Date: Fri 02-Jul-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: LIZAM

Quick Words:

Knotty-Pine-Easton

Full Text:

Mechanical Banks, Ad Memorabilia, Featured At Knotty Pine

By Rita Easton

SWANZEY, N.H. -- Following three preview sessions, the Gallery at Knotty Pine

Auction Service held a June 6 antiques estate auction before an audience

holding 150 bidding numbers. The 358 lots offered comprised many game-related

and cast iron bank lots, drawing a large percentage of specialty buyers.

The balance of the game and bank collection will be offered at Knotty Pine in

an auction to be held in late July or August.

Michael Pappas auctioneered the event. Furniture and accessories from a single

residence in Lakeville, Conn., were also featured.

Reaching the highest bid of the day, a circa 1880 cat-and-mouse mechanical

bank sold at $6,000, going to a dealer/collector. A mouse stood on the bank;

the deposit of a coin caused a waiting cat to pounce on the hapless creature.

A Diamond Dye cabinet, approximately three by two feet, the case in oak with a

tin front, fetched $800; a one cent Wizard Fortune Teller offering a choice of

six categories of fortune telling went to a dealer/collector at $2,000; and a

large mirrored Derby turn-of-the-century roulette wheel reached $1,400, going

to a collector.

A collector also won a clown-on-globe cast iron bank at $1,800. With the

deposit of a coin, the seated clown sprang into a spinning handstand.

A Diamond front slot machine was purchased at $1,150; a Charlestown Dancers

cast iron doorstop by Fish realized $1,250; a rare confection vendors Derby

gumball machine, featuring a carousel of racehorses which went into action

when a penny was inserted, went to an out-of-state collector for $2,100; a

wood duck carved lawn sprinkler brought $650 from a collector; and a cast iron

stump-speaker bank made $1,950, the action featuring the speaker depositing

the offered coin from his hand into a bag.

Thought by John Pappas of the gallery to be English, a 13 by eight inch

watercolor of a man in a top hat reached $445; a Nineteenth Century tin musket

trade sign, seven feet high, made $1,550; and a Nineteenth Century pine

stepback cupboard, having a cupboard door above and another below, sold at

$1,000.

A Nineteenth Century pine drysink achieved $550; a grain painted three-drawer

child's chest fetched $480; a 30 by 24 inch Moxie trade sign went out at $400;

and a Shaker #3 rocker with woven rush seat reached $350.

A Kamp's Rye tin advertising sign, "The Sportsman's Choice," illustrating a

hunting scene, was purchased for $975; an early barber light with nostalgic

revolving candy stripes made $525; a pawn trade sign advertising "Small

Loans," with the familiar pawn emblem of a trio of balls, garnered $700; a tin

Hohenadel Beer sign illustrating champion boxer John L. Sullivan, measuring 30

by 24 inches, went out at $550; gingerbread and steeple clocks ranged from

$125 to $250; and a Watling twin jackpot slot machine went out at $1,550.

Prices quoted do not reflect a required ten percent buyers premium.