Calif. history featured in PBA Galleries sale May 7

Album with 28 albumen photographs by I.W. Taber of San Francisco and Yosemite, plus views by W.H. Jackson, C.R. Savage & George Barker. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000. PBA Galleries image

BERKELEY, Calif. – PBA Galleries announces the collection of California collector George E. Steinmetz to be auctioned on Thursday, May 7. The sale will be PBA’s first return to the live auction format after the hiatus required to safely observe Berkeley’s shelter-in-place restrictions. The late Steinmetz of Benicia, Calif., collected scarce and rare works relating to California history, including many first editions, one-of-a-kind ephemera and more. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.

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Saints come marching in icons online auction May 6

Russian double-sided icon, the Virgin Hodegetria and the Resurrection, 16th century. Estimate: $11,000-$13,000. Jasper52 image

NEW YORK – Jesus Christ and many of the saints and angels are represented in an online auction of Russian icons that will be conducted by Jasper52 on Wednesday, May 6. The expected top lot is a double-sided wooden icon depicted both the Resurrection and the Madonna and Christ Child from the 16th century. Bid absentee or live online exclusively through LiveAuctioneers.

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Bruneau to disperse Pokemon, trading card collection May 14

Rare 2003 Wizards of the Coast Pokemon Aquapolis factory sealed booster box. Bruneau and Co. image

CRANSTON, R.I. – Bruneau and Co. Auctioneers and Travis Landry, Director of Pop Culture will present a single owner collection of TCG trading cards in an online auction Thursday, May 14. The auction will feature 180 lots of Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! trading cards. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.

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Freeman’s results confirm strength in ‘made in America’

Rare painted tinware and zinc Liberty cap flag finial with Civil War association to the 1861 Pratt Street Riot in Baltimore. Price realized: $18,750. Freeman’s image

PHILADELPHIA — Freeman’s April 28-29 online auctions of American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts totaled just shy of $975,000. Both sales elicited the participation of a sizable number of new bidders and ultimately exceeded expectations, nearly reaching their presale high estimates. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.

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Mattel Hot Wheels: fast and furious fun

A rare 1976 Hot Wheels Redline Z Whiz die-cast car 1976, Hong Kong, (possible a prototype) with white body and Datsun Z decals, sold for $6,500 + buyer’s premium in February 2020. Photo courtesy of Matthew Bullock Auctioneers and LiveAuctioneers

NEW YORK – There are certain toys that can immediately transport a person back to childhood and call up a bevy of happy memories. Hot Wheels cars have that power. Long before the advent of electronic toys, kids of all ages, both boys and girls, would play with their Hot Wheels for hours on end. Setting up the orange plastic tracks and racing against friends provided hours of fun. There was also the unbridled joy of going into a store to buy the newest car, choosing carefully among the many models (infinite, or so it seemed at the time), and at last breaking open the packaging emblazoned with bright flames to get our hands on the car at last.

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