#Hot #Lots #Coming #Auction #March #WorthPoint
WorthPoint’s Industry Partners are offering some great collectibles in several March auctions, ranging from a fun set inspired by the world’s coolest spy to a historic 1840 campaign flag created after William Henry Harrison was mocked for being too old to run for president.
When it comes to nifty gadgets, nobody does it better than James Bond. From his explosive toothpaste and laser beam watch to a jet-propelled scuba tank and deadly briefcase, they are in a class of their own.
For the Part 2 online sale of its Steve Oxenrider James Bond Collection on March 8 from Surrey, England, Ewbank’s is offering a toy inspired by that deadly briefcase seen in the 1963 film From Russia With Love, starring Sean Connery as the suave secret agent.
Lot 4000, a “007 Attache Case,” includes a Secret Agent 007 confidential code book, a pistol, an international passport, and some play cash. Made by Glidrose Productions in 1965, the box art includes an image of Sean Connery as Bond holding the gun from the set. The toy might not turn you into Bond, but it’s a coveted keepsake for collectors.
From autograph cards and books to posters and toys, memorabilia associated with the famous spy is perennially popular, and California native Oxenrider amassed one of the world’s largest collections, including over 30,000 items.
Ewbank’s, which specializes in James Bond collectibles, sold part 1 of Oxenrider’s collection in November 2023. The top lot was this original Dr. No poster.
Quilts tell stories through their patterns, exploring family, memories, biblical stories, nature, and more. The small collection of quilts that Virginia-based Blue Box Auction Gallery is offering in its live and online sale closing March 9, Stitching Stories of Extraordinary Women: A Quilt and Photo Journey Through History, celebrates historical figures including Helen Keller, Sojourner Truth, and Martha Washington, as well as other women with remarkable quilting skills. The quilts are curated from the renowned collection of quilter and instructor Kaye England of Indiana, who is dedicated to preserving the legacy of American textile art.
One of the highlights is lot 2A, a circa-1870 handmade Feathered Star-pattern quilt, which is a testament to the high level of creativity and skill in the quilting community of the 19th century.
Meanwhile, one of the lots in Bertoia Auctions’s live The Smith Collection Signature Auction on March 16 in Vineland, New Jersey, will bowl over Steiff collectors and cat lovers.
Lot 108 is a set of eight velvet cat skittles, each wearing collars with a brass bell that chimes as the pins are struck with one of the two included wooden balls.
Skittles is a target game dating to the Middle Ages and similar to bowling, where players throw a ball or another projectile at wooden pins to knock them down. It was popular in Britain, France, and Germany.
German toy maker Steiff, renowned for its teddy bears, made skittle sets in various whimsical animal forms, including bears, bunnies, dogs, and monkeys, starting in 1892. They are fine examples of the company’s early work and demonstrate Steiff’s commitment to design and quality. Skittles are favorites with collectors, given their charm, small size, easy displayability, and tendency to appreciate in value.
Bertoia brings an incredible selection of antique and vintage toys to the marketplace each year. Linda and the late Curtis Smith’s world-class collection of early American toys has been acknowledged as one of the finest.
It’s never too early to think about Halloween, especially when it comes to vintage memorabilia. Some popular collectibles are early Halloween postcards, particularly the delightfully weird and sometimes sinister ones with anthropomorphic characters. Whether they feature humanized cabbages wearing bowties, pumpkin-headed women in beautiful gowns, or knife-wielding men with watermelon bodies, they’re fun conversation pieces that make you wonder what in the heck was happening on Halloween back in the day.
A wonderful example is lot 103 in One Source Auctions’s live and online 13th Annual Post St. Patrick’s Day Antiques & Collectibles Online Auction on March 18 in Canandaigua, New York. The circa-1910 postcard by Barton & Spooner features Jack-O-Lantern men in hot pursuit of a boy and his dog while the moon watches in amusement. If that’s not odd enough, they are giving chase on stilts.
These entertaining (and often puzzling) pieces of ephemera capture spooky and silly nostalgia of a bygone era when ghosts, goblins, and potentially nefarious Jack-O-Lantern men roamed the land on All Hallows’ Eve.
Political memorabilia collectors will want to keep an eye on lot 14 in Session #1 of Hake’s Auction 240, closing March 19–20 from York, Pennsylvania: a notable campaign flag that was part of William Henry Harrison’s successful run for president in 1840 as the Whig Party candidate.
Harrison, 67, was the oldest presidential candidate at a time when life expectancy was roughly forty years. His opponent, Martin Van Buren, 58, said Harrison was better suited to drinking hard cider outside a log cabin than leading the nation, and with that, one of the most effective campaign devices in American history was born.
The Harrison campaign ran with the log cabin and cider image, touting their candidate as a man of the people and Van Buren as an out-of-touch aristocrat who preferred champagne. It worked. Harrison was elected the ninth president of the United States.
According to Hake’s, the campaign was a watershed moment in the history of presidential campaign material, and the popularity of the log cabin and cider barrel design is reflected in the litany of surviving artifacts, including canes, lapel brooches, ribbons, and tokens.
The flag is among the most impressive items critical to the progress of American political campaigning, making it an ideal choice for any collector. It’s also a testament that you’re never too old to follow your dreams.
Adina K. Francis has been a writer and editor in the antiques and collectibles field for more than 20 years. She has a bit of an obsession with the Victorians and thinks that dogs are one of life’s greatest gifts.
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