We’ve got knives, army uniforms and The Great Pumpkin. Yes, Halloween is coming, but it’s really the November 5 issue of Across The Block! We’ve got lots of lots to keep you busy, so put on your costume and sit back with this week’s auction highlights.

Hand Painted Asian Cylinder Vessel Rolls High For Benefit Shop

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. – One of the top lots at the Benefit Shop Foundation’s October 20 Red Carpet auction was a vintage hand painted Asian porcelain planter vessel that fetched $4,160 from a buyer in the United States. Measuring 6 inches tall and with a diameter of 7 inches, the interest and result surprised the house, which had estimated it at $40/80. For information, www.thebenefitshop.org or 914-864-0707.

Rare World War II Army Nurse Flight Jump Suit & Ephemera Take Top Dollar At White’s

MIDDLEBORO, MASS. – Lt. Helen Melissa Clark of the 811th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron served in Normandy in June 1944, four days after the historic D-Day. Her nurse flight jump suit, dress jacket and cap, nurse apron and various ephemera were offered at White’s Auctions’ August 29 sale and realized $8,890 against an estimate of just $1/1,200. For information, 508-947-9281.

Collector Knife Cuts Fine Figure At Burchard Galleries

ST PETERSBURG, FLA. – A collector knife created for the AKI show in 1995 by H.H. Frank was part of a large art knife consignment of more than 60 lots at Burchard Galleries’ auction on October 17. The knife sold to an online bidder for $5,400. The show-stopping folding knife was purchased at the Art Knife Invitational show in 1995 for $6,500 and was one of a kind, by H.H. Frank, featuring an engraved blade, mammoth handle with engraved inlaid gold and a 14K yellow gold toothpick. For information, 727-821-1167 or www.burchardgalleries.com.

Auction Barn Gets Top Dollar For Vaseline Glass

NEW MILFORD, CONN. – The Auction Barn’s October 18 Estate Auction featured exactly 400 lots of diverse property, including furniture, paintings, jewelry, advertising and collectibles, but it was a pair of 15-inch-tall canary yellow lidded Vaseline glass urns that earned top marks, bringing $2,375 against an estimate of $100/200. For information, 860-799-0608 or www.theauctionbarnct.com.

Mid-Hudson Auction Bidders Jostle For British Landscape

NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. – An oil on canvas painting titled “Landscape with Figures Near Ipswitch in Suffolk” and attributed to Thomas Gainsborough brought $7,500 and the top price in Mid-Hudson Auction Gallery’s 500-lot sale of fine art, antiques, Orientalia and carpets of October 23. The painting had provenance to the Villa Du Soleil in Newport, R.I., and a sale at Christie’s London; it measured 19½ by 27¾ inches and typified Gainsborough’s Dutch period. For information, 914-882-7356 or www.midhudsongalleries.com.

Moffett’s ‘Wreck of the Thistlemore‘ Rises At Bakker Online Sale

PROVINCETOWN, MASS. – James R. Bakker Antiques conducted its fall live online fine arts auction on October 23, featuring artworks from local estates and several prominent Provincetown and Cape Cod collectors. Notable among the lots sold was Ross Moffett’s “The Wreck of the Thistlemore,” which was estimated at $4/6,000 but sold for $10,625. The Thistlemore was a British steamship, run aground at a sandbar a mere 100 yards from the shore at Peaked Hill Bars, Truro, on February 7, 1922. Fortunately, there was a Coast Guard not far off, one of nine such stations built in 1872 to protect the rough passage along the cape. Twenty-five sailors were rescued and tugboats returned the ship to sea. For information, www.bakkerproject.com or 508-413-9758.

Jochimsen Collection Galle Vase Blooms At Woody Auction

DOUGLASS, KAN. – The top price of $6,600 was realized by two lots in Woody Auctions’ October 23 sale of the collection of Dr Peter and Grace Jochimsen. The first to set the high-water mark was this 9¾-inch-tall mold-blown French cameo glass vase signed Galle with vine and blossom decoration; it was matched within minutes by a partially labeled Fenton mosaic art glass vase. The 516-lot collection was 100 percent sold by lot. For information, 316-746-2145 or www.woodyauction.com.

Tennessee Pie Safe Smells Sweet

ASHEVILLE, N.C.- A circa 1840 paint-decorated pie safe from Greene County, Tenn., soared to $23,370 at Brunk Auctions’ October 23 sale. The auction house said the safe was possibly of the Burgner School, produced in cherry with a poplar secondary. It featured two drawers over two punched tin doors featuring images of urns, hearts and candles. Matching tin panels made up the safe’s sides. The auction house said that other Greene, County, Tenn., pie safes with nearly identical punched tins are illustrated in Art and Furniture of East Tennessee by Namuni Young, one of those illustrated was signed CB for Christian Burgner. The safe featured an early surface though the tins had a Twentieth Century repaint. For information, 828-254-6846 or www.brunkauctions.com.

The Great Pumpkin Rolex Lights Up

ST PETERSBURG, FLA. – Coming to auction just eight days before Halloween, there may have been no better time to sell a Rolex tropical dial red Submariner than Hess Fine Auctions’ October 23 sale. Auctioneer Jeffrey Hess called it “The Great Pumpkin,” noting that it was the finest dial he had ever seen. The 1973 example came with its original boxes, papers, booklet and three original tags. An original 1975 receipt accompanying the watch featured a price of $509; it aged gracefully, taking $43,200 from its second owner ever. For information, www.hessfineauctions.com or 727-896-0622.