: Members of the Merritt family looked on, smiling, as one toy
after another from the fabled archives of the Mary Merritt Doll
Museum passed to new owners in Noel Barrett's $1.4 million
Spectacular Auction event conducted May 12-13.
The high estimate for the sale, which also included Bert Cohen's
lithographed paper on wood toys, the second installment of the
Joyce and John Davanzo doll collection and a melting pot of
extraordinary attic finds, had been set at $980,000. "But the
wonderful rarities from the museum had been on display for many
years, creating a pent-up demand," said Barrett, "and collectors
were prepared to bid high in what they viewed as a unique
opportunity to acquire their choice of these famous toys."
Phones ran hot throughout the sale, with six lines in use on some
lots. Online bidders were responsible for a full 25 percent of
the purchases, Barrett said, "and the Internet brought many
underbidders to the table."
The first lot to defy its estimate by a sizable margin was an
early, manual-powered Graphaphone with Mignon Phone-a-Graph with
five original wax records and original wood box. Estimated at a
mere $150/250, the musical ensemble hit a high note at $14,300.
The opening session also produced record-setting prices for
jointed wood figures from Schoenhut's coveted Teddy Roosevelt
African Safari series. Most notable was an 8-inch Arab chieftain
with rifle, knife and cartridge case, which attracted 19 bids
before settling at $10,400 against an estimate of $¾,000.
Similarly estimated, an African native with drum achieved $7,700
while a cloth-dressed, mustachioed "Great Guide," complete with
original straw hat and telescope - "the first seen in a long
time," said Barrett - took a direct upward path to $8,250.
Child-size carousel elephant with superb patina, $26,400.
The Friday session concluded with a selection of discovery
box lots that proved popular with bidders, since they were offered
only to those who were actually in attendance.
Saturday's session featured both private consignments and rare
toys and specialty items that had become well known to collectors
from their decades of tenure at the Merritt museum in
Douglassville, Penn. American tin was strong across the board,
with an Ives crawling baby anything but a creeper at $4,950. But
the action really took off, said Barrett, with the introduction
of a skittles (ninepin bowling) set comprising a molded papier
mache camel on cast-iron wheels, the camel's back serving as the
carrier for nine papier mache Arab-figure skittles. Dating to
around 1900 and extraordinarily rare, the set had been estimated
at $10/15,000. Twenty-seven bids were lodged on the lot, firing
from all directions. Eventually a collector participating by
phone prevailed, paying $33,000.
The next superstar lot was a captivating child-size painted
carousel figure of an elephant, which had tantalized bidders from
its place of honor to the auctioneer's left. A floor bidder
claimed the superbly carved pachyderm with glass eyes, painted
leather tail and fine patina for $26,400.
"Man with a Girl on His Mind," an extremely rare
lever-activated, painted-wood toys with pop-up miniature lady
in its hat, $26,400.
Once the Merritt museum's rabbit hutch was opened, bids began
to multiply at a rapid clip. A spectacular 21-inch cloth-dressed
father rabbit nodder holding three bunny nodders had been a
longtime favorite at the museum, and was entered in the sale with a
$4/6,000 estimate. Collectors of rabbits, Easter toys and early
clockwork toys jumped at the opportunity to bid on the iconic
piece, pushing the final price to $30,800. The exotic rabbit lots
were not destined for private collections. The buyers,
Philadelphians Grace and Roy Olson, were bidding on behalf of the
Old Salem Toy Museum in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Surely no one, including veteran appraiser and Antiques
Roadshow expert Barrett, expected 53 bids to be garnered by
an unusual painted and carved wood figure called "Man with a Girl
on His Mind," which was estimated at $600/800. When a small wire
lever is turned on this curious toy, a tiny carved and painted
figure of a lady pops out of the man's hat. The bidding war over
this toy, which was the first and only example Barrett had ever
seen, ended with a phone bidder winning out at $26,400.
One of the only interactive exhibits at Merritt's was an
1896-patent Madam Zita penny arcade fortune-telling machine. It
more than doubled its low estimate at an "unpredictable" $45,100.
An Internet bidder won the competition for a German clockwork
Gunthermann Magician toy, at $6,600; and a fresh-to-the-market
gem by Marklin, an elaborate carousel exhibiting painstaking
detail and lithography, opened at $20,000 and jumped by $5,000
increments before gliding to a halt at $88,000. An example of a
Lionel gondola - the first model issued by Lionel - held steady
with previous prices realized, rolling to a stop at $27,500.
A group of 80 antique and vintage doll lots all sold within or
above estimate.
All prices quoted are inclusive of ten percent buyer's premium;
additional premium online. For information, www.noelbarrett.com
or 215-297-5109.
