Friends of Lovejoy Library 41st Annual SIUE Antiques Show & Sale
January 20th, 2012 by Admin
Featured Antiques Don’t Use
Keen competition for antique signs, early European toys at Noel Barrett’s $1.2M auction
December 22nd, 2011 by AdminSoda shop sign from Atlantic City’s glory days takes top-lot honors at $46K
Painted tin on wood sign advertising confections and beverages, 5ft. tall, top lot of the sale at $46,000. Noel Barrett Auctions image.
NEW HOPE, Pa. – Antique toy expert and Antiques Roadshow senior appraiser Noel Barrett hosted a Nov. 18-19 auction featuring clockwork toys and automata from the Frank Mohr collection. The sale also included early advertising signs and toys from the personal collection of Bill Powell, a Tennessee-based dealer known for his well-cultivated taste in antiques of many types.
The auction realized $1,187,000 (all prices quoted inclusive of 15% buyer’s premium), with Saturday’s sales exceeding the session’s total high estimate by a whopping 40%.
“It was like an old-fashioned sale in terms of turnout. It drew about the same size crowd we had in the very same hall 23 years ago, at our first auction in New Hope. You don’t see that sort of turnout nowadays, with so many people opting for the convenience of phone and Internet bidding. It was one heck of a crowd,” said Noel Barrett.
“The auction took us full circle in a number of ways. I was able to point to a poster in the sale and say, ‘I sold this 23 years ago, and now it’s come back to us,’” Barrett continued. “That’s what the Bill Powell collection represented – antique toys and signs that had been off the market for decades. It was very exciting to see such a full house. All of the major buyers turned out.”
The Automatic Foot Race, 1880s, William Britain & Sons (England), featuring two cloth-dressed figures that trot around a paper-litho metal cylinder, $18,400. Noel Barrett Auctions image.
Friday’s 386-lot toy session was dominated by a British toy, an 1880s William Britain “Automatic Foot Race.” The clockwork toy featuring two quaint, cloth-dressed figures that trot around a paper-litho metal cylinder crossed the finish line at $18,400, against an estimate of $5,000-$12,000. The buyer was an American participating by phone.
Another early Britains production that finished near the top of the toy session was a Don Quixote and the Windmill Parlour Game. The scarce toy featuring a painted-wood windmill with tin blades and an armor-clad rider on horseback even retained its original box lid. The game outpaced its estimate of $2,000-$3,000 to end its run at $8,625. A Britain’s Drinking Highlander automaton garnered an identical winning bid.
An unusual 19th-century pull toy of painted tin with cast-iron wheels featured a uniformed cadet figure pulling a platform topped by a maypole with circling boy and girl figures. It finished just above its high estimate at $12,650.
The Automatic Foot Race, 1880s, William Britain & Sons (England), featuring two cloth-dressed figures that trot around a paper-litho metal cylinder, $18,400. Noel Barrett Auctions image.
Another toy that found favor with bidders was a French horse-drawn tin omnibus floor toy emblazoned with “Compagnie Generale Des Omnibus” and a point of departure and destination sign reading “Gare d l’Est – Montrouge.” Very nicely detailed and carrying 12 painted composition passenger figures, it breezed past its $2,500-$4,500 estimate to settle at $11,500.
The auction’s overall top lot was an appealing painted tin-on-wood sign believed to have come from a shop on Atlantic City’s Boardwalk. It advertised “ice cream, fancy cake and all kinds of soft drinks,” the types of treats so popular with beachgoers both a century ago and today. The gold lettering and image of a mound of ice cream being served up on a silver utensil were remarkably clean, suggesting the sign had avoided exposure to harsh elements. Against an estimate of $8,000-$12,000, the sign was bid to $46,000.
19th-century, full-color wood sign advertising Chas. F. Wagner Furs, $26,450. Noel Barrett Auctions image.
A 19th-century, full-color wood sign advertising Chas. F. Wagner Furs featured a painted cartouche with the three-quarter image of a woman wearing an ermine-collared fur vest, her hands concealed in a fur muff. Against an estimate of $15,000-$18,000, the 58-inch-tall by 29-inch-wide sign achieved $26,450.
Both a J. F. Wiessner Lager painted-tin sign with the image of a foaming pint, and a “Glasses Fitted” optician trade with a suspended pair of oversize spectacles commanded individual prices of $12,650.
An elaborately detailed watchmaker’s trade sign shaped like a pocket watch with Roman numerals brought a surprising $11,500 – more than seven times its high estimate. But even Noel Barrett didn’t expect the intense interest in a painted-wood fishing lure trade sign replicating a speckled fish, estimated at $1,500-$2,500. “There were a lot of people on the phones for that sign, and one of them ended up being the buyer at $19,550,” Barrett said.
Painted-wood fishing lure trade sign replicating a speckled fish, $19,550. Noel Barrett Auctions image.
Sometimes the type of product being advertised on a sign can be just as important as the graphics. A case in point was the lithographed cardboard sign touting Hansen’s Auto Gauntlets and illustrated with the image of a liveried driver wearing a pair of the sturdy gloves. “Sometimes automotive items can be totally surprising, because the field is so strong. I had never seen this sign before, and it had a great image,” said Barrett, commenting on the winning bid of $9,775 (est. $400-$800).
Provenance played a role in the success of an “Allegiance to No Crown” oil painting from the Greg and Molly Caron patriotic Americana
Before the Pierce-Arrow automobile, there were Pierce Cycles, as seen in this 1898 poster, 86in. tall, $11,500. Noel Barrett Auctions image.
collection. The artwork with provenance from the legendary Bernard Barenholtz collection ignited a bidding battle amongst six phone competitors. The painting of a sailor holding an American Flag and Victory holding a laurel wreath above his head flew past its $2,500-$3,500 estimate to sell for $8,625.
While the packed room and bank of busy phones were the source of furious bidding on many lots, the Internet was a huge presence, as well, with 1,000 registered bidders taking part through LiveAuctioneers.com. In the end, online bidders accounted for 17% of the gross and 32% of the lots sold.
Noel Barrett will conduct his next sale on Nov. 16-17, 2012, the weekend before Thanksgiving. For additional information call 1-215-297-5109 or e-mail toys@noelbarrett.com. Visit Barrett’s website at www.noelbarrett.com.
Phillips de Pury – Jewels
December 2nd, 2011 by AdminAuction 6 December 2011 4PM
450 Park Avenue, New York
Viewing 22 November – 6 December
10am – 6pm 22 November –23 November
10am – 6pm 28 November – 5 December
10am – 4pm Tuesday 6 December
Sotheby’s – Old Master and British Paintings Evening and Day Sales
November 29th, 2011 by AdminThis December’s Evening Sale of Old Master and British Paintings is led by a pair of landmark Portraits by the artist Johann Zoffany. Painted in 1762, soon after the artist’s arrival in England, they depict the célèbre du jour David Garrick, the highly revered actor and theatre manager, in a rare moment of repose in the grounds of his Hampton Villa. They represent Zoffany’s first essay into the genre of the Conversation piece and have been part of the same distinguished collection since they were acquired in 1823 from the sale of the estate of Garrick’s widow.
A masterpiece of seventeenth century genre painting, by Jan Steen, leads the Dutch paintings category. It is a beautifully preserved and typically humorous Steen and, with it, one of the most technically dazzling examples of his art. Alongside it is one of the most important works by Jacob van Ruisdael to come to the market in recent years. It is unusually large and depicts the dunes before Haarlem, as evening approaches and the rains just passed, evocative of both Ruisdael’s fascination with nature as well as his mastery with the brush. A copper by David Teniers from 1647, when he was at the very height of his powers an artist, depicts tric-trac players in a guardroom interior and completes the triumvirate of Dutch and Flemish masterworks.
Bernardo Daddi’s jewel-like Madonna and child enthroned, exquisite in its detailing, leads the Italian field and is supported by two other small devotional panels from early 14th century Florence, another Daddi and a portable triptych by Jacopo del Casentino. Complimenting these, from the 18th century, is a set of seven views of the island and harbours of Malta by Alberto Pullicino, the largest and most complete set to have survived from the eighteenth century and the only such set to have remained together since its acquisition or commission.
Rago Arts and Auction Center – Fine Art Auctions
November 4th, 2011 by AdminFine Art Auction November 12th
19th/20th C. American & European Art, 11 a.m.
Post-War & Contemporary Art, 1 p.m.
Sotheby’s New York – Property from the Collections of Lily & Edmond J. Safra
October 24th, 2011 by AdminSix years after the landmark auction of Property from the Collections of Lily & Edmond J. Safra, Sotheby’s is honored to hold a second series of sales dedicated to the remarkable collections of Lily & Edmond J. Safra. The four-day auction is comprised of six sale volumes whose contents represent the pinnacle of their respective collecting categories, from magnificent European furniture and works of art to Russian porcelain, Cosway bindings and 19th century paintings and interior watercolors.
Phillips de Pury – Evening Editions
October 21st, 2011 by AdminNew York- Following on from the success of the first Evening Editions sale in April 2011, Phillips de Pury & Company is pleased to announce its second Evening Editions sale to be held at 450 Park Avenue during the start of New York’s official Print Week 2011.
Sotheby’s – Modern & Post-War British Art
September 28th, 2011 by AdminFollowing on from our record-breaking and best-ever season of sales in May and June, including the Evill/Frost Collection, Sotheby’s is pleased to announce its first ever Evening Auction of Modern and Post-War British Art on 15th November, with a Day Auction to follow on the 16th November.
Season highlights include works by Edward Burra, Sir Stanley Spencer, Lynn Chadwick, Paul Nash, Henry Moore and Peter Lanyon, as well as works from The Dartington Hall Trust Collection, sold to support the Trust’s work in the Arts, Social Justice, and Sustainability, including works by Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska.
Appalachian Realty – Estate Auction
September 22nd, 2011 by AdminOur next auction will be on Saturday, October 1st at 10 am at 2895 Irvin Lane, Sugar Grove VA. 24375. This is in Smyth County. The Auction includes antiques collected over several years. Many of them have been in the family for years and this will be the first time they are offered for sell to the public.
Some of the items include a large collection of depression glass (60 – 80 pieces), oak wash stand with dove nail drawers, oak dressers with swivel mirrors, steamer trunks, crocks, baskets, porcelain slop jars, apple boxes, oak chairs, bent wood chair, etc…
