In The News

The Eleventh Annual Sewickley Antiques Show – October 15-17, 2010

October 14th, 2010 by

The Eleventh Annual Sewickley Antiques Show  will be held on October 15th, 16th, and 17th, 2010 at the Edgeworth Club in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.  This show is regarded as one of the premier antique shows in Southwestern PA with twenty-seven exhibitors from eight states.

Kicking off the Antique Show is the Preview Party held on Friday evening, October 15th. The Preview Party runs from 6:30pm to 9pm with an after party following from 9pm to 11pm. The cost for this exclusive event that includes a weekend show pass, entertainment, a drink voucher, and hours d’oeuvres is $65.00 per person.

The Show will run from Saturday October 16th, 10:00am to 5:00 pm., and Sunday October 17th, 11:00am to 4:00pm EST. The cost for the show pass is $10.00, valid all weekend. Proceeds benefit Child Health Association of Sewickley.

For more information, send us an email or call Jack Squires at 724-992-1290.  Click here for directions to the Edgeworth Club in Sewickley.

Dealers

Susan’s Antiques
New Cumberland, WV

J and M Antiques
East Amherst, NY

Sweets Antiques
Gowanda, NY

Candlewood Antiques
Ardara, PA

Timeless Treasures
Pittsburgh, PA

Paul Fisher Antiques
Indianapolis, IN

Jack Squires Antiques
Grove City, PA 16127

Peter Chillingworth
Scenery Hill, PA

Spencer Antiques
Granville, OH

Frank and Mary Ann Brandt
Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Jane Langol Antiques
Medina, Ohio

Bedford on the Square Antiques
Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Malcolm McFarland
Chagrin Falls, Ohio

John Kroeck
Leetsdale, PA

Brill’s Antiques
Newport News, VA

VanWhy’s Antiques
Zelienople, PA

East End Galleries
Pittsburgh, PA

Fern Larking Kao
Bowling Green, OH

Kevin T. Ransom Bookseller
Amherst, NY

Martines Antiques
Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Johanna Antiques
Kingsville, MD

Sandra Rutan
Warren, Ohio

White & White
Skaneateles, NY

Moir Galleries
Chagrin Falls, OH

Whimsy Antiques
Harmony, PA

Steve Levine Antiques
Alexandria, VA

Joseph Hayes Antiques
Columbus, OH

Noel Barrett presents the Old Salem Toy Museum and Thomas A. Gray antique toy collection in a Nov. 19-20 auction

October 13th, 2010 by

Highlight: George Brown ‘Monitor’ to be auctioned together with illustration from George Brown Sketchbook.

NEW HOPE, Pa. – Last May the Old Salem Toy Museum in Old Salem, N.C., closed its doors for the last time on a spectacular collection of antique toys, holiday items, dollhouses, miniatures and other children’s playthings, some dating to as early as 225 A.D. The collection was built over many years by businessman Thomas A. Gray and his mother Anne P. Gray, members of a highly respected family of North Carolina philanthropists. Both Tom Gray’s grandfather, James A. Gray, and his great-uncle, Bowman Gray Sr., held the position of chairman of the board of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. One would presume correctly that the museum’s toy collection ranked among the very finest of its type.

While the museum is now part of antique toy history after eight years of operation, the collection has one last public appearance to fulfill, which it will do when it is auctioned by Noel Barrett on Nov. 19-20 in New Hope, Pa. Auction proceeds will be used to acquire and conserve Moravian and Southern decorative art objects for the Old Salem Museum & Gardens, a restored 18th-/19th-century North Carolina Moravian community that is part of a National Historic Landmark district.

Early to mid-19th-century Erzgebirge (Germany) ship with paper sails, pennants and flag; carved-wood horse figurehead, 12 painted-wood sailors, 7¾ inches long, estimate $8,000-$10,000. Noel Barrett image.

Between 800 and 900 lots will be offered in the Friday evening/Saturday auction sessions, with the main categories including early European and American toys, Erzgebirge carved-wood figures and sets, beautifully outfitted rooms and shops, Christmas and other holiday antiques, desirable German-made miniatures, and doll’s houses.

Noel Barrett explained that when the museum was in its formulative stages, Tom Gray was actively buying American toys. One of the great treasures he acquired was George Brown’s Monitor. “Any aficionado would agree, this ship is an American toy masterpiece,” Barrett said. “It’s one of the most highly prized pieces in the collection and will be auctioned together with an illustration from the George Brown Sketchbook.”

Marklin child-size fire pumper, possibly the only surviving example, heavy sheet steel and cast iron, 32½ inches long, 16 inches wide, estimate $15,000-$20,000. Noel Barrett image.

German toys of tin and other metals are highlighted by an incredible 33-inch-long Marklin child-size fire-pumper wagon large enough for two small children to pump simultaneously. It is the only known example, Barrett said. Additional key lots include a lovely clockwork airplane roundabout with Wright Brothers-style bi-planes and a lithographed American flag; and an oversize Fischer Bleriot-style airplane. Among the Marklin boats to be auctioned is a large-size Battleship New York.

At least 10 sets of German painted-wood figures in bentwood boxes reside in the collection, with Barrett’s favorite being a 19th-century Erzgebirge hunting set comprised of a hunter on his horse, a dog, eight trees with tightly curled wood shavings to replicate leafy branches, four deer and a wild boar. Described as being similar to sets depicted in an 1850 book, it is expected to make $8,000-$10,000 at auction. Also noteworthy in the section devoted to wood toys are: one of the most complete Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circuses ever to be displayed publicly, at least four different German-made menageries containing a wide array of miniature animals (mostly painted wood), and two rare hand-colored sample catalogs issued by German manufacturers.

“One of the great strengths of the collection is the Erzkebirge and other miniatures made by premier European makers,” said Noel Barrett. “There’s a huge variety of miniatures by Rock & Graner, Evans & Cartwright, and many pieces of what are generically called ‘ormolu’ but recently were determined to have been made by Ehrhardt & Sohne for Marklin.” Within the auction inventory’s many delightful miniatures by Rock & Graner are a jardinière with lithophane and serpentine front legs, and a squirrel cage that Barrett says is “even more elaborate than the one Flora Gill Jacobs had in the Washington Dolls’ House and Toy Museum.”

German tobacco shop room box, late-19th century and almost certainly a Christian Hacker, featuring deluxe appointments such as faux-marble columns, a Schweitzer chandelier, glass-topped cigar display box full of miniature faux cigars, two finely dressed circa-1880 Simon & Halbig gentlemen dolls, 21¼ inches long by 15½ inches tall by 15½ inches deep, estimate $8,000-$12,000. Noel Barrett image.

The collection contains the only known cigar shop/tobacconist room box. Previously, it was thought to have been the work of Rock & Graner, but thanks to the recent publication of a scrupulously researched book on Christian Hacker, it is now almost certain that the tobacco shop was a Hacker design. “It has all the earmarkings of Hacker’s style, which is very distinctive,” Barrett said.

Its interior fittings are “simply magnificent,” Barrett continued. “It has a zinc humidor with marbleized top built into the wall, a Rock & Graner display table full of cigars, and all sorts of tobacco products arranged on the shelves. It’s exactly how a late-19th-century tobacconist’s emporium would have looked. It has marbleized support columns, faux-wood fixtures and cabinetry with numerous opening doors, embossed gold trim, glazed doors, a velvet valance – no detail was overlooked. It even has a Schweitzer chandelier.”

Other room boxes to be auctioned include a millinery shop, multiple Nuremburg kitchens, and a butcher shop previously in the collection of the Mary Merritt Doll & Toy Museum. “When Mr. Gray bought the butcher shop at the Merritt Museum auction, it had a white-painted case. He managed to remove the paint so the case could be returned to its original finish. It’s luscious looking, now.”

One of the grandest of Rock & Graner’s many superlative designs is the museum collection’s circa-1890 oversize tin landau coach measuring 30 inches in length. It features such deluxe realistic details as a folding oilcloth roof, opening doors, plated lamps and spoke wheels.

German-made holiday antiques will be in plentiful supply, including Santa figures and colorful Halloween and Easter rarities. “It’s very difficult to pick a favorite from this collection,” said Barrett, “but the top ten would certainly include the 23-inch-tall hollow Santa with faux-ermine trim and one of the greatest painted faces I’ve ever seen. It’s a very unusual size and simply beautiful.”

Circa-1870 Erzgebirge (Germany) ark with painted-straw marquetry designs, more than 200 passengers including six people and 61 pairs of animals, 23 pairs of birds; 22 inches long, estimate $4,000-$6,000. Noel Barrett image.

Nominated by Barrett as “possibly the best of the Easter lots” is a standing rabbit with three baby rabbits that was formerly in the Mary Merritt Doll Museum collection. “It’s surely one of the most charming Easter toys ever made,” Barrett said.

Those who appreciate the incomparable quality of late-19th and early 20th-century German lithography are sure to be tempted by the two exquisite pop-up books with a circus theme. One of them, made by Meggendorfer, is titled Grand Circus; while the other is a rare Nister book featuring early European-style circus characters.

Uptown real estate to be auctioned includes two lovely Spanish dollhouses. One of them is a duplex house with five sliding panels on the front; the other is a Second Empire townhouse with mansard roof.

Barrett said the Old Salem Toy Museum and Thomas A. Gray collection will attract the buyer who goes for quality and European artistry. “Toys of this type just don’t come to the auction market,” he observed.

All forms of bidding will be available for this sale, including live via the Internet. For additional information, call 215-297-5109 or e-mail toys@noelbarrett.com. Visit Noel Barrett Auctions’ Web site at www.noelbarrett.com.

Swann Galleries – Whistler & His Influence and Old Master through Modern Prints

October 13th, 2010 by

Catalogues now online

Auction: Oct 27th 2010  2:30 pm & Oct 28th 2010  10:30 am – 2:30 pm

New York

Newark Museum – Gustav Stickley and the American Arts and Crafts Movement

October 12th, 2010 by

Lectures by three leading experts in the Arts and Crafts movement and Stickley’s work

Oct 16th, 2010  10:00 am – 2:30 pm

San Rafael Auction Gallery – Fall Antique Estate Auction

October 12th, 2010 by

Highlights include: Painting by Luigi Loir (French, 1845 – 1916), Chinese, Japanese and Asian fine art, textiles and decorative art, 18th, 19th & 20th century furniture and decorative art, fine estate jewelry & watches, and a dog collection including metal dog figures and doorstops, mostly Hubley, plus inkwells, tobacciana, ashtrays, lamps, clocks, bootscrapes, etc.

Aution Oct 16th, 2010  10:00 am

Mosby & Co.

October 11th, 2010 by

Rare posters, circus sideshow banners, animation cels add color and fun

to Mosby & Co.’s absentee auction closing Nov. 17

Circa-1900 DeKreko Bros. black-face minstrels vaudeville show one-sheet poster. Mosby & Co. image.

FREDERICK, Md. – Mosby & Co.’s  phone, Internet and absentee auction, which will be open for bidding from Nov. 2-17, is brimming with posters whose vivid colors and exciting images recall the era of traveling circuses under the big top.

“Days, even weeks in advance, the posters would start to appear around town, posted on store windows and walls, on light and telephone poles, or on the sides of buildings,” said Mosby & Co. owner Keith Spurgeon. “Everyone wanted to know when the circus was coming to town.”

Some posters depicted impossible feats, performed by acts from exotic lands. Others promised a real live parade of clowns, performers and wild animals right down the main street of small town USA. “But nowadays, most people under the age of 50 would not have a personal recollection of old-time circuses. It’s a bygone era, and that’s what makes period circus posters so collectible.”

In their fall sale, Mosby’s will present more than 200 circus, minstrel, vaudeville, Wild West and early theatrical posters, with a dateline ranging from the 19th century to 1998. The unquestioned king of this grouping is a circa-1900 original Buffalo Bill “Rough Riders of the World” poster featuring the U.S. Cavalry. This linen-mounted 28-sheet billboard shows an incredibly detailed and colorful glimpse into this iconic and completely American spectacle.

Rare circa-1900 Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders 28-sheet billboard poster on linen. Mosby & Co. image.

There are posters from the famous and also the obscure, like Col. Tim McCoy’s Wild West show, which lasted for less than one month during the Great Depression. Many of these posters came from two long-defunct Coney Island venues: ride inventor and manufacturer William F. Mangels’ Museum of American Entertainment and the old Henderson Music Hall and Tavern on Surf Avenue. These particular posters are display-mounted on Masonite, as was typical from the 1920s through the 1950s. Most of the remainder of this group came from the archives of other museums.

Circa-1950 Popeye sideshow banner by Snap Wyatt, from a group of more than 40 sideshow banners in Mosby & Co.’s sale. Mosby & Co. image.

Once again, Mosby & Co. will offer original sideshow banners from artists such as Snap Wyatt, Fred G. Johnson, Johnny Meah, Mark Frierson, J. Sigler and others. A great Snap Wyatt Popeye banner and a Fred Johnson “Missing Link” lead this portion of the sale.

“They came from different museums and were held in collections for a long time. These banners have not been seen in the auction marketplace before,” Spurgeon said. “These items are true Americana. Some of the rarest items are the Buffalo Bill and early Barnum & Bailey posters by Strobridge (Cincinnati).”

Reflecting one of its specialties, Mosby & Co. will auction a fine selection of pre-World War II Japanese celluloid toys, along with a variety of American and European toys. There will be a wide array of boxed toys by Buddy ‘L,’ Marx and Nylint, including a sealed-box Nylint Missile Launcher and Street Sweeper.

A Toschi Ferrari with the motor still in its original box is part of the vehicle section of the sale. A recently discovered and fresh to the market find is a factory-sealed Marx Ben-Hur series 2000 playset.

1950s Toschi Ferrari, original windup motor, retains original box. Mosby & Co. image.

Comic character toys are well represented with several Disney pieces and a nice Popeye grouping. The Disney toys include an extremely rare and possibly unique 1936 Drumming Elmer the Timid Elephant toy. “To our knowledge, it is the only known example,” said Spurgeon.

In addition to toys, the sale features three carved-wood 19th-century American Eagles as highlights of the Americana section. A fine Mills War Eagle nickel slot machine, several gumball vending machines, a 1908 Budweiser Girl cardboard in the original wood frame with gesso details, and a very nice Yellow Kid brand cigar box are all premier lots in the auction’s advertising category.

Original Warner Bros. Michigan J. Frog 2-cel setup, signed by Chuck Jones, one of more than 40 cels in the sale. Mosby & Co. image.

In addition there are some great animation-related pieces including over 40 original production cels. Most are from Warner Bros. and originated from a former employee at the Warner Bros. Stores’ corporate headquarters, which is no longer in existence. Some are signed by legendary animator Chuck Jones, and a few are multi-cel setups. There are four original Warner Bros. animation maquettes of the main Tiny Toons characters. “These were never offered to the public, and only a few sets were made for in-house use,” said Spurgeon. “The ones we are auctioning were the property of the original sculptor Kent Melton and have his signed paper labels affixed to the bases.”

Also from the desk of Kent Melton, Mosby & Co. will offer a pair of extremely rare Batman and Joker figures. Originally 50 signed and numbered sets were produced with the intention of being sold to guests at the Hollywood premiere of the 1989 Batman film, but they were gone before the ink was dry on the catalogs given out at the event. This particular pair is one of only a handful of artist’s proofs made, and again they have Kent’s signed paper labels on the bases.

Diminutive circa-1925 German tin motorcycle made by CKO, one of more than 50 penny toys in the sale. Mosby & Co. image.

A very desirable late addition to the sale is a single-owner collection of more than 50 penny toys, mostly German and mostly automotive. Among the highlights are: boy in rocking chair, a Kellerman motorcycle, a Wright Bros.-style bi-plane, and a Meier touring car with chauffeur and female passenger.

The sale begins Nov. 2, 2010 and closes at 11 p.m. on Nov. 17, 2010. Full color catalogs are available for $22 postpaid to U.S. addresses or $29 internationally.

For additional information on any lot in the sale, call Keith Spurgeon at 781-771-3998 or 301-304-0352, or e-mail keith@mosbyauctions.com. Mailing address: Mosby & Co. Auctions, 905 W. 7th St., #228, Frederick, MD 21701.

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers – Fall Rug Tag Sale

October 9th, 2010 by

Auction: Nov 5th – 14th 2010  10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Fall Rug Sale in conjunction with Oscar Isberian Rugs.  Over 500 rugs available!

Dallas Auction Gallery – Antiques & Fine Art Auction

October 9th, 2010 by

Auction: Oct 20th 2010  6:00 pm

Complete Catalogue Available Online

Live online bidding now through Live Auctioneers

Sotheby’s – 19th Century Furniture, Sculpture, Ceramics, Silver & Works of Art

October 9th, 2010 by

Auction: Oct 26th 2010 in New York

DuMouchelles Auction

October 9th, 2010 by

Auction: Oct 15th 2010  6:30 pm

Auction: Oct 16th 2010  11:00 am

Auction: Oct 17th 2010  12:00 pm (Noon)