From Showtime Auctions:

A rare bow front violano music player, made around 1910 by the Mills Novelty Company of Chicago and professionally restored in excellent playing condition, soared to $137,500 at a three-day multi-estate sale held October 10-12 by Showtime Auction Services at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds. The violano, serial #195, is one of only 20 still known to exist.

The sale, which saw 2,340 lots cross the block over the course of the weekend, featured all three versions of the Mills violano. It might be the first time in auction history that all three Mills violano versions were offered in the same sale. The bow front sold had a midi player with wireless system that permits the user to operate it from 90 feet away. Included were three Mills rolls and four midi albums.

The featured collector of the sale was Sandy Rosnick, the founder of the Antique Advertising Association of America (AAA) and a dedicated collector of country store tins in many categories. A top earner from his collection was a very rare Mohawk Chief cigar tin with just some minor scuffs and scratches but otherwise in very good condition. The tin, once containing nickel cigars, brought $1,800.

“Sandy Rosnick was the featured collector, but we had so many items in such a broad range of categories this was our most diverse auction ever,” said Mike Eckles of Showtime Auction Services. “We weren't sure what to expect, because the financial crisis hit the week before the sale, and things were still in is a state of turmoil that weekend. But I was very pleased with the outcome. It was great.”

A strong crowd of more than 400 people enjoyed the balmy weather and packed the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds. The Friday session was held solely for in-house bidders. On Saturday and Sunday, phone and absentee bidding was brisk, while about 2,500 registered bidders participated online via LiveAuctioneers.com and eBayLiveAuctions.com. In all, the auction grossed around $2.2 million.

Following are additional top lots from the sale. All prices quoted include a buyer's premium that ranged from 10-20 percent.

A paper sign advertising Buffalo Brewing Company of Sacramento, Calif., and depicting a nude Indian maiden on the back of a buffalo, in a period walnut frame and in mint condition, hammered for $45,100. Also, a Brunhoff light-up Coca-Cola advertising sign, inviting patrons to “Lunch With Us” and depicting a fountain glass, in excellent original condition (12 inches by 14 inches) fetched $12,650.

An original oil painting by the German-born American artist Edmond Osthaus (1858-1928) realized $44,000. The hunting scene, depicting two Irish setters and a pointer, measured 24 inches by 36 inches (32 inches by 44 inches framed). Osthaus was commissioned by the major firearms and gun powder manufacturers of the day, such as Remington and Winchester, for their posters and calendars.

A Watling Cupid trade stimulator (coin-operated, five cents, with gum vendor) in excellent condition and with keys, went for $38,500. Also, a limited-production exact replica of a Mademoiselle Zita fortune teller, in excellent working order, hit $17,050. The original was made by Roovers Bros. Mfg., Brooklyn, N.Y., around the turn of the century. The replica was manufactured by Mike Gorski.

A “Happy Jap” gum vendor, coin-operated and made around 1902, in good original condition (10 inches by 13-1/2 inches by 10-1/2 inches), went to a determined bidder for $39,000. Also, a four-gallon mechanical butter churn with no chips or cracks – a wonderful example of grey stoneware pottery – made $3,000. The piece, 35 inches tall, was made by Jos. Hamilton Mfg. of Greensboro, Pa.

A Buster Brown Shoes tin sign, depicting Tig pulling Buster in a big shoe, measuring 40 inches by 24-3/4 inches and made by American Art Works Lithographers of Coshocton, Ohio, and in overall excellent condition, climbed to $20,900. Also, a Boyce Moto Meter die-cut tin flange sign, two-sided, measuring 21-1/2 inches by 18-3/4 inches and with a bullet hole and a few bb dents, brought $18,700.

A child's sled intended as a Christmas present for a little boy in Pennsylvania in 1893 who died before the holidays, retired to an attic ever since and in original excellent condition, with a beautiful hand-painted rendering of the Finger Lakes in New York, wood with iron runners and geese head pulls, coasted to $5,775. Also, a Popeye Bag Puncher tin wind-up toy, with the original box, reached $4,125.

Showtime Auction Services' next big sale will be held the weekend of March 27-29, also at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds in Ann Arbor. Mich. The featured collector will be Fred Bahlau who, over the course of 57 years, has amassed an impressive accumulation of leaded glass windows, Nickelodeons, lamps, signs, country store, petroliana, advertising and other items – 1,800 lots in all.

Select items from other estates will also be offered. Showtime Auction Services is always accepting quality consignments for future sales. To consign a single item, estate or collection, you may call Mike Eckles, at (951) 453-2415. His e-mail address is Mikeckles@aol.com. To learn more about Showtime Auction Services and its calendar of upcoming sales, click on www.showtimeauctions.com.

This looks like it's going to be a really, really good auction at the Santa Margarita Auction Barn. All the pictures that I've seen are absolutely gorgeous! Check out the partial list below.

Sunday OCT 26, 10 AM Sharp. A great consignment auction of hard to find and some one of kind antiques and collectibles, many from local estates. Our web page www.smab.com is updated for this auction which includes Victorian, turn of the century oak and mahogany, , early lamps, selection of clocks, early prints, glass, china, pottery, gold coins and other quality collectibles. ...

Furniture
 Museum quality R.J. Horner mahogany library  desk with full standing winged griffins, carved top & claw feet * Art  Nouveau style oak & marble top sideboard with leaded stained glass  door, French c. 1910 * Outstanding oak triple bow glass china cabinet with  bonnet top, carved winged lions, mirror back, claw feet * Highly carved  English oak umbrella stand with Northwind motif, refinished condition *  Fabulous Victorian mahogany hall seat by Paine Furniture Co. carved winged  lions, fancy brass hooks, lift seat * Great Victorian walnut Renaissance  Revival marble top deep well dresser with tear drop pulls * Beautiful  Victorian walnut 3 pc Rococo Revival parlor suite, Sofa & 2 side  chairs * Very ornate oak Armoire with 2 drawers, carved crest, beveled  mirror doors * Oak stacking lawyer's bookcase by Macy Co. * Exceptional  oak buffet with carved standing lions, fancy carved with claw feet *  Victorian 54" round oak pedestal dining table with 6 leaves * Quality oak  tall chest with serpentine front & sides, fancy carved with beveled  mirror * Quality 48" square oak dining table, 5 carved legs, with leaves,  c. 1900 * Very ornate oak hall seat, lots of carvings, round beveled  mirror, original brass hooks * 48" oak "S" curved roll top desk, double  pedestal base * Empire Period mahogany flip top game table * Pair of  French style 3 drawer inlaid side stands * Original oak Hoosier kitchen  cupboard * Mahogany Chifferobe with beveled mirror, Sandwich glass pulls,  c. 1890 * Great oak Morris chair with large claw feet, refinished &  reupholstered * Oak pressed back rockers * Unusual oak Larkin desk with  beveled mirror * Victorian walnut cylinder secretary bookcase desk, lots  of burling * Great Victorian walnut Rococo Revival full size bed, c. 1870  * Eastlake Victorian walnut & marble umbrella stand * Matching  mahogany tall chest & dresser with serpentine fronts, fancy carved  beveled mirrors * Art Deco style painted Hoosier kitchen cupboard *  Selection of oak & mahogany lamp tables & fern stands * Victorian  oak cylinder secretary desk, c1880 * Oak Jeweler's work desk, c. 1910 *  45" round oak pedestal dining table with claw feet & leaves * Sets of  oak dining room chairs * Oak office chairs * Set of 4 Hitchcock style  chairs with rush seats, c. 1840's * Matched pair of Victorian oak Armoires  with crests * Fantastic Eastlake Victorian stick & ball carved oak  hall stand * Louis XVI style mahogany vanity with beveled mirror * 2 door  mahogany bookcase with columns & claw feet * Unusual oak ice box with  sliding top * Arts & Crafts style oak blanket chest * Oak 4 drawer  file cabinet by Library Bookcase Co. * Selection of oak dressers, tall  chests * wash stands * Victorian walnut 42" ladies' S curved roll top desk  * Selection of Victorian walnut platform rockers * side chairs * Oak  smoker's stand, Arts & Crafts * Mission oak chairs & rockers *  Much more...
  
  
 Glassware & China
 Brilliant cut * Limoges * Nippon * Roseville *  Depression * Bavaria * Ironstone * Carnival * Victorian art glass * Cruet  sets * Brides' baskets * Fiesta * Moser * Much more....
  
  
 Miscellaneous
 Victor #5 oak record player with spear tip  external horn * Empire Revival mahogany 3 weight grandfather clock with  moon dial, c. 1900 * Victorian oak barber's chair by Koken, Chicago *  Victorian rolled wicker baby buggy with original parasol top * National  brass cash register, c. 1910 * Oriental rugs & carpets * Gold &  silver US coins * Estate jewelry * Quilts * Oak organ with carved gallery  & mirror * Collection of old radios * Early country store coffee tin *  Restored Victorian cast iron & brass scale * Edison "Home" model  cylinder record player * Selection of Victorian & 1920's decorative  prints & mirrors * Gone with the wind style lamps * Tiffany style slag  glass table lamps * Brass floor lamps * Leaded stained glass Tiffany style  hanging lamp shades * Mantle clocks * Advertising * Kitchen collectables *  Tools * Toys & dolls * Much more.....

For more information and images: info@smab.com, 805-438-5395, www.smab.com

Oh how I wish-wish-wish I could make it ...

Imagine: A 1,000-year-old carved rock crystal ewer, one of only seven known surviving examples, will be offered Christie's Islamic art sale next month. It's expected to bring over $5 million (U.S.)

Made for the court of the Fatimid rulers of Cairo in the late 10th or early 11th century, carved out of a single piece of hollowed-out rock crystal and later embellished in enameled gold mounts (1854) by a French silversmith.

The last time this ewer was bid on, it reached more than 1000 times its presale estimate. Well, the estimate is set pretty high this time, due to the more accurate description, I'm sure. This is truly a historic treasure.

The craftsmanship and the detail are overwhelming, especially considering it was carved and polished entirely by hand a thousand years ago. Whew! I'm going to watch—with great interest—for the outcome of this auction.

Click here to learn more about this exquisite piece and its history.

Remember our recent cover story on marbles? Seems we weren't far off the mark when we reported that the collecting trend just keeps rolling...

Morphy Auctions reported this week that its May 29-31 Spring Antiques Auction hit a $1.4 million record – including the sale of an $18,400 box of marbles.

According to a company press release, Morphy’s has always drawn a strong contingent of marble buyers to its sales, and this time was no exception. The prize everyone seemed to be after was an extremely rare, complete 100-count box of Christensen Agate Co. marbles. Some of the marbles exhibited extraordinarily rare color combinations – “maybe even unique,” said Dan Morphy, himself a longtime marble enthusiast. Estimated at $10,000-$15,000, the boxed selection finished its run at $18,400.

How do you like them marbles?!

Morphy Auctions is a division of Geppi’s Entertainment Auctions & Publications. For information on consigning to future sales, to view prices realized in past sales or to learn more about upcoming auctions, click here.

MERIDEN, Conn. – The collecting community is reeling from the death of Nest Egg Auctions owner Carl Brechlin, who died during a boating trip May 31.

Brechlin, 53, was tubing along the Potomac River in West Virginia with his brothers and friends, when he had difficulty breathing and slipped underwater, according to a press account.

Nest Egg Auctions is well known by dealers and collectors in Meriden, Conn., where Brechlin held monthly auctions. The auction house was a later offshoot from a previous career as a part-time show manager for a community-based antiques show as well as a family antiques resale business. Customers said Nest Egg Auctions regularly attracted dealers and collectors from across New England and Connecticut for two reasons: the quality merchandise and what they called Brechlin’s mix of humor and street smarts.

“He was quite a character,” said Alan Brophy, a longtime antiques and collectibles dealer. “Always joked a lot during his sales: part auctioneer-part showman-part comic. But most of all a pretty good guy and a big part of the local trade here in Connecticut.” He was one of the first auctioneers to hold ‘table top’ auctions in the state.”

Brechlin and Nest Egg Auctions are well known to Antique Trader readers. He was an advertiser; however, readers got to know him and his business better in the Connecticut installment of the magazine’s Retro Road Trip series published last year. Nest Egg Auctions have been featured in the Home and Garden Television network's "Cash in the Attic".

The family plans to continue Nest Egg Auctions, with son Ryan Brechlin at the helm. Memorial services were today at the First United Methodist Church in Meriden. An article on the boating trip and an obituary for Carl Roger Brechlin can be found by clicking here.

Just a tiny mention here at The Press Association regarding the upcoming London sale of a rare three-volume first edition set of Jane Austen's "Emma," inscribed by the great woman herself to her governess.

I will plead ignorance here and tell you I've never read "Emma," or seen any of the film, PBS or BBC adaptations of it. Austen just isn't my thing, really, but I respect her place as a huge and enduring literary figure, and actually do regret the gap in my literary knowledge. Back inmy early 20s, when I was working a night job at Shakespeare and Co., on lower Boradway in NYC, my focus was really on Faulkner, Nabokov, Cormac McCarthy, Russel Hoban and a plethora of great Russians. Perhaps when my daughter gets a little older, and I have time to read a real book in large chunks, I'll pick up Austen. Oh well.

The books are expected to bring about 50,000 pounds, or $100,000, depending on the exchange rate when the sale takes place June 24.

This is interesting and - dare I say it - sexy for the antiques industry.

From ArtInfo.com.

I wrote here not two weeks ago about the market in Russian art, followed by something about Muslim art, and shortly after that  Sotheby's has a huge sale of Russian art. Who buys it? Oh yes, Russians.

Except that one peice, and only one piece failed to sell for it's estimated amount. Why? It's alleged ties to the Russian Mob, and the death threats that came with its initial theft.

No picture available to my knowledgable, which might just push this thing mainstream. I hope that guy from CSI Miam is in in the pilot...

Yes. Very sexy.

Been following this the last week or two. Christies has been trying to sell off millions of dollars in rare and antique jewelry for Merril Lynch from the estate of Ralph Esmarian, who owes something like $186M to Merril.

That makes me feel a little better about my student loans...

This is from the New York Times.

I know I'm a bit late in sounding off on this, by at least 24 hours, but I wanted to wait and see if there was going to be any sort of uproar from the online antiques community over eBay's decision to end its Live Auction business.

I reckon not, though. It may be that the online auction sites are more than ready to jump in and take over - many were never affiliated with eBay's live auctions in the first place. The big boys, like LiveAuctioneers and Proxibid will probably have a bit of a hiccup in auction during the initial period of change at the end of the year, if only for a second as users have to type in a new URL. I imagine that they will be more than ready to pick up where eBay leaves off, however.

By some estimates, eBay's Live Auctions generate about $100M a year. I have no hard data to back this up, just the word of a colleague in the business, but even so, if it's a fraction of that, that's some serious do-re-mi we're talkng about. I guess not to eBay, though. Besides, it's obvioulsy written off several segments of its business with all the changes since Whitman resigned and droids have been installed as overseers.



Here is a link to the message from Jim Ambach at eBay, to compliment the link to the Yahoo story above.

I've exchanged a few emails with John Werry, the proprietor of the Rare Victorian Furniture Blog, and he's equally miffed at the ongoing attitude of the online auction giant. He's a good guy and hopefully won't mind if I quote his comments. Check out his recently madeover blog above, too. It's a good read.

"I think it's a mistake for Ebay to not pursue domination of the electronic link to the live auction world since live auctions will never go away.  Maybe their strategy is to not continue to fund the foundation of that link and to instead wait for someone else to build it up, and then acquire them later, if needed.

I can just see their strategy discussion now, 'hmm... let's see.   we'll focus on funding the servers, bandwidth, and storage for selling millions of $0.25 items that may not sell and generate a commission and abandon the guaranteed-to-sell $198,000 Charles Rohlfs chair.  Sounds like a plan.'"

See, it's funny because it's true...

From Kovels.com on a news-antique.com. This is always a pretty good look at what people are buying and selling online these days. Worth a look, just for your own edification.

It seems now that Islamic art is absolutely everywhere, and the amount of money that it's fetching - congruent with the amount of ire it's raising in some instances - is pretty amazing.

I've already written about it a few times this week and last week.

It started the attempted sale of some armor once, possibly, belonging to a revered Sikh Guru. Then a 12th century key to the holiest pilgrimage site in Mecca, and now, just yesterday, a dagger once belonging to Shah Jahan - arguably the greatest of India's Golden Age Mugal emporers - the man who built the Taj Mahal, and raised Islamic art and architecture to amazing levels in his reign, sold at Bonham's in London for nearly $3,000,000.



You have to admit, looking at it, that it's a thing of extraordinary beauty, made even more important by its provenance of having belonged to Shah Jahan, a man from whom very few personal relics survive. $3M seems like alot to spend, but as I wrote about the Hajj key yesterday, reclaiming cultural history is an expensive game, and them that have the bucks don't necessarily think of it as a numbers game. Face it, if you have all the bills in the Monopoly game, there's nothing on the board that's out of range.

Again, it went to an anonymous bidder who didn't wish to be identified. Who knows who it is, but most likely it was someone who was unhappy almsot 20 years ago when the Shah of Iran sold it to Jacques Desenfans, along with a lot of other things in the sale, on a visit in 1969, when the Shah's empire was just starting to wobble. That bit of its history has been more downplayed in the hubbub over its sale, but it's all part of the history of such a remarkable piece.

I'm not sure if the dagger is considered a holy relic, so I have no feeling on it being sold. If it is considered such, along with much of the other Islamic "art" that's been coming on the block, then I do have to take issue. Pieces of spiritual significance, whatever the faith, shouldn't be made available for a price. I have to think, though, the Shah Jahan dagger isn't considered spiritually important for Muslims, because there was no outcry, such as the one over the Sikh armor.



Shah Jahan's buildings and his name dot India, most notably the Taj, which he built as a masoleum for his wife, Mumtaz, when she died. I've seen the Taj Mahal, and it's an amazing site, especially if you can get there very early in the morning before the touts, the cars, the tourists and the choking, nasty smog from the copious cars the swarm Agra all day. There are few buildings in the world that can match it, or its creativity.

Wrote about this a few weeks ago. A dealer in NYC sold a box of pics he found in a box lot for $3500. Turns out there was a trove of unknown Diane Arbus photos in there - very interesting ones, to be sure - and they're worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.



The dealer who sold them is suing the dealer he says duped him out of the find of his life. The sale was supposed to have happened yesterday, I think. Turns out it was abruptly canceled. Both the New York Times and our friend Kristi Roberts at Here Be Old Things have been covering this pretty well, so I'll leave it to them. Kristi was going to the sale, and even went by the showroom to get a sneak peak.

I know that a lot of times it's buy and sell at your own risk in this business, and that they seller should have known that he was giving away a fortune at such a small price - the first clue should have been when the buyer who bought the box said, "there's nothing in there worth much at all, but I'll give you $3500 right now for the whole thing, no questions asked. 'kay?"

Money is money, I suppose, and there are no rules that say you have to play fair. Or are there? The speculation is that the original seller may just hve succeeded in his lawsuit. We'll see later.

It's a bit strange to call religious artifacts "art," but the things are beautiful.

A sale of Islamic art at Sotheby's sold roughly $20M in 282 lots, smashing the previous records for a similar sale. It's a good bet that most of the lots, including a very expensive and revered 12th Century key to Mecca's most holy pilgrimage site, are going to the area of their origin. There's so much wealth focused in the Middle East these days, I'm actually surprised that those items on the block didn't go for much much more.

This, though, hearkens to the same discussion I've been having - with myself, that it - over countries reclaiming cultural heritage. I don't know that the pieces of Islamic art that Sotheby's sold didn't come from a seller in the region already, but it also wouldn't surprise me if they were Colonial spoils from centuries and exploits past.

This has been very interesting to watch - somewhat obscure, perhaps, bubt a lot of fun.

Sotheby's claimed some armor being sold belonged to a very important Sikh guru. Sikhs got angry, and Sotheby's claims that the armor is not actually the Guru's, but one of several sets he had made, as he was involved in many wars and military campaigns.

The post linked to above is from a post to WorthPoint.com out of India.

The whole thing is interesting, as I have always associated Sikhism with dervishes and mysticism, a la the sublime poetry of Rumi ("Dissolver of sugar, dissolve me."), not necessarily with warring kings. I'd love to see the armor, but no pics have been released. Check it out if this sort of thing interests you, which it does me, which I bet you've already figured out.