Auction Details

DENVER, Pa. – Dan Morphy Auctions will pack 2,100 quality lots into a big two-day sale, Feb. 26 and 27, 2010, at the company’s state of the art gallery on the Adamstown antique strip. The main categories in the auction are historical antiques, firearms and militaria, jewelry, toys and antique advertising. All forms of bidding will be available, including live via the Internet.

The Friday session opens with more than 150 lots of fine jewelry and Bakelite from a single estate. All types of jewelry will be offered, including rings, necklaces, earrings, watches and brooches. Among the highlights are an 18K gold bracelet with turquoise stones, a 14K gold bracelet with diamonds, and many other gold Victorian-era fine jewelry designs.

Next up will be 100 general antique lots, featuring clocks, pottery, artwork and other Americana, followed by firearms primarily coming from two single-owner collections. The offering consists of 40 Kentucky rifles, a dozen early Springfield Civil War rifles known as “1903s,” an assortment of World War I and II M1 Girand rifles, and a collection of more than 60 double-barrel shotguns.

Standouts include a superb Kentucky rifle attributed to Charles Baum (upper Susquehanna region of Pennsylvania) that boasts 65 silver inlays. The buttstock is adorned by silver depictions of a flying eagle and Indian with a tomahawk. Another key gun lot is a scarce Winchester Model 1886 .45-.70 caliber bolt-action rifle.

A 50-lot selection of modern guns includes eight Winchester pre-1964 Model 70s. “These guns are highly sought after by collectors and hunters alike, due to their flawless bolt-action design,” said Morphy’s general manager Kris Lee.

The 170-lot historical and political section of the sale incorporates buttons, banners, flags, and ribbons. Notable entries are a U.S. Presidential campaign flag for Benjamin Harrison, and a William Taft banner. Photographica includes tintypes, ambrotypes, daguerreotypes and photographs, including desirable Abraham Lincoln photos and a ferrotype.

Nearly 300 lots of antique advertising will be auctioned, with 25+ tobacco tins topped by an extremely rare Shogun vertical pocket tin estimated at $8,000-$12,000. A handsome, painted-zinc Indian brave tobacco store figure made by Miller, Dubrul & Peters Mfg. Co. (Cincinnati and New York) and featured in the 1953 book Cigar Store Figures (Pendergast and Ware) is expected to make $30,000-$50,000. Other lots expected to finish well in the money include a large, illuminating shoe-form trade sign advertising Wahr Shoes ($8,000-$12,000); and a large wooden shotgun shell display for Kynoch & Co. ($6,000-$8,000).

Saturday’s session will begin with more than 170 marble lots. “It’s one of the best marble offerings we’ve ever had, and comes from mainly two very nice collections,” said Morphy’s CEO Dan Morphy.

The grouping includes a handmade sulphide of two kissing lovebirds suspended in turquoise-colored glass ($3,000-$5,000), and two original wooden salesmen’s sample boxes from the Germany manufacturer Mueller & Sons, each filled with handmade sample marbles – swirls, micas, Lutzes, opaques and clambroths. Each box is entered in the sale with a $3,000-$4,000 estimate. Yet another coveted lot is a 2½-inch end of the day lobed onionskin marble in original condition ($2,000-$3,000). A sizable number of other large, lobed onionskins and ribbons swirls will be offered.

Topping the machine-made marbles is a Peltier No. 00 National Rainbow 100-count set in its original box ($4,000-$6,000). An extremely rare Akro No. 250 marble box set may attract a winning bid of $2,500-$3,000; and there will be no shortage of buyers, Morphy said, for the more than 20 Christensen agate flames, some of them unique examples.

The Saturday session also features part two of the Pat and Lowell Wagner steam toy collection. More than 350 lots of highly desirable steam engines, cars, boats and other playthings from the collection carry the brands of such prestigious manufacturers as Marklin, Weeden, Schonner, Bing, Plank, and Doll et Cie.

Nearly 200 general toy lots run the gamut of dolls, trains, Steiff and American tin. A Maggie Bessie cloth doll consigned by its original owner is estimated at $4,000-$6,000; while another excellent selection of Fisher-Price toys from collectors Pat and Lowell Wagner will also cross the block.

Nearly 100 pieces of cast iron range from horse-drawn through mechanical banks and other iron toys. Pristine examples of the Breadwinners and Boy Scout banks will be sold, as well as a very nice Merry-Go-Round bank.