July 10, 2013 - Auction Central News

Cast-iron banks dominated at Morphy’s June 22 Toy Auction

Atlas cast-iron mechanical bank, $12,000. Morphy Auctions image.

DENVER, Pa. – There were no bank “bailouts” required at Morphy’s June 22 antique toy auction, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers. Collectors eagerly stepped up to the plate to stake their claims on an excellent assortment of cast-iron mechanical and still banks – a category that ended up leading all others in the $502,000 event. Prices quoted in this report are inclusive of 20% buyer’s premium.

Seven of the top 10 lots were banks made during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Among them was a figural cast-iron bank depicting the muscular Greek god Atlas with the world hoisted onto his back. Complete and in near-mint condition, the coveted moneybox swept past its $6,000-$8,000 estimate to settle at $12,000.

Another strong entry within the mechanicals was a Lighthouse bank with realistically detailed red brick tower. The 10½-inch cast-iron piece surpassed expectations, garnering a winning bid of $10,800.

Other mechanical banks in the top 10 included three J. & E. Stevens productions. They included a Magic bank, pistachio green with red version, with a front door that opens to reveal a smartly dressed cashier, $8,400; and a near-mint-plus Owl Turns Head bank, which more than doubled its high estimate at $4,500. A Stevens Perfection registering mechanical bank pocketed $10,800.

A beautiful, all-original example of a beady-eyed Pelican still bank was a crowd favorite. The near-mint-plus sea bird flew past its $6,000-$8,000 estimate to land at $11,400. Another popular non-mechanical bank was a Stevens circa-1880 “General Butler,” which was offered together with a framed picture of its namesake, Civil War general Benjamin Franklin Butler. Estimated at $3,000-$4,000, it took in a tidy $8,400.

The 595-lot sale had opened with more than 140 antique occupational shaving mugs from the Ray and Theresa Jones collection. Each mug from the barber-shop era of more than a century ago was an individual expression of its owner, typically emblazoned with a depiction of the person’s occupation and his name in gold. A colorful mug with an eye-catching image of a red and white lighthouse by the sea sailed past its $800-$1,200 estimate to close at $3,900.

Not far behind was a mug depicting a very different type of lighting source. The well-detailed image was of a worker, with rolled-up shirtsleeves, seated at a workbench and handcrafting light bulbs. With expectations of making $700-$900, it illuminated the auction gallery as it hammered $3,000.

“Shaving mug collectors really go for the unusual occupations,” said Morphy Auctions CEO Dan Morphy. “We knew this mug was rare, but when it comes right down to it, it’s always the collectors who call the shots on value. Obviously there were at least two bidders who were determined to take this particular mug home – that’s all it takes for an estimate to be left in the dust.”

Three early barber poles were included alongside the selection of shaving mugs. An aggressive bid of $5,700 clinched a handsome 44-inch red and gold striped pole with a three dimensional eagle on its finial.

Other auction highlights included a boxed Linemar Disney friction fire engine toy, $3,300; and an extremely rare “Moving Pictures” kaleidoscope candy container made by West Bros. & Co. of Grapeville, Pa. Constructed of metal with an applied red paper label, the candy container even retained its original box. It was bid to the upper reaches of its presale estimate, realizing a very sweet $7,200.

To discuss consigning to a future toy and bank sale at Morphy’s, call 717-335-3435 or email serena@morphyauctions.com.

To view the entire online catalog from Morphy’s June 22 Toy Auction, complete with prices realized, log on to www.liveauctioneers.com.

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ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Antique occupational shaving mug depicting a lighthouse, $3,900. Morphy Auctions image.

Early 44-inch red and gold striped pole with a three dimensional eagle on finial, $5,700. Morphy Auctions image.

J. & E. Stevens Magic cast-iron mechanical bank, pistachio green with red version, $8,400. Morphy Auctions image.

Lighthouse cast-iron mechanical bank with realistically detailed red brick tower, $10,800. Morphy Auctions image.

Pelican cast-iron still bank, $11,400. Morphy Auctions image.

Linemar lithographed-tin friction fire engine with Disney characters, accompanied by original box, $3,300. Morphy Auctions image.

Moving Pictures kaleidoscope candy container made by West Bros. & Co. of Grapeville, Pa., accompanied by original box, $7,200. Morphy Auctions image.

‘Collecting for Philadelphia’ surveys museum’s past 5 years

'Red Beaver' Armchair, 1986. Designed by Frank O. Gehry, American (born Canada), 1929. Dyed corrugated cardboard, 33 3/4 x 33 1/4 x 42 1/4 inches (85.7 x 84.5 x 107.3 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Vitra GmbH, Basel, Switzerland, 2009.

PHILADELPHIA – This summer the Philadelphia Museum of Art will present an exhibition showcasing more than 100 works of art that have been acquired for the collection over the past five years. On view in the Dorrance Special Exhibition Galleries, “First Look: Collecting for Philadelphia” reflects the scope of the museum’s collecting activities and includes many objects that will be displayed for the first time. The exhibition will open July 13 and continue through Sept. 8.

Ranging in date from a sixth-century Japanese burial jar to a drawing made in 2011 by American artist and naturalist James Prosek, they span the globe and represent a variety of media, from calligraphy and craft to painting, photography, furniture and contemporary design.

Timothy Rub, the museum’s George D. Widener director and chief executive officer, said: “We are deeply indebted to the hundreds of donors who have contributed works and purchase funds in recent years. The remarkable generosity of these civic-minded individuals inspires us, as our collections are the lifeblood of this institution. A number of these works were given in memory of the museum’s late director Anne d’Harnoncourt (1943-2008), and the exhibition will occasion the launch of the Anne d’Harnoncourt Society, dedicated to recognizing donors who support the growth of the collections.”

Alice Beamesderfer, deputy director for collections and programs at the museum and organizing curator of the exhibition, noted: “We could not possibly show all of our wonderful recent acquisitions—there have been more than 8,500 during the past five years—in a single exhibition, but this does enable us to highlight the remarkable breadth and variety of what we have collected. We also plan to place special labels throughout the permanent collection galleries to identify other recent acquisitions.”

The exhibition will illustrate the diversity of the museum’s collecting, and also help visitors understand why and how it collects. In many cases, new acquisitions have built upon the museum’s existing strengths. The Fishermen’s Village at L’Estaque, painted by the French post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne around 1870, is the artist’s earliest painting to enter the collection. A promised gift of trustee Barbara B. Aronson and her husband Theodore, this work enables the museum to present the full arc of the pioneering modernist’s career. Monet’s Path on the Island of Saint Martin, Vétheuil (1881) is the first work in the collection from the three-year period during which the artist lived and worked in Vétheuil, a small village on the Seine River northwest of Paris. This gift of Chara C. and the late John Haas reflects the artist’s development at a key moment.

On display are the first works to enter the collection by a number of artists, including Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma Moses). A gift of the Kallir Family Collection, her winter landscape The Departure, completed when the artist was 91, complements the museum’s growing collection of works by self-taught artists. Funds raised from a group of donors recently enabled the museum to acquire its first painting by the leading 18th-century Puerto Rican painter José Campeche, whose La Divina Pastora (The Divine Shepherdess), completed in the late 1700s, is a prominent addition to the museum’s notable holdings of Latin American art.

The fine self-portrait painted in 1840 by Rembrandt Peale is part of the McNeil Americana Collection, comprising more than 1,000 works donated to the museum by the late Robert L. McNeil Jr., that range from extensive holdings of presidential china to exceptional examples of early American furniture, miniatures, and masterpieces in painting. A selection of photographs by Paul Strand will also be on display.

A substantial number of works by African American artists have also been added to the collection. Among them are the painting Birds in Flight (1927) by Aaron Douglas, a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance, as well as a printed triptych by John Biggers, a hat by the fashion designer Patrick Kelly, and works by Charles White, Kara Walker and James VanDerZee.

“The museum’s collection has always been especially strong in works that were created in and around Philadelphia,” said Beamesderfer, “and recent acquisitions continue to reflect that tradition.” Among the Philadelphia artists represented in the exhibition are Charles Willson Peale and his descendants, Sidney Goodman, Edna Andrade, Sarah McEneaney and Zoe Strauss.

A camera obscura photograph showing the museum and one of its paintings by Giorgio de Chirico was given by the Cuban-born artist Abelardo Morell and bears testimony to his creative collaboration with the Museum’s staff when he visited Philadelphia in 2005. Another notable addition is a blue silk skirt that provides a wonderful and elegant footnote to the museum’s renowned holdings by Henri Matisse. It was created in 1937 by Lydia Delectorskaya, the model who wears it in Matisse’s famous painting, Woman in Blue, which has been in the museum’s collection for several decades. When the widow of Matisse’s grandson found the costume in her attic, she gave it to the museum so that the painting and skirt would be kept together.

“First Look: Collecting for Philadelphia” is organized by Alice Beamesderfer and Naina Saligram, exhibition assistant in the Department of European Painting before 1900. The exhibition is generously supported by the Robert Montgomery Scott Fund for Exhibitions and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Exhibition Hours: Tuesday – Sunday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Wednesday and Friday: 10:10 a.m. – 8:45 p.m.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Monkey Bearing a Dish (Sand Holder from a Writing Set), c. 1750. Artist/maker unknown, German. Salt-glazed stoneware, 6 5/8 × 4 × 3 9/16 inches (16.8 × 10.2 × 9 cm). Promised gift of Charles W. Nichols.

Ten Longevity Symbols, 19th century. Artist/maker unknown, Korean. Ink and colors on paper; framed, 57 × 35 1/2 inches (144.8 × 90.2 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the James and Agnes Kim Fund for Korean Art Acquisitions, 2009.

'Joséphine's March Lily, Amaryllis josephinae,' 1802-5. Pierre Joseph Redouté, French, 1759 - 1840. Watercolor over graphite on vellum, Sheet: 19 13/16 × 28 1/4 inches (50.3 × 71.8 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Ira Brind, in memory of Myrna Brind, and in honor of David Brind, 2012. — ‘Joséphine’s March Lily, Amaryllis josephinae,’ 1802-5. Pierre Joseph Redouté, French, 1759 – 1840. Watercolor over graphite on vellum, Sheet: 19 13/16 × 28 1/4 inches (50.3 × 71.8 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of Ira Brind, in memory of Myrna Brind, and in honor of David Brind, 2012.

'Self-Portrait,' 1840. Rembrandt Peale, American, 1778 - 1860. Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 inches (76.2 x 63.5 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of the McNeil Americana Collection, 2009. — ‘Self-Portrait,’ 1840. Rembrandt Peale, American, 1778 – 1860. Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 inches (76.2 x 63.5 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of the McNeil Americana Collection, 2009.

'The Fishermen’s Village at L’Estaque,' c. 1870. Paul Cézanne, French, 1839 - 1906. Oil on canvas, 16-1/2 x 21-3/4 — ‘The Fishermen’s Village at L’Estaque,’ c. 1870. Paul Cézanne, French, 1839 – 1906. Oil on canvas, 16-1/2 x 21-3/4

'Path on the Island of Saint Martin, Vétheuil,' 1881. Claude Monet, French, 1840 - 1926. Oil on canvas, 29 x 23 1/2 inches (73.7 x 59.7 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of John C. Haas and Chara C. Haas, 2011. — ‘Path on the Island of Saint Martin, Vétheuil,’ 1881. Claude Monet, French, 1840 – 1926. Oil on canvas, 29 x 23 1/2 inches (73.7 x 59.7 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, 125th Anniversary Acquisition. Gift of John C. Haas and Chara C. Haas, 2011.

'Flowers,' 1964. Andy Warhol, American, 1928 - 1987. Screenprint on canvas, 24 x 24 x 1 inches (61 x 61 x 2.5 cm). Partial and promised gift of Anne d'Harnoncourt and Joseph Rishel in memory of Sarah Carr d'Harnoncourt, 2001. © Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. — ‘Flowers,’ 1964. Andy Warhol, American, 1928 – 1987. Screenprint on canvas, 24 x 24 x 1 inches (61 x 61 x 2.5 cm). Partial and promised gift of Anne d’Harnoncourt and Joseph Rishel in memory of Sarah Carr d’Harnoncourt, 2001. © Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Camera Obscura Image of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, East Entrance in Gallery with a de Chirico Painting, 2005 (image); 2009 (print). Abelardo Morell, American (born Cuba), born 1948. Pigmented inkjet print, mounted to Dibond, Image/Sheet/Mount: 59 3/4 x 75 1/2 inches (151.8 x 191.8 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of the artist in memory of Anne d'Harnoncourt, 2009. — Camera Obscura Image of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, East Entrance in Gallery with a de Chirico Painting, 2005 (image); 2009 (print). Abelardo Morell, American (born Cuba), born 1948. Pigmented inkjet print, mounted to Dibond, Image/Sheet/Mount: 59 3/4 x 75 1/2 inches (151.8 x 191.8 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gift of the artist in memory of Anne d’Harnoncourt, 2009.

Shipwreck-littered Pickles Reef holding on to its mysteries

Sponge, coral and searod, photographed by a Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary diver. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) – On shallow Pickles Reef, 3 1/2 miles off the shore of Key Largo, the sun lit up a mishmash of metal, iron and barrel-shaped cement artifacts that have been commingling with colorful coral and tropical fish for a century or more.

As two curious spotted eagle rays cruised by, a group of divers from the Washington-based Maritime Archeological and Historical Society surveyed the unidentified wreckage that hurricanes, tropical storms and strong currents have scattered over a site larger than a football field.

“Mother Nature has a way of mixing it up in a soup that is hard to sort out what we have,” the society’s president, Steven Anthony, said during a June trip to the Keys. “We are trying to put all that puzzle back together, like putting back together Humpty Dumpty, to solve the mystery.”

Is the submerged debris field primarily a single wreck, perhaps one of the 23 ships with names that include Lion, Mimi, S.S. Oxford and Hope of London that Key West Admiralty court records document as sunk, abandoned, lost or wrecked on that reef in the 1800s? Or is it the remnants of several wrecks, from different eras?

And are the numerous cement cylinders even connected to the wreckage? Or was it cargo a boat’s crew offloaded to lighten the load enough to get off the treacherous reef, which at some points is less than 10 feet deep?

“We don’t know, but we have enthusiastically been trying to pin this wreck down for a number of years now,” said Brenda S. Altmeier, program support specialist with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary—in which the wreck site is located.

Over the last few decades, the prevailing story told to divers and snorkelers has been that the wreck is that of a Civil War-era ship or barge that was carrying cement destined to Key West for the construction of Fort Jefferson or the Martello Towers.

But that story was debunked in 2008 after a New York laboratory’s analysis of the cement positively identified it as Portland cement, produced no earlier than 1890 and only until 1925.

“This information leads us down a different trail of bread crumbs,” Altmeier said. “We can eliminate the Civil War era ships.”

One of the new theories it that the vessel was carrying cement for construction of the Key West Extension of the Florida East Coast Railway. The maritime society located a 1908 picture of construction of a Henry Flagler railroad bridge that clearly shows neat rows of barrels that appear similar to the shape of the cement features at the bottom of Pickles Reef. Workers also appear to be pouring concrete next to the barrels. But so far, it’s just a theory.

With so few government resources, and 68 priority shipwreck sites to identify just in the Upper Keys, Altmeier says the sanctuary welcomes the help of enthusiastic private groups like the Maritime Archeological and Historical Society, providing them with permits and previously gathered information.

The society began to investigate the site at Pickles Reef in 2010, at the request of Florida State Underwater Archeologist Roger Smith. The group has returned each year since, gathering more clues both underwater and on land, working with local historians and combing through archives.

Originally, Anthony said, the group wasn’t convinced it was the site of a shipwreck. “It looks like a big debris field and we thought it could be machinery and maybe offloaded salvage,” he said.

The group, with no trained underwater archeologists, asked the sanctuary for help in interpreting their photographs, drawings and maps created by their survey work.

Last September, underwater archeologist Matthew Lawrence of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary looked over their work and dove the site. He concluded that there were lower hull remains of an iron or steel sailing vessel.

He also located two mast steps, which Anthony described as rectangular slots in which the masts were connected to the ship. “In the old days they put a coin in there to tell the date of the ship—and for good luck,” he said.

The mast steps also indicate the wreck is either a sailboat or schooner.

On the first dive last week, Anthony easily found the first mast step. But he could not find the second one until the second dive. It was partially hidden under coral.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group laid a baseline of measuring tape down the center of the site and used the trilateration method to measure several of the site’s metal features to later be placed to scale on a map.

They also tried to estimate the number of barrel-shaped cement features that were on the bottom. Archeologist Dennis Knepper, vice president of the society, said he saw between 30 and 50.

“That does not seem like it is quite enough to be on a barge, unless a lot of it deteriorated,” he said. “The only ones we’re seeing are the barrels that remained intact long enough for the cement to harden before the wood deteriorated.”

Knepper usually works on land sites slated for development. In one freeway project near the Watergate Hotel in Washington, he found prehistoric sites and plowed fields from tobacco farms buried under 14 feet of fill. “It was intriguing, but they still built the ramp over it,” he said.

Part of the society’s mission is to enhance the public’s awareness and appreciation for historic shipwrecks. Anthony hopes this awareness will help encourage charter boat captains and divers and snorkelers to view these sites more as underwater museums than as treasures to be seized.

Anthony would like to see the Pickles Reef wreck site one day added to the Florida Keys Shipwreck Trail, which now includes nine wrecks with interesting tales to tell.

“It’s a cultural resource we want to protect,” Anthony said. “You can do that by capturing the imagination of the public by telling the story of how much terror and fight and struggle to survive there was for the people on that ship that smashed into the reef.”

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Information from: The Miami Herald, www.herald.com

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Shelburne Museum center named for local philanthropists

An artist's rendering of the east side of Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vt. Image courtesy of the Shelburne Museum.

SHELBURNE, Vt. (AP) – The new arts center at Vermont’s Shelburne Museum has been named for a local family and long-time supporters.

The Pizzagalli Center for Art and Education opens Aug. 18. It’s named for James, Angelo and Remo Pizzagalli and their families. James Pizzagalli is past chairman and a current member of the board of trustees.

The center includes 5,000 square feet of gallery space, an auditorium and a classroom.

Exhibition and education wings are being named for Theodore Church and the family of J. Warren McClure, respectively.

Church, who died in 2008, was an art collector and owner of the St. Albans-based Superior Technical Ceramics Corp.

The J. Warren McClure and Family Education Wing is named in honor of the family’s many major contributions to educational opportunity and access at the museum.

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Remainder of Carson City man’s gold to be auctioned

1875-CC double eagle, struck at the Carson City mint. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) – An auction is scheduled in August to sell the second half of a gold fortune found in the home of a Carson City man after he died.

The auction will be held Aug. 6 at the Carson City Courthouse to sell off the rest of Walter Samaszko Jr.’s gold coins, the Nevada Appeal reported Monday.

About $7.4 million in gold coins were found in Samaszko’s home after he died last summer. No one knew of his wealth until a cleaning crew hired by Carson City Clerk-Recorder Alan Glover, acting as the public administrator, discovered boxes of coins. There were thousands of coins, some from Austria, Mexico and the United States.

The haul filled two wheelbarrows.

A cousin, Arlene Magdanz of San Rafael, Calif., was tracked down through a funeral bulletin found at Samaszko’s home about his father’s burial service in Chicago in the 1960s. Newspaper clippings listed survivors.

The first collection batch of gold was sold for just over $3.5 million at a February auction. The bulk of those coins, roughly $2.6 million worth, was purchased by Allen Rowe, a Carson City coin dealer.

Glover said he expects the upcoming auction to fetch more.

“These are the rated coins,” he said of the upcoming sale. “They’re worth 103 to 109 percent above melt value.”

He said the initial estate tax payment of $310,000 was mailed to the Internal Revenue Service after the February auction. He said the IRS has assigned an agent to the case and that he hopes for a full audit so that, after the second auction, the case can be closed out and the rest of the money sent to Magdanz.

Magdanz, who has not appeared at any of the hearings, has already received a substantial amount of money, but Glover said the IRS audit will wrap the case up so she has no concerns about any future actions by the federal government.

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Information from: Nevada Appeal, http://www.nevadaappeal.com

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Historic RI general store reopens on limited basis

Grays General Store (1788) in Adamsville, R.I., is billed as the oldest continuously operating general store in the United States. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Grays General Store (1788) in Adamsville, R.I., has reopened. Before it closed last summer it was billed as the oldest continuously operating general store in the United States. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

LITTLE COMPTON, R.I. (AP) – A historic general store in Rhode Island that closed last year has reopened on a limited basis for sales of antiques and consignments.

The Newport Daily News reports that Gray’s General Store in the Adamsville village in Little Compton reopened last week.

The store originally opened in 1788 and had been in continuous operation until it closed in July of last year, following the death of owner Grayton Waite. State officials had proclaimed the store the oldest in the country.

Waite’s family has reopened the store on a seasonal basis. The shelves are stocked with pottery, glassware, vintage clothing and jewelry, but none of the penny candy, cracked corn or soda that were staples of the general store.

The family is still considering what to do with the property.

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Information from: The Newport Daily News.

AP-WF-07-08-13 1416GMT

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