Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från Kovels Antique Trader

Auction Highlight It’s easy to think of major events that changed the world. Pinpointing the precise minute things changed is a lot harder. A watch that sold recently at RR Auction did just that. The watch, which sold for $31,113, was part of the auction house’s “Remarkable Rarities” auction, which ended Feb. 22. It’s small and brass-tone with clouded crystal, scorch marks and melted spots. Its band is long gone. Most poignant of all, its hands are frozen at 8:15—the time the United States dropped the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945. The watch was recovered from Hiroshima by a British soldier sent there to provide emergency supplies and survey construction requirements. Its owner was presumably one of the great…

In its salad days, Dodie Thayer’s whimsical lettuce ware was an entertaining must for Frank and Barbara Sinatra, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and other A-list celebrities. Queen Elizabeth II even ate lunch on a set of specially ordered lettuce ware when she visited a Kentucky horse farm in 1986. Known as the “Pottery Queen of Palm Beach,” Thayer, who died at age 91 in 2018, modestly began her hobby in her Florida home in the 1960s, teaching herself how to mold clay to resemble lettuce and cabbage leaves. She made each piece in all of its green ruffled glory by hand in her home workshop. Her humorous and quirky dinnerware included plates, platters, tureens, bowls, candlesticks and teapots. Every piece reportedly took her two weeks to handcraft and her original creations…

Barbershop collectibles have been a popular collecting category for more than 100 years, and choice items offered at Freeman’s | Hindman’s sale “A Cut Above: The Barbershop Collection of James Carpenter,” Jan. 30, worked collectors into a lather. Part I of Carpenter’s extensive collection featured nearly 250 lots of occupational shaving mugs, barber bottles, barbershop poles, cabinets, razors, signs, and other related items, as well as a fine selection of advertising and engine models. Some of the most valued barbershop collectibles are occupational shaving mugs. Barbers used these custompainted mugs to lather their regular customers, and they usually included their names and images associated with their professions. Many of these mugs have survived, as clients rarely, if ever, took them home. The most soughtafter examples have unique professional illustrations and…

BRIMFIELD, Mass. — A new world auction record was set for a vintage beer can with the $51,500 ($62,830 with buyer’s premium) final bid for a Perone Beer quart cone top can at Morean Auctions in late February. Described as the only known example, the can jumped from a $25 start to $37,000 and kept heading skyward. Perone was a brand of Otto Erlanger Brewing Co. of Philadelphia, and the can dated to the 1940s, when the cone top format was dominant. Auctioneer Dan Morean described it as “a Grail can for many a quart and Pennsylvania collector.” Bidders agreed, helping to set a new auction record. The sale had many other notable highlights. A 1930s-era White Horse Pilsener Beer cone top can, contested by seven bidders, hammered at $27,500…

Spending many days in the Providence, R.I., area over the past 30 years, I’ve gotten to know some very interesting people in the costume jewelry industry. From designers to business owners and component suppliers, they’re often seen as rock stars in the eyes of avid jewelry collectors. Nevertheless, they’re usually quite humble and honored to be showered with such attention surrounding how they earn a living. One of those people was Ron Verri. This kind and generous man who was entrenched in the costume jewelry trade died unexpectedly Feb. 4. He was 78. In the days after his passing I couldn’t help but reminisce about getting to know him. And, of course, those musings led to thoughts of his father – the renowned Gene Verri – and Gem-Craft, the Verri…

from the editor Like many of you, I keep a close eye on my retirement savings. It is wise to stay vigilant. But unlike many of you, I don’t need to go online to check my 401(k) balance, or waste time talking to my financial advisor about the status of my portfolio, or even bother with the old Ball canning jar I dump pocket change into at the end of the day to see how my finances are going. Oh, by the way, that Ball canning jar with the metal screw-on lid? As of this morning, it’s holding a measly $37.59 in quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies – as well as two Sacagawea and one Susan B. Anthony dollar coins. I just counted it. The total is not inspiring, but…

Filmmaker and film collector Gary Huggins traveled to Omaha, Neb., last year for an auction that included films. Huggins was drawn to an old cartoon that was part of a stack of film reels, but to buy it he had to buy the entire stack, which cost $20. When he returned home to Kansas City, he discovered one of the films was a little-known silent comedy short from 1923. Called “The Pill Pounder,” the film featured a young, up-and-coming actress named Clara Bow. Bow would go on to become one of the silent movie era’s greatest stars— in fact, one of cinema’s all-time greats. She was the original “It Girl,” thanks to her 1927 movie “It.” Her stylish, spirited, uninhibited characters set the tone for the flappers of the 1920s.…

Collector’s Gallery Q: I am the owner of an antique bedroom set that I would like to know more about. It looks like a Belter and may be original (see pictures). The three pieces are a vanity with mirror, a dresser with mirror and a commode, all with marble tops. How can I authenticate and obtain an estimated value?” A: These are beautiful examples of Victorian bedroom furniture; however, these pieces are from three different bedroom sets. Unfortunately, the images are incomplete; the tops of the mirror frames and feet on two pieces have not been included in the photos. I am, nevertheless, able to see enough to identify and evaluate them. The bedside commode and chest of drawers are definitely not Belter. The wood is wrong, and Belter is…

Sales Reports Vintage Bookends Bookends proclaim the importance their owners place on the books between them and are like punctuation marks on a shelf. They are popular with collectors for their elegant, charming and whimsical forms and affordable prices. An interesting pair of bookends can also add character to a room. At its “Bookends and Pewter Car Collection” sale on March 10, Tom Hall Auctions offered collectors more than 150 lots of bookends in various delightful forms. The sale was part two of items from a collector who amassed 1,200 pairs of bookends, including architectural, fantasy, nautical and unusual examples made of brass, bronze, cast iron, porcelain, soapstone, wood and more. The top two lots of the sale each sold for $160 and were a grouping of Art Deco bookends, including…

CALIFORNIA Every first Sunday of the month, Alameda. Alameda Point Antiques Faire, 3900 Maine St., Alameda, CA. The Alameda Point Antiques Faire is the largest antiques show in Northern California, boasting 800 dealer booths. All items 20 years old or older. For more info, visit alamedapointantiquesfaire.com. Every first Sunday of the month through May, Palm Springs. Palm Springs Vintage Market, PS Cultural Center at the Camelot Theater, 2300 E Baristo Rd, Palm Springs. For more info, visit palmspringsvintagemarket.com. Every second Sunday of the month, Pasadena. World’s largest flea market at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. More than over 2 million items offered for sale by more than 2,500 vendors. Shop for rare and unusual, vintage collectibles, antiques, new items, arts and crafts and second-hand items. SH: early birds, 5-9am; regular admission:…

Born in the central Mexican city of Guanajuato in 1886, DIEGO RIVERA became one of the great Modernists of 20th-century art, as well as, arguably, the most important painter in Mexico’s history. Between 1910 and 1920, Mexico underwent an era of profound political and social upheaval. Revolution destroyed the old order and a new, socialist regime emerged. At its center was a group of art activists led by the charismatic Rivera who set out to bring art to the masses through murals depicting a united Mexican society. By the 1930s, he was commissioned for murals in the U.S. as well — in Detroit, San Francisco and New York — and had become a star of the art world. While best-known for his murals on public buildings, Rivera also made a…