Date: Fri 07-Aug-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Garth's-Auction

Full Text:

Rare Early American Bottles, Furniture And Firearms At Garth's

(W/5 Cuts)

DELAWARE, OHIO -- Rare, historic bottles and flasks, Early American furniture,

and firearms drew a large and diverse crowd to Garth's Auctions' July 10-11

sale.

Bottles and flasks accumulated by the late Ron Sillman of Michigan prompted

many glass collectors to participate, in person and by phone. The sale also

included pieces from the 25-year collection of Jim and Judy Humburg of

Monticello, Ind., and the 40-year collection of Russ and Arlene Strader of

Union, Ohio.

Firearms from the collection of Richard Collins of Madison, Ohio, also were

sold. Of the glass offered, three pieces stood out as triple crowns: a pint

flask with "The American System" and "Use Me Do Not Abuse Me" stamped on it; a

deep aqua hard cider pint; and an aqua pint marked "Lafayette." Each had

damage, but was nevertheless rare and desirable.

Norman Heckler, a Connecticut auctioneer and collector who bought the

Lafayette, said it is one of only three examples of its type. He has owned

each of the three in the course of his career. Heckler paid $2,640 for the

piece and said he was "reasonably happy to get it."

Three glass collectors, Craig Fry, Ned Pennington, and Tim Cowden, were taking

a breather at Garth's outdoor picnic table during the sale. They said the

two-day sale offered excellent opportunities for glass buyers. The sheer

number of aqua flasks was remarkable, they said, and no doubt appealed to

beginning collectors as well as seasoned ones.

The three estimated that at least 15 serious bottle collectors attended the

sale. The best way to hunt glass is when collections are sold, they added. As

much as 98 percent of Early American glass, emphasis on "early," is sold at

sales like this, they said.

The American system pint had four phone bids and sold for $4,510. The deep

aqua hard cider pint brought $2,255.

Heckler, a schoolteacher for 38 years, worked for an auction house another

couple of decades before starting his own business. He paused while shifting

cartons in the trunk of his car to explain what lured him to the world of

glass, and what keeps him there.

"One reason," he said, "is that glass is an interesting collectible. It's

extremely vulnerable," he said. "However, if it's not broken, it is the

antique item that will eventually last the longest."

"Antique tables and chairs will succumb to time much sooner than glass, which

could last a million years or so," Heckler said. "Another reason is the

historical value," he added.

And then, in quick succession, "it's the color...color is king," he said.

"It's the chase. It's the interesting people that you meet. The camaraderie is

second to none, and as someone who conducts five or ten glass sales a year,"

he said, he rarely has run into "bad apples."

"There is no group of people who share a common interest and are nicer to each

other," he said. "It really is a closely knit fraternity." Heckler, who was

combining the Garth's sale with other business in the area, said for him,

business and pleasure are inextricably linked.

"I am here because I'm having a good time," he said. Although he usually is

the auctioneer, not a member of the bidding audience, he said, "I very much

enjoy bidding on glass...for me, this was a good time."

As for the camaraderie Heckler mentioned, Fry, Pennington, and Cowden were

examples of that. In the middle of a friendly, bantering conversation about

glass, a conversation lifelong friends might have, the three confessed that

they had never met or spoken to each other until they had found themselves at

the same picnic table ten minutes earlier.

Other glass standouts at the sale included a pair of clear blown Pittsburgh

pillar mold candlesticks, which sold for $3,685; several pieces of Zanesville

glass, including a golden amber blown globular bottle with 24 swirled ribs,

which sold for $1,155; a honey amber blown chestnut flask, 15 diamond, which

an absentee bidder claimed for $1,485; a light green pitkin with 16 ribs that

brought $797.50; and a deep pint "Flora Temple" which sold for $605,

apparently because, unlike Flora Temple pieces, it had no handle.

A green blown bottle with an applied handle, was sold at Garth's in April

1981. This time around, it brought $550. In all, the sale offered more than

200 flasks and bottles. Heckler said "two or three new faces" in the crowd

seemed to keep prices of more common bottles strong.

"Pretty rare stuff" is how Fry described the sale. Firearms sold at the start

of Saturday's session also drew their share of aficionados. A 39-inch long

boy's percussion half stock rifle with a curly maple stock had a lock marked

"Moore" and sold for $1,980.

A Brown Bess flint musket and bayonet with the marked lock "Tower" and G.R.

with a crown, had brass hardware and a butt plate engraved "68." It brought

$1,210. An 1861 Parkers Snow & Company percussion musket sold for $1,265, and

a Colt 1860 Army revolver with all serial numbers remaining and matching sold

for $715.

The Civil War journal of William P Woodlin, a "Musician of the 8th Regiment

USCT, 2nd Brigade, Army of the James," begins November 1863 and ends October

31, 1864. "The morning was ushered in by the Monitor's shelling the woods,

things very uncertain about our future destiny," read one of the entries. The

journal sold for $2,200.

A camera disguised as a machine gun also drew interest. The Japanese World War

II machine gun camera was marked "Tokyo Kogaku, F 285.4 mm I:II" and sold for

$440. "Wish I had had one of those in college," Garth's owner Tom Porter

remarked.

Numerous Oriental rugs from the estate of Frank Long, the bulk of which was

sold June 19 and 20, including a room-sized Heriz that brought $5,500; a 4'2"

by 6'9" Sarouk which brought $1,595; and a rare Heriz runner, 2'10" by 9'8",

which sold for $1,430.

Among standout furniture items sold were a Sheraton grandfather's clock that

sold for $3,300; a Canadian two-piece wall cupboard in walnut and curly maple

secondary wood that sold for $4,400; and a Southern Hepplewhite two-piece

corner cupboard, in cherry with old finish. Found in Tennessee, the cupboard

that sold for $5,225.

An Ohio two-piece step back wall cupboard, in butternut with old dark brown

finish, was found in Cairo, Ohio, and sold for $1,980. A small wardrobe in

walnut with old finish sold for $1,650. "Cheaper than building a closet,"

auctioneer Tom King remarked.

Seven bamboo Windsor side chairs were sold, all with sage green repaint. A set

of three brought $1,705; while a Chippendale wing back armchair, reupholstered

in black leather, sold for $660.

Among several paintings was an oil on canvas of a young man holding a Kentucky

rifle. In its original frame, rebacked and restored, the painting sold for

$3,520.

Several samplers were offered, including one noting, "Hannah Susannah

Robenson, her work, born September the 11, 1826," and listing five births in

the Gustin family. It sold for $4,400.

An Ohio sampler with "Caroline Galbraith's wrought in Steubenville, Nov. 22nd

1814 in the ninth year of her age," sold for $1,595. A yellowware seated dog

sold for $1,870; two yellowware pepper pots, one in white, brown and black and

one with blue and white stripes, sold for $1,072.50; and a cast-iron "Overland

Circus" wagon by Kenton, in unused condition in its original box, had two

horses with outriders, and a wagon with a polar bear, and a driver. It sold

for $605.

A chalk bull bank, described in the catalog as "unusual!" perplexed apprentice

auctioneer Jeff Jeffers. "Is it a sheep?" he asked when the bank was brought

forth. "A bull!" corrected the audience.

The animal, which was a bull, though it did bear a resemblance to a sheep,

sold for $605. A large treenware jar with old worn varnish finish sold for

$962.50, and a set of six handcolored Bowen lithographs of Indian portraits

sold for $550.

"These are neat; these are really neat," Porter remarked of the lithographs,

which were published by F.W. Greenough, Philadelphia. "You don't often find

these." A Pennsylvania sgraffito charger in three colors, probably by Medinger

or an early copier of Pennsylvania redware, sold for $550. The charger, Porter

said, is "a rare plate in this or any other sale."