Christmas Antique Toy Auction with Noel Barrett At Pook & Pook Inc.
Action-Packed Sale Slated For Dec. 4
November 27, 2020
Pook & Pooks Downingtown, Pa., auction gallery is getting ready to help Santa and his elves again this holiday season. Many passionate toy collectors have been eagerly awaiting the next Antique Toy Auction with Noel Barrett. Tucked between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the upcoming Antique Toy Auction will commence at 9 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 4. This latest collaboration with acclaimed antique toy expert Noel Barrett will be a live salesroom event with phone, absentee, internet, and live bidding (reservations required) available on every lot. The Pook and Barrett team anticipate high interest in the pre-holiday sale and tremendous interest from internet bidders. To encourage easy access for cyberspace bidders, Pook and Barrett will offer online bidding on two separate bidding platforms, Bidsquare and LiveAuctioneers. As is typical, the upcoming Christmas Antique Toy Sale is diverse in its offerings, presenting various collections from across the country. Bidders who attended Pook and Barretts previous Antique Toy Auctions will remember the exceptionally diverse offerings, a tradition that continues with this sale. The holiday-specific offerings in the sale present a wide variety of Christmas dcor. Numerous German composition Belsnickel candy containers, German Father Christmas toys, and ornaments abound. There is no elf on a shelf, but how about an elf on a reindeer? A special Dresden Santa with a sack of toys and a feather tree is estimated at $600-$900 and is one of numerous Dresden lots on offer. Spun cotton figural ornaments include a hiker, a Geisha girl, and the Three Musketeers. A top Yuletide piece is a figural milk glass Santa Claus miniature oil lamp from the late 19th century (est. $1,200-$1,600). For those not wanting the trouble of decorating their own tree, pick one of the seven fully ornamented feather trees in the sale, ranging from a charming 11-inch blue tree to a 6-foot tree decorated with well over 60 early glass ornaments. A 3.5-foot tree has over 50 Santas on tree limbs, while the nearly 6-foot tree sports over 50 painted angels. A perfect toy for under a fairly large tree is a Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty circus with a full contingent of performers and animals under the tent. Two much earlier animated clockwork figures rounding out the circus lots on offer are a striding leopard measuring a fearsome 26 inches long and a slightly more friendly looking tiger atop a wooden ball advertising Hagenback circus, both key-wind with nodding head action. Also bringing the whimsy of Christmases past is a Noahs ark with countless critters on board, two by two. Toys for well-behaved little boys and girls include a fully outfitted school room with a teacher and seven book covered desks. For the very well-behaved chef is an astoundingly detailed German-made stove in heavy steel furnished with more than a dozen brightly polished copper accessories. No toy sale is complete without a grouping of trains, and this sale includes a Lionel Blue Comet, a Carpenter cast-iron floor toy, and a scarce Beggs style loco and tender, style #2 by Garlick, who worked for Beggs. Pressed steel is also a must in a well-rounded toy auction. The group of more than 20 of these large-scale toys in the sale includes toy items by all the great makers--Buddy L, Kelmet, Sturditoy, etc. One of the highlights is a Keystone ambulance in the original box. The highlight of the aeronautical toy collection of the late Harry Nowak is a lettered Kenton Flying Boat with wings and nickel-plated wing-tip pontoons. Kentons unlettered version of this toy is scarce enough, as no collectors weve talked to have ever seen this style. Could it be a new find? Along with Nowaks cast-iron fleet is lithographed tin airplane, a Tippco-1029 bomber complete with under-wing mounted bombs, from the Bill and Stevie Weart collection. The cast-iron automotive toys keep coming down the chimney, including a number of excellent examples, also from the Weart Collection, including a group of colorful taxicabs and a nice example of a Hubley armored motorcycle. Additional iron automotive pieces include a group of 10 colorful and finely crafted car models by Tom Selhoff. Even more iron in the sale comes from a small group of mechanical banks highlighted by a Darktown Battery in the original box. Always popular when they turn up at an auction are Baranger motions, colorful and cleverly electric animated window displays that were rented to small-town jewelry stores from the 1940s to 60s. There are five of them in this auction. The highlight is an incredible lovebird carnival display featuring a central Ferris wheel, a carousel, and a burger stand, all with lovebird couples and a placard that reads, You can be her Love Bird - Buy that Diamond Now. Catalogs are available for purchase for $20 at www.pookandpook.com. Questions regarding condition or requests for additional photographs should be emailed to conditions@pookandpook.com. Pook & Pook and Noel Barretts next Antique Toy Auction is slated for spring 2021. More information about this and other sales can be found online at www.pookandpook.com. Pook & Pook is located at 463 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown, Pa.
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