Morphy Auctions' $2 Million Sale Is Firm's Most Successful To Date

DENVER, PENN.

:Morphy Auctions chalked up a significant milestone over this past Labor Day weekend - its first $2 million sale.

The statistics backing the 2,100-lot, no-reserve auction were impressive - more than 3,000 left bids, more than triple that of any previous Morphy's sale, and a record number of Internet and phone bids.

The opening session on September 1 featured antique advertising, soda fountain, apothecary and bar-ber shop items, jukeboxes and coin-ops. A 1950s "Serve Yourself" light-up Coca-Cola fountain sign with original etched glass dashed its $3/500 estimate to bring $4,400,while a 21-inch-wide, two-sided, oval leaded glass sign advertising Edison Light Co. sold for $5,500, more than four times its high estimate.

One of the finest advertising lots in the sale was an 181/2-by-241/2-inch embossed tin litho sign for Kabo Corsets. Wood framed, the central image was of a Nineteenth Century beauty wearing a voluminously plumed hat and waist-pinching corset. Its entry in Morphy's sale represented the first time an example of this sign had appeared on the auction block. Estimated at $5/7,000, it cinched a winning bid of $11,000.

It was also during the opening session that the top price of the entire three-day sale was achieved. The Mickey Finn figural cast iron, rope-pull Tug-o-War strength tester, made by Caille Bros of Detroit, which features Mickey Finn dressed in knickerbockers, exhibited outstanding original park paint. One of only 15 known examples, it tipped the scales at $46,750.

Day two on September 2 included close to 700 lots of tin toys, Britains soldiers, vintage Halloween items and around 100 rare marbles. Within the marble group were Christensen flames, Akro Agate corkscrews and a coveted box of 50 Peltier marbles - including variations known as tigers, zebras and bumblebees - which sold for $1,568. Many bidders chased the rare sulphide marbles, each of which contains a small, imbedded figure. Fetching the highest price was a rearing horse sulphide, with very fine detail to the horse's mane, eyes and hooves. It sold at the top of its estimate range, for $3,850.

Among the American clockwork toys, an Ives 10-inch Old Black Joe walker encouraged spirited bid-ding to finish at $4,760, more than tripling its high estimate. Another black-themed toy, a Linemar Ham & Sam musical duo, achieved $1,232. Identical money was paid for a rare Marx Chicken Snatcher.

Pressed steel automotive roared, with a 1933 Steelcraft private label series Southern Dairies milk truck delivering the goods at $2,240. A 27-inch, 1930s-vintage red and black Buddy L wrecker with headlights sped off to an absentee bidder for $10,450.

The third session on September 3 featured the auction's centerpiece - part one of the Gary Selmon-sky comic character collection. The Selmonsky toys knocked down celestial prices from the get-go. A world auction record was set by an early 1930s-vintage, Japanese celluloid Mickey Mouse Cowboy on Pluto rocker toy, which galloped to $10,450.

A much-anticipated highlight of the session was Selmonsky's 1935 Hoge Popeye the Sailor mechanical rowboat, which was offered with its extremely rare box. The only such example ever to appear at auc-tion, it rocketed to a final selling price of $27,500.

Among an extensive selection of mechanical banks, a 1904 football-themed Calamity bank scored a goal at $22,800. A rare red and blue Union Army colors variation of Stevens Co.'s Artillery mechanical bank fired a salvo at $19,800; and an 1890 J. & E. Stevens Girl Skipping Rope crossed into big-money territory via the Internet at $34,800.

Two doorstops set world auction records in the sale. A highly prized 18-inch Judd Co. West Wind Girl inspired a flurry of bids that stopped at $23,100. More than doubling the previous world record for a cast iron doorstop at auction, a super-rare Littco Products Halloween Girl depicting a trick or treater holding a jack-o-lantern made an astonishing $38,500.

All prices quoted include 10 percent buyer's premium, 20 percent on Internet purchases.

For information, 717-335-3435 or www.morphyauctions.com.