Date: Fri 30-Apr-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: SHIRLE

Quick Words:

BERTOIA

Full Text:

Bertoia's Seismic Record Breaking Toy Auction

with 12 cuts and sidebar with 6 cuts

By Dick Friz

PHILADELPHIA, PA. -- Nothing succeeds like excess: Bill Bertoia auctions was

at it again, finessing another "gully-washer" auction of toys at the

Philadelphia Airport Westin Suites on April 9 and 10. Serious money flowed

freely as the top ten entries alone totaled over $207,450, or over $20,000

apiece.

Blending seamlessly were more than 1,350 lots, including mechanical and still

banks, biscuit tins, cap pistols and cap bombs; doorstops and door knockers;

and toys and more toys -- in pressed steel, cast iron, and tin plate. Bidders

were pulled into a vortex that decimated estimates and produced scores of

individual highs as well as a world record total for a toy auction at $2.1

million.

(The previous toy auction high, also Bertoia's, was the $1.7 million doled out

for the Don and Beverly Greene "Treasured Memories" sale in March 1995.)

The auction's major consignment was a grouping of transportation toys from Bob

Lyons of Ypsilanti, Mich. Bertoia also appeared to use intuitively right

casting, drawing from such eminent specialists as John and Adrianne Haley of

Yorkshire, England, Lehmann toy experts; "Indian" Al Liebowitz, Lake Wales,

Fla., with tin plate motorcycles; Diane and Ivan Lenk, West Hempstead, N.Y.,

and Part II of their doorstop collection (the Lenk's first volley appeared in

Bertoia's June `98 sale); and the biscuit tins of Stewart and Linda Cropper,

Southeast England.

Friday evening's opening session led off with still banks and quickly

established a pattern of steely-eyed, deep-pocketed quests for the best.

Bidding battles were pitched over a pair of English Harper examples: "Little

Red Riding Hood" (bidders, what big eyes you have!) fetched $3,520 and

"Recruit" (a.k.a. "Cutie") sold for $2,420. The classic "Gen. Butler Frog

Bank" added $3,410, and the J.& E. Stevens "Trust" Bank took in $5,830.

A pair of nautical banks came under heavy bidding fire. A scarce Kenton

"Gunboat" sold at $2,420, despite missing mast and base plate; and the topper

in this genre, an almost perfect J & E. Stevens "Battleship Maine," was

memorable indeed for its $10,450 closing bid, an amount double the high

estimate.

Comic novelty toys had a short but sweet drive-by. A classic red version of

the 1918 "Moxie Horse Riding Automobile" advanced to $1,650; a Distler "Uncle

Wiggly Crazy Car" and the ever-popular "Charley McCarthy & Mortimer Snerd

Private Car," by Louis Marx, each excelled at $3,850.

Also on Friday night, the wall-to-wall gallery crowd's eyes seemed to glaze

over following an intense round of bidding for brawny pressed steel toys. The

major splurge went for a well-preserved, 24-inch-long Buddy L "Red Baby"

enclosed cab truck, with McCormick Deering decals, which surged to a record

$22,000.

A pair of Buddy `L' "Coal Trucks," one an immaculate dual rear wheeled entry,

the other a "Toledo Bull Dog Mack" model, delivered at $11,550 and $8,500

respectively. Also mind-boggling was the record $6,050 exacted for a Buddy `L'

"Junior Milk Delivery Truck" with four original milk cans.

A pair of 1920s American National Packard pedal cars, 28 inches long, extolled

the virtues of original paint and unrestored condition: a red and orange coupe

gunned it to $19,360, while a red and black open convertible, displaying more

wear, still was up to speed at $12,100. The highly coveted, 1930s Steelcraft

"Lockheed Sirius" monoplane invariably gets a big play, but this white beauty

soared to $2,750, or three times its high estimate.

Bill Bertoia has staged a number of memorable mechanical bank extravaganzas,

most emphatically the 1991 Bill Norman (totalling $2 million plus) and the

1998 Stanley Sachs (grossing just over $4 million) estate auctions. This time,

mechanical banks played only a cameo role, but even so, bidding paddles were

active. "Eagle & Eaglets," hardly a rare species of bank, still flew at

$3,300, over double the high estimate. A Shepherd hardware "Jonah and Whale,"

rated pristine, made a splash at $10,650. Also by Shephard, "Picture Gallery

Bank," revered as one of the more ingenuous mechanicals, reeled off $9,900.

Train sets proved irresistible in many mediums, with "pristine" or "excellent

condition" being the operative words. The grand sum of $4,400 was bid for a

Buddy `l' steam locomotive and tender in pressed steel. A much earlier 1890s

Pratt & Letchworth floor model train set in cast iron, including engine,

tender and pair of open platform passenger cars, also took off, achieving

$12,100.

One of the nicest lithographed paper on wood sets to surface in many years, an

1880s Rufus Bliss wooden floor model five-piece set, with puzzle blocks as

cargo, topped off at $4,950.

Once in a blue moon, a "killer" Ives piece from the 1870s surfaces to

titillate the vintage tin plate devotees. In this case, it was an exquisite

17-inch mechanical "Horse & Buggy with Boy Driver" in painted tin plate,

pictured in Bernard Berenholtz American Antique Toys. The big surprise here

was that it went to Pennsylvania collector Bill Weart, one of the hobby's

major collectors of cast iron toys, for $24,200, after stirring up quite a

bidding frenzy.

Only a few lots later, Bertoia's top offering skimmed by -- a 27-inch German

"Eight Man Scull with Coxswain," circa 1920s. This painted tin windup on disk

wheels left a host of disappointed underbidders in its wake, going to the

phones for an astounding $28,600.

John and Adrienne Haley's visually stunning array of some 100 Lehmann hand

painted tin plate clockwork toys proved to be a textbook lesson in condition,

with almost half of the toys enhanced by vibrantly illustrated original boxes.

Not surprising, the finest Lehmann "Boxer" specimen most observers had ever

layed eyes on vaulted to $27,500, most assuredly a record of its own.

Produced in the early 1900s during the Boxer rebellion, this was one of many

clever toys designed by Ernst Paul Lehmann to commemorate an historical event.

Also known as "The Heathen Chinee," the windup depicts four coolies

representing the nations then occupying China -- Great Britain, France,

Germany and Russia -- who toss a Boxer (or member of that terrorist secret

society) rudely in the air from a blanket.

Other high wattage Lehmann's showcased were the "Primus Roller Skater," which

rang in at $17,600; "Snik-snak (Man Walking Dogs)" with box, which fetched

$12,100; and "Lo and Hi (The Merry Musicians)," in fine tune at $17,600.

Three winners in a row were "Am Pol," honoring explorer Robert Peary and

companion Matthew Hensley's discovery of the North Pole in 1909, with box,

which sold for $4,620; "Kady (Two Chinese figures with tea chest)," with box,

which garnered $5,290; and a boxed "Mandarin (Coolies with Sedan Chair),"

which brought $6,050.

Perhaps its the wanderlust in all of us that evokes such intense crowd appeal

for toy buses and taxis. There was certainly a clamor for the likes of an

Arcade "Fageol" bus with "Wisconsin Motor Bus Lines" stenciling on top, which

sold for $3,520. A large scale 13« inch double decker red Arcade Yellow Coach

"Fifth Avenue Bus" pulled up at $1,870, the same price bid for a similar

version in green, flawed by minor cracks at the windows. The classic "Pickwick

Nite Coach" by Kenton, the nation's first coast-to-coast bus, went to distance

to $4,950.

An all-star cast of cast iron air-sea and ground transportation gems included

a "New York to Philadelphia" Dent Delivery Truck that graced Lil Gottschalk's

American Toy Cars & Trucks book cover and was subsequently sold to Bob Lyons

at Noel Barrett's Gottschalk estate auction. This time around it brought

$6,600, just about what it had commanded in 1990. Many in the crowd applauded

when the winning bidder proved to be the redoubtable "Honest Lil" herself.

Another "keeper," a White Dump Truck in a rare teal blue color variant, sold

at $8,800. The crowd let out a collective gasp of disbelief as 9¬-inch Hubley

Bell Telephone Truck, with original box, tripled high estimate at $9,350 --

safe to say, another record. Also by Hubley, a 1932 "Old Dutch Girl Cleanser"

cast-iron pull toy scoured up $14,300. A 14-inch-long Hubley Penn-Yan outboard

speed boat with five passengers (all recast) sped to $6,600.

Two of the most coveted cast-iron motorcycles in the hobby, a Hubley "Say It

With Flowers" Delivery Cycle (the large seven-inch-long version) varoomed to

$11,000, while Bob Lyon's favorite toy, the one he would have loved to keep, a

Hubley 8¬ inch #45 Harley Davidson "Hill Climber" in pale blue, was off in a

cloud of dust at $12,100. From an air armada rivaling NATO's, a Hubley "Lindy

Glider" and a Dent Air Express tri-motor blazed a vapor trail at $8,250 each.

All prices quoted reflect a ten percent buyers premium.