DENVER, Pa. – A large percentage of the world’s population has never even seen a dial-face telephone, but that certainly wasn’t the case with the late Bill Daniels. The massive collection of antique and vintage phones that filled his home comprised a chronological archive of Alexander Graham Bell’s 1876 invention and contained models ranging from primitive turn of the 20th century curiosities to ultra-cool mid-century designs.
A premier assemblage, the Daniels collection has been consigned to Morphy Auctions, where it will be apportioned into three subsequent General Antiques auctions, the first of which will take place on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14 and 15, 2011. The phones will open the second session. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding on both days.
“Many of Bill Daniels’ phones were displayed at museums or shows, but he was always a buyer, hardly ever a seller,” said Morphy Auctions CEO Dan Morphy. “Bill worked for AT&T’s long distance division until his retirement at age 52, so telephones were always a big part of his life.”
Daniels’ widow, Dorothy, said her husband started picking up old phones at flea markets, tag sales and church sales, later expanding his hunt to collector shows dedicated exclusively to telephones. “As his collection grew, he started thinking about the idea of a museum, so in addition to phones, he started buying phone booths, telegraphs, intercoms and other phone-related items,” Mrs. Daniels said.
One of Bill Daniels’ favorite pieces was his Watts & Co. coffin phone, whose nickname comes from its distinctive shape. It will be offered with a $10,000-$20,000 estimate. Other highlights include a Western Electric magneto wall cabinet set, est. $7,000-$10,000; and an American toll 50-cent pay station telephone, est. $5,000-$10,000. Most of the phones in the collection are American, although a few others are from England and Japan.
The Friday session will open with more than 70 occupational shaving mugs, followed by approximately 180 lots of antique apothecary items from a Pennsylvania pharmacist and pharmacology professor’s 35-year collection. There are many “shop” bottles that 19th century pharmacists would have displayed on shelves, as well as numerous hardware items: an early pill roller that made pills from paste, an unusual emulsifying machine, and several counter-mounted cast-iron presses for inserting corks into bottles. “Some are quite artistic for their era and have figural designs on them, such as an alligator, sleeping dog or coiled snake,” the consignor said. Also seen in the collection are tins, Victorian porcelain and ceramic display jars; mortar and pestle sets, “show globes” that held colored water, and candy jars.
A selection of 120+ pieces of pottery includes productions by Roseville, Fulper and Rookwood, as well as some very nice mochaware. The top lot in the category is a Rookwood vase made for the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago and attributed to A.R. Valentien. It stands 24 inches tall and is exquisitely decorated with owls, seashells and a large serpent on the sterling silver overlay. It could make $30,000-$50,000 on auction day. Twenty pieces of early blown glass also will be auctioned.
More than 50 artworks have been cataloged, including a nice selection of oil paintings. A signed 15 x 20 inch Guy Carleton Wiggins New York City snowscape carries a $10,000-$16,000 estimate.
The auction also includes Asian ivory, fine jewelry, a collection of sterling silver Native American jewelry, a collection of 70+ figural celluloid tape measures, and a few Oriental rugs. Additionally, there are two rare 18th-century Pennsylvania German lots: a leatherbound 1767 merchant’s daybook from Lititz, Pa., with entries in pounds and pence; and a German-language copy of the Declaration of Independence that was owned by the late Glenn Redcay, a well-known Lancaster County, Pa., antiques dealer and businessman.
The sale will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern time on both days. For additional information call Morphy’s at 717-335-3435 or e-mail serena@morphyauctions.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
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