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Slug: Collector’s Harvest Sale Reaps $500,000

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ALLENTOWN, PENN. — Randy Inman Auctions’ Collectors Harvest sale, featuring a bumper crop of top-quality antique advertising and the last precious holdouts from the fabled F.H. Griffith toy collection, took in more than $500,000 on November 19–20.

The live crowd at Inman’s gallery was small, but phones and the Internet ran hot and more than made up for the modest turnout. “The gross was way over the total estimate,” Inman said. “The only thing that was a little soft were the beer trays, but they were later examples. Everything else in the sale did very well and certainly surpassed our expectations.”

Bidders got right down to business in the opening quarter-hour of the sale, as phones sparked the activity on three back-to-back root beer advertising lots. A 7- by 9-inch self-framed, celluloid-over-card-board sign, featuring a Twentieth Century beauty daintily sipping a mug of “Dr. Swett’s Original Root Beer” sparkled at $9,350.

Next up was a celluloid-over-cardboard sign, 6 by 8 inches, green background, emblazoned “Say! Drink Hires,” brought $10,450; this was followed by an even more elusive red-background variation of the same image, celluloid-over-cardboard format, which soared to $13,200. Both the Hires signs featured the trademark pointing-boy logo and had been estimated at only $800 to $1,200.

An elaborately carved, electrified Wilhelm Bruder carousel organ, offered with two boxes of music books, also sold well above estimate, to a bidder participating by phone, for $18,700. “It’s going into a collection. The buyer has four or five other organs of this type,” noted Inman

A novelty arcade game, “Black Bart Quick Draw,” which allows the player to draw pistols and square off against a figural sheriff dressed in black, hit the target at $2,970 against a $3/500 estimate, while a Hitler-themed “Kill the Rat” countertop penny arcade game rang up $3,850, more than six times its high estimate. According to Inman, “A few newer copies of this machine have been made, but collectors could tell by the mechanism that this one was an original.”

Another desirable coin-op was the black and gold, wood cased horse race game called “Pace’s Racers.” Introduced in Chicago in 1935, it is a consistent favorite with enthusiasts. Against an $8/10,000 estimate, it galloped away at $13,200.

Publicized widely prior to the auction, a baseball-shaped “Fan-Taz” soda fountain syrup dispenser benefited from a last-minute absentee bid. “A dealer called up on behalf of a client who doesn’t collect dispensers but who liked this particular one. Apparently he likes folk art and Americana, and the baseball advertising on this dispenser definitely qualifies it as Americana.” The 16-inch-tall dispenser in very good overall condition brought $15,400.

Mike Cassidy, a bottle collector bidding via the Internet from his home in Toledo, Ohio, added a Lime Julep soda fountain syrup bottle to his collection for $605. “I have about 40 of these bottles in my collection, and fountain syrup bottles of any type are difficult to find,” he said. A first-time bidder at Inman’s, Cassidy also won a 13-inch Hires syrup mixture tin for $132.

During the second session the first toy to attract big bucks was a mint-condition Ives cast-iron firehouse with horse-drawn pumper from the fabled collection of the late F.H. Griffith. Most of Griffith’s toys were sold at auction in December 2000, but the collector’s family withheld a select grouping of early American-made playthings until their consignment to the Inman sale. Estimated at $5/6,000, the firehouse and pumper blazed to $10,450. A few lots later, another superb Griffith-owned toy, a Hubley four-seat brake, exceeded estimate to ring up at $16,500.

Made by an unidentified American company, a horse-drawn cast-iron sulky was more interesting to bidders than its $100/150 estimate alluded, hammering down at $3,850. “It was in really clean condition and obviously caught the eye of many people in the room,” stated Inman.

A charming cast-iron comic character pull toy, “Happy Hooligan Soapbox Derby” in near-mint condition, cruised well beyond its estimate to $4,675.

The top lot of the sale was a 10-inch battery-operated tin robot, ex-Griffith collection, known as “Mego Man.” Surpassing several absentee bids, two phone bidders fought to the finish, with one of them, an advanced collector, paying $23,100 for the Japanese-made 1950s robot.

A 1920s Buddy L sand and gravel truck, 27 inches long, achieved $4,675; while a 1930s Keystone sit-n-ride water tower truck, 33 inches long with working headlights and water pump, and original box, made $2,860.

Collectors at the preview marveled over the almost impossibly crisp condition of a 10½-inch J. & E. Stevens cast-iron still bank replicating the battleship Maine. “It looked brand-spanking new,” Inman said, “like it was fresh from the factory.” Against a $2,5/3,000 estimate, the Maine sailed away to a new harbor for $7,150.

Other highlights of the Saturday session included a boxed Marx tin windup “New York City Plane Ride,” selling at $1,540; and several steam toys. A Schoenner marine-type steam engine drew $1,320; while a Marklin no. 41-46 steam engine, with original packing crate, was snapped up for $1,650. A Falk no. 456 steam engine achieved $1,430; and an interesting Bing steam-powered hot air water fountain topped out at $1,980.

All prices include a ten percent buyer’s premium. Inman has a full slate of events scheduled for 2005, for information 207-453-6444 or www.InmanAuctions.com.