W. C. Fields’ crooked pool cue prop pockets almost $10K at Potter & Potter

W. C. Fields’ Ziegfeld Follies-used crooked pool cue prop, shown with a provenance letter from Red Skelton, which sold for $7,500 ($9,375 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter March 28.

CHICAGO – A stage-used ‘crooked’ pool cue prop owned by legendary entertainer W. C. Fields (1880-1946) came to market at Potter & Potter March 28 as part of its 625-lot Entertainment, Toys & Collectibles sale. Full results for the auction can be seen at LiveAuctioneers.

The cue was a prop employed by Fields in his routine with comedian Ed Wynn during Fields’ first year with the Ziegfeld Follies in New York. Running from 1907 through 1931 with later revivals, the follies were elaborate theatrical revues featuring dancing girls who would parade around dressed as literally anything, from “birds to battleships,” according to PBS’ Ziegfeld Biography. Notably, famed 20th-century designer Erté served as a designer on the Follies.

When Wynne was getting laughs from under a pool table while Fields was shooting, Fields would “smack Ed Wynn over the head during” the bit, according to accounts from the time.

The cue was consigned with a typewritten and signed letter from entertainer Red Skelton (1913-1997), who received it as a gift from Fields prior to his passing. Skelton wrote the letter to magician Tom Mullica, who was given the cue – and clear provenance – by Skelton on February 20, 1984. Mullica kept the cue and letter until he sent it to auction in 2016.

Interestingly, Skelton ends the provenance letter with a then-timely opinion about comedian Eddie Murphy, whose career was skyrocketing. “You mention Eddy [sic] Murphy, you are right, he is filthy.” Estimated at $1,000-$2,000, two dozen bids took the cue to pool shark heaven, hammering at $7,500 ($9,375 with buyer’s premium).

W. C. Fields’ Ziegfeld Follies-used crooked pool cue prop, shown with a provenance letter from Red Skelton, which sold for $7,500 ($9,375 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter March 28.

W. C. Fields’ Ziegfeld Follies-used crooked pool cue prop, shown with a provenance letter from Red Skelton, which sold for $7,500 ($9,375 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter March 28.

W. C. Fields’ Ziegfeld Follies-used crooked pool cue prop, which sold for $7,500 ($9,375 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter March 28.

W. C. Fields’ Ziegfeld Follies-used crooked pool cue prop, which sold for $7,500 ($9,375 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter March 28.

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte has worked in editorial, design and the toy and auction industries for more than 30 years. He co-founded Auction Central News in 2007.

Pair of 18th-century side tables from Scottish country house exceed $289K at Lyon & Turnbull

Circa-1770 pair of Italian giltwood tables with brecce pernice marble tops, which hammered for £220,000 ($278,675) and sold for £288,200 ($289,060) with buyer’s premium at Lyon & Turnbull on March 27.

EDINBURGH, UK – A pair of 18th-century Italian giltwood side tables from a Scottish country house hammered for £220,000 ($278,675) and sold for £288,200 ($289,060) with buyer’s premium at Lyon & Turnbull on March 27. They were consigned from Penicuik House in Midlothian, where they had likely been since the 18th century. Full results for the auction can be seen at LiveAuctioneers.

The pair of giltwood side tables, with their somewhat menacing dolphins or sea serpents carved to the frieze, do not appear in the Penicuik papers or invoices, but they were recorded among the pieces saved from a fire at the house in 1899. It is believed that the impressively thick 4ft 11in by 2ft 9in (1.57m by 82cm) brecce pernice marble slabs may have been part of the shipment of marble slabs sent to Penicuik from Rome in the late 1760s. The transaction was arranged by John Baxter the Younger, the son of Penicuik’s chief architect, John Baxter.

Following interest from all across the US, Europe, and the UK, and following a long bidding battle between the internet and the phones, the tables sold to an international buyer some distance above the £40,000-£60,000 ($50,665-$75,995) estimate.

Penicuik Estate, situated to the southwest of Edinburgh at the foot of the Pentlands in Scotland, has been owned by descendants of the merchant John Clerk (1611-1674) since the middle of the 17th century. Sir James Clerk, 3rd Baronet of Penicuik (1709-1783) built a neo-Palladium house there in the 1760s, appointing John Baxter as the architect and James Blaikie as his master carpenter.

In June 1899 a fire gutted the building, although most of the original furniture and works of art were saved. After the 18th-century house was demolished, the adjacent Georgian stable block was converted into the family home. As the property is now being used for leisure and hospitality, the Clerk family offered 69 lots of furniture and works of art at the Lyon & Turnbull sale titled Home & Heritage: Property from Three Historic Houses.

Circa-1770 pair of Italian giltwood tables with brecce pernice marble tops, which hammered for £220,000 ($278,675) and sold for £288,200 ($289,060) with buyer’s premium at Lyon & Turnbull on March 27.

Circa-1770 pair of Italian giltwood tables with brecce pernice marble tops, which hammered for £220,000 ($278,675) and sold for £288,200 ($289,060) with buyer’s premium at Lyon & Turnbull on March 27.

Detail from one of a circa-1770 pair of Italian giltwood tables with brecce pernice marble tops, which hammered for £220,000 ($278,675) and sold for £288,200 ($289,060) with buyer’s premium at Lyon & Turnbull on March 27.

Detail from one of a circa-1770 pair of Italian giltwood tables with brecce pernice marble tops, which hammered for £220,000 ($278,675) and sold for £288,200 ($289,060) with buyer’s premium at Lyon & Turnbull on March 27.

Detail from one of a circa-1770 pair of Italian giltwood tables with brecce pernice marble tops, which hammered for £220,000 ($278,675) and sold for £288,200 ($289,060) with buyer’s premium at Lyon & Turnbull on March 27.

Detail from one of a circa-1770 pair of Italian giltwood tables with brecce pernice marble tops, which hammered for £220,000 ($278,675) and sold for £288,200 ($289,060) with buyer’s premium at Lyon & Turnbull on March 27.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

John Swisegood Inlaid Walnut Corner Cupboard leads our five auction highlights

Inlaid walnut corner cupboard made by John Swisegood, which hammered for $33,000 and sold for $41,250 with buyer’s premium at Leland Little on March 15.

John Swisegood Inlaid Walnut Corner Cupboard, $41,250

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – John Swisegood (1796-death date unknown) lived in the Zink family’s log cabin constructed by John Jacob Zink (1788-1866) while building this inlaid walnut corner cupboard from timber milled on the farm around 1814.

The cupboard was bequeathed to John Jacob’s son, who went by the name Joseph Sink (1827-1892) and lived in the cabin his entire life, aside from the years he was in the Confederate Army. Subsequently, the cupboard passed to Joseph’s son, David Henderson Sink (1860-1934), who lived at the cabin until he married at age 20. The cupboard then passed to David’s son, Odell Sink (1902-1966); and then to Odell’s son, Jimmie Sink (1930-2007); and finally to Jimmie’s son, Keith Sink, who consigned it to Leland Little for its March 15 Decorative Art Auction.

Starting at just $150, bidding immediately jumped to $19,500 and continued to a final hammer of $33,000, selling for $41,250 with buyer’s premium.

Ensign Multex Model O Rangefinder Camera With 53mm Xpres Lens, $37,780

Ensign Multex Model O Rangefinder camera with a 53mm Xpres lens by Ross of London, which hammered for £23,000 ($29,060) and sold for £29,900 ($37,780) with buyer’s premium at Chiswick Auctions on March 21.
Ensign Multex Model O Rangefinder camera with a 53mm Xpres lens by Ross of London, which hammered for £23,000 ($29,060) and sold for £29,900 ($37,780) with buyer’s premium at Chiswick Auctions on March 21.

LONDON – Austin Farahar, head of cameras and photography at Chiswick Auctions, was recently contacted by a budding documentary photographer in Vienna who had received a collection of old cameras from his in-laws. Staying up into the early hours to research his new acquisitions, at around 4 am in the morning he had come across a rare British pre-war precision camera that matched one of his new acquisitions. Farahar was delighted to confirm his hunch and suggested an auction estimate of £20,000-£30,000 ($25,280-$37,925).

The Ensign Multex Model O Rangefinder was made in two models between 1936 and 1938. It was described in Ensign catalogs as ‘a precision miniature camera of unrivaled merit without any of the disadvantages of extreme long length of film, necessitating a large number of exposures before developing.’ Costing as much as many Leica cameras at the time, it was sold with a range of five lenses ascending in price from 19 pounds, 10 shillings to 40 pounds. The Ross Xpres f/.9 lens included with this example was among the most expensive additions, and it is highly prized today.

Farahar says that fewer than five similar cameras had been offered at auction in the last 20 years, and estimates that fewer than 50 were ever made. Prices for cameras with this lens have rocketed as a result. One of these made £31,000 ($39,200) at Flints in Berkshire, England in November 2022. The estimate for Chiswick’s new discovery was spot on: it took £23,000 ($29,060) and sold for £29,900 ($37,780) with buyer’s premium as part of the March 21 sale titled The Bigger Picture: Fine Photographica & Panoramas. The vendor plans to use some of the proceeds from the sale to fund a photography trip to Ukraine, and is considering eye surgery so he can use his camera without the need for glasses. 

J. M. W. Turner, ‘The Entrance to Bishop Vaughan's Chapel, St David's Cathedral, Wales,’ $58,470

J. M. W. Turner, ‘The Entrance to Bishop Vaughan's Chapel, St David's Cathedral, Wales,’ which hammered for £37,000 ($46,775) and sold for £46,250 ($58,470) with buyer’s premium at Cheffins on March 20.
J. M. W. Turner, ‘The Entrance to Bishop Vaughan's Chapel, St David's Cathedral, Wales,’ which hammered for £37,000 ($46,775) and sold for £46,250 ($58,470) with buyer’s premium at Cheffins on March 20.

CAMBRIDGE, UK – A previously unknown watercolor by Joseph Mallord William (J.M.W.) Turner (1775-1851) emerged at Cheffins on March 20 as part of the first day of its Fine Sale.

Titled by the artist on the reverse as The Entrance to Bishop Vaughan’s Chapel, St David’s Cathedral, Wales, it was identified from a preliminary illustration from Turner’s own sketchbooks and had been hanging in a Suffolk, England country house collection since at least 1990.

According to Cheffins, the composition draws upon Turner’s 1795 tour of South Wales and is the only fully worked up watercolor of St. David’s in Pembrokeshire. His South Wales Sketchbook includes four architectural studies which relate to his visit to St. David’s, two of which are inscribed with Turner’s own title in his hand – St David’s: Part of the Ruins of the Bishop’s Palace; Bishops [sic] Throne, St. Davids Cathedral; Bishops Vaughan [sic] Chapel and St. David’s: Porch of the Great Hall of the Bishop’s Palace.

Estimated at £20,000-£30,000 ($25,205-$37,810), bidders determined to own the work sent the final hammer to £37,000 ($46,775) or £46,250 ($58,470) with buyer’s premium.

Early 19th-century Enamel Lorgnette by Lacloche of Paris, $4,225

Napoleonic-era enamel lorgnette, which hammered for $3,250 and sold for $4,225 with buyer’s premium at Selkirk Auctioneers on March 15.
Napoleonic-era enamel lorgnette, which hammered for $3,250 and sold for $4,225 with buyer’s premium at Selkirk Auctioneers on March 15.

ST. LOUIS – Dr. J. William Rosenthal (1922-2007) was a prominent ophthalmologist in New Orleans who enjoyed collecting, documenting, and studying antique eyewear. So accomplished in this realm did he become that he authored the 1994 book Spectacles and Other Vision Aids: A History and Guide to Collecting, the most comprehensive history written on the development of eyeglasses from Europe, America, Japan, and China.

Optical devices from his collection can be found in more than 16 museums, including the Museum of Vision of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. His family has taken the remaining items from his estate and placed them at auction. Selkirk Auctioneers featured this Napoleonic-era enamel lorgnette, eyewear that employs a handle rather than arms to go behind the ear. Marked Lacloche – Paris, the presale estimate was a modest $200-$500. After nearly 40 bids, the eyewear hammered for $3,250 and sold for $4,225 with buyer’s premium, making it the top lot from the Rosenthal collection that appeared at the March 15 Spectacles & Other Vision Aids sale.

Jean-Michel Frank Pedestal Tables, $211,435

CAPTION: Pedestal tables by Jean-Michel Frank, which hammered for €150,000 ($162,630) and sold for €195,000 ($211,435) with buyer’s premium at Piasa on March 20.
Pedestal tables by Jean-Michel Frank, which hammered for €150,000 ($162,630) and sold for €195,000 ($211,435) with buyer’s premium at Piasa on March 20.

PARIS – A 1930 pair of pedestal tables by Jean-Michel Frank (1895-1941) are moving to only its third home in nearly 100 years after hammering for €150,000 ($162,630) and selling for €195,000 ($211,435) with buyer’s premium at Piasa on March 20.

Tucked into a 208-lot French design catalog, the gilded bronze tables had received a €30,000-€40,000 ($32,530-$43,370) estimate from Piasa’s catalogers. Nearly two dozen bids pushed the price well beyond that range to the final hammer. Originally purchased from Frank by Juan Tolosa of Argentina, the set eventually was sold to a private London collector, who consigned them to Piasa.

Frank’s minimalist designs continue to flood the market in response to recent high prices realized. Many items require investigation, as many houses now refer to them as being ‘in the manner/style of Jean-Michel Frank.’

Bell telephones from the 1870s answered the call at White’s Auctions

Bell Telephone Wooden Transmitters, which sold for $36,000 ($45,720 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

MIDDLEBORO, MA – Relics from the dawn of the electromagnetic telephone created a sensation when they appeared for sale in Plymouth County, Massachusetts earlier this week. The collection of telephone apparatus dating from the pioneering years of the late 1870s was offered at White’s Auctions on April 14 from the estate of a collector. Complete results of the sale can be found at LiveAuctioneers.

The story of the development of the electric telephone is famously complicated. Antonio Meucci, Charles Bourseul, and Elisha Gray, among others, have all been credited with its invention. However, putting all the claims and counterclaims aside, it was the Scottish-born engineer Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) who had the ideas, the finance, and the business plan that proved commercially decisive.

Bell was granted his US patent for a device using a liquid transmitter and an electromagnetic receiver in March 1876. What he unveiled in June the same year at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition was the prototype for the very first commercial units — the pair of Bell Telephone Company ‘coffin-form’ transmitters offered by White’s with an estimate of $500-$1,000. They were hammered down to an online bidder using LiveAuctioneers for $36,000 ($45,720 with buyer’s premium).

Stamped to the 10in walnut cases with patent dates for March 1876 and January 1877, these wall-mounted instruments predate the invention of the switchboard by about a year (the first was installed in New Haven, Connecticut in January 1878). Instead, they operated in pairs, united by a single wire for the sending and receiving of audio. Notably, they have just one opening for sound – the user listened and spoke into the same camera-like hole – and signaling a call required a blast of a whistle into the transmitter.

The solution to ensuring the user at the other end picked up was to install a second wire and a bell. Sold at $35,000 ($44,450 with buyer’s premium) against the same estimate of $500-$1,000 was an 1879 wall-mounted brass and walnut bell stamped for both the Bell Telephone Company and the maker, Charles Williams Jr. He is an important figure in this narrative. A manufacturer of electrical telegraph instruments, it was in the attic of Williams’ shop at 109 Court Street in Boston on June 2, 1875 that Bell and his assistant Thomas Augustus Watson had first successfully transmitted sound via electromagnetism. When in 1877 Williams connected his home to his workplace using Bell’s device, he enjoyed the world’s first permanent residential telephone service.

From 1877 to the spring of 1879, the Bell Company relied exclusively on Williams to make the apparatus it leased to its customers. By 1880, the factory was producing 1,000 telephones per week (which was still not enough to cope with demand) and Williams had registered a series of patents of his own as the competition and pace of development quickened.

Offered at White’s was a deluxe Williams instrument in an Eastlake-style case that incorporates into a single wall-mounted unit a bell, a hand-cranked magneto (for generating a ringing voltage in a distant instrument), a hand receiver, a switch hook, and a transmitter. Dating to circa 1880, it, too, sold to a LiveAuctioneers bidder at $35,000 ($44,450 with buyer’s premium).

Remarkably from these small beginnings, only a decade later more than 150,000 people in the US owned telephones. Standard commercial apparatus from the 1880s survives in much greater numbers, although the search for better ways of transmitting the voice fired the development of increasingly sophisticated devices. In 1886 Bell patented an elegant 14in wood and brass phone that used a platinum diaphragm for better long-distance transmission. These are extremely rare, and the example offered at White’s, numbered 11319 for circa 1887, was in good condition. Estimated at $500-$1,000, it became the highest-priced lot in the sale when it hammered for $43,000 ($54,610 with buyer’s premium).

Bell Telephone Wooden Transmitters, which sold for $36,000 ($45,720 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

Bell Telephone Wooden Transmitters, which sold for $36,000 ($45,720 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

Charles Williams Bell Telephone, which sold for $35,000 ($44,450 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

Charles Williams Bell Telephone, which sold for $35,000 ($44,450 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

Charles Williams Telephone in Eastlake style, which sold for $35,000 ($44,450 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

Charles Williams Telephone in Eastlake style, which sold for $35,000 ($44,450 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

American Bell Long Distance Transmitter, which sold for $43,000 ($54,610 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

American Bell Long Distance Transmitter, which sold for $43,000 ($54,610 with buyer’s premium) at White's Auctions.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

Raquel Welch film premiere- and photo shoot-worn squash blossom necklace blows out estimates at $195K at Julien’s

Raquel Welch film premiere- and photo shoot-worn squash blossom necklace, which sold for $150,000 ($195,000 with buyer's premium) at Julien's.

GARDENA, Calif. – Raquel Welch’s Myra Breckenridge (1970) film premiere- and photo shoot-worn turquoise and silver squash blossom necklace skyrocketed past its modest $1,000-$2,000 estimate to hammer for $150,000 ($195,000 with buyer’s premium) at Julien’s Auctions’ April 12 ‘Bombshell’ event dispersing items from the late actress and model’s estate. Complete sale results are now available at LiveAuctioneers.

Designed in the style developed by the Navajo and adopted by other Southwestern tribes including the Zuni and Hopi, the sterling silver hollow bead necklace features a large horseshoe-shaped naja pendant of similar design. It measures 23.75 inches, weighs 134.50 grams, and is marked Sadie Ortiz.

Market demand continues to climb for squash blossom necklaces, with the documented Welch example likely setting a new record, though unconfirmed.

Julien’s reports the 464-lot sale had 100% sellthrough with the sale exceeding $1 million. In addition, as expected, all of Welch’s (1940-2023) film- and stage-worn costumes sold well above their estimates.

Raquel Welch film premiere- and photo shoot-worn squash blossom necklace, which sold for $150,000 ($195,000 with buyer's premium) at Julien's.

Raquel Welch film premiere- and photo shoot-worn squash blossom necklace, which sold for $150,000 ($195,000 with buyer's premium) at Julien's.

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte has worked in editorial, design and the toy and auction industries for more than 30 years. He co-founded Auction Central News in 2007.

Babe Ruth rookie card exclusive to Gimbels scored $762K at Bonhams

Gimbels Department Store version of the M101-4 1916 Babe Ruth rookie card, $600,000 ($762,500 with buyer’s premium) at Bonhams April 10.

NEW YORK — On April 10, a Gimbels Department Store version of the M101-4 1916 Babe Ruth Rookie Card surpassed its estimate when it sold for $600,000 ($762,500 with buyer’s premium) in Bonhams’ Fine Books and Manuscripts sale. Complete sale results are available at LiveAuctioneers.

One of the of most sought-after trading cards in existence, the consignor’s grandfather —a 10-year-old Milwaukeean at the time — acquired the card more than a century ago during a 1916 promotional giveaway of baseball cards featuring the elite players of the day, put on by Gimbels Department Store.

The card led the 195-lot sale, which overall achieved $1.7 million with 80% sold by lot and 99% sold by value.

Gimbels Department Store version of the M101-4 1916 Babe Ruth rookie card, $600,000 ($762,500 with buyer’s premium) at Bonhams April 10.

Gimbels Department Store version of the M101-4 1916 Babe Ruth rookie card, $600,000 ($762,500 with buyer’s premium) at Bonhams April 10.

Gimbels Department Store version of the M101-4 1916 Babe Ruth rookie card, $600,000 ($762,500 with buyer’s premium) at Bonhams April 10.

Gimbels Department Store version of the M101-4 1916 Babe Ruth rookie card, $600,000 ($762,500 with buyer’s premium) at Bonhams April 10.

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte has worked in editorial, design and the toy and auction industries for more than 30 years. He co-founded Auction Central News in 2007.

Grace Hartigan abstract painting commands $682K at Revere

‘Dublin’ by Grace Hartigan, which sold for $525,000 ($682,500 with buyer’s premium) at Revere Auctions on March 20.

ST. PAUL, Minn.– This large abstract expressionist painting titled Dublin, by Grace Hartigan (1922-2008) was created between 1958 and 1959 as part of the artist’s European Place painting series, which followed her travels to eight European cities. The pictures were not literal views of where she visited, but rather ‘evocations of place.’

Hartigan had become associated with the New York School of avant-garde artists in the early 1950s, and was notably close to Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Alfred Leslie, and Franz Kline.

Dublin, rendered in muted colors with splashes of bright blue and purple, is very similar to a work in the collection of the Guggenheim titled Ireland, which is the largest work in this series. Hartigan felt a special affinity for her “dear, dirty Dublin,” which reminded her of New York as well as her Irish heritage. The white linear patterns to the lower edge of this picture are, she later revealed, a reference to her relationship with Franz Kline. She has described them as “a love letter to Franz.”

The 6ft 10in square canvas was exhibited in 1960 as part of the Contemporary American Painting exhibition at the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts in Ohio and later sold by the Tibor de Nagy Gallery of New York. It was offered in the March 20 Fine Art Evening Sale at Revere Auctions from a private collection in Minnesota. Estimated at $150,000-$200,000, it hammered for $525,000 ($682,500 with buyer’s premium).

‘Dublin’ by Grace Hartigan, which sold for $525,000 ($682,500 with buyer’s premium) at Revere Auctions on March 20.

‘Dublin’ by Grace Hartigan, which sold for $525,000 ($682,500 with buyer’s premium) at Revere Auctions on March 20.

Detail of ‘Dublin’ by Grace Hartigan, which sold for $525,000 ($682,500 with buyer’s premium) at Revere Auctions on March 20.

Detail of ‘Dublin’ by Grace Hartigan, which sold for $525,000 ($682,500 with buyer’s premium) at Revere Auctions on March 20.

Detail of ‘Dublin’ by Grace Hartigan, which sold for $525,000 ($682,500 with buyer’s premium) at Revere Auctions on March 20.

Detail of ‘Dublin’ by Grace Hartigan, which sold for $525,000 ($682,500 with buyer’s premium) at Revere Auctions on March 20.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

Oscar Edmund Berninghaus’ ‘Scout of the Caravan’ leads our five auction highlights

‘Scout of the Caravan’ by Oscar Edmund Berninghaus, which hammered for $42,000 and sold for $53,760 with buyer’s premium at Brunk Auctions.

Oscar Edmund Berninghaus, ‘Scout of the Caravan’, $53,760

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – An estimate of $5,000-$7,000 on an original oil by Oscar Edmund Berninghaus (1874-1952) was left in the dust at Brunk Auctions on March 8. Titled on the verso Scout of the Caravan and additionally inscribed OE Berninghaus, Taos, NM, this 2ft 1in by 2ft 6in canvas hammered for $42,000 and sold for $53,760 with buyer’s premium.

A founding member of the Taos Society of Artists in 1915, Berninghaus lived year-round in New Mexico for 27 years, painting hundreds of pictures of the mountains, forests, and people of the area. Typically, he made small pencil and crayon sketches that he later worked up in the studio.

This relatively late canvas was formerly part of the famed John and Margaret Hill collection of American Western art assembled from circa 1930 through 1990 and later given to the Cheekwood Botanical Garden & Museum of Art in Nashville, Tennessee. It was being offered as ‘Property of a Southern Museum sold to benefit the acquisition fund.’

Vintage Mercedes-Benz 300SL Tool Roll, $10,240

Vintage Mercedes 300 SL tool roll, which hammered for $8,000 and sold for $10,240 with buyer’s premium at Uniques and Antiques.
Vintage Mercedes 300 SL tool roll, which hammered for $8,000 and sold for $10,240 with buyer’s premium at Uniques and Antiques.

ASTON, Penn. – As an original Mercedes-Benz 300SL now costs something north of $1 million, it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that original accessories associated with the Flügeltürer are eagerly sought. Necessary to complete a car for a concours is the tool roll, a series of Mercedes-Benz branded steel tools that allowed owners to perform routine maintenance.

These are often reassembled from elements and reproduction parts, but the example offered at Uniques and Antiques on March 12 was seemingly all-original. Not only did it retain its leatherette roll, it came with the purchase receipt of the car itself from Bryn Mawr Mercedes-Studebaker of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in March 1961. At the time, the three-year-old 1958 300SL Roadster was priced at $6,000 plus sales tax (roughly $62,275 in modern dollars).

Sixty-three years later, the tool roll, estimated at $400-$600, hammered for $8,000 and sold for $10,240 with buyer’s premium.

Early 15th-century Stained and Painted Glass Panel, $38,400

Early 15th-century stained and painted panel depicting The Annunciate Angel, which hammered for $30,000 and sold for $38,400 with buyer’s premium at Willow Auction House.
Early 15th-century stained and painted panel depicting The Annunciate Angel, which hammered for $30,000 and sold for $38,400 with buyer’s premium at Willow Auction House.

LINCOLN PARK, N.J. – The March 14 sale at Willow Auction House included a New York City private collection of leaded and stained glass panels. Featuring glass dating from the medieval period to the early 20th century, very much the front runner was this early 15th-century 2ft by 14in stained and painted panel depicting The Annunciate Angel. As countless similar gothic panels were destroyed during the iconoclasm of the Restoration, survivors outside Catholic Europe’s gothic churches are scarce. Acquired from London specialist dealership Sam Fogg in 2004, it was estimated at just $2,000-$3,000 but hammered for $30,000 and sold for $38,400 with buyer’s premium.

Red Grange Memorabilia Collection, $5,160

Group of vintage football materials, including a silent-movie premiere poster for ‘One Minute to Play’ starring Red Grange, which hammered for $4,300 and sold for $5,160 with buyer’s premium at Lot 14.
Group of vintage football materials, including a silent-movie premiere poster for ‘One Minute to Play’ starring Red Grange, which hammered for $4,300 and sold for $5,160 with buyer’s premium at Lot 14.

NILES, Ill. – Today’s world of professional American football owes an unpayable debt to Red Grange (1903-1991). Born in Forksville, Pennsylvania as Harold Edward Grange, his mother passed away when he was only five, and his father, a lumber man, floated until the family settled in Wheaton, Illinois. Grange would attend Wheaton Community High School, where his innate skill at football came to light. He went on to lead the Fighting Illini at the University of Illinois and became the first-ever All American to win the prestigious award by unanimous vote. Sports historians consider Grange’s signing with the Chicago Bears in 1925 as the singular event to validate the nascent National Football League.

Auction house Lot 14 recently uncovered a trove of vintage football material from a local collection and brought it to market on March 7. It included a 1916 matted presentation of football player photographs from Wheaton Community High School that predated Grange’s time there, and a group photo of the 1916 football team for Carter H. Harrison Technical High School in the South Lawndale area of Chicago.

Bidders focused on the rough-condition 1926 poster for One Minute to Play, the silent action picture that starred Grange and was produced by Joseph P. Kennedy, the patriarch of the American political dynasty. The film premiered at the Rialto Theater in Joliet, Illinois on October 4, 1926; the poster lists the run as October 4 through November 1. The ensemble lot was estimated at only $40-$75, but a war between the floor and a LiveAuctioneers bidder ensued, sending the final hammer to $4,300, or $5,160 with buyer’s premium.

Gustave Vertunni Figure of Jeanne d’Arc on Horseback, $1,024

Gustave Vertunni Jeanne d'Arc figure mounted on a horse, which hammered for $800 and sold for $1,024 with buyer’s premium at Old Toy Soldier Auctions.
Gustave Vertunni Jeanne d'Arc figure mounted on a horse, which hammered for $800 and sold for $1,024 with buyer’s premium at Old Toy Soldier Auctions.

PITTSBURGH – A LiveAuctioneers bidder triumphed in the online battle to become the next owner of a Gustave Vertunni hollow-cast figure of Joan of Arc. It took only one bid to silence the competition, with $800 being the number ($1,024 with buyer’s premium). The figure had been estimated at $350-$600 by Old Toy Soldier Auctions, as part of its OTSA 92 Luck of the Soldier sale on March 15.

Vertunni was Italian, but he moved to Paris after the end of World War II, where he would go on to create a huge variety of French historical figurines. He modeled kings, queens, and other notables with stunning accuracy, making his works highly sought after by contemporary collectors. Vertunni modeled figures from the Middle Ages through the Napoleonic era.

Heritage realizes new world record for Action Comics No. 1 with $6m sale

Action Comics No. 1, which sold for $5 million ($6 million with buyer's premium) at Heritage.

DALLAS — Priced at 10 cents when it appeared in 1938, a copy of Action Comics No. 1, which introduced the world to Superman, has become the world’s most valuable comic book. It sold for a hammer price of $5 million as part of the April 4-7 Comics & Comic Art auction at Heritage Auctions.

The price was $6 million including buyer’s premium. According to (grading service) CGC’s list of the most expensive comic books ever reported sold, a copy of Superman No. 1 was bought privately for $5.3 million in 2022.

The previous auction record was held by the CGC Near Mint+ 9.6 copy of Amazing Fantasy No. 15, featuring the debut of Spider-Man, which sold for a premium-inclusive $3.6 million at Heritage in September 2021.

Graded CGC Very Fine+ 8.5, the Heritage Action Comics No. 1 came from the Kansas City Pedigree — the earliest so-called ‘pedigreed’ collection ever discovered, which turned up in Kansas City in the late 1960s and featured a large group of nearly 250 high-grade No. 1 issues that ran from 1937 to the 1940s.

It was “one of the world’s finest copies,” said the auction house. “Only two other unrestored issues featuring Superman’s first flight — or, at least, his first leap over a tall building — have ever graded higher.”

There are just 78 copies of Action Comics No. 1 in CGC’s population report, with the grading service estimating there are a scant 100 survivors of the comic book that launched superheroes into popular culture. Around 200,000 copies were originally printed by DC Comics’ predecessor National Allied Publications.

Action Comics No. 1 is hailed as “the most important comic ever published,” said Heritage, and the Superman who first appeared in the spring of 1938 remains “remarkably like the version still filling comic-shop shelves every week or awaiting yet another big-screen turn in writer-director James Gunn’s retelling of the tale”.

Action Comics No. 1, which sold for $5 million ($6 million with buyer's premium) at Heritage.

Action Comics No. 1, which sold for $5 million ($6 million with buyer's premium) at Heritage.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

Second tranche of the Flower majolica collection delivered stunning results at Strawser

Copeland Majolica 1876 Memorial Vase, which sold for $15,000 ($18,600 with buyer's premium) at Strawser.

KULPSVILLE, Penn. – A Copeland vase produced to mark 100 years of American Independence was among the highlights of the second tranche of the Flower collection of majolica. This model, first shown at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia and then exclusively distributed by the New York retailers J.M. Shaw & Co., took $15,000 ($18,600 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser Auction Group on March 16.

The 1876 exhibition was an important one in the story of the medium of majolica. Many British ceramics factories exhibited at the event, with majolica proving a big hit with the North American public. This 10in vase has become arguably the most coveted of Copeland’s majolica output. It is modeled as three back-to-back gray eagles guarding the American flag with spears, and includes three cobalt blue shields with the words 1876 Centennial Memorial and also Washington the Father of Our Country. Examples only very occasionally appear at auction, although the (restored) vase in the Joan Stacke Graham collection sold by Doyle New York in April 2023 made $9,500.

This was the second of three auctions dedicated to the remarkable collection of Edward Flower (1929-2022) and his wife Marilyn (1930-2017). The Flowers began collecting majolica in the late 1990s, relatively late in their lives, but the bug bit them hard. Across a trio of sales (the first held last August, and the last taking place later this year) more than 600 pieces will be offered. London specialist dealer Nicolaus Boston has cataloged the collection for Strawser.

Of the 185 lots offered on March 16, two were expected to vie for top honors, with estimates of $25,000-$30,000 each. The first was a George Jones teapot, one of only a few known formed as a Chinese junk filled with cargo, with the cover modeled as a figure in Chinese costume. “In my 30 years of selling majolica this is the first one I’ve ever offered,” said Michael Strawser. It sold just short of expectations at $24,000 ($29,760 with buyer’s premium).

The second was a version of the Minton ‘Hare and Duck’ head game pie dish and cover, affectionately known among collectors as The Bunny Tureen. The model is one of several by the French émigré animalia sculptor Paul Comolera, who worked at the Minton factory from 1873 to 1877. Prices for these have soared above $50,000 in the past, but with several major collections sold in recent years, the market is now relatively soft. It hammered for $20,000 ($24,800 with buyer’s premium).

Another Comelera design for Minton is the 2ft 9in high umbrella stand modeled as a fawn nibbling oak leaves on a tree stump – a model based on sketches Comolera made of the fallow deer herd at the Duke of Sutherland’s residence near Trentham Hall in Staffordshire, England. With some restoration, it hammered at $3,750 ($4,650 with buyer’s premium).

Several pieces in the Flower collection were recently part of the renowned Majolica Mania exhibition that was launched in New York City in the fall of 2021, traveled to the Walters Museum in Baltimore in early 2022, and finished at Stoke-on-Trent in the UK in fall 2022. These include a circa-1875 Minton tete-a-tete in the chinoiserie taste  that is one of just three complete sets known. The individual elements are a teapot formed as a lychee, a gourd-shaped sugar bowl and cover, a thistle cream jug, and two cups and saucers shaped as yellow fruit on leaves. All sit neatly on a quatrefoil tray with a pierced trellis border. In remarkably good condition, with its only imperfection being a small nick to the teapot lid, it took a solid $25,000 ($31,000 with buyer’s premium) — the top price of the sale.

Also shown at Majolica Mania were a circa-1875 pair of rustic vases modeled with peacocks by William Brownfield, and a vase of around the same date formed as a pair of herons by Brown Westhead Moore & Co., possibly designed by Mark V. Marshall of Doulton Lambeth fame. They were estimated at $1,500-$2,000 and $1,500-$2,000 respectively, and sold at $3,500 ($4,340 with buyer’s premium) and $2,500 ($3,100 with buyer’s premium).

Another rarity, best known from the collecting literature, is a Minton ink well and cover, modeled as a bird atop an upright pinecone. It’s one of only three recorded, with another pictured in Victoria Cecil’s influential 1982 catalog Minton Majolica. The hammer price for the example in the March 16 auction was $5,000 ($6,200 with buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $1,500-$2,000.

One of two known, a Wardle & Co. garden seat modeled as an ivy-clad tree trunk draped with a tablecloth sold at $4,500 ($5,580 with buyer’s premium), despite some wear and restoration. The circa-1881 design, with the crisply modeled woodpecker clinging to the side, is among the best pieces from the factory that produced large quantities of majolica in the budget-friendly price range.

It is an indication of collecting fashion that a large Palissy-style ‘art of the earth’ basin, inscribed and dated Avisseau, Tours, 1856 for French ceramicist Charles-Jean Avisseau (1795-1861), had shared the top price of the first sale at $40,000. The March 16 event included a similar teapot by the Avisseau, modeled as a snake climbing an ivy-clad tree trunk. After buying this piece in 2014, Ed Flower commissioned the contemporary ceramics sculptor Jonathan Court and the decorator Nicola Rose to recreate a missing frog cover. Both artists signed their names on the underside. It came to auction with an estimate of $3,000-$4,000 and hammered at $3,750 ($4,650 with buyer’s premium).

Continental European wares, once the slightly poorer relation to pieces by the best Staffordshire, England factories, were a strength of the first sale. Particularly well-received was a menagerie of large naturalistic models by the Massier Brothers, Choisy Le Roi, and Hugo Lonitz factories. All had lived together cheek-by-jowl in the Flowers’ Bay Shore, New York residence. Highlights in Part II included a monumental 18in model of a jay perched on a tree stump by Hugo Lonitz, estimated at $4,000-$6,000. One of only two known examples, it brought $7,000 ($8,680 with buyer’s premium).

Copeland Majolica 1876 Memorial Vase, which sold for $15,000 ($18,600 with buyer's premium) at Strawser.

Copeland Majolica 1876 Memorial Vase, which sold for $15,000 ($18,600 with buyer's premium) at Strawser.

George Jones majolica Chinese Junk teapot, which sold for $24,000 ($29,760 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

George Jones majolica Chinese Junk teapot, which sold for $24,000 ($29,760 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Mintons Majolica Hare and Duck Game-Pie Dish and Cover, which sold for $20,000 ($24,800 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Mintons Majolica Hare and Duck Game-Pie Dish and Cover, which sold for $20,000 ($24,800 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

William Brownfield & Sons Rustic Vases, which sold for $3,500 ($4,340 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

William Brownfield & Sons Rustic Vases, which sold for $3,500 ($4,340 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Charles Avisseau Palissy Ware teapot, which sold for $3,750 ($4,650 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Charles Avisseau Palissy Ware teapot, which sold for $3,750 ($4,650 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Minton Majolica Ink Well, which sold for $5,000 ($6,200 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Minton Majolica Ink Well, which sold for $5,000 ($6,200 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Hugo Lonitz Majolica Model of a Jay Bird, which sold for $7,000 ($8,680 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Hugo Lonitz Majolica Model of a Jay Bird, which sold for $7,000 ($8,680 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

T.C. Brown Westhead Moore & Co. Majolica Flower Vase, which sold for $2,500 ($3,100 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

T.C. Brown Westhead Moore & Co. Majolica Flower Vase, which sold for $2,500 ($3,100 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Wardle & Co. Woodpecker garden seat, which sold for $4,500 ($5,580 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Wardle & Co. Woodpecker garden seat, which sold for $4,500 ($5,580 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Minton Majolica tete-a-tete, which sold for $25,000 ($31,000 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Minton Majolica tete-a-tete, which sold for $25,000 ($31,000 with buyer’s premium) at Strawser.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.