BRIMFIELD, MA — Reverse-on-glass is a time-honored tradition in fine art, but it’s most prominently found in late 19th-century and early 20th-century advertising, particularly in the United States. The technique involves creating reverse art, painted to the interior of a glass form, for viewing from the front. The effect can be stunning, even more so when paired with interior illumination. Its chief benefit is that the artwork remains untouched due to it being on the ‘inside’ of the object.
Morean Auctions has a circa-1940s ‘Anheuser-Busch Beer On Draught’ reverse-on-glass illuminated sign as a featured lot in its Sunday, September 8 Don Hahn Rare Self-Opening Can Collection sale. Measuring 18in in diameter and 8in in depth, the convex glass features the familiar A-B logo and the backlit illumination creates a fantastic effect, as the image demonstrates.
All original except for a repaint to the back of the sign, Morean describes it as ‘all original with 99% of reverse paint in perfect condition.’ The sky could be the limit with this lot, as Morean suggests with a $250-$250,000 estimate.
LONDON — The Fairground World of Ross Hutchinson is the title of Bonhams’ 139-lot timed-plus auction ending Wednesday, September 11 of English carnival and fairground memorabilia. Leading the charge are carousel figures for children, referred to as ‘juvenile’ platform rides.
The sale includes 14 animal carousel figures and a curious boy-centaur dressed in a British Boy Scout uniform. The figure is attributed to Orton & Spooner, and a similar example can be seen in Fairground Art by Geoff Weedon and Richard Ward. Carved and painted with seating for two children, the piece carries an estimate of £1,000-£1,500 ($1,300-$1,900).
Bonhams will also stage a second live sale from Ross Hutchinson’s collection on Tuesday, September 10. Its catalog is now open for review and bidding at LiveAuctioneers.
MYAKKA CITY, FL — In the 1950s era of Japanese toy production, there were many players in the vehicle toy space. Each manufacturer had its own take — sometimes whimsical, other times deadly accurate. Bandai, Marusan, Nomura, Alps, and Yonezawa all had extensive offerings, and with the bulk of their exports headed to the United States, most of the models were of then-contemporary vehicles.
Yonezawa’s 1958 Oldsmobile 88 falls into the accuracy category. Measuring a whopping 17in in length, the tin-lithographed toy features hand-applied styling touches and period-accurate colors. The tin-litho interior also matches the prototype, and its rubber tires ensure no markings on Mom’s table or floor. Like most accurate Japanese models, it comes with friction drive — rev it up and let it go (just not off the table’s edge).
Marz Auctions has a Yonezawa Olds in its upcoming Summer Premier Antique Toy and Sign sale scheduled for Saturday, September 7. The toy comes with its original packaging and is in like-new condition. Given its scarcity and condition, it carries a $1,700-$2,500 estimate.
BERKELEY, CA — Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) is today considered one of America’s greatest 20th-century writers. Raised in rural Georgia as a Roman Catholic surrounded by a sea of Protestants, O’Connor explored the internecine tensions between the two Christian branches along with more general themes of faith versus skepticism.
Her writing style is described as ‘Southern Gothic,’ wherein characters are often grotesque caricatures improbable in the real world. The truth is, O’Connor’s work is much deeper than this, and she mastered the short story format as a vehicle for her brutal and thought-provoking themes in encapsulated form.
O’Connor began to gain attention when her works appeared as short stories in leading periodicals. Her first novel, Wise Blood, was published in 1952 by Harcourt, Brace and Company to strong critical notice. Many Northern reviewers were perplexed by her characters, to which O’Connor remarked, “Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case, it is going to be called realistic.”
PBA Galleries brings a fine-condition first-edition copy of Wise Blood to market Thursday, September 5. PBA notes the example is “A nice example of the author’s scarce first book; cheaply constructed and not often seen in good condition.” It is estimated at $2,000-$3,000.
GARDENA, CA — Hammer Films, the renowned British studio best remembered for its reboots of the Dracula and Frankenstein stories in a newly gothic style of the 1950s and 1960s, hadn’t dabbled much in prehistoric content when it began filming One Million Years BC in 1966 in the Canary Islands. The studio cast bombshell Raquel Welch to star alongside British actor John Richardson, best known for this role and his lead in the 1960 Mario Bava film Black Sunday. Released in 1966 in England and 1967 in America (with nine minutes trimmed due to perceived violence and lasciviousness), the film was a solid hit, earning more than double its cost.
One Million Years BC featured Ray Harryhausen stop-motion dinosaurs and most notably, Welch’s fur-and-hide bikini, made iconic by a still photographer on set during production. That image ended up being the cover art for a Hammer Studios-produced Christmas card for 1966, one of which was found in the personal effects of Welch by Julien’s Auctions as it cataloged the Raquel Welch – Part Two sale slated for Thursday, September 5.
Signed by Welch and inscribed ‘Hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season. We are all having a London Christmas and loving it. Love, Raquel, Damon, and Tahnee [her children by first husband James Welch]’, the card was likely from a group repetitively signed by Welch for distribution to friends, family, and industry contacts. It carries an estimate of just $100-$200.
