Innehållsförteckning för March 2024 från Kovels Antique Trader

In The News A 15th-century masterpiece by Sandro Botticelli, worth more than $100 million and seemingly misplaced for more than 50 years after disappearing from the Italian state's art records, has been recovered from a family home near Naples. The painting was initially displayed in a church in Santa Maria la Carità. When an earthquake damaged the church in 1982, the painting was given to a local family for safekeeping. The family displayed the painting their home for years. For some unknown reason, the painting vanished from the Italian state's art records, and local authorities continued to monitor the painting. However, sometime in the 1990s, this supervision inexplicably ceased. Even though the artwork had been in the family's possession the entire time, it was eventually included on the list of…

A Mars Explorer space car helped send a Milestone Auctions event out of this world with nearly $1.3 million in sales during the 723lot off ering of antique and vintage toys in January. The toy sale was a record for the Willoughby, Ohio, auction house. The all-original and complete Exelo (Japan) battery-operated Mars Explorer space car that had been estimated at a very respectable $12,000-$15,000, but it ended up blazing a Red Planet trail to $42,120. Looking a bit like a 1950s-1960s “car of the future” and manned by two astronaut passengers, the two-tone green tin vehicle was emblazoned with MARS on its sides and came with its complete and colorful pictorial box depicting a Martian landscape. Both the exotically styled toy and its super-graphic box manifest a world of…

CHARLES AND RAY EAMES exemplified modern living in postwar America. The Eames “Lounge and Ottoman,” introduced by Herman Miller in 1956, remains a touchstone of American style. The couple's designs were a colorful, ergonomic and even cozy approach to modern furniture. They pioneered the use of new materials—molded plywood and fiberglass chairs, desks and storage units set on wire frames—challenging old ideas about what furniture should be made of. “We've always been aware of not even attempting to solve the problem of how people should sit,” Charles Eames said, “but of rather arbitrarily accepting the way people do sit and of operating within that framework.”…

Pulp magazine collectors can't resist what this vintage ephemera offers: historic significance, lurid artwork, flamboyant stories and enough scarcities to make the chase exciting. These factors have been driving the market for pulps to new heights, especially in recent years. Collectors got a treasure trove of more than 600 pulps to bid on at Heritage Auctions’ Showcase Auction Dec. 14-15 featuring the collection of Malcolm Edwards. The collection included copies of Eerie Stories, Ghost Stories, Horror Stories, Strange Tales, Terror Tales, Weird Tales, and many more. The top lot was a December 1932 copy of Weird Tales that fetched $18,000. Featuring the first appearance of Conan the Cimmerian in “The Phoenix on the Sword” by Robert E. Howard, this is one of the most sought-after issues of Weird Tales and…

Is there a better way to get your motor running than by hitting the road on an antiquing adventure? We don't think so, which is why we're off ering a roadmap to The Best Antiquing Destinations across the United States. From East to West, and all parts in between, you'll discover beauty, wonder and treasures certain to please. While our list includes some of our Big City favories—New Orleans, anyone?— please note that our roadmap will take you off the beaten path. There's a reason for that. Smaller towns tend to off er better deals than big cities—not to mention much more charm. Whether you enjoy the energy and the hustle and bustle of the Big City or the laidback vibe of Smalltown, USA, there's a place to explore on…

This rare and large Coppertone “Dancing Frogs” garden ornament from Weller Pottery, c. 1930, recently sold for $11,340 at Toomey & Co. Auctions. The glazed earthenware piece, 16 ½ in. h x 11 ¾ in. w, had a presale estimate of $3,000-$5,000. Samuel A. Weller established Weller Pottery in Fultonham, Ohio, in 1872, with a modest cabin and a single kiln. Weller's expansion to Zanesville, Ohio in 1882 signaled the onset of decorative ware production. Although Weller Pottery closed in 1948, collectors of American Arts & Crafts art pottery continue to appreciate various Weller lines. Inspired examples, such as “Dancing Frogs,” often command high prices at auction or via private sale.…

DALLAS — Among the many record-setting results achieved by Heritage Auctions in 2023, none looms larger than the one set by the auction house itself. Last year, the Dallas-based Heritage reached $1.76 billion in total sales, the highest for the 47-year-old company following record-setting years in 2021 and 2022. Heritage experienced an impressive 21 percent growth over 2022. Heritage also set dozens of significant auction records spanning many of its more than four dozen categories. Numerous 2023 auctions brimmed with headline-grabbers, including Archie and Edith Bunker's landmark living room and the Boston bar where everybody knows your name. To all of that, we say: Cheers. “The past year has yet again proven the enduring enthusiasm of collectors and the ever-expanding universe of fascinating objects that fire the passion of our…

Pee-wee Herman, a bow-tie-wearing man-child in short drainpipe pants and a flattop hairdo, is a pop culture symbol of childlike whimsy. Created by the comic actor Paul Reubens, Pee-wee starred in the 1985 hit film, “Pee-wee's Big Adventure,” a movie directed by Tim Burton about Pee-wee's search for his stolen bike. That beloved bike, a custom Schwinn DX, sold for $140,000 (including buyer's premium) at Bonhams “Pop Culture: Then and Now” sale in December. The bike, arguably one of the most important in movie history, likely appeared in the film's one-sheet advertising poster (below). Reubens died in 2023. He was 70.…

Most people don't think much about what direction the wind is blowing, but this is vital information for others. Before modern technologies, early man tied a piece of cloth or strings to the tops of buildings to detect which way the wind blew. An ancient Greek astronomer invented a better way in the form of a weathervane. These weather instruments, a simple means of detecting wind speed and direction, have been crucial tools for agriculture, shipping, travel and weather prediction for centuries. Though it's far easier to get information now by flicking on your cell phone or the weather channel, weathervanes still hold plenty of charm and are prized by collectors as early examples of folk art. They are a symbol of Americana and evoke a rich sense of history,…