Innehållsförteckning för October 9, 2019 från Kovels Antique Trader

THOMASTON, MAINE – Bidders can take a virtual trip around the world with Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ Vintage Accents fall sale. This exclusively online event, now through Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 2 and 3, features 1,000 lots of collectible and decorative objects sourced from Maine estates and representing decades of collecting, generations of family history and extensive worldwide travel — and all items are offered with modest opening bids. Items slated to cross the online block on Oct. 2 include a selection of American art glass, antiquities, Native American and African art, and an extensive group of Chinese, Japanese, South Asian, and Middle Eastern items. On Oct. 3, the auction inventory will include fine art paintings and prints, European porcelain, art glass and pottery, silver, jewelry, lighting, as well as…

At least I broke even” she said. My friend Margie had just returned from displaying at a Labor Day weekend antiques show. She didn’t do too badly by her standards: her gross revenue was $2,800 for three days. But, when she totaled her expenses, there wasn’t enough profit left over to make the event worthwhile. Margie gave me permission to tell her story, provided I changed her name and identifying details. Here it is: She worked five consecutive 12-hour days, including haul-in and haul-out. She had two helpers, at $10/hour each, totaling 36 man-hours. Space rental was $600; she spent $120 on food and vehicle expenses totaled $244 (IRS mileage allowance). Here’s her profit breakdown: Sales: $2,800 Cost of goods sold: $1,400 (her estimate; she uses a 2X pricing keystone…

WESTPORT, Conn. – A letter handwritten and signed by George Washington, a Walt Disney twice-signed stock certificate, JFK’s official schedule from the day of his assassination in 1963, a document signed by Russian czar Peter I, and a large Apollo 11 lunar landing photo signed by Neil Armstrong are just some of the highlight lots in University Archives’ Oct. 2 online auction. The auction will begin at 10:30 a.m. Live bidding has already been posted online and bidding is available via LiveAuctioneers.com , Invaluable.com and Auctionzip.com. The auction is packed with 240 lots of an important selection of autographed documents, manuscripts, books and photos. You can also browse at www.UniversityArchives.com. Categories include Americana (including presidents, Declaration and Constitution signers, Revolutionary War and Civil War), foreign leaders and royalty (featuring such…

While antique biscuit tins may not seem efficient in today’s kitchen because they are bulky and take up precious real estate, nostalgia leads many people to still collect them. Serious collectors may have to break into their piggy banks to afford some of these antique biscuit tins, though, as they can cost high four figures and even more. Two London Double-Decker bus biscuit tins (circa 1920-1930) that recently graced the auction block at Heritage Auctions fetched $8,750 when the gavel dropped, according to Steve Lansdale, public relations specialist at Heritage. A check online shows that most biscuit tins run anywhere from $10 to $2,500. Because biscuit tins come in all shapes and sizes, it is up to individual collectors to find just the right tin for a particular fancy. “The…

It’s the sound. That’s what first attracts most people. Percussive bursts of unmistakable rat-a-tat-tats given pause only by the sound of a warning bell. A WARNING bell! Think about it. You are making such a racket that the machine is compelled to warn you to stop. Right now! Before you run out of space. Before it’s too late. With a BELL. And then, with a quick flick of the carriage return lever, the clatter continues. A relentless attack of keys striking paper, exploding like raindrops on a tin roof. There’s a reason that old newspaper reporters were said to “bang” out a story. Sound was as much a part of their jobs as cigarettes, lousy coffee and deadlines. Yup, typewriters, to hear them is to love them. Of course, not…

Writers and typewriters are like musicians and their instruments, often inseparable. Here’s a selection of famous authors and their favorite writing machines. AGATHA CHRISTIE Agatha Christie was famously associated with a Remington Home Portable No. 2. After breaking her wrist in a fall in 1952, she wrote via a dictaphone and a secretary. Christie dearly missed the actual writing process, saying, “There is no doubt that the effort involved in typing or writing does help me in keeping to the point. Economy of wording, I think, is particularly necessary in detective stories. You don’t want to hear the same thing rehashed three or four times over.” ERNEST HEMINGWAY Hemingway used a number of typewriters, his favorite being a Royal Quiet Deluxe. The author also used a 1932 Royal Model P…

CLEVELAND – A stunning Van Cleef and Arpels limited-edition Alhambra necklace and a vibrant abstract silkscreen on paper by American artist Helen Frankenthaler are just two expected top lots in a Fine Art, Furniture & Decorative Art Auction planned for Wednesday, Oct. 2, by Gray’s Auctioneers & Appraisers. The auction, online and in the Cleveland gallery located at 10717 Detroit Avenue, will feature 438 lots for bid, beginning at 11 am Eastern time. The full catalog is available and pre-bidding is open at GraysAuctioneers.com. Offered will be quality merchandise pulled from estates across the United States, including paintings and furniture from a prominent Vero Beach, Florida, estate, a wonderful collection of Asian decorations and an extensive selection of fine furniture. Highlighting the fine jewelry category is the Van Cleef and…

The contributions of French cartographers involved in mapping the United States, especially the northeastern regions, are oftentimes overlooked. One reason might be that the French interests were, for the most part, abandoned after the treaty of Paris in 1763, leaving the British to control these territories of the northeast. Also, people chose to explore historic events in America through the eyes of the English cartographers, and the use of French language in labeling maps was another reason the British maps were preferred over the French examples. Early on, the French mapmakers created much more detailed and accurate maps than the British. The rub is, when you think of early colonial mapping, it is the British cartographers that come to mind, although the French made the finest maps of North America.…

You may not be able to surf the Internet, text and take pictures with them, but what vintage telephones lack in high-tech capabilities in comparison to today’s cell phones, they make up for with an aesthetic that is much more original and appealing than the plain rectangular shape of their counterparts. It was this aesthetic, and the wonder of using 1920s’ technology in these modern times, that attracted Mark Treutelaar to start collecting vintage phones, and eventually open a shop to repair, restore and sell them. “I have always loved antiques and restoring old items. When I look at old item from the 1920s, for instance, I can imagine how life was back then. I have always liked the look of the older Western Electric candlestick telephones. One day, 35…

Actor and typewriter enthusiast Tom Hanks is known to wear his heart on his sleeve when expressing the simple joy found in the typed word. In his Foreword to Typewriters: Iconic Machines from the Golden Age of Mechanical Writing, Hanks says sitting down with a typewriter is akin to an artist seated in front of a blank canvas, paint brush in hand. Hanks writes: “You are an artist, equal to Picasso, and everything you type is one-of-a-kind work. The combination of paper quality, the age of the ribbon, the minute quirks of your machine, the occasional misuse of the space bar, and the options of the margins and tabs all add up to make anything you type as varied and unique as the thoughts in your head and the ridges…