Innehållsförteckning för October 2024 från Kovels Antique Trader

It’s a story of treasure lost at sea and a fisherman’s catch of a lifetime. Fisherman Richard West of Plymouth, England, recently found a small plastic shark in his ship’s nets off the Cornwall coast. He immediately recognized it as a LEGO piece, like the ones that came with the LEGO pirate ship sets he built as a child. In February 1997, the cargo ship Tokio Express was on its way from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to New York City when it was hit by a rogue wave, tossing 62 containers overboard, including one packed with LEGO pieces. Appropriately enough, many of the pieces had ocean themes, like divers’ flippers, pirates’ cutlasses and seaweed. These pieces have been washing ashore ever since. Earlier this year, a teenage boy found an octopus,…

One of the most beloved and successful American artists may not have been a household name for many, but his work is widely known. The late Sam Butcher created an enduring legacy of Precious Moments figurines that are fervently collected and grace millions of homes worldwide. Butcher, who died in May at age 85, moved and inspired generations of collectors with his images of childhood innocence. Originally envisioned as a line of greeting cards and posters, the first Precious Moments figurines were released in 1978. These hand-painted porcelain bisque works, featuring inspirational messages and adorable children with heart-shaped faces and teardrop-shaped eyes, captivated buyers and became the No. 1 collectible in the world by 1995. On Aug. 8, Heritage Auctions offered five iconic original Butcher illustrations that kicked offthe unstoppable…

Food has long been associated with comfort, family and home. Cookbooks of yesteryear remind readers of those cherished memories and traditions. But entwined with that nostalgia you’ll also discover snapshots of the past — glimpses of popular cultural, evolving ideas on nutrition and gender roles — plus endless fads, some of which are coming back. Experts explore cookbooks through various eras while weighing in on what makes them so enduring. Jennifer Krausnick of Troy, New York, runs VintageCookbookMaven on Etsy, specializing in advertising cookbooks, appliance manuals, antique cookbooks, old baking books, food advertising ephemera and softcover cookbooks by Good Housekeeping and Culinary Arts Institute. “I love old cookbooks for their household histories, social commentary, stunning graphic art, retro advertising, old-fashioned recipes and homey comfort foods,” she says. Krausnick notes that…

Of all the topics I’ve covered in this column, I’ve never focused solely on Trifari. I’ve included some of the company’s jewelry in roundups of collector favorites a few times, but when it comes to covering Trifari as a whole, the topic always seems too daunting to tackle in a compact space. The company was, after all, one of the giants in the American costume jewelry industry based in Providence, R.I., and they sold millions of pieces of jewelry over many decades in business. To remedy this, here’s an overview about what makes jewelry produced by this notable firm so popular with collectors and dating jewelry looking at the marks used over the company’s long history. And, of course, I’ll highlight several of the “all-star” jewelry categories avidly sought by…

Released in 1955, Lady and The Tramp is an animated musical romance film produced by Walt Disney that tells the unlikely love story between a female American Cocker Spaniel named Lady who lives with a refined, upper-middle-class family and a male stray mutt named Tramp. One of the most romantic scenes in animated movie history finds Lady and Tramp sharing a plate of spaghetti and meatballs under a moonlit sky, culminating with the two accidentally “kissing” while eating opposite ends of the same strand of spaghetti – all to the tune of “Bella Notte.” This rare, key master setup with hand-painted production cel and production background (below) attributed to Disney artist legend Eyvind Earle (1916-2000) sold for $51,600 at Heritage Auctions August 17.…

DENVER, Pa. – Collectors had a gas at Morphy’s recent Automobilia & Petroliana Auction, driving the 650-lot event to sales totaling $1.85 million. The top lot of the day was a circa1940s Harbor Petroleum Products sign with an exciting seaplane-on-water graphic. The single-sided porcelain sign in 8.75 condition, sold for $46,740. A circa-1920s Norwalk Tires doublesided tin service station flange sign sold for $27,000. The sign was designed in “billboard” style with a graphic that showed a Norwalk tire, a period automobile in the background, and a couple seated outdoors with a golf bag and clubs. Additionally, its message boasted “8,000 Miles,” presumably the mileage a driver might expect to achieve from one of the company’s sturdy “Cord” tires. Big and bold, a circa-1940s twopiece, single-sided porcelain sign promoting Esso…

from the editor Her name was Velda Engman, and she was the best smelling woman I have ever met. I made this discovery early in life, as a boy, when all of life’s truly great discoveries are made. In a world of frenzied moms struggling to keep a lid on the boiling chaos of the home front, there was Mrs. Engman, conspicuous in her poise. She was different, in a put-together sort of way. I knew she had four kids, and I was sure they had to drive her crazy just like the five of us drove my mom batty, yet there she was dressed sharply, walking to our house, determined and confident, with a small handcart filled with perfumy mysteries in tow. I didn’t know what planet Mrs. Engman…

For more than 230 years, political campaigns have relied on attracting voters partly with material items, including campaign buttons, delegate badges, jewelry, lapel ribbons, pamphlets, posters and more that document the history of our country’s political landscape. Political memorabilia is avidly sought by collectors for its historic value and is a particularly rich resource for understanding the transformation of American politics across the 19th and 20th centuries. It documents shifting political party platforms, the culture of nominating conventions, and expanding avenues of activism and electioneering. When Ted Hake founded Hake’s Auctions in 1967, political Americana was its foundational category and since that time, the auction house has sold thousands of items, often setting worldrecord prices for them. Hake’s showcased more superb political memorabilia at its premier Auction 241 that closed…

Banned but not forgotten, a circa 1980s mint-in-box set of Regent Jarts recently sold for $523 at Esquis Auctions in Chicago. Popular for decades, lawn darts were notoriously dangerous, so much so that the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the sale of lawn darts in the U.S. in 1988. The ban was reissued in 1997, and people were asked to destroy the game. The heavy, pointed metal-tipped toy was responsible for the deaths of at least three children and thousands of injuries. Original lawn darts are often included near the top of anyone’s list of most dangerous toys ever produced, a touch of infamy attractive to some collectors.…