Date: Fri 21-Aug-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Collectors

Full Text:

Collector's Auction At Eldred's

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EAST DENNIS, MASS. -- The Robert C. Eldred Company, Inc, held three days of

sales beginning with a 761-lot Collector's Auction featuring figurines, dolls,

fans, buttons, marbles, toys, games and trains on July 15.

It was followed by a 477-lot Book and Ephemera Auction on July 16 featuring

books, movie-related items, advertising, daguerreotypes and documents and a

624-lot Postcards Auction on July 17.

In the Collector's Auction, the 204-lot doll category was the strongest area

of the sale. The highest price was $4,400 for a rare J.D. Kestner pouty-faced

bisque doll. Consigned by a Maryland family, the doll's original owners, she

came complete with photographs of her taken with a little girl who first owned

her back in the 1880s.

A rare circa 1910 Kammer & Reinhart character child bisque doll named "Peter"

sold for $4,180; a circa 1880 French bisque fashion lady doll brought $2,750;

a French doll's head with blue glass paperweight eyes and shoulder plate sold

for $2,090; and a rare Simon & Halbig #1199 Oriental doll brought $1,375.

Unmarked dolls described only as German bisque dolls rose far above their

$200/300 estimates with the hammer settling at $1,870 each on two and $1,485

on a third.

Among the section's 211 toy lots were a Buddy "L" pressed steel truck, which

sold for $1,760; an Ives cast-iron fire pumper marked "Phoenix" drawn by two

horses, which sold for $1,210; a two-horse Carpenter cast-iron fire pumper,

which brought $1,155, and a Steelcraft "Silver Line" pressed steel pedal

airplane, which landed at $1,100.

The top figurine was Hummel's #348 "Ring Around the Rosie," which sold for

$1,650. Thirty lots of buttons generally sold between $15 and $150, with the

exception of one large lot of plastic character buttons that popped out of the

pack to land at $1,485.

The most appreciated fans were a Japanese black and gold lacquer Export fan at

$1,430 and a finely carved Chinese Export ivory brise fan at $1,210.

The Book and Ephemera Auction's star was a cased Nineteenth Century

daguerreotype of a woman standing beside a white steed. The rare outdoor scene

drove the bid to a final price of $26,400. Other notable photograph lots

included an albumen taken in White Sulphur Springs, August, 1869, of General

R.E. Lee and eight Confederate generals. It sold for $5,940. A rare cabinet

portrait of Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederate States of America

brought $2,530, and a collection of memorabilia pertaining to Edwin Booth

realized $2,420.

Two cartoons capturing top honors were an original daily strip of "Peanuts,"

signed by Charles Schulz, $1,430, and an original daily strip of "Dick Tracy,"

signed by Chester Gould, $990. Advertising pieces included a framed

advertising print for "Boston Steel Loop-de-Loop Railway," which went for

$990, and a Paul Jones tin advertising sign titled "The Temptation of St

Anthony," which tempted a bidder to $550.

Concluding the week, the Postcard Auction attracted a small but avid crowd of

bidders. View cards of New England and specifically Massachusetts and Cape Cod

and its islands brought the best results. The top lot at $330 was 141 view

cards of Athol and Orange, Mass. Topical card lots standing out from the crowd

were a 93-item lot of railroad depots in New England, which sold for $209, and

a 720-card miscellaneous lot of children, which rang up $143.

For information, 508/385-3116.