Freeman's Americana Auction

November 13th, 2013

Freeman’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Photos courtesy Freeman’s

The only known example of the Coasting Bank, a cast-iron and lead American mechanical bank, sold at Freeman’s in Philadelphia on November 13, 2013, for $266,500 (includes buyer’s premium). The buyer in the salesroom was a prominent Pennsylvania collector but would not reveal his name. Underbidders were on the phones. Freeman’s estimated the bank at $30,000/50,000.

Bank collectors had been looking for this bank since 1955 when F.H. Griffith, a mechanical bank collector and sometime dealer, found an illustrated advertisement for it in the 1884 winter edition of Ehrichs’ Fashion Quarterly. Griffith wrote a regular column about banks for Hobbies magazine, and in the April 1955 issue he presented his finding. (He also wrote books on mechanical banks.) Griffith suggested that the Coasting Bank was produced by J. & E. Stevens Co. and was probably designed by Charles A. Bailey (1848-1926), who worked for Stevens from the 1880’s until he went out on his own in 1915.The bank is strikingly similar to the Shoot the Chute bank, designed and patented by Charles Bailey in 1906. Moreover, several other banks in the Ehrichs’ Fashion Quarterly advertisement were designed by Bailey, and the Coasting baby is made of a zinc and lead alloy that Bailey often used. No patent papers for this Coasting Bank have been found. The April 1955 Hobbies magazinearticle further suggested that the ad proved the Coasting Bank was once actually on the market and for sale to the public (for 95¢ in 1884). Coasting Bank became the Holy Grail for bank collections.

“A Great Bank…But Where Is It?” asked Al Davidson nearly at the end of his book Penny Lane: A History of Antique Mechanical Toy Banks (1987). The answer turned out to be—in Scotland.

The Coasting Bank that sold at Freeman’s was found in Peebles, Scotland, by a woman clearing out her mother-in-law’s attic. She brought it to a filming of a BBC Antiques Roadshow in Scotland, where Jon Baddeley, an expert on such items for the Roadshow, told her it was worth at least £25,000/35,000 and, with more research, perhaps £100,000.

How did it get to Philadelphia for sale? “The Antiques Roadshow has a strict rule that the person who identifies an object cannot solicit it for sale,” said Lynda Cain, head of Americana at Freeman’s. The owner of the bank, who lives in Scotland, took it to Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh, which has a marketing alliance with Freeman’s in Philadelphia. “We often work together to offer consignments in Philadelphia or in Scotland in the best interests of our clients,” said Paul Roberts, who is based in Edinburgh with Lyon & Turnbull and is Freeman’s president. Roberts came to Philadelphia for the sale.

The bank is in the form of a lead baby with outstretched arms sitting on a sled with a slot for the coin between its legs. The sled was placed at the top of the painted steel hill, and it was activated by pulling a string (now missing). The sled quickly ended its descent and the coin was deposited in a lead triangular receptacle painted green with yellow scrolling flowers. The baby lands on its head. On the red-painted openwork base, the name “Coasting Bank” is embossed on the central strip.

When Lynda Cain took the bank to meetings of the Mechanical Bank Collectors of America, a nonprofit organization, it caused much excitement. Even though she was told the bank could bring between $250,000 and $350,000, she did not change the estimate of $30,000/50,000. The $266,500 is not a record. The record for an American mechanical bank stands at $426,000 for an Old Woman in a Shoe bank, paid at Bertoia Auctions in Vineland, New Jersey, at a sale of the Stanley Sax collection in May 1998. (At that same sale a Darky and Watermelon bank sold for $354,500 and a Freedman’s bank brought $321,500.)

The Coasting Bank became the top lot at Freeman’s fall gallery auction of American decorative arts, which was followed by the annual Pennsylvania sale on November 14. Both sales were offered in one catalog. On Wednesday 374 lots were offered, and 310 sold for a total of $1,078,814 (right in the middle of presale estimates), buoyed by the $266,500 paid for the Coasting Bank. The sale was 83% sold. The Pennsylvania sale, always a favorite with locals, brought another $450,057—below the expectations of $508,070/810,880. Just 187 of the 240 lots sold for a 78% sold rate. For the two days, the total was $1,528,871.

There were a few strong prices and some bargains. Any excuse about condition was reason not to bid. Big furniture was a bargain. For instance, a New England cherrywood desk-and-bookcase sold for $5625; a small Pennsylvania walnut schrank with inlaid date 1795 and with inlaid initials sold for $15,000; and there were no bids for a two-piece 18th-century architectural pine corner cupboard with raised panel doors. A walnut side chair from the Paschall and Morris family sold for $1875. A figured mahogany dish-top Philadelphia tea table, circa 1760, sold for $12,500. In January 2000 at Sotheby’s, this table had sold for $40,250. It seemed as though 2013 was a great time to buy furniture. The few pieces of New England furniture that sold over estimates, such as a tray-top tea table at $12,500 and a balloon-seat Boston mahogany side chair at $4375, seemed like good values.

Three couples came to the sale and bought multiple pieces. Dealers who had exhibited at the Delaware show came to preview and may have been bidding on the phones. The Pennsylvania trade was active.

A Baltimore album quilt sold for $12,500. A group of six transfer-printed enameled cloak pins went for $9375. Chinese export porcelain sold within and above estimates. A large (9" tall) jug with a flag-bearing clipper ship and with a gilt and red eagle under its spout sold to collectors in the salesroom for $2625. They said they got a bargain. A Confederate canteen, 1861-65, sold for $2750. Several pieces of southern silver sold over estimates. Freeman’s has an office in Charlottesville, Virginia.

A cherrywood music stand by Wharton Esherick sold for $25,000. Comparing hammer prices, this one at $20,000 was just $1000 more than a similar stand by Esherick that sold at Keno’s auction in October 2013. American studio furniture is in demand now, and an edition of only 24 (in addition to the original made for a friend) of these graceful music stands was made.

A well-documented collection of American Indian material came from the estate of Dr. Luther R. and Frances T. Zehner of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Early in his career Luther Zehner (1923-2013) spent a year practicing medicine at Standing Rock Reservation near Fort Yates, North Dakota, while his wife taught school there. They formed a deep, lasting bond with the Lakota Sioux. He learned their language, and the Zehners were adopted by the tribal community in July 1950. The material they collected was well received. A Montana dealer came to the sale and battled phone bidders and bidders on line and went home with multiple purchases.

 Pennsylvania books, maps, and manuscripts were offered at the end of the sale and have a local following. As usual, Clarence Wolf of G.S. MacManus Company, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, was the major buyer or underbidder.

For more information, contact Freeman’s at (215) 563-9275 or via the Web site (www.freemansauction.com).

Originally published in the February 2014 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2014 Maine Antique Digest