Maine Antique Digest, March 2017

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22-B Maine Antique Digest, March 2017
- AUCTION -
22-B
Pook & Pook and Noel Barrett, Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Noel Barrett and Pook Toy Sale
by Lita Solis-Cohen
Photos courtesy Pook & Pook
Noel Barrett’s first toy sale in Downingtown,
Pennsylvania, since he hooked up with Pook
& Pook last summer was a mixed Santa’s sack
that took two sessions to unpack on December 2 and 3,
2016, the first weekend in December. On Friday night,
Schoenhut wooden toys made in Philadelphia during the
last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the
20th century were sold, followed by some dolls, teddy
bears, and holiday items. Saturday began with German
tin toys and ended with trains, and in between there was
a huge variety, from tiny penny toys to big heavy trucks
by Kingsbury and Buddy “L,” a team of carousel horses,
some movie theater fixtures, and advertising. Mickey and
Minnie Mouse dolls were dressed in their Sunday best,
and there were boats and cars of all sizes and materials,
and plenty of firefighting equipment.
The results were a mixed bag, with some strong prices,
some surprises, and plenty of bargains for those who
remember prices of a few years ago. Schoenhut toys and
trains had more low points than high points, but a rare
Schoenhut half rolly dolly sheep with glass eyes sold
with buyer’s premium for $4080 (est. $1500/1800). A
Märklin Central Bahnhof train station, no. 2651, hand
painted, with a candlelit interior, etched stained glass, a
ticket window, and an outdoor café, sold for $18,000 (est.
$15,000/18,000). At a Noel Barrett sale in May 2011, it
had sold for $23,000 (est. $10,000/15,000). Then it was
discovered inAustralia and was sold in Pennsylvania. “In
toys you never know where good things are going to turn
up,” said Barrett. A Lionel standard-gauge Blue Comet
passenger train set with engine and tender, two coaches,
and an observation car, all with the original boxes, sold
for $6000 (est. $6000/9000), and a Lionel standard-gauge
special green State train set with an electric engine, a
California car, a Colorado car, an Illinois car, and a
New York observation car, with appropriate numbered
individual boxes, sold for $8400 (est. $7000/10,000).
They would have brought more a few years ago.
Rarities in good condition still bring serious money.
An elaborate English butcher shop made of painted
wood and embossed paperboard sold for $33,600
(est. $4000/6000). The buyer got 75 cuts of meat, two
butchers, and a delivery boy. A small toy butcher shop
deli counter with a faux leather and vinyl-covered case
with a Plexiglas front, the inside containing a selection
of meat, cheeses, and butter, 7" high x 17¾" wide, sold
for $1920 (est. $400/600). Meat shops were in demand,
but grocery stores brought much less. A French Epicerie
painted cupboard with 20 spice and food drawers and
boxes of French groceries sold for $600 (est. $400/600).
A Steiff mohair teddy bear, 19" long, sold for a
surprising $3690 (est. $600/800). A metal deep sea diver
figure, 7½" high, probably Bing, with his original ax
and glass dome light sold for $2460 (est. $400/600). A
one-of-a-kind painted tin soldier cap-shooting push toy
with a roll of caps inside the chest cavity sold for $2880
(est. $1000/1500). At the Toy Museum of Atlanta sale in
March 1987, it had sold for $2000. Barrett thinks it may
be a prototype and never went into production.
The French C.B.G. Mignot diorama of Admiral
Peary’s 1909 North Pole expedition in its original box
with three tiers of Arctic scenes, 21" wide, sold for
a surprising $4800 (est. $500/800). A French boxed
painted tin firefighting set by FV with a burning building
and a lot of equipment brought the same price, $4800
(est. $1000/1500).
Firefighting toys sold well. The cover lot, a craftsman-
made model of a circa 1900 horse-drawn fire pumper, live
steam powered, with an eagle on top of the steam dome,
the boiler inscribed “F.W. Balcom 1955,” 30" long, sold
for $18,000 (est. $12,000/18,000). A Bliss lithographed
paper “Rough & Ready” no. 2 horse-drawn fire ladder
truck with two drivers and two ladders, 30" long, went
for $3600 (est. $1500/2000). A lithographed paper over
wood horse-drawn fire pumper, probably Bliss, 15" long,
sold for $2040 (est. $400/600). A Bishop Auckland live
steam fire pumper model, finely detailed in wood with
brass and copper fittings and a brass placard inscribed
“Nelson” on the front, 24" long, once in the Toy Museum
of Atlanta, sold for $5904 (est. $1000/2000). In 1986 at
the Toy Museum of Atlanta
sale, it had sold for $4500.
A Martin hand-painted tin
clockwork climbing fireman
with a folding ladder, 19¼"
high overall, sold for $1320
(est. $600/800).
Some prices are down from
the good old days, and some
are up. Apainted tin and wood
carousel wind-driven toy with
painted wood animals and
iron figures, all mounted
on a bicycle rim and on a
carved wooden base, 51"
high x 24" diameter, sold
for $5412 (est. $2000/4000). At the sale of the Barney
Barenholtz collection at Sotheby’s in January 1990 had
it sold for $6600 (est. $3500/4500). A few lots earlier a
carved and painted wood horse that had sold for $1540
at the Barenholtz sale in 1990 sold for $3120 (est.
$400/600). None of these price changes take inflation
into consideration.
The prices of advertising signs were hurt by the fact
that some were bought recently when prices were higher.
For example, a “Wm E. Shumaker Steam & Electrical
Engineer” painted trade sign dated 1906 and depicting
a graphic image of an engine drive wheel powering a
generator, 24" x 39", sold for $3690 (est. $3000/4000).
At the landmark Bill Powell sale at Noel Barrett
Auctions in November 2011, it had sold for around
$4500 with a similar estimate ($3000/6000). An
“Electric Lustre Starch” painted pine advertising
sign, circa 1890, inscribed “The Greatest Invention
of All Time / Saves Time, Labor & Trouble,”
depicting a lady seeing her own reflection in a
starched shirt, 71" x 49", sold for $2040 (est.
$3000/4000). At the Bill Powell sale in
2011, it had sold for $5000.
The sale had its ups and downs in
every category. For example, the largest
velvet and felt Mickey in a collection
of Mickey Mouse dolls in all sizes failed to
sell, and another, not as clearly marked with Walt
Disney’s name, but like the first one with the name of the
distributor George Borgfeldt & Co., sold for $1968 (est.
$3000/5000). Then a 12" high Mickey in his Sunday
best Easter outfit sold for $7800 (est. $3000/4000), and
Mickey dressed as a drum major brought $6150 (est.
$2000/2500).
Of the 824 lots offered, 805 sold; that is just shy
of 98% sold. The sale brought in a tidy $755,779
(with the buyers’ premiums), right in the middle of a
presale estimate of $495,000/728,000 (without buyers’
premiums). Barrett said the next sale of two awesome
private collections is scheduled for April 1 at Pook &
Pook in Downingtown.
The pictures and captions tell more. For more
information, contact Pook & Pook at (610) 269-4040 or
Noel Barrett at (215) 297-5109 or go online to (www.
) or ).
Some strong prices, some surprises,
and plenty of bargains. This elaborate English butcher shop diorama, mid-19th
century, primarily of painted wood and embossed paper-
board, with 75 cuts of meat and carcasses tended by
two butchers and a delivery boy, the façade with glazed
windows, potted plants, and a lion and unicorn crest over
the door, 13" high x 23" wide x 6" deep, sold for $33,600
(est. $4000/6000).
This Märklin Central Bahnhof train station, no. 2651,
hand painted, with a candlelit interior fitted with a table,
chairs, and benches, etched stained-glass windows, ticket
window, and outdoor seating under arched canopy, 17"
high x 11½" long x 12" deep, had sold for $23,000 at
Barrett’s auction on May 21, 2011. Here it sold for $18,000
(est. $15,000/18,000). Did the strong dollar deter German
bidding?
The cover lot was this craftsman-made model of a circa 1900 horse-drawn fire pumper, live steam powered, with an eagle
on top of the steam dome, two supply hoses, two steam gauges on the boiler, front and rear steel-rimmed wood wheels,
and a maker’s plate on the boiler inscribed “F.W. Balcom 1955,” 30" long. It sold for $18,000 (est. $12,000/18,000).