Antique Toys at Auction
Lita Solis-Cohen | November 16th, 2012
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Althof, Bergmann & Co. Santa in a sleigh pulled by goats, 9" high x 20" long, is the fourth one to turn up. Each is slightly different because they were made before the advent of mass production. This one had been the prized possession of a New York state family. The youngest son, born in 1907, inherited it from his father, and on his death it went to the consignor, now living in Canada. She said it was owned by her family in the 1880’s when her grandfather purchased it. A special locked box was made for it, and it was brought out every Christmas. When the toy is wound and the wheels are set in motion, the goats move up and down giving the impression they are pulling the sleigh, and the bells jingle. Estimated at $100,000/200,000, it sold for $85,000 to a phone bidder who paid $97,750 with buyer’s premium. The underbidder was also on a phone. This toy has been considered one of the great American toys ever since Bernard Barenholtz, Bill Holland, and Inez McClintock illustrated one in a two-page spread in their landmark book American Antique Toys (1980). At the historic “foot race” tag sale of the Barenholtz collection by the Alexander Gallery, New York City, Barenholtz’s Santa in a sleigh went home with Tom Anderson for $85,000. After Tom Anderson’s untimely death in 1990, Barrett auctioned it in April 1991 for $104,500, then a record price for an American toy. When the collection of Malcolm Deisenroth was sold at James D. Julia’s in 2010 in Fairfield, Maine, it sold for $161,000. A third example is in the National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York. There are differences in the four toys. The Santa in the Barenholtz example is dressed in red crepe paper; the Santa in the sleigh sold by Barrett in November wears a brown cloth suit and hood. Several late 19th-century images by Thomas Nast have Santa wearing brown. There are also differences in the painting and undercarriage of the sleigh, and the bells are different. The consensus was that the buyer got a good deal; where will he find another?
Two glass slide stereo viewers, “Loyd’s Improved Stereoscope, Patented April 15 1856,” with 12 Langenheim slides with original tinting stored in a leather-covered wood box, 5" x 7½", with interior velvet-lined storage slots for 12 slides. Five images are of west Philadelphia houses, including that of a Mr. Drexel and a Mr. Goddard, and other images are of Niagara Falls, Washington’s tomb, and Mt. Carbon near Pottsville, Pennsylvania. It all sold for $3162.50 (est. $200/400).
This Punch and Judy puppet show set, in a World War II army foot locker trunk, included 25 puppets and props and a 36" x 66" advertising banner, likely for a professional puppeteer. Most puppets are carved wood, three are painted composition, and there is a 9" alligator head. The set sold for $3105 (est. $600/800). |
Noel Barrett, New Hope, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Noel Barrett
On November 16 and 17, 2012, Noel Barrett held a toy auction at the Eagle Fire Company in New Hope, Pennsylvania, that covered many of the markets that make up the toy world. The sale was a barometer for the health of the toy marketplace. It is no surprise that in the present economy quality sells, and the rarest items bring big bucks. The middle market is soft, some parts softer than others.
What is surprising is the volume of sales to non-attending bidders at what was a well-attended auction. Many of the on-line, absentee, and phone bidders were buying without seeing the objects in person. Barrett’s catalog descriptions are complete, and condition is included, so over the years he has built a following, but it was still surprising to him that bidders not in attendance spent a total of $1,097,000 on nearly 700 lots of a 934-lot sale.
The sale included toys, music boxes, and scientific instruments from the collection of Athelstan and Kathleen Spilhaus; many are pictured in their book Mechanical Toys: How Old Toys Work (1989). Trolleys and trains came from the collection of Rick Ralston, author of the definitive book Cast Iron Floor Trains(1994), and Joseph Copp consigned a group of American painted tin toys including a number with clockwork mechanisms. These, along with some attic treasures, brought $1,335,000 (including buyers’ premiums) for 924 of the 934 lots offered.
The total was swelled by $218,500 paid for a Märklin carousel by a collector on the phone who never saw it, and $97,750 was paid for a previously unknown Althof, Bergmann & Co. Santa in his sleigh pulled by goats. Only four of these Santas are known—this one is a new discovery, treasured by a family in upstate New York since the 19th century. It was estimated at $100,000/200,000 because Barrett had sold another for $104,500 in 1991. That one sold again at a James D. Julia auction in Maine in 2010 for $161,000 (est. $100,000/200,000).
These two top lots helped bring the total of all the phone bids to $592,000 for 144 lots. Absentee bids left with the auctioneer were successful for 125 lots for a total of $143,000, and Internet bidders bought 488 lots, spending $362,000. Those who came to the sale, and there were about 100, in and out, spent $238,000 on 250 lots. That means that Barrett has to ship toys to all parts of the United States and to Canada, Belgium, the U.K., Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, France, Norway, Russia, Japan, Finland, Luxembourg, and Romania, and one fellow from Guadeloupe bought a dozen lots. A large group of Fernand Martin lithographed and painted tin mechanical toys made in France went to a bidder from Holland who left aggressive bids with Barrett; the bidder said he was uncomfortable bidding by phone.
Is this absentee bidding phenomenon a sign that in the future there will be more on-line-only sales? Perhaps. Barrett said he will continue to have a live sale at least once a year, and he has two good collections lined up for November.
Barrett gets consignments from all parts of the country and the world. The carousel that sold for $218,500 came from Phoenix, Arizona. “An estate agent e-mailed pictures to me saying she thought it was good enough to auction,” said Barrett. “When I asked her what she thought it might be worth, she said maybe $1000; and when I told them the last one like it sold for $80,000, she was flabbergasted.” Barrett told her staff how to pack and ship it. When it arrived and he saw it was in good condition, he put a $75,000/100,000 estimate on it. A P.L.M. (Paris-Lyon and Marseilles) Märklin train in its original box, circa 1909, never played with, sold for $46,000 (est. $20,000/30,000). It came from Argentina. “It was bought by a wealthy family for a girl who didn’t like it, and it stayed in an attic until it was inherited by her nephew, who was smart enough not to let his kids play with it,” said Barrett. He said his Argentinian client found him on line.
This sale, with its great variety, demonstrated that fresh finds provoke competitive bidding, and some markets are “hilly”; some prices are up, others down. The market for comic characters seemed soft with the exception of killer pieces. For example, Mickey Mouse hand cars sold for $575, $805, $977.50, and $1092.50, all at the low end of estimates, but a Buck Rogers 25th Century Scientific Laboratory set made by the Porter Chemical Company, Hagerstown, Maryland, one of only two known and never used, sold for $6037.50 (est. $2000/3000), even with some damage to its box lid. Schoenhut had plenty of buyers. A glass-eyed cat sold for $1092.50 (est. $300/500); a glass-eyed hyena brought the same price (est. $700/900); and a glass-eyed zebu sold for $1265 (est. $1500/2000).
Rare banks are in demand. A J. & E. Stevens Clown on a Globe mechanical bank that has rapid action was recently found in a Reading, Pennsylvania, attic, and sold for $18,400 (est. $6000/8000). American tin toys seemed like bargains, compared with prices of ten and 20 years ago. A George Brown horse-drawn gig sold for $2070 (est. $2000/3000), and a George Brown toy milk wagon, professionally restored, sold on line for $402.50 (est. $600/900).
European toy trains and accessories have an international market and are pretty strong. A Connecticut woman who consigned her family’s Märklin Grand Central Station came to see it sell for $28,750 (est. $15,000/20,000) on the phone. A Märklin Washington Pullman observation car, O gauge, with interior lighting, sold for $13,800 (est. $3000/4000). A Carette 2350 live steam gauge I locomotive and tender, pictured in the 1911 Carette catalog, sold for $16,100 (est. $8000/12,000).
An extravagant Victorian house in the Queen Anne style, possibly an architectural model, found in Pittsburgh years ago, sold on the phone for $18,400 (est. $6000/10,000). Barrett had sold it for $7500 in 1986 for the Toy Museum of Atlanta.
For more information, contact Noel Barrett at (215) 297-5109; Web site (www.noelbarrett.com).
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 Marklin Grand Central Station, made for the American market, lithographed tin, hand enameled, heavily embossed roof and base, interior fitted with tables, chairs, and benches, baggage room has candle holders for illumination, 15½" wide x 11" tall, sold for $28,750 (est. $15,000/20,000). |
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Buck Rogers 25th Century Scientific Laboratory, Porter Chemical Company of Hagerstown, Maryland, one of two known, a remarkable survivor in unused condition with instruction manuals and a microscope, 31" x 17", the box lid with some damage, sold for $6037.50 (est. $2000/3000).
Gypsy magic shell game automaton with a clockwork musical movement. The figure raises and lowers the shells as jewels appear and disappear.It is illustrated and discussed in Mechanical Toys by Athelstan and Kathleen Spilhaus. In the book they identify the maker as most likely Lambert. Measuring 17½" high, the toy sold on line for $8050 (est. $800/1200).
Fernand Martin, Good Fellow on Ladder, internal clockwork mechanism, folding ladder, offered with original box with illustrative label “Le Bonhomme a L’Echelle,” 7½" high, sold for $9200 (est. $2500/3500) to an absentee bidder who left a bid with the auctioneer and was underbid on the phone.
Clown on Globe mechanical bank, painted cast iron, made by J. E. Stevens, one of a few survivors because of the bank’s rapid action. This example, fresh from a Reading, Pennsylvania, attic and in excellent condition, sold for $18,400 (est. $6000/8000) to an attending bidder.
Marklin P.L.M. coupe-vent passenger set, 1909-19, gauge I with a P.L.M. windcutter or coupe-vent 4-4-0 locomotive, six-wheel tender, two passenger coaches, and a sleeping car and a dining car, both with opening roofs and elaborately outfitted interiors.It came with its original fitted box with a tray rack for track and a colorful label. The consignor was a Buenos Aires lawyer whose aunt was given the train but preferred dolls and who made sure the train was never played with. The set includes the winding key. It sold on line for $46,000 (est. $20,000/30,000).
The cover lot was this carousel made by Märklin in 1910 that came from an estate in Phoenix, Arizona, and was offered in as-found condition; it was astoundingly original. Its cloth canopy, embossed tin shields, colored glass balls, and all but one of its painted tin pennants are intact. Riding are eight girls and four boys in sailor suits on horses, and there are ten additional figures. The action and musical accompaniment is propelled by hand when the crank is turned, and it is also fitted to be run by a steam engine. It sold on the phone for $218,500 (est. $75,000/100,000).
The operational scale model of the Empire State Express 999 locomotive and tender was made from an elevation drawing published by the New York Central Railroad and a few photographs. G.F. Mulvaney of Tinley Park, Illinois, recreated the 999, the first high-speed passenger train. His model, 89" long, is as close to the original as possible. A description of the process he used to create the model was published in Live Steam magazine in May 1976. The model was purchased in the salesroom by train dealer Ken Post of Closter, New Jersey, for $27,600 (est. $15,000/20,000).
Gerald Wingrove produced extremely detailed miniature models of ships and cars for nearly four decades. Working with his wife, Phyllis, he created about four automobile models a year in 1:15 inch scale. Buyers paid between £10,000 and £25,000 for a model. This tulipwood model of the 1924 Hispano-Suiza No. 3, signed by the maker on the bottom, was offered with a copy of The Complete Modeller, the book in which Wingrove describes how he made it, and sold on the phone for $16,100 (est. $7000/9000). Wingrove’s model of a 1933 Derham Tourster Duesenberg (not shown), with the same estimates, brought the same price.Originally published in the February 2013 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2013 Maine Antique Digest
