Collecting News Briefs

Thursday, June 30, 2011

New bottle collector website + FOHBC 2011 National Show in Memphis June 25 and 26

10 Reasons Why You Should Plan on Attending the FOHBC 2011 National Show & Sale in Memphis:

"This is a reminder that the FOHBC 2011 National Show & Sale in Memphis on 25 & 26 June is really coming together nicely.

Read more to see ten (10) great reasons to attend [next years show].

The Show is in the great city of Memphis, at the magnificent Cook County Convention Center.

Highlights:
Quilted Poison (BIM)

Nailsea glass gemel bottle with open pontil

Lot 44 sold for $300 and Lot 60 'Nailsea glass gemel bottle' sold for $75

Eastman Kodak Flash Cartridges - Catalog Lot 108 - Past Tyme Pleasures

Eastman Kodak Flash Cartridges:

"Eastman Kodak Flash Cartridges No. 2. Half dozen empty tin measures"

Related articles

If you want to start collecting, check your attic | stargazette.com

If you want to start collecting, check your attic | Star-Gazette | stargazette.com:

Image via Wikipedia

Want to become a collector of Civil War photos or documents, or other historical items?

"'A lot of people have things in their attics and trunks,' said Dick Buchanan. 'They just don't understand the value.'"

If you uncover something you think might be of value, or if you don't find anything in the attic and you want to seek items outside the home, Buchanan suggests finding a reputable dealer.

Shakers' colorful craftsmanship exhibit | The Asheville citizen-times.com

Frist exhibition reveals Shakers' love of color, craftsmanship | The Asheville Citizen-Times | citizen-times.com:

<cutline><HA,4,203>A 19th-century wooden pail, on view in Gather Up the Fragments, an exhibition of Shaker objects on view at Frist Center for the Visual Arts through Aug. 21.<HA,4,0><cutline_credit> <HA,4,200>submitted</cutline_credit></cutline>

"The more than 200 items — furniture, clothing, etc. — in the exhibition illustrate three aspects of Shaker design: clean, crisp lines; an integrated design philosophy; and, yes, the occasional hit of color, some of it quite vibrant.

Gather Up the Fragments originated at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Mass; the objects are drawn from a collection started by Faith and Edward Andrews in the 1920s. Though the Andrews were not the first outsiders to appreciate the simple beauty of Shaker furniture and other work, they were among the first to begin collecting and cataloging the objects."

Related articles

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Civil War collectibles - past life as Union soldier inspired him to become a collector | stargazette.com

Horseheads optician says past life as Union soldier inspired him to become a collector | Star-Gazette | stargazette.com:

"Buchanan, who lives in Columbia Cross Roads, started collecting Civil War items in the early 1970s.

The first piece he acquired was a Union soldier's belt plate, for which he paid a collector $11.

The collection grew over the years: photographs, guns, swords, cartridge boxes, uniforms, along with letters and documents. Three of his photos were used in the Ken Burns documentary, 'The Civil War.'

A favorite item is a document written by Charles H. Crane, the U.S. surgeon general at the time, to all the prison camps in the North.

Labeled 'Instructions Concerning Prisoners of War Sick in Hospital,' it spelled out the rations they were to receive."

Related articles

Magpies, Squirrels and Thieves by Jacqueline Yallop – review | Books | The Guardian

Magpies, Squirrels and Thieves by Jacqueline Yallop – review | Books | The Guardian:

Stuffed squirrels from Potter's Museum of Stuffed Animals

"Human collections of objects can be instruments of research about the world or objects of aesthetic delight. Linnaeus, Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace made systematic collections of creatures and things. Linnaeus in the 18th century travelled widely and sent students all over the world. At his death in 1778 Joseph Banks tried to buy his collection, which was finally sold to James Edward Smith in 1783 and is now housed in the Linnaean Society in Burlington House in London. There were 14,000 plants, 3,198 insects and 1,564 shells."

Freud too, as Jacqueline Yallop reminds us in her interesting book, was both a collector and interested in collecting. He collected antiquities and described intense collecting as a form of fetishism.

In our own time The Antiques Roadshow andFlog It! have fed our interest in artefacts and added a new word, "collectible", to our vocabulary. The surrealists collected random objects (a collection of which is now on display in Houston in the Menil Collection).

Read more

Old tractors keep on rolling - EsthervilleDailyNews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, North Central Iowa, Emmet County — Estherville Daily News

Old tractors keep on rolling - EsthervilleDailyNews.com | News, Sports, Jobs, North Central Iowa, Emmet County — Estherville Daily News:

1938 Minneapolis Moline tractor, owned by a Sa...

Image via Wikipedia

"12th annual KICD Antique Tractor Ride... based out of Estherville, with the first leg going northwest of town to Petersburg then west to Spirit Lake and back to Estherville. Saturday's jaunt goes northerly to Ceylon then around area lakes and back to Estherville."

The Blasses have gone on a number of tractor rides and shows, including the one at Prairie Village in Madison, S.D. and at the Amana Colonies where they go every Father's Day.

Randy is national secretary of the Minneapolis-Moline Collector's Club, a 900-member organization.

He said the Minneapolis, Moline Tractor and Twin City Tractor companies combined in 1929. The Minneapolis-Moline was made in Minneapolis until 1971 when the company was bought out. The parts from Moline and Oliver tractors then went into making White tractors which later became part of Agco.

Related articles

Advertising collectibles + Ice Cream: Online auction catalog Lot 403 - Past Tyme Pleasures

Past Tyme Pleasures - Catalog Lot 403 - Past Tyme Pleasures:

"National Ice Cream Scrap Embossed light cardboard, stamped Germany."

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Memorabilia Auction: Larry Hagman Raises $500,000 - Starpulse.com

Larry Hagman Raises $500,000 At Memorabilia Auction - Starpulse.com:

"~~Dallas~~ [I Dream of Jeannie] legend Larry Hagman raised more than $500,000 after auctioning off a portion of his memorabilia collection on Saturday. The TV villain, famed for his portrayal of sleazy oil tycoon J.R. Ewing, sold off a number of personal valuables collected over the years at Julien's Auctions in California.

Hagman, who opened the sale in style by riding through the streets of Beverly Hills on horseback, was on hand to describe the items going under the hammer for bidders, according to the Associated Press. The best-selling lot was a silver saddle, which fetched a staggering $80,000, while a portrait of his late Dallas co-star Jim Davis went for more than $38,000.

A replica bottle from I Dream Of Jeannie, the show that gave Hagman his big break, sold for more than $10,000 and a pair of pistols brought in more than $4,000."

Image via Wikipedia

Phil Quota - collection of Randy Jones | theimaginaryworld.com

Phil Quota

Philadelphia Storage Battery Company (Philco)

Related articles

Monday, June 13, 2011

Our Peoples Collections’ Village museum to be opened in Cornwall + Meet Wayne Elderbroom - Seaway News

Meet Wayne Elderbroom - People - Living - Seaway News:

portable Kenmore wringer washer made in February 1958

"“Our Peoples Collections’ Village”, a museum to be built by Rudy Tabak and Marie Morrell. Wayne left the washer for the Museum the same day he was interviewed. Elderbroom has not been able to get much information, on Internet, except that it is a portable washing machine that could also be used as a salesman’s sample.

Wayne’s true passion revolves around collecting die-cast cars and motorcycles. One item he is really keen about is a pewter (lead) motor cycle given to him by Rudy Tabak. Another prize possession is his riding 1930 Simplicity garden tractor. Wayne loves garage sales and picks up unusual items of historical meaning. If money was no object, he would love to own an old 1958 truck that he would rebuild."

Related articles

'Unabomber' auction pulls in $232,246 + more murderabilia | CNN.com Blogs

'Unabomber' auction pulls in $232,246 – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs:

"Bidders used technology, a thorn of 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski, to buy up his items in a two-week online bidding spree that yielded $232,246, the U.S. Marshals said in a press release Friday."

Between 1978 and 1995, the former Harvard professor killed three people and wounded 23 others in bombings. Arrested in 1996, Kaczynski is serving a life sentence in the federal “Supermax” prison located in Florence, Colorado.

The big-ticket items in the U.S. Marshals Service auction were Kaczynski's personal journals, which pulled $40,676. Twenty-one bidders put dibs on the 20 journals, which described in Kaczynski's words his anti-government world view and affection for the wilderness.

Also gone to the highest bidder were his hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses, which went for $20,025, a typewriter ($22,003) used to write his anti-corporate manifesto, and the handwritten copy of the paper, which sold for $$20,053, according to the release.

The auction, which the General Services Administration conducted, was held to compensate some of his victims.

N.C. Wyeth PA Railroad poster auction Lot 402 - Past Tyme Pleasures

Past Tyme Pleasures - Catalog Lot 402 - Past Tyme Pleasures:

"1935 Pennsylvania Railroad poster “In Old Kentucky”. By noted artist N. C. Wyeth."
Sold for $1,250 - see prices realized

Related articles

New Todd Schorr lithograph: "Amphibian Frontier" (boingboing.net)
Barbara Ernst Prey: College Museums Provide Unexpected Surprises... Off the Beaten Path (huffingtonpost.com)
Art of the Master. Howard Pyle (midaevalmaiden.wordpress.com)
Legendary Art of N.C. Wyeth (Amazon)
University of Delaware Library: Reading in America, 1800 - 2000 (lib.udel.edu)

Friday, June 10, 2011

Advertising Character collectibles: Munchy the Spoonman (Nabisco) | collection of imaginary world

Munchy the Spoonman from Nabisco (National Biscuit Company)

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Excellent condition & other grading systems for art

Buying posters at auction - grading systems for art

Art condition for eBay & live auctions

The most important thing about bidding at an auction is to understand the condition of the object for sale. Live auctions have a viewing period before the sale to exhibit all the items to the participants. Large auction houses often print a catalog with pictures and a written description of the objects in the auction sale.

Because seeing images of the items online is no substitute for the real thing, understanding the grading system used to describe the condition of the auction item is important when you make bids online.

Ten point system

Poster grading with pin point detail

10-point poster grading was developed in recent years as a precise way to evaluate and grade posters of any kind. Basically, the best Condition C10 and C9 (Mint and Near Mint) are classified by what may not appear on the poster, with reference to the many defects to paper and image quality, but there are a few surprises.