: It didn't take long on Friday, September 9, for the parking lot
at Pook & Pook to fill to capacity and spill over into the
lot of the adjoining church property. People seemed to be coming
from everywhere to bid on the contents of Merritt's Museum of
Childhood, 1,301 lots featured in a two-day sale. Car plates
indicated buyers from Ohio, Delaware, North Carolina, Maryland,
Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania had made the
trip to buy in person, while many others had registered as
absentee bidders and eBay participants.
"We issued over 1,500 bidding numbers for the sale, including
some overseas interest," said Ronald Pook, vice president and
auctioneer.
The content of this museum, ranging in size from tiny sewing
objects to oversized cigar store figures, represented the
lifelong interest of the late Robert and Mary Merritt who, in
1963, moved their collec-tions from an overflowing 16-room house
to a building that they opened for the public to enjoy. The doll
collection from the museum will be sold over a six-day period in
the fall of 2006 and March 2007, by Noel Barrett Auctions.
The sale started with one of the many groupings of things, the
first a selection of 22 painted tin animal toys from the early
Twentieth Century, $345. All prices in this review include the 15
percent buyer's premium charged by the gallery.
Ron Pook, left, with Bob Merritt, president of Merritt Antiques
and one of the principals of the sale, with a few of the
figures from the museum collection.
A German painted tin mechanical bird, circa 1900, 9 inches
high, went well over the $500 high estimate, selling for $1,725,
and a Muhler & Kadater painted tin go-round toy, with zeppelins
and airplanes, 22 inches high, sold for $$5,290, again well over
the high estimate of $1,500. An Arcade Deluxe Andy Gump car, all
original, 71/2 inches long, went for $2,185 ($6/800), and a Kyser
and Rex cast iron Santa sleigh, 13 inches long, sold to a
Pennsylvania dealer for $3,910.
Among the mechanical bank collection was a "Dog on Turn-table,"
cast iron, circa 1900, by H.L. Judd Mfg Co., 5 inches high and
with the original painted surface. The high estimate was $1,000,
but interest took this piece to $7,475. Steve Weiss of Gemini
Antiques, New York City, said that he had a couple of banks on
the same type, but with a japanned finish. "This is the best one
I have seen, a rare painted example, and it was still a good
value at that price."
Four cast iron still banks, late Nineteenth to early Twentieth
Century, including a military figure, Hubley Boy Scout and
Mulligan Police-man, went four times over the high estimate
selling for $2,070. Alice in Wonderland, a set of ten characters,
litho-graph on wood, sold for $2,300, and an early 2-2-0 Marklin
engine, tender and box car with spring loop couplers brought
$1,920.
One of the best examples of original paint was a carved tricycle
dating from the late Nineteenth Century, yellow and red with
black and yellow pinstriping, for $3,680, double the high
estimate. A painted pine and cast iron "Reindeer" sled, late
Nineteenth Century, 55 inches long with the original paint and
decoration, went for $1,495.
There was lots of interest in the old clothing and fabrics
offered, and a selection of ladies vintage clothing including
satin shoes, wool, velvet and cotton jackets, skirts and hats,
sold for $8,050, well above the $700 high estimate. Four wax
mannequin lady's heads by Charles W. Cook, Philadelphia, all in
vintage bonnets, went for $4,140 ($200/400), and another grouping
of vintage clothing in silk, linen, velvet and cotton, skirts,
blouses, and jackets, brought $2,530 ($200/400).
A Victorian cast iron and brass sewing bird with pin-cushion
finial and ornate body, together with an assortment including
measuring tapes, thimbles and quilt pat-terns, went for $4,850
($350/500), and a French musical box, 25 inches high and coin
operated with three birds, late Nineteenth Century, sold for
$4,600 to a phone bidder.
"Has to be a record for a hitching post," Ron Pook commented
after the sale, referring to a cast iron figure of a Chinaman,
late Nineteenth Century, 48 inches tall and highly repainted.
The high estimate was $1,200; the final bid was $46,000.
Leeds cup plates and coffee pots, Staffordshire children's
mugs and plates, creamware, pearlware and Pratt ware were all
offered, with most of the lots going over high estimate. Two large
creamware jugs, one inscribed "Success to the Swimbridge Lime
Kilns, 1819," with ovoid body and floral and grapevine decoration,
7 inches high, sold for $2,300 against a high estimate of $500.
Four mocha shakers, one with brown and tan banding and seaweed
decoration, brought $2,070, while two Leeds cup plates with blue
feathered rim and eagle decoration, one impressed "Wood," 4 inches
and 31/2 inches in diameter, sold for $2,300.
An educated guess would put the number of Currier & Ives and
N. Currier chromolithographs at about one hundred, many grouped
in lots of six or seven. For the most part they fell within
estimate, selling generally for less than $500.
Among the collection of German glass, circa 1830-1850, was a
collection of seven blown clear steins with enamel decoration and
pewter lids, 7 to 91/2 inches high, that brought $2,530. A pair
of massive ruby cut to clear goblets in an armorial pattern, 12
inches high, went well over the high estimate of $400, selling
for $4,830.
A George Washington autograph, signed also by Jonathan Trumbull
Jr, with a portrait of Washington, framed and consisting of army
discharge papers for Henry Samson, 13 by 8 inches, sold for
$10,200 ($5/8,000). A Pennsylvania paper cutout valentine, mid
Nineteenth Century, with rows of hearts and vines, 121/4 by 121/4
inches, brought $2,530, and a watercolor and ink on paper fraktur
dated 1820 for Maria Kepler with a banner over lovebirds flanking
a crown, retaining an elaborate half column painted and blocked
corner frame, 121/2 by 73/4 inches, went for $9,200 ($½,000).
On Saturday, the second day of the sale, cigar store figures,
shop signs, a selection of hitching posts and some garden items
crossed the block. Bob Merritt, president of Merritt's Antiques
and one of the principals of the auction, mentioned, "My father
bought these things and if the paint was not good on them, he
would have them sand-blasted and the surface repainted."
Two works by Noah Weiss (1842-1907), Northampton, Lehigh
County, Penn., were in the sale. This one, the largest, depicts
Civil War General Philip Sheridan's cavalry charge near
Winchester. An oil on canvas and carved wood mural, 76 ½ by 116
inches, sold just over the low estimate of $10,000 at $10,925.
This was the case with most of the pieces offered, from a
cast iron relief of a 25-inch- high buffalo head dating from the
late Nineteenth Century, that went to a phone bidder for $6,900
($800-$1,200), to lot 697, a cast iron and painted tavern hitching
post from the late Nineteenth Century, with a beer mug finial above
a column surrounded by liquor bottles, above a keg and a base
inscribed "Wm Adams & Co. 960 N. 9th St., Phil.") With a high
estimate of $5,000, it sold for $9,200. One wonders what these
things might have brought were they in good original paint.
A cast zinc cigar store figure dating from the late Nineteenth
Century, attributed to William Demuth & Co., New York City,
81 inches tall, a young squaw with cigar in one hand and the
other raised and holding a bundle of tobacco leaves, mounted on a
later wood base, brought $27,600 ($7/9,000).
The museum was filled with many collections, including wrought
iron rush lamps that were sold in lots of two to four and
generally in the $700 range, and cookie cutters that again were
sold in lots, up to as many as 12, bringing in under $500.
Snuff boxes in all shapes and forms were sold, followed by a
large collection of match safes, sold in lots. One grouping of 23
brass and mixed metal animal-form match safes, including monkeys
and elephants, sold for $5,290, well over the high estimate of
$400.
Among the furniture lots were a Pennsylvania late Federal tiger
maple canopy bed, circa 1820, scalloped head-board and turned
posts, at $1,610; a Pennsylvania tall case clock in mahogany,
circa 1835, white painted face and eight-day works, $3,680; and a
Pennsylvania one-piece architectural corner cupboard in pine,
circa 1810, molded cornice over two arched, raised panel doors,
113 inches high, for $5,290.
The Saturday session began with the sale of six composition
circus musicians, circa 1930, 53 inches high and display
figures from Wanamaker's Department Store. The six were sold in
pairs, ranging in price from $748 to $1,150. The presale
estimate was $800 to $1,200 per pair.
Chalkware included a 71/2- inch-high rooster with vibrant
yellow, black and red poly-chrome decoration, mid Nineteenth
Century, for $4,140 ($500/900) to a phone bidder; a figure of Santa
Claus, base signed "Virgil Baldi" and measuring 23 inches tall,
late Nineteenth Century, $6,900 ($800-$1,200) to another phone
bidder; and a figure of a cat, Nineteenth Century, 151/2 inches
high, polychrome deco-ration, sold for $7,475, close to twice the
high estimate.
A massive Great Lakes Indian oval burl bowl with cut-out handles,
91/2 inches high 22 inches in diameter, Nineteenth Century, sold
for $6,325, and the same money went for a wallpaper hat box, mid
Nineteenth century, vibrant blue and orange foliate decoration,
61/4 inches high and 101/4 inches wide. A George I gate leg table
in mahogany, circa 1720, rectangular top with rounded ends over a
frame with two drawers, boldly turned legs joined by stretchers,
brought $19,550 against a high estimate of $5,000.
The sale ended up with some pieces for the garden, and a number
of box lots that included locks, kitchen implements, trivets,
corkscrews, eyeglasses and nutcrackers, all making for a
"fabulous" sale, according to Ron Pook. "Things went very well,
many of the lots did far better than we had hoped, and it
certainly was an interesting sale," he said.
The only glitch in the two-day event involved eBay as the system
was down for about ten minutes at the start of the sale on
Saturday. "They were down nationally and wanted us to hold the
sale until they were up and running," Ron said. "We declined, as
it was not fair to those who traveled to be here and we began at
10 am as scheduled."
