hayes sat in the audience with his wife as the modern sculpture came up at the mid-point of the sale.
“We had a very eager in-house bidder and a serious collector on the phones for this piece,” said Brechlin.
Bidding opened at the high estimate of $50,000 and proceeded briskly in $5,000 increments until it hit $90,000 when the bidding slowed. A few more bids brought the price up another $10,000. After a final call the gavel dropped at $100,000. The total price including buyer’s premium was $118,000.
“This is a single-item record price for us at Nest Egg,” said Brechlin.
The previous single item sales record was a painting by artist Alphonse Mucha that sold in April of last year for $59,000.
All prices are inclusive of buyers premium except where noted.
Complete auction results may be viewed on Nest Egg’s website: www.nesteggauctions.com.
The Maiden dresser jar. Image courtesy A.H. Wilkens Auctions & Appraisals. TORONTO – Art Deco Noritake porcelain, with its lively, bold colors and high style, has become immensely attractive to collectors in recent years. For anyone who is drawn to this porcelain, A.H. Wilkens Auctions & Appraisals, on Friday, June 1, and Saturday, June 2, will sell the largest Art Deco Noritake porcelain collection ever to come to the marketplace.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
This sale, which the auctioneer predicts will set the standards for new values, will take place at the A.H. Wilkens gallery at 299 Queen St. East, in Toronto.
What is Art Deco Noritake? The Noritake factory in Japan has produced everyday porcelain and china, primarily for the Western market, from the late 19th century to present day. Art Deco Noritake was made from 1918 through to the 1920s. The porcelain was influenced by the Art Deco movement in France and the United States, most notably by the graphic artist Homer Conant. Ladies’ dresser jars, powder jars, cigarette boxes and trays were all designed to add a touch of color to the boudoir. The pieces were hand-molded and painted in high-luster glazes that are no longer used today. So many of these pieces were broken over the years—because they were made to be used—they are hard to find in today’s market.
The Marilyn Derrin collection, which includes pottery and porcelain with the “Nippon” or “Made in Japan” mark, as well as Art Deco Noritake, was put together by the late Marilyn Derrin. She was a passionate collector, who was fierce in her antiquing. On seeing her Noritake pieces, the principals of A.H. Wilkens wondered when they had last seen items of such caliber come to the Toronto market. They now realize that Derrin had swept the city clean of its best. She spent 30 years culling antique markets, shows and auctions to assemble one of the largest and finest collections of this Japanese porcelain, which was made specifically for the Western market.
Derrin was considered among the foremost specialists in the field, and participated in almost all of the Noritake Collectors Society’s annual conventions and forums. Pieces in her collection were studied and used as a reference in countless published books and price guides.
The core collection focuses on figural Art Deco Noritake, and includes dresser jars, powders, smoke sets, plates, lamps and condiment sets. Most notable are the Maiden Dresser Jar and The Girl in the Red Dress, both rare examples of European-influenced Noritake porcelain.
The auctioning of Derrin’s collection will be a celebration of her life and dedication to her collection. A.H. Wilkens is honored to be a part of this celebration.
Friday’s auction, which will begin at 7 p.m. EDT, features Art Deco Figural Noritake—230 lots, including dresser jars, portrait plates, flat powder jars, cigarette boxes and condiment sets.
Saturday’s sale, which will begin at 11 a.m. EDT, consists of Art Deco Figural and Hollowware Noritake, Nippon and Made in Japan export porcelain—250 lots including Nippon chargers, humidors, Coralene, early transitional Noritake, Art Deco painted hollowware, figural pieces and the largest collection of Made in Japan porcelain to come to the market.
Previews are Wednesday, May 30, noon-7 p.m.;Thursday, May 31, noon-7 p.m.; and Friday, June 1, 2-5 p.m.
For further information about A.H. Wilkens’ auction of Art Deco Noritake porcelain visit the website www.ahwilkens.com or phone 416-360-7600.
‘The Slav Epic’ by Alphonse Mucha, 1928. Image courtesy Wikipaintings.org.
PRAGUE (AFP) – The Slav Epic by Alfons Mucha, a Czech Art Nouveau gem, went on display in Prague on Thursday, fulfilling the wish of the artist who spent 18 years on the series of paintings from 1910 to 1928.
The cycle of 20 allegories tracing the history of the Slavic people and inspired in part by mythology was unveiled at Prague palace where it was first exhibited in 1928, on the 10th anniversary of Czechoslovak independence.
Mucha (1860-1939) gained fame for his iconically styled posters depicting French actress Sarah Bernhardt embellished with the flowing floral motifs typical of the Art Nouveau style.
The largest tableau in the “Slav Epic” series spans 26 feet by 20 feet. To create the cycle, Mucha traveled avidly through Russia, Poland, Serbia and Bulgaria.
“One must not look at these paintings as a history book,” art historian Lenka Bydzovska said at the opening of the exhibition.
“This is a fictional world, dreamt up by the artist himself,” she added.
The paintings are displayed in chronological order, starting with The Slavs in Their Country of Origin and ending with the Slavs for Humanity.
City Gallery Prague head Milan Bufka said The Slav Epic would be on display at the palace for at least five years.
“We have installed new heating, air-conditioning and lighting systems to ensure stable conditions for the precious paintings,” Bufka said.
American Slavophile Charles Crane commissioned the work by Mucha and intended to donate it to Prague on condition the city built a new gallery dedicated exclusively to the masterpiece, which has never happened.
In 1933, the paintings were rolled up and stored in a depository, and were hidden from the Nazis under a heap of coal during World War II.
They were restored after the war and from 1963 displayed at the Moravsky Krumlov chateau in the southeast of the country, near Mucha’s hometown of Ivancice.
Last year, authorities decided to move the works to Prague, citing the deteriorating condition of the Moravsky Krumlov chateau.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
‘The Slav Epic’ by Alphonse Mucha, 1928. Image courtesy Wikipaintings.org.
William A. Coulter oil painting, San Francisco Bay. Image courtesy Hewlett’s Antique Auction Co. LE GRAND, Calif. – Hewlett’s Antique Auction Co. announces a fabulous Central Valley Estates Auction will take place on Sunday, May 20, starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet life bidding and the online catalog is now available to view. Bidding is already under way, with approximately 450 lots posted.
The sale features property from various estates in California and Nevada, as well as an outstanding fine art collection consisting of oil paintings, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings by famous early California maritime artist William A. Coulter. The items, which include historical memorabilia about the artist’s life and showings, come from his family, and this is the first time they have been offered for sale.
Other highlights from the sale include a magnificent oak side-by-side secretary, a beautiful oak general store bean counter, a crotch mahogany butler’s secretary with Jacobean twist columns, over 100 lots of Roseville and Weller pottery including lamps, and beautiful colored Victorian art glass hand lamps, finger lamps and miniature lamps. Also included is a large selection of beautiful antique dolls and doll shoes.
This sale also contains a outstanding Regina music box, Seeburg Selectomatic 100 jukebox, a variety of Victorian mantel clocks, cupid dresser clocks, Art Noveau clocks and carriage clocks.
From Nevada comes a great collection of Victorian pickle castors and bride baskets.
There are numerous items of sterling offered such as a 90-piece Chantilly flatware set, Poole water pitcher, English hallmark canister set, candelabras and a large sterling silver 1903 Southern California racing trophy.
Other highlights include a Tiffany silver and stained glass picture frame, a C.M. Russell bronze, a Victorian roller organ, and volumes 1-8 of E. Benezit Art books printed 1952 in France, which are fine and rare.
Little Red Riding Hood items by Regal China and McDonald large and small canister sets will also be sold.
Fine jewelry at the sale includes a 10k gold Elks ring, a sapphire ring, a 14k gold amethyst ring, and a turquoise fetish necklace by Ben Livingston. A nice collection of vintage pocket watches, two 1940s baseballs signed by a Pacific Coast Leage team, several unusual cigar cutters, a kerosene cigar lighter lamp, a Hoge 1932 pressed-steel windup fire chief car, and a fancy postal scale will cross the auction block.
For details on any item in the sale, call 209-389-4542 or email hewlettsdirect@sbcglobal.net.
Dealers competing on the new Discovery series ‘Final Offer’ are (from left) Billy Roland, Jordan Tabach-Bank, Patrick Painter and Jacob Chait. Image courtesy Discovery.
NEW YORK – Buying and selling may seem like simple tasks, but when it comes to valuable antiques and rare collectibles, the stakes are higher than ever. In Discovery’s new series hosted by Michael Kalish, Final Offer, premiering on Thursday, May 31, at 10 p.m. ET/PT, Jake Chait, Patrick Painter, Billy Roland and Jordan Tabach-Bank, four of the country’s smartest, shrewdest and most successful dealers, will battle it out to bid and buy some of the nation’s most desired items. This isn’t your typical bidding war—these dealers will be shelling out their own big bucks for unseen high-ticket items that demand the necessary expertise to strike a good deal.
From historical artifacts to instruments owned by rock ’n’ roll legends, original artwork to motion picture props, these four experts will immediately know the value of these prized goods. In Final Offer, sellers will get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to haggle with the series’ experts—one seller to one buyer, in the order they so choose—to acquire these rare items for the best possible price. But there’s a catch—once they pass on an offer, there is no turning back. The offer is off the table for good and they must head to the next buyer they choose, who hopefully will have a bid at least as high as the last.
It’s an intense and dramatic high stakes face-off. If they jump the gun, they may pass up on a future offer that rakes in more money. Viewers will learn from the pros and take a look at the intense, detailed approach to ensure that nobody goes home empty-handed.
Who will take the Final Offer?
Jake Chait is the director of the natural history department and head of acquisitions at I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers. He is the third and youngest son of company founder Isadore M. Chait. From early on Jake has been deeply interested and involved in the business of buying and selling art, antiques and collectibles. Jake has shadowed his father all over the world on buying trips and has developed invaluable real world experience and education.
I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers is a family owned and operated boutique auction house based in Beverly Hills, Calif. Run by Asian Art expert Isadore M. Chait, with nearly 50 years of experience. Due to the high demand of clients, I.M. Chait Auctions has expanded from solely Asian art auctions into fine art, paintings, modern art, European and American furniture, jewelry, and even natural history while still maintaining the same stellar reputation and expertise that clients have seen for so many years.
Final Offer is produced for Discovery Channel by FremantleMedia North America. George Moll is executive producer and Jeff Altrock is co-executive producer for FremantleMedia North America, and Anna Geddes is executive producer for Discovery Channel.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Dealers competing on the new Discovery series ‘Final Offer’ are (from left) Billy Roland, Jordan Tabach-Bank, Patrick Painter and Jacob Chait. Image courtesy Discovery.
Visitors explore the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. Photo credit: Darryl Moran/The Franklin Institute.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Inside a climate-controlled storage room with a guard posted at the door, Tania Treiger unzips a purposely nondescript case and lifts out one of the world’s oldest and most significant archaeological artifacts.
The Israel Antiquities Authority conservator is one of only four people in the world allowed to handle the Dead Sea Scrolls, the centerpiece of a new exhibition at The Franklin Institute, where a painstaking examination of the ancient treasures was conducted before they are placed on public view.
“Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times” opened Saturday and runs through Oct. 14. The 20 scrolls chosen for The Franklin Institute—the first set of 10 will be switched with 10 others halfway through the five-month exhibit—contain handwritten texts from several books of the Old Testament including the opening passage from Genesis, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.”
Several days before the show’s opening, Treiger and Pnina Shor, curator and head of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project, who is also based at the independent governmental organization in Jerusalem, provided a rare behind-the-scenes look at the “condition reporting” that happens every time the fragile 2,000-year-old scrolls travel.
“The condition report means we are documenting the state of the scroll when it leaves our premises and when it reaches the venue,” Shor said. “Both sides want to make sure we are receiving it in the same condition.”
Treiger placed a climate-controlled sealed frame containing a remarkably intact leather parchment known as the Psalms Scroll on a long table and, joined by Franklin Institute curator Cheryl Desmond, compared it to a same-size photograph with penciled notations of the tiniest ding, scrape and pit on the 3-foot-long parchment. Under bright magnifying lamps, the pair exhaustively examines the scroll for any changes that may have occurred in transit.
After more than an hourlong inspection, everything looks fine. No changes have so far been noted in any scrolls during these examinations, Shor said with a sigh of relief.
“This scroll arrived yesterday, then it needs 24 hours of acclimatization: It comes in, it relaxes for 24 hours and only now do we open (the case),” Shor said. “Once everyone is satisfied that there is no change, then it is brought down to the exhibition hall and placed in the climate-controlled case that was created especially for it.”
Temperature, humidity and light will be carefully and constantly monitored throughout the exhibition; light levels are calibrated based on how many hours the hosting museum is open each day. The scrolls are displayed for no more than 90 days a year, after which they are put away to “rest” in storage for at least a year.
“The scrolls are made of parchment or papyrus, both are organic materials,” Shor said. “It’s like your skin—you have to nourish them, you have to take care of them. We talk of them as though they are alive.”
What a difference from the years immediately after the scrolls’ discovery.
A video in the exhibit shows scholars working in bright sunlight with cigarettes smoldering between their lips and joining scrolls with adhesive tape—a nifty innovation in the 1950s that caused unforeseen irreversible darkening and staining. Now, Treiger and three colleagues in Jerusalem are gingerly working to undo or stabilize the damage.
Two decades ago, experts in Israel and from the Library of Congress in Washington developed a new technique to house delicate relics. The scrolls are first sewn between two layers of polyester netting stretched in acid-free mounts, then encapsulated in a climate-controlled frame made of polycarbonate plates.
Because conservation science is new and evolving, experts from the U.S. and around the world are now re-examining the method to ensure it is keeping the scrolls stable and undamaged and considering additional refinements to the process, Shor said.
“The idea of this all is to preserve them as long as possible,” Shor said. “They were preserved in the caves in the Judean Desert for 2,000 years and our duty is to preserve them at least 2,000 years more, so every precaution is made to do that while sharing this heritage with the public.”
Though the scrolls are the centerpiece of the show, there are 600 more items on display, including pottery, glass, coins, architectural elements and a three-ton stone from Jerusalem’s Western Wall. Prayer notes left by exhibition visitors will be brought to the Western Wall and placed in its crevices, a ritual performed by pilgrims to the holy site for hundreds of years.
The scrolls, considered by many to be the most significant archaeological find of the 20th century, are thought to have been written or collected by an ascetic Jewish sect that fled Jerusalem and settled at Qumran, in the Judean Desert on the banks of the Dead Sea.
The ancient holy books and apocalyptic texts were found between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves where they had been preserved by the arid climate inside large clay jars for two millennia.
Portions of the roughly 900 manuscripts that were eventually discovered, some fragmentary and others intact, contain the earliest known versions of portions of the Hebrew Bible and have shed light on the development of Judaism and the beginning of Christianity.
The exhibit, previously on view with a different set of scrolls at Discovery Times Square in New York City, was created by the Israel Antiquities Authority from the collections of the Israel National Treasures. It likely will travel to other U.S. cities after the Philadelphia run, but the process of evaluating potential facilities is still under way.
___
Online:
Exhibit: http://www.fi.edu/scrolls
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-11-12 1944GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Visitors explore the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. Photo credit: Darryl Moran/The Franklin Institute.
A 1930s picture of Ira Gershwin is on a dust jacket of a book containing his song lyrics. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and K&M Liquidation Sales Ltd.
NEW YORK (AP) – A New York memorabilia dealer has settled a lawsuit that had sought to block him from selling 135 letters written by lyricist Ira Gershwin.
The Daily News reports that the settlement between memorabilia dealer Gary Zimet and the daughter of Gershwin’s biographer was filed Friday in a Manhattan court.
The biographer’s daughter, Carla Jablonski, had asked the court to block Zimet from selling the letters to the Library of Congress for $325,000.
Jablonski said in her lawsuit that the letters must have been stolen from her apartment. She hadn’t accused Zimet of the theft.
Her father, Edward Jablonski, wrote several books on Gershwin including the 1958 biography The Gershwin Years: George and Ira.
After he died, the family donated most of his Gershwin archive to the Library of Congress.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The classic Volkswagen camper. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
ELKHART, Ind. (AP) – The 1916 Cozy Camper sat off a winding black road near the edge of sand and grass, its orange canvas flaps pulled open to reveal two thin blue mattresses atop metal springs.
Nearby, Margaret Campbell marveled over the back porch included in a blue 1931 Chevrolet house car that Paramount Studios had built to help lure Mae West out of vaudeville and into movies. “I’d be in trouble with that,” Campbell said. “I’d be out here waving to all the drivers.”
For thousands of recreational vehicle devotees who visit each year, the RV/MV Hall of Fame in Elkhart, Ind., is the equivalent of a pilgrimage to Elvis Presley’s Graceland. The 55,000-square-foot shrine to the RV industry showcases America’s love affair with camping and the free-wheeling lifestyle that has spawned dozens of clubs professing their loyalty to all things Winnebago.
“They need to see where their roots come from,” said Campbell, a Cheboygan, Mich., resident who has made her home in a 40-foot-long motor home since she and her husband, Bill, retired six years ago. “They need to see it. They need to touch it. They need to smell it—even the mold,” she said. “I’m just blown away.”
Yet like the industry that drove its creation, this temple to travel hasn’t had an easy road of late. Elkhart went from being the RV capital of the world to being the unemployed RV worker capital of the world when the recession forced manufacturers like Fleetwood Enterprises, Monaco Coach and Pilgrim to file for bankruptcy. At the same time, donations needed to support the museum and pay for $3 million in loans to cover an expansion plummeted, and the museum’s fate seemed as uncertain as that of the industry itself.
But the RV Hall of Fame has something many other struggling small museums don’t: a loyal following and an industry that’s on the rebound and wants to see its heritage preserved.
“It is our heritage. It’s our history,” president Darryl Searer, 69, said when asked why the hall matters. “To me, it would have been a disaster for the hall to go under.”
The hall has smoothed out its financial road through a restructuring plan that includes an agreement with the family of Robert “Boots” Ingram, a 2003 hall inductee who died in 2010, that gives the hall until 2033 to pay off a $3 million loan. Ingram’s family also has offered to match donations up to a total of $100,000.
The plan, along with revenue from the $8 admission price, donations and fundraising efforts, should cover the facility’s $561,200 budget this year, Searer said.
“We will be able to meet our obligations. We control our own destiny,” he said.
That destiny began forming in 1972, when eight RV and manufactured home trade magazine publishers decided to create the RV/MH Heritage Foundation to honor industry leaders. They voted in the inaugural hall of fame class that year, but there was no physical space recognizing the inductees. The foundation chairman kept the list in a filing cabinet.
In 1985, the foundation moved into a spare office at a bank, and within five years it had received about half a dozen vintage RVs and a small library of books and magazines. Organizers decided to move into a building in downtown Elkhart to showcase the items and advertised in trade magazines that they were looking for RV donations.
“We would show up for work in the morning and there would be a 1930 unit sitting outside the door that was just dropped off in the middle of the night,” said Al Hesselbart, the RV hall’s historian. “It really made us scramble to learn how to create a museum.”
As the collection grew, organizers decided another move was in order. In 2007, they opened the current building, a two-story, glass-enclosed monolith off the Indiana Toll Road that houses the current display, as well as an adjacent conference center that is rented out for wedding receptions, trade shows and other gatherings. Attendance, which had never exceeded 1,000 at the downtown site, grew to a peak of 17,344 in 2008 but fell to 13,148 last year.
Hesselbart says most of the people who visit the hall are either RV owners or those with ties to the industry. It’s the vehicles, not the displays about industry leaders like Wally Byam, John K. Hanson and Mahlon Miller, that draw the crowds.
“If we were just a hall of fame and just had photos and little bios of these people, it would probably cut our attendance to 10 percent of what we get here,” Hesselbart said.
Mary Rowton, who has been RVing for 35 years, drove nearly 400 miles from East Carondelet, Ill., near St. Louis, with her husband and two friends recently to view the 52 items in the hall’s collection and visit nearby RV manufacturers. She closely examined each RV, looking at everything from the steps to the size of the bathrooms.
She was fascinated by the collection, which includes a 1935 Covered Wagon 17-foot travel trailer that was covered on the outside with fake leather, a 42-foot-long trailer weighing 9,000 pounds and a 1916 “Telescope Apartment,” which is basically a box containing a mattress wide enough for two that mounts on the back of a Model T Roadster. The trailer, which sold for $100, includes two slide-out boxes that swing out to the side, featuring a place to set up kitchen on one side and a storage area on the other.
“You could see how camping has advanced. It’s quite a way they’ve come,” Rowton said.
Hesselbart said it’s hard to put a price on many of the items because they’ve never been sold. Several are one-of-a-kinds, including the only 10-foot long Airstream ever made, built in 1958. He believes the house car owned by West and a 1928 Pierce Arrow Fleet house car, one of only three made by the automaker, could each sell for $500,000 at auction. Other trailers would go for $100,000 or more.
“We’ve got several pretty rare units,” he said. “In the real world they’re priceless, because they are irreplaceable.”
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-13-12 2253GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The classic Volkswagen camper. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
The Cibola County Court House in New Mexico, where the artifact was discovered in a cave. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – A group of New Mexico seventh-graders have found could be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in a while.
Seventh-graders from Sandia Prep discovered a Native American pot, about 18 inches high and 14 to 16 inches wide and possibly 900 years old, while on a field trip last month in Cibola County.
“It was like a gray pot, with zig-zag stripes and dash patterns all the way going around it,” seventh-grader Isabel Jerome told KOAT-TV. “Yeah, it was a really incredible find.”
State officials aren’t revealing the artifact until they consult nearby pueblos.
Teachers immediately contacted U.S. National Park Service representatives who then contacted the Bureau of Land Management.
This week, BLM archeologists removed the pot. They estimate the age to be 800 to 1,000 years old because of clues from the pot: size, shape and design on the pot, and comparisons to other artifacts already dated.
“None of this is an exact science, but BLM archeologists are telling me, when finding a pottery shard, it’s hard to determine because of its small size and not being intact,” Stephen Baker, BLM public affairs, told the Gallup Independent. “Because the pot is nearly intact we get a lot of clues and because of other archaeological studies that have been done, can look at it and determine what research tells them, and can estimate its place in history.”
The last significant discovery on New Mexico Bureau of Land Management land was a decade ago.
Anthony Schoepke, a computer and filmmaking teacher at Sandia Prep Middle/ High School and one of the three who discovered the pot, said it was found while 75 seventh-grade students from the school, including some Polish seventh-graders on an exchange trip, were exploring caves.
The field trip was part of the Outdoor Leadership program at the school.
“One of the teachers was showing a light and it caught something bright near the floor, I looked down and it was this pot underneath a bunch of rocks,” he told the Gallup Independent. “One of the parents on the trip had a lot of knowledge of the artifact law and Native American pots and we all agreed not to touch it, or try to remove it, and to notify authorities.”
Schoepke described the pot as being cream colored with a complicated design of diagonal lines in either black or dark brown.
Donna Hummel of the BLM said the find could be unique and the students may not fully understand its importance. “This is very significant. We hope they appreciate that this could be a once in a lifetime discovery,” said Humme.
When told that the pot could be around 900-years-old, students expressed amazement.
“That’s crazy. I think we were probably some of the first people to see so that’s really cool,” seventh-grader Cole Schoepke said.
There are 13 million acres of New Mexico Bureau of Land Management land, most of which has been scoured by scientists.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-12-12 2051GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The Cibola County Court House in New Mexico, where the artifact was discovered in a cave. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
King & Country Afghanistan Humvee with captive SF03, 5-piece set with box, est. $150-$200. OTSA image.
PITTSBURGH – Armchair generals and commanders of upscale bathtub fleets worldwide will show their firepower over the weekend of June 2-3 during a very special Old Toy Soldier Auctions event containing 1,200+ lots from several choice collections. Headlining the auction are soldiers from the collection of the late K. Warren Mitchell, plus the Bob Bailey collection of prewar Britains, and other important properties from American and overseas consignors. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.com.
OTSA owner Ray Haradin described the headliner collections as “an excellent match-up, since each brings something distinctly different to the mix.”
Bob Bailey, a Seattle collector who has been active in the toy soldier hobby his entire life, focused his efforts almost exclusively on early Britains. While working as a Pan Am flight attendant in the 1970s, Bailey wisely took advantage of his many layovers in London to scour the shops for Britains productions.
The late K. Warren “Mitch” Mitchell, who was from Warren, Ohio, was a respected veteran dealer and collector who began his buying and selling adventures in the 1970s.
“Mitch sold actively at shows until about the last four or five years of his life. I know many collectors who bought their first set of soldiers from him, and his reputation in the hobby has created a lot of interest in this sale,” said Haradin.
Day one of the June 2-3 auction comprises approximately 700 lots of toy soldiers made prior to 1970. Day two will cover the production period from 1970 to present day.
Among the opening sessions’ many highlights from the Bailey collection is a circa-1920 Britains boxed set #102. The 33-piece assemblage includes Grenadier Guards, Scots Guards and Irish Guard and is presented in a set box emblazoned with a spiffy gold and black printer’s label depicting the British Army. It is estimated at $3,000-$4,000.
Also from the Bailey collection, there are eight sets from Britains’ 1940 Historical Series made expressly for FAO Schwarz. “Eleven sets were produced for the series. Basically, Britains designed them as samplers, choosing figures that were already included in other sets. To have eight of these sets in one collection is remarkable,” said Haradin. The estimate range on the sets runs from $1,800 to $3,000.
One of the most exciting of the non-Britains sets is a Timpo Ivanhoe set #KN4. The coveted grouping of mounted figures includes Ivanhoe, Sir Brian De Bois Gilbert, and four others from the 12th-century Saxon warrior’s inner circle. Haradin said he has only ever seen one other set, and it lacked the Ivanhoe figure. Estimate: $2,000-$2,500.
Another lot expected to draw widespread interest is the exceptionally rare Cherilea Baseball set that includes the entire team plus umpire, housed in the original box. Ironically, the set was produced in England, where bats are meant for cricket, not baseball. The Cherilea set could drive in a winning bid of $1,500-$2,000.
An ever-popular Buck Rogers set includes the spaceman’s sidekicks and additional characters: Wilma, Ardala, Dr. Huer, the evil “Killer” Kane and robot Mekano Man. The appearance of a Buck Rogers set at auction always ignites a bidding war between Britains collectors and space toy enthusiasts. Estimate: $2,500-$3,500.
For collectors who like to show off their figures in settings, there are four Johillco for British Midwest Importers display sets. They depict, respectively: Cowboy Town, Indian Camp, Beachhead, and Crusaders with Castle. Each set comes with its correct figures – ranging from nine figures with the Old West Cowboy Town to 14 each for Beachhead and Crusaders – and is estimated at $800-$1,200.
“We’ve had a lot of calls about the Johillco sets based solely on our preview brochure,” said Haradin. “These particular display sets are very rarely seen. Previously, I had only seen one such set. Collectors love when rarities come out of the woodwork.”
King & Country is a brand whose star keeps rising with collectors. In particular, buyers seem to favor glossy, pre-1990 examples. Fourteen sets of glossy figures will be sold on day one, with many additional King & Country lots earmarked for day two.
German productions include the Heyde Fall of Troy set (partial), est. $2,000-$3,000; and circa-1905 large-scale US Gun Team at the Halt set, est. $3,500-$4,500. The opening session is rounded out with 20 mounted Lucotte French court figures, 20 Courtenay medieval knights and a nice sampling of Lou Steinberg dime store figures.
Sunday’s 500+ lots are a virtual panorama of contemporary toy soldiers. Highlights include 60 Mignot Napoleonic sets and productions by Imperial, a New Zealand company that folded five years ago. Similarly, Zulu War sets by Welsh manufacturer Trophy are expected to find favor. Trophy’s production has scaled down, and older, retired lines are becoming much more desirable.
Old Toy Soldier’s June 2-3 auction is an absentee, phone and Internet live bidding event (through LiveAuctioneers.com) that will commence at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on both days. For additional information call 412-343-8733 or tollfree 800-349-8009.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
King & Country Afghanistan Humvee with captive SF03, 5-piece set with box, est. $150-$200. OTSA image.
Britains Set #102 Grenadier Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards display, prewar, 33 pieces, gold-and-black label box, est. $3,000-$4,000. OTSA image.
Britains Set #1870 Historical Series Collection, one of eight different boxed sets from this series to be auctioned. Extremely rare. Est. $2,000-$2,500. OTSA image.
Britains Set #2070, US Civil War boxed display set. Union and Confederate cavalry, infantry, artillery. Thirty pieces, est. $800-$1,200. OTSA image.
Cherilea Baseball Set #B/100, 11 figures tied in original box, est. $1,500-$2,000. OTSA image. OTSA image.
Britains prewar Buck Rogers set including figures of Buck with ray gun, Wilma, Ardala, Dr. Huer, ‘Killer’ Kane and seldom-seen Mekano Man robot. Est. $2,500-$3,500. OTSA image.
John Hill (Johillco) for British Mid West Importers Cowboy Town façade and baseboard, complete with mounted and standing cowboys and cowgirls. Est. $800-$1,200. OTSA image.
Noah’s Ark set with 24 figures, including Noah and wife; largest of three sizes of ark produced by manufacturer Elastolin. Est. $800-$1,200. OTSA image.
Heyde Fall of Troy set (partial), with the Temple of Troy building and some key figures, est. $2,000-$3,000. OTSA image.
Heyde circa-1905 80mm large-scale US Gun Team at the Halt, includes two horses pulling limbered wagon with cannon and mounted officer. Est. $3,500-$4,500. OTSA image.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
