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24-E Maine Antique Digest, December 2016
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AUCTION -
24-E
Rachel Davis Fine Arts, Cleveland, Ohio
The Selling of Kovels’ Collectibles: Part One of Many
by Susan Emerson Nutter
Photos courtesy Rachel Davis Fine Arts
“I
really won’t mind if you say the sale
was not that good” is not the comment
one expects when interviewing the main
consignor after her auction has taken place.
But not everyone is Terry Kovel.
For the record, the prices realized by the
multitude of the Kovel consigned lots sold
through Rachel Davis Fine Arts on September
17 were pretty spot on, as the items being
offered were not fine antiques but rather some of
the Kovels’ vintage advertising overflow. More
on that in a bit.
The real story here is the history of Terry and
her late husband Ralph Kovel, a couple whose
dedication to and advancement of the antiques
and collectibles field is second to none. They
met on a double blind date, and each decided
they liked their friend’s date better. After their
marriage in 1950, this duo’s drive would alter
the antiques and collecting world in ways even
they could never have imagined.
But first, some background is needed
concerning the pair. Ralph came to theCleveland,
Ohio, area in the 1930s and attended Cleveland
Heights High School and Ohio State University.
After a stint in the United States Coast Guard
during World War II, Ralph returned home, met
Terry Horvitz, and they married in 1950.
Ralph made his mark in the food industry—
an important aspect of the couple’s collecting
interests—acting as a food broker focusing
on packaged foods sold to grocery stores and
fast food restaurants. One company he repre-
sented was Stouffer’s. Another he dealt with was
McDonald’s.
Fun fact—Ralph was also an inventor. Tired
of seeing his kids chew the ends off of paper
straws while drinking milkshakes, Ralph
developed the first plastic straw for McDonald’s
using the outer part of a plastic clothes line!
But I digress.
According to his bio, Ralph bought a small
salad dressing company in Cleveland named
Sar-a-Lee “and was soon selling custom-made
salad dressings to major fast-food chains for
their newly popular salad bars.” Sara Lee
Corporation bought Ralph’s company in 1987,
and he became its senior vice president in the
foods division.
Terry Horvitz was born in Cleveland, went
to Wellesley College, and later married Ralph
Kovel. The couple had two children, Lee Kovel
and Kim Kovel. Terry was a reading specialist
and mathematics teacher at the Hawken School
in Lyndhurst, Ohio, from 1961 to 1971. During
that time, she also studied American antiques at
the Winterthur Museum Summer Institute.
Knowing all of this about the pair makes the
fact that they began writing about antiques in
1953 even more impressive. While excelling at
two very demanding careers, the Kovels were
neck deep in another—writing about, reporting
on, and promoting all things antiques and
collectibles related.
So why antiques and collectibles? It is said
that while on their honeymoon in Bermuda
the couple became enamored of the antique
porcelain and pottery they saw while perusing
the quaint shops of the island community. This
interest would be the catalyst for their first book.
The day their daughter was born in 1953, the
first copy of the couple’s first book,
Dictionary
of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain
, showed up
in their mailbox. Now titled
Kovels’ Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and
Porcelain, 1650-1850
, the book is still in print. In 1986 a similar tome
detailing and identifying marks from 1850 was published by the pair.
Starting in 1953 the Kovels were all in and became the leaders in getting
information about antiques and collectibles to the public by writing
a newspaper column, “Kovels: Antiques and Collecting.” It became
syndicated in 1955 and still runs today (distributed by King Features
Syndicate) in more than 120 newspapers.
If writing a weekly column weren’t enough, in 1967 the Kovels wrote
Kovels’ Know Your Antiques
, a collector-friendly guide to different
antiques categories, marks, and dates. The following year they produced
an updated version with prices collated on keypunch cards using that
newfangled thing called a computer. Said to be the first “bookstore” book
done on a computer,
The Complete Antiques Price List
has been published
every year for the past 44 years and is now known as
Kovels’ Antiques
and Collectibles Price Guide
. Besides all the pertinent information about
While excelling at two
very demanding careers,
the Kovels were neck deep
in another—writing about,
reporting on, and promoting
all things antiques and
collectibles related.
This “Try Your Grip” gripper machine is cast
iron and is labeled “By Royal Letters Patent.”
At 19" x 12" x 12½", it was the top lot of the
auction, making $2783 (est. $200/400).
Five gas pump globe lenses—one Sky Chief/Texaco (has a chip), two
Ashland, one Richfield Ethyl, and one Frontier—each 13½" in diameter,
sold as one lot for $453.75 (est. $200/400).
“I’ve tripped over that Cremo cigar humidor trunk more times
than I can remember,” Terry Kovel stated. Large in size for a
humidor at 18½" x 28" x 18", it sold for $484 (est. $150/250).
This August Flower Boschee’s German Syrup
reverse-painted glass and lighted sign, with
some peeling to the paint, 19¾" x 14¾", brought
$544.50 (est. $200/400).
Several lots in this auction
were not from the Kovels’
collection. A consignor
from Rocky River, Ohio,
placed some items from
her father’s estate into
the sale. This Wells Fargo
and Co.’s Express Gold
Changer, no. 5496, cast
iron, 14½" x 12" x 6",
sold for $1028.50 (est.
$300/500).
“I loved her,” Kovel
stated, referring to
the young lady in this
Bixby’s shoe polish
die-cut advertise-
ment. The fabric
skirt was applied
to the cardboard,
and her arms, legs,
and gloves are made of
paper. In fair condition,
the 35" tall display brought
$363 (est. $150/250).