October 12, 2012 - Auction Central News

Grenke breweriana collection taps $1.5M at Morphy’s

1886 lithograph advertising Wm. J. Lemp’s St. Louis Buck Beer, probably one of a kind, $21,600. Morphy Auctions image.

DENVER, Pa. – Retired Chicago businessman Adolf Grenke’s 40-year collection of breweriana took center stage at Morphy Auctions on Sept. 21-22, finishing at $1.5 million inclusive of 20% buyer’s premium. LiveAuctioneers.com provided the Internet live bidding.

A contingent of motivated bidders, many of whom had traveled long distances to attend, had their sights set on antique advertising art and rare beer cans from the premier specialty collection, which Morphy’s had showcased prior to the sale at two major breweriana collector conventions.

“I was very pleased with the outcome of the sale, and so was Mr. Grenke,” said Morphy Auctions CEO Dan Morphy. “We had expected the collection to make around one million dollars, but it far exceeded our expectations.”

As predicted, the sale’s top lot was a Gibbons Bock (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) low-profile cone-top beer can, the only known “graded” example of its type. It sold within its estimate range for $36,000.

“Collectors of early beer cans look for rarity, appealing graphics and great condition. Many of the cans in the Grenke collection, including the Gibbons Bock can, met all three criteria,” Morphy noted.

Following in line behind the Gibbons Bock can were two low-profile, cone-top beer cans – an Apache Export described as the best of all known examples – and a “Maryland’s Own” National Bohemian Bock can in like-new condition. Each was bid to $28,800.

Other five-figure beer cans in the sale included an olive drab Meister Brau flat-top can – believed to be the only known example – $21,600; and a beautiful red, yellow and black Krueger’s Bock “instructional” beer can with a fine illustration of a mountain goat, $19,200. Another instructional can – which, as the description implies, illustrates and instructs on the proper way to pop its top with a can opener – once held Peter Doelger (Harrison, N.J.) Bock Beer. The gold-colored can with smiling-goat image made $13,800.

The exquisite art that appeared on 19th and early 20th-century brewery lithographs and signs inspired aggressive bidding on several lots. A superb porcelain corner sign, 24 by 15 inches, advertising “Iroquois Fine Beers Buffalo, N.Y.,” featured an eye-catching central image of an American Indian chief in feather headdress. Described by Morphy as “a real showstopper,” it reached the mid-point of its estimate range at $31,200.

Another corner sign – a reverse-on-glass oval ad for Lion Cincinnati Draught Beer – included an image of the company’s no-nonsense-looking lion mascot and promised “It’s Pure.” Collectors purely agreed, with one of them paying an above-estimate price of $16,800.

With charm to spare, an 1886 lithograph touting Wm. J. Lemp’s St. Louis Buck Beer depicted a thickly bearded mountain goat surrounded by gold medals from various fairs and exhibitions around the world. Probably one of a kind, it handily met expectations with a selling price of $21,600.

The most popular beer tray in the sale was an oval design produced for Franklin & Hayes Brewing Co., of Pocatello, Idaho. With a colorful depiction of an American Indian in a blanket-style jacket and with three feathers in his hair, the tray had broad appeal and was pushed to $10,800.

Illuminating signs manufactured by the Philadelphia company Gillco were high on the wish list of many bidders. A sign created for Tally Ho Beer, thought to be one of a kind, led the group at $18,000 (estimate $8,000-$12,000). A reverse-on-glass demilune sign made by Gillco for Denmark Brewing Company’s Old Town Lager Beer, with a depiction of the Tudor-style Old Town Tavern, was snapped up for $6,000.

Was the thirst for top-end breweriana antiques satisfied at Morphy’s Sept. 21-22 auction? Dan Morphy remarked: “There were a lot of happy collectors at this sale. They were able to buy extremely rare, premium-quality items from a collection that had been refined over a 40-year period by a collector with a great eye and a skill for networking. But we all know how collectors think, whether it’s about breweriana or some other popular collectible. Seeing what a truly outstanding, longtime collection can look like when displayed as a whole will spark an interest among new collectors and continue to fuel veteran collectors’ interest in pursuing the best of the best.”

View the fully illustrated catalog for Morphy’s Sept. 21-22 auction, complete with prices realized, online at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Reverse-on-glass oval corner sign for Lion Cincinnati Draught Beer, $16,800.

Pocatello Carnation Bud Bottled Beer tray, Franklin & Hayes Brewing Co. (Pocatello, Idaho), $10,800. Morphy Auctions image.

Reverse-on-glass demilune sign made by Gillco for Denmark Brewing Company’s Old Town Lager Beer, $6,000. Morphy Auctions image.

Gibbons Bock (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) low-profile cone-top beer can, only known ‘graded’ example, top lot of the sale, $36,000. Morphy Auctions image.

Tally Ho Beer illuminating sign manufactured by Gillco (Philadelphia), one of a kind, $18,000. Morphy Auctions image.

Apache Export Beer low-profile cone-top beer can, possibly the best of all known examples, $28,800. Morphy Auctions image.

Iroquois Brewery (Buffalo, N.Y.) porcelain corner sign, $31,200. Morphy Auctions image.

“Maryland’s Own” National Bohemian Bock beer can, $28,800. Morphy Auctions image.

Krueger’s Bock “instructional” beer can, $19,200. Morphy Auctions image.

LA trees, traffic lights yield to Endeavour’s final journey – by road

Space Shuttle Endeavour over Moffett Federal Airfield. This photograph was taken on Sept. 21, 2012 as the shuttle took its final flight over the San Francisco Bay Area, on its way to the California Space Center in Los Angeles. Photo by Arnold de Leon, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour began its final journey Friday, at the less-than rocket-propelled speed of 2 mph, in a meticulously planned trip through the streets of Los Angeles.

Some 400 trees have had to be cut down, provoking mild protests from locals. Traffic lights had to be temporarily removed and power lines turned off to make way for the 78-ton vehicle on the two-day, 12-mile journey to California Science Center.

The shuttle, which flew more than 115 million miles in its two-decade career, landed at Los Angeles International Airport three weeks ago piggybacked on a specially fitted 747.

Since then it has been in an airport hangar. But it was rolled out overnight for its final journey, which risked causing traffic chaos before it reaches its destination late Saturday.

The shuttle is mounted on a high-tech flatbed carrier for the trip, which at certain points will involve squeezing round corners within inches of buildings.

“We’re off to a great start,” said Science Center head Jeffrey Rudolph as the shuttle stood for several hours in a parking lot, before starting the journey proper.

“Everything is really going according to plan, exactly as we hoped for.

We’ve still got a long ways to go, but this is an incredibly complex move – lots of people working on it – and we really appreciate it,” he added.

After the space agency NASA brought an end to the 30-year shuttle program last year, major U.S. cities battled for the right to house one of the craft.

Enterprise, the prototype that never flew into space, is now on permanent display on the runway of the Intrepid aircraft carrier in New York.

The Kennedy Space Center will keep Atlantis, and Discovery is on display at a museum outside Washington.

Two other shuttles were destroyed in flight. Challenger disintegrated shortly after liftoff in 1986 and Columbia broke apart on re-entry to Earth in 2003. Both disasters killed everyone on board.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Skinner lines up affordable Asian art auction Oct. 25

Gilt-bronze figure of Maitreya, Sino-Tibet, 18 3/4 inches high. Estimate: $700-900. Skinner Inc. image.

Skinner Inc. will conduct an auction of Asian works of art on Thursday, Oct. 25, in its Marlborough gallery. The Asian Art sale will feature over 600 lots of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese decorative art and antiques. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding

The Asian sale presents a breadth of affordable decorative arts that will appeal to both interior designers and beginner collectors alike, including bronzes, wooden pieces, ceramics and stone carvings.

Porcelain on offer at the sale includes two Chinese dishes, one depicting a dragon with a Yongzheng mark on base, the other depicting flowers, bats and shou characters at the center with a six-character Jiaqing mark on the base (lot 186, estimated $1,200-$1,500).

The sale offers an assortment of ivory highlighted by two women, one carrying two fans, the other holding a musical instrument (lot 355, $300 to $500). Jade and bronze objects of note include an 18th century snuff bottle depicting a scene from “Romance of the West Chamber” with the encounter of Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng (lot 386, $2,500 to $3,500) and a gilt-bronze Sino-Tibet figure of Maitreya (lot 477, $700 to $900) seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus throne.

A Chinese cloisonné vase decorated with peonies, butterflies and blossoms on wan fret ground (lot 381, $500 to $700) and a Chinese eight-panel standing screen with black lacquer panels mounted with jade and hardstone carvings (lot 633, $3,000 to $5,000) would make excellent accent pieces in a beautiful home.

For details contact Judith Dowling, director of Asian works of art, Skinner Inc. by phoning 508-970-3255 or email jfdowling@skinnerinc.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

Eight-panel standing screen, China, black lacquer panels mounted with jade and hardstone carvings, 83 7/8 inches high by 104 inches wide. Estimate: $3,000-5,000. Skinner Inc. image.

Jade snuff bottle, China, carved in relief with a scene from ‘Romance of the West Chamber’ with the encounter of Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng, 2 1/2 inches. Estimate: $2,000-3,000. Skinner Inc. image.

Cloisonne vase, China, 19th/20th century, 28 1/4 inches high. Estimate: $500-700. Skinner Inc. image.

Two ivory ladies with wood stands, China, one 6 1/2 inches high. Estimate: $300-500. Skinner Inc. image.

Horseshoe Curve remains must-see landmark for rail fans

Horseshoe Curve is depicted on a 1952 calendar. Image courtesy of LiveAuctoneers.com and Hassinger & Courtney Auctioneering.

ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) – The sound starts as a low moan from somewhere around the mountain.

“Train’s coming,” says Joanne Brown.

She and her husband, Sam, are “escaped Californians” with a home in South Dakota. As retirees, they have been traveling the United States in an RV for 16 months. And now, in early fall, they have come to Horseshoe Curve – “World Famous Horseshoe Curve,” as the old postcards always said.

On any day in good weather, you’ll find travelers from seemingly everywhere standing by the fence here to watch the freights coming down the line, from Chicago in the west and Philadelphia in the east.

The curve was a mid-19th-century solution to the problem of how to get a railroad over the Allegheny Mountains. It was the engineering marvel of its time, the three years’ work of 450 Irish laborers who, using nothing but picks, shovels and black powder, carved a ledge onto the side of a mountain and then laid 2,375 feet of track along a steep grade.

Even now, it inspires the wonder of rail fans to see both the front end and back end of a long train as it grinds and screeches around the perfect U-shape.

“Which way?” Joanne Brown says of the coming train.

“From the strain, I’d say uphill,” Sam Brown replies.

The leaves of the heavily forested Alleghenies, which sit in lumps across the horizon, have started to turn. A reservoir for the nearby city of Altoona lies below, in the cupped hands of the surrounding hills.

The low moan becomes a rumble as the twin diesel locomotives of a Norfolk southern train come around the base of the curve.

The rumble becomes a roar as the black diesels work their way upward, pulling flat cars, each stacked with two truck trailers, one atop the other.

The roar becomes thunder as the train reaches the main viewing area of the Horseshoe Curve National Historic Landmark, where an inclined railroad was built in 1992 to ferry visitors up a 122-foot cliff to gain a close-up look.

The train buffs crowd the fence. The engineer waves.

“I don’t know what it is, but I have loved trains since I was a kid,” Joanne Brown yells above the noise.

“The railroad people call us foamers,” Sam Brown says.

“Because we stand by the tracks and foam at the mouth,” Joanne laughs.

“We have laid down on the rails and taken pictures,” Joanne says. “We have hung off bridges.”

Each day, about 60 trains pass through the curve. You can sit for an hour and see three or four freights. You have to have luck, or know the schedule, to see a passenger train on what used to be the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. There’s an eastbound Amtrak at 9:30 a.m. and a westbound Amtrak at 5:30 p.m.

E. Steven Barry, editor of Railfan & Railroad Magazine, says from his office in Newton, N.J., that the Horseshoe Curve is “one of the top 10 holy sites of rail-fanning in the United States.”

“It is still one of the busiest spots for freight traffic in the East,” he says. “The combination of the curve wrapping around you, coupled with the steep grade there, makes for a lot of noise and dramatic action.”

“That whole area,” he said, “has developed a cottage industry of mom-and-pop railroad attractions.”

The historic site itself, which has a peaked-roof museum and gift shop in the style of an old station, is administered by the Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona.

The Pennsy, in its heyday, employed thousands of people at its Altoona shops.

“My grandfather worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad and all his sons worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad,” says Colin Knorr, who was visiting the curve with his wife, Pat.

Knorr, a retired trucker whose roots are in Altoona, says there is something hypnotic about watching trains all day. “You can sit back and relax, and look around.”

John and Ernestine Hamilton of Mill Hall, Pa., got engaged to be married at the Horseshoe Curve 33 years ago.

Wouldn’t Ernestine have preferred a fancy restaurant?

“Maybe,” she says. “But I like it up here.”

“It’s peaceful,” John says.

Indeed, between trains, the only sound is the leaves in the trees. At this altitude – 1,505 feet at the east end of the curve, 1,716 feet at the west end – many of the trees are showing red already.

“Oh, I hear another train,” says Carol Cassidy, a visitor from Kensington, Conn.

“I was thinking I hear one, too,” says her husband, Ray.

The Cassidys each lost their first spouse. They are recently married. He’s a retired electronic engineer; she’s a retired office manager.

Her first husband loved to fish, Carol Cassidy says. “I am getting used to all this train stuff now.”

Ray Cassidy makes no apologies for his obsession – or for dragging his bride around to rail sites.

“When I was real young, growing up, from my bedroom window I could look down the hill and there was a freight train that would go by every morning. And every afternoon, it would go the other way.”

“I loved that.”

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Online:

http://bit.ly/SMmBgq

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Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.philly.com

AP-WF-10-10-12 2009GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

A panoramic postcard of Horseshoe Curve. Image courtesy of LiveAuctoneers.com and Hassinger & Courtney Auctioneering.

Ariz. paranormal group channeling ‘Flaming Star’ Elvis

Poster for the 1960 film 'Flaming Star' starring Elvis Presley. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Regency-Superior Ltd.

MESA, Ariz. (AP) – Mesa’s Buckhorn Mineral Baths. Did Elvis Presley sleep there? And does his ghost haunt the premises of the 15-acre roadside landmark at the northeast corner of East Main Street and Recker Road?

History buffs from the Mesa Historical Museum are all shook up about the possibility the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll stayed there during the filming of a scene of his 1960 movie Flaming Star – and that maybe, his ghost is now frequenting the premises.

In addition to possibly staying at the Buckhorn, perhaps Elvis came there to see Tom Diskin, an old friend, who was the right-hand man of Elvis’ manager, Col. Tom Parker, and used to book Elvis’ appearances and photograph him for many years throughout the 1950s and into the early ’70s.

Rumblings of an Elvis connection were recently uncovered at the Buckhorn, a property on the National Register of Historic Landmarks once owned by Ted and Alice Sliger from 1939 to 1999, the year it closed.

The possibility of Elvis haunting the building, perhaps seeking a guitar he left there or a jacket he performed in, has lifted the spirits of at least one history buff.

“Elvis has left the building, or is maybe haunting the building?” mused Ron Peters, a member of the Mesa Preservation Foundation who knew Alice Sliger for 16 years. “I had never heard of anything like Elvis staying there, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. But Alice never mentioned it if he did.”

In order to see if any apparitions of Elvis or other spirit crooners are hanging out at the Buckhorn, for the first time, Arizona Paranormal Investigations will conduct a search of the Buckhorn buildings Oct. 20. The public is invited to attend the event which is a fundraiser for the Mesa Historical Museum benefiting the Buckhorn’s restoration efforts.

Buckhorn owner Alice Sliger died at age 103 in November 2010, and her son Ted Sliger Jr. now owns the property. The Mesa Historical Museum and the Mesa Preservation Foundation are feverishly pursuing avenues to receive grants and financial support to restore the place that appears frozen in time. Ted Sliger Jr. has loaned many of the items of historical significance to the Mesa Historical Museum and to the Arizona Museum of Natural History for safekeeping.

The inside of the main Buckhorn office building still looks as if the Sligers could appear behind the check-in counter at any time, and many species of mounted animals from throughout Arizona that were hunted by Ted Sliger Jr. also remain on the walls. The business also was known for attracting baseball teams such as the New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants) in 1947 and later the Chicago Cubs and was where baseball’s best such as Ty Cobb, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks and Gaylord Perry received massages.

While sifting through some of the boxes of items stored inside the lodging cabins at the Buckhorn, historical preservationists recently discovered items left behind from a man named Tom Diskin, who co-owned Jamboree Productions, a Memphis, Tenn.-based publishing company with Parker, who was Elvis’ manager for many years. Among the items: boxes of photographs of college sporting events Diskin took during the 1950s and ’60s and negatives, a pair of binoculars, a bowling ball and a typewriter that Diskin borrowed from the Mesa Tribune. Diskin, who died in 1998, is seen in many vintage photos with Presley on various Elvis websites, according to published accounts, and that may be why Diskin left some of his belongings behind at the Buckhorn the year before it closed.

But when was Elvis there exactly?

“We don’t know exactly when he stayed there, but we’re trying to find out,” said Lisa Anderson, executive director of the Mesa Historical Museum. “But there’s evidence that Elvis likely stayed here at some point; we’re just trying to find out exactly when. We’re going through ledgers to see when he would’ve checked in, but there’s also the possibility that he could’ve checked in under an assumed name.”

According to Anderson, Ted Sliger Jr. said he had heard the story from his parents about Elvis filming a scene for Flaming Star somewhere around Mesa, and that he had stayed for a very brief time at the Buckhorn, but he never saw The King himself. Sliger Jr. also had told Anderson he knew Diskin often stayed at the Buckhorn when he was in Arizona and was friends with his parents, giving the Buckhorn an Elvis connection.

Ted Sliger Jr. could not be reached for comment, as other haunting questions remain: Did Elvis receive a massage at the Buckhorn? Who gave it to him? Does anyone living in Mesa remember seeing Elvis at the Buckhorn and were they lucky enough to get a snapshot of him?

And, what is Elvis’ ghost looking for on the grounds of the Buckhorn?

Jack Burns, a family friend of the Sligers, laughed at the possibility of Elvis staying at the Buckhorn.

“Anything is possible,” Burns said.

And that itself supports the fact that Elvis may have really slept at the Buckhorn – and that he may have never left the building.

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Information from: East Valley Tribune, http://www.eastvalleytribune.com

AP-WF-10-11-12 0704GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Last 6.5-ounce US Coke bottle rolls off Minn. line

A traditional Coca-Cola bottle. Fair use of photo of historically significant product, used solely for informational and educational purposes. Sourced through Wikimedia Commons.

WINONA, Minn. (AP) – The last bottle of 6.5-ounce Coke in its distinctive glass bottle rolled off the line this week at the Coca-Cola bottling plant and immediately fetched a cool $2,000 in an auction attended by executives, distributors and Coke enthusiasts.

And a bottle opener wasn’t getting anywhere near this one.

That bottle, cast for the Minneapolis Coke bottling works in 1948 and filled at the Winona Coca-Cola Bottling Co., was the last 6.5-ounce glass returnable bottle of Coca-Cola filled and capped in the United States.

“This is the last one,” LeRoy Telstad, vice-president and general manager, said Tuesday, holding the bottle high before handing it off to auctioneer Jon Kohner, who opened the bidding.

Five minutes and $2,000 later, Michael Faber, president of Viking Coca-Cola of St. Cloud, Minn., became the proud owner of what is doubtless the most expensive bottle of pop ever sold in Winona.

“I plan to retire on this one day,” Faber said of his prize purchase.

Anyone else who thirsts for their own sip of soft-drink history will have an opportunity beginning next week to purchase one of the remaining 5,879 bottles filled during the final bottling run. Telstad said the last 6.5-ounce bottles will be sold for $20 each, with all proceeds going to resurface Winona’s bike and walking paths.

The last run of returnable bottles in Winona “is the concluding chapter to a long story,” said Phil Mooney, Coca-Cola’s chief archivist, who attended Tuesday’s ceremony.

The Winona Coca-Cola Bottling Co. has been filling the bottle since it opened in 1932, 80 years ago, the Winona Daily News reported.).

“It’s been a good, long run,” said company president Clint Kuhlmann.

The first Coke was sold in 1886 at a drugstore soda fountain in Atlanta. Coke was strictly a soda fountain product until 1894, when a Vicksburg, Miss., Coca-Cola wholesaler, Ollie Biedenharn, got to wondering if people out in the country would buy in bottles the Coca-Cola they’d gotten a taste for when they came into town.

“The first bottle was bottled on the banks of the Mississippi,” said Randy Mayo, a Biedenharn descendent.

As was the last.

The bottled Coke first sold in Vicksburg and then across the country wouldn’t be sold in what we know of as “Coke bottles” for 21 years, Mooney said. The iconic Coke bottle was the product of a 1915 design competition won by the Root Glass Co. of Terre Haute, Ind. The company’s design was unique in that it produced a practical container that could be instantly identified, even in pitch darkness, solely by feel.

So distinctive was the design it has been both patented and trademarked, Coca-Cola’s archivist Mooney said. It was so distinctive, so successful that for the next 50 years – until 1955 – that the only way Coca-Cola was sold was in the 6.5-ounce returnable bottle or in a glass as a fountain drink.

In 1955, King-sized Coke was introduced – in returnable 10-, 12- and 26-ounce Family Size bottles. Coke in cans was introduced in 1960, along with Sprite and Fanta products, Mooney said, followed by Tab, the company’s first diet drink, in 1963.

The returnable glass bottle eventually became a victim of changing times and habits, Mooney said. Returnables became less cost-effective as the product line expanded and consumers favored the convenience of nonreturnable cans and bottles over storing and returning bottles to the grocery store to retrieve a deposit.

“We’re just not geared that way anymore,” Mooney said.

The Winona plant shut down its bottling line at this time because it needed to replace bottle washing and filling equipment. The cost could not be justified by the small market share and low profit margin on the returnable bottles.

But for people of a certain age, that heavy, icy bottle of Coke is unforgettable. Winona Mayor Jerry Miller recalled Tuesday how as teens he, Don Klagge and Dave Mertes would finish an afternoon workout at the “Y” by settling down in front of the TV with Howdy-Doody and a Coke.

“That bottle of Coke was the highlight of our day,” he said.

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Online:

http://www.cocacolawinona.wordpress.com

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Information from: Winona Daily News, http://www.winonadailynews.com

AP-WF-10-10-12 2044GMT

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Ky. antique shop find forces evacuation

PARIS, Ky. (AP) – What a Kentucky antique dealer thought was a neat aircraft part caused police to evacuate her store in Paris.

Store owner Patty Fairbanks told WKYT-TV in Lexington she never knows what she will find at estate sales. But Fairbanks said a military enthusiast who frequents her shop recognized the device she was trying to twist the top off of as a piece of a Cold War-era missile.

Fairbanks called police, who got everyone out of the antique shop. Also evacuated were a nearby dentist office and a pool hall.

A Kentucky State Police bomb squad was called in to remove the device. It wasn’t clear whether it was an active explosive.

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Information from: WKYT-TV, http://www.wkyt.com

AP-WF-10-10-12 1138GMT

Yale professor strolls down Penny Lane with the Beatles

The Beatles, circa 1968. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and RoGallery.com.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) – Scott Freiman asks his students to “lend me your ears” and he takes them on a trip through Strawberry Fields, down Penny Lane and into Abbey Road.

Using contemporary computers, vintage video and antique audio, Freiman hopes to teach Yale students some history along with music production techniques and, above all, “inspire their creativity.”

The class, which spans two hours over 13 Wednesday afternoons, is “The Beatles in the Studio.”

It comes as the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four’s first released recording. That was Oct. 5, 1962, in England when Love Me Do and its flip side of P.S. I Love You came out on 45 rpm vinyl. Two years later, it found its way onto U.S. shores.

Freiman, a 51-year-old composer, engineer and music producer who graduated from Yale in 1984 with a B.S. in music and computer science, landed the classroom gig following an hour-long multimedia presentation for school officials and students in January.

His plans are to take his students on a “Magical Mystery Tour” of the Beatles, tracing their origins by looking at who influenced them during their musical evolution in songwriting and production techniques, then showing who they influenced before ending with their break-up and initial solo albums.

“So its pretty comprehensive,” Freiman said during an interview prior to his Oct. 3 class. “There’s a lot of material to get through and far too little time.”

This unconventional class at an Ivy League school is not unusual, according to George Levesque, Yale’s assistant dean of academic affairs. He said they’ve been part of the college seminar program’s curriculum for 45 years.

“The course topics are wide-ranging, but they usually cover subjects not taught in a traditional academic department, and they are usually taught by instructors who are not traditional academics,” Levesque said.

Freiman has three years of experience producing Beatles multimedia presentations and lectures, which he’s shown across the country in schools and theaters and to corporate gatherings. But the first took place in his living room before some 40 friends.

Their enthusiasm convinced him to go bigger. He created a website, www.beatleslectures.com, and a brand name, DeConstructing the Beatles. He’s produced four shows: Deconstructing Sgt. Pepper; Tomorrow Never Knows, which deconstructs the Beatles’ Revolver album; Looking Through a Glass Onion, which deconstructs the White Album; and A Trip Through Strawberry Fields, which deconstructs three songs –Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane and A Day in the Life.

A fifth, deconstructing the early Beatles, is in the works.

In these multimedia presentations, Freiman explains the techniques and equipment used by the group, explores the background behind a song and discusses choices made and rejected in completing a record.

He said his class is more technical-oriented since the students have had a year of music theory and play an instrument.

“They must also work,” he said.

Just this past Wednesday, they had to submit a five-to-10-page paper analyzing a Beatles song released between 1962-65 in terms of harmony, rhythm, production and lyrics. The paper also had to discuss the context in which the song was written.

“I play a lot of interesting music and rare tracks,” Freiman said. “Also, the students are listening to non-Beatles music outside of class – Jimi Hendrix, the Beach Boys, the Byrds … ”

For instance, he said McCartney’s infatuation with Hendrix led to his including a chord sequence from Hendrix’s Hey Joe into A Day in the Life.

“Then Jimi Hendrix returns the favor by performing Sgt. Pepper live the day after the record comes out,” Freiman said. “What I’m trying to show the students is that this was a real, real fertile time. … Everyone was listening to everybody else. … The Byrds heard something the Beatles did and then the Beatles heard something the Byrds did and Dylan heard both. …”

The influences involved more than just other groups’ works.

Take the Beatles song Back in the U.S.S.R. Freiman said it was composed on a dare by the Beach Boys’ Mike Love to parody Chuck Berry’s Back in the U.S.A.

“One of the things I do in the classroom and in my talks is I play the Chuck Berry version and then I play Back in the U.S.S.R. It’s very funny to hear how Paul mimicked Berry’s lyrics for the Soviet Union.”

And who but a Beatles junkie like Freiman would know that an original line in With a Little Help From My Friends was “What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you throw tomatoes at me?”

Freiman said Ringo was afraid the band would get pelted with tomatoes when that line was sung, so he asked Lennon and McCartney to change it. It became “Would you stand up and walk out on me?”

But above all, Freiman hopes to show through his class that the Beatles were “four guys who didn’t read music, had no musical training and they became, especially Lennon and McCartney, a Rogers and Hammerstein – a major songwriting force in popular music. How do you do that when you have no real background? … It’s real interesting so see how that all evolves.”

AP-WF-10-11-12 1241GMT

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Jeffrey S. Evans to trim lighting collections Oct. 19-20

Sample of Sullivan collection of railroad lanterns (Oct. 19). Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates image.

MOUNT CRAWFORD, Va. – Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates will hold an important two-day auction of 19th and 20th century lighting and glass on Oct. 19-20. Both auctions will also be available for live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com

On Friday, Oct. 19, at 1 p.m. EDT the firm will offer the second half of the distinguished lantern collection of the late Phillip M. Sullivan of South Orleans, Mass. Sullivan was an advanced collector and student of lanterns of all types and amassed a collection of more than 900 pieces. He was a past president of the Rushlight Club and an active member of the International Guild of Lamp Researchers. This auction will include 288 lots comprising more than 450 19th and 20th century lanterns including marine, railroad, pierced tin, onion and blown-molded globes, barn, fireman’s, street, and many colored globes. The firm sold the first half of the Sullivan collection on April 29 of this year.

On Saturday, Oct. 20, beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT the firm will offer 668 lots featuring part one of the exceptional lighting collection of the late Dorothy Gooch of Hopkinsville, Ky.; the final installment of the lighting collection of Abigail and the late Edward Meyer of Plantsville, Conn.; the Victorian glass collection of the late Marge Hulsebus of Redlands, Calif.; and the open salt collection of the late Dr. Leonell C. Strong Jr. of Norton, Va.

The auction will begin with 330 lots of lighting consisting of rare opalescent stand and finger lamps, 10 Atterbury Swan figural stand lamps, other figural glass stems, figural spelter stems including a fine matching pair of Hartford and Chicago Club baseball players, Sandwich including jade green Onion and Triple-Dolphin, cut overlays, rare colored fonts, fluid lamps including an rare starch blue Mount Washington Bigler hand lamp, novelty lamps including Wedding/Marriage and Temple/Applesauce, rare early kerosene bracket and hanging lamps, 16 colored Princess Feather lamps in a variety of sizes and colors, stand lamps with matching patterned chimneys, plus parts and accessories including the Meyer collection of wall match safes.

Lighting will be followed by the Hulsebus Victorian glass collection comprising more than 140 pickle casters including Mount Washington and other art glass, opalescent, enamel decorated, and pressed; over 40 fairy lamps including art glass and figural ceramic; opalescent and other syrups, cruets and shakers. Also awaiting buyers are the Hulsebus and Strong collections of more than 700 open salts including 150-plus fancy Victorian glass master salts, most in metal stands, Tiffany, Daum Nancy, Steuben, other art glass, pressed glass, ceramic and figurals.

“It has been a great pleasure handling the dispersals of the Sullivan and Meyer collections. They were both experts in their respective fields and collected in a very academic manner,” said senior auctioneer Jeff Evans. “We are now honored to be handling the Gooch and Hulsebus collections in multiple auctions over the next two years. Both are among the finest collections of lighting and associated glass ever assembled,” he added.

Additional information is available by calling 540-434-3939.

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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