The Benefit Shop – Red Carpet Auction
Wednesday, August 16 at 10 am
liveauctioneers.com • invaluable.com
185 Kisco Avenue, Suite 101, Mt. Kisco, NY 10549
www.thebenefitshop.org
Phone: 914-864-0707

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. — A New York City advertising industry chief executive officer had twin passions for collecting presidential signatures and baseball memorabilia, particularly for his home team, the New York Yankees, and collected hundreds of items over several decades. He was so serious about his collection that he had an architect-designed room constructed in his Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan designed to block ultraviolet light. The room contained custom furniture containing dozens of drawers to store these items.

After his passing, his estate is headlining the Benefit Shop Foundation’s Red Carpet auction on Wednesday, August 16, at 10 am. Boasting more than 750 items, the auction ranges from documents signed by some of the United States’ Founding Fathers and most renowned presidents like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, James Monroe and Ulysses S. Grant.

Expected to attract keen interest is a George Washington-signed envelope and engraving ($1/5,000) framed with a hand-colored engraved portrait of the nation’s first president. The envelope is addressed to The Rev. Doct. Lathrop (John Lathrop), Boston. Also estimated to fetch $1/5,000 is a blank ship’s papers with the signatures of Thomas Jefferson as president and James Madison as secretary of state. The framed document was not filled in to indicate which ship was being verified to prove ownership and nationality but was signed in advance.

Another presidential highlight is a framed copyright claim document signed by John Q. Adams as president ($500-$2,000) regarding Daniel Webster’s book, A Discourse in Commemoration of the Lives and Services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The hand-signed document is dated August 28, 1826.

Baseball memorabilia also figures prominently in this auction and includes a treasure trove of photographs and artifacts from the New York Yankees and other teams. Fans of the “Bronx Bombers” will likely stand up and take notice of an actual stadium seat that was removed in the 1970s as the stadium underwent renovations. This was during a rare lull in the team’s popularity and the owners were debating moving the team to New Jersey. New York City mayor John Lindsay bought the stadium for $24 million in 1972, saving it, and the refurbished Yankees stadium reopened in 1976. This wood and iron seat, numbered 18, is estimated at $100/300 and has a plaque on it reading, “Yankee Stadium, ‘The House That Ruth Built’ – 50th Anniversary 1923-1973, Bronx, N.Y.”

Several items on offer have crossover appeal with baseball and folk art collectors, such as a hand-carved folk art sculpture of Mickey Mantle ($50-$100). The nearly 30-inch-tall statue, dated 2002, pictures the famed hitter standing up and shown holding a baseball bat and mitt. Another hand-carved sculpture by M. Dangelo, picturing Babe Ruth ($50-$200) stands 5 feet 3 inches tall. Ruth is pictured wearing his Yankees pinstriped uniform and holding a bat.

There are also many signed photographs and baseballs from notable Yankees players over the years, including Reggie Jackson, Wade Boggs, Andy Pettitte, Whitey Ford and Tino Martinez.

Rounding out the auction are a wide variety of items for collectors of all interests, led by a Cartier Paris Tank Louis 18K gold watch ($500-$2,500). The circa 1970s classically styled watch has blue sapphire cabochon on the dial and manual winding.

Offerings from other estates showing the diversity of the auction include a circa 1943 Rene Lalique Cote D’Or crystal charger plate, signed ($300-$1,000), measuring 16 inches diameter; and a handmade Stark Aubusson room size wool rug ($100-$1,000) having multi toned floral, leaf and geometric detail, 11.9 feet long by 9 feet wide.

Already attracting much interest online well over their estimates are a preserved sea turtle shell ($50-$200) standing 3 feet and 3 inches tall, which at press time was already nearing $4,000 in bids, and a pair of Midcentury Modern Cassina Le Corbusier LC1 armchairs ($100/600).

The auction gallery is at 185 Kisco Avenue, Suite 201. For information, 914-864-0707 or www.thebenefitshop.org.

COALPORT Cobalt & Gilt Porcelain Vase
Signed Bill Dickey Portrait Lithograph
Vintage Iron &Tin Cow Figural Weathervane
Vintage Chinese Ceramic
NY Yankees ANDY PETTITTE Signed Photograph
George Washington Signed Envelope & Engraving
M DANGELO HandCarved BABE RUTH Wood Statue 5ft3in
Framed Abraham Lincoln Signature & Engraving
YANKEE STADIUM 50th Anniversary 1923-1973 Seat