Antiques PR Publicity Announcements News and Information
Antiques PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Philip Weiss Estates and Collections Auction

An astounding 2,000 lots – mostly fresh-to-the-market merchandise from prominent estates and collections – will be sold at auctions planned for Mar. 28-29 and Apr. 4 by Philip Weiss Auctions. The sales will be conducted at the firm’s spacious gallery, located at #1 Neil Court in Oceanside, N.Y. Bids will also be fielded absentee, by phone and online (via Proxibid and iCollector).

“Despite the economic woes our country is now facing, we’re looking forward to a great four-part sale over the course of three days, on back-to-back weekends,” said Philip Weiss. “The key to our success is securing fresh-to-the-market, quality items that have never been on the market before. Some auction houses are content to recycle the same items over and over. Not us. Fresher is always better.”

The weekend of Mar. 28-29 will comprise three sessions – two on Saturday and one on Sunday. The first Saturday session, beginning at 10 a.m., will feature an impressive collection of medical and scientific instruments. Included will be medical and dental items; a collection of calculators and slide rules; office items (early check punches and registers); and pre-1950 spy and surveillance equipment.

Highlights will include a previously unrecorded 19th-century Kwik Calculator; Pascaline Calculator; McFarlane’s Calculating Cylinder; Higgins Patent (mechanical) Calculating Triangle; Wheilon Calculometer; Bair-Fulton American Calculator; and numerous 19th- and 20th-century slide rules, including some special-purpose rules for artillery, brewing and other, more esoteric applications.

The office machine portion will include an Abbott Automatic Check Perforator, Lightning Check Punch and United States Check Punch; an early mechanical envelope sealer; and rare, vintage pencil sharpeners, to include a Perfect Pencil Pointer and a Jupiter Pencil Mechanical Sharpener.

Medical lots will include Civil War-era amputation sets; a scarce cased Ammoniaphone; rare ophthalmic items (including a Dr. Culbertson’s Prisoptometer); many unusual quack devices; porcelain enemas; anesthesia collectibles; ENT (ear-nose-throat) items; urological instruments; and more.

Finally, the surveillance equipment section will contain an FBI “black bag” and a cased U.S. Army 1944 Signal Corps listening device. Session I will also feature a large collection of Red Cross material, to include posters, pins, medical books and an impressive grouping of World War II posters in near-mint condition. Many had been acquired at the time of their printing and neatly stored ever since.

The second session, beginning at 4 p.m., will feature two large estates, loaded with fresh-to-the-market merchandise. A few major lots include a monumental Sevres urn; a pair of Chippendale wing chairs (Philadelphia, circa 1750-1775); a period American Sheraton sofa (circa 1800); an American walnut slant-front desk (circa 1720); Lalique vases; KPM and Staffordshire porcelain; and Sevres urns.

Other expected top lots of the session include a 19th-century 12-light dore bronze chandelier; a running horse weather vane by J.W. Fiske (N.Y., circa 1880); a 19th-century cast-iron Neptune sculpture attributed to J.W. Fiske; a historic period walnut campaign desk; a heavily carved figural oak dining room table with eight chairs; and a French inlaid commode with figural dore bronze mounts.

Paintings and sculptures will include original works by F. Picard, Ernst Leger, Felipe Castaneda, Franz X. Bergmann, Livio Seguso, Julius Hugo Bergmann, Ken Nack, Margaret McDonald Phillips, Howard L. Hastings, Jean-Claude Gaugy, A. Gissom, H.P. Picard, John Constable and Luigi Lucioni.

The Sunday session, Mar. 29, starting at 10 a.m., will beam a spotlight on sports memorabilia, animation art, comics and comic art. Sports highlights include signed Hall of Fame baseball plaques for legends Babe Ruth, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and others; and vintage baseball cards, to include T-206, T-205, T-202, American Caramel E-91, S81 silks, and Play Ball cards.

Also to be sold will be a 1-of-1 Topps George Washington hair relic card; an 1889 Harvard-Yale game program and ticket; rare 1887 Detroit Baseball Club currency; a great selection of signed baseballs and bats; sports prints and lithographs; and a New York Yankees game-worn jersey, originally used by Bill “Moose” Skowron before his number was changed for use by another Yankees player.

The comic art will feature 40-50 pieces of quality vintage animation art from many of the major Disney and Warner Brothers productions, to include a recently-discovered 1940s Tom & Jerry cartoon animation cel. Also offered will be comics; Big Little books; vintage Disney material; and a single-owner collection of comic and character watches. Other consignments were being added at press time.

Then, on Saturday, Apr. 4, beginning at 10 a.m., Philip Weiss Auctions will present its first major doll and toy soldier sale of 2009. The day will feature dolls and automatons from a pair of major estate collections; and soldiers, featuring over 175 Courtenay and Courtenay-Greenhill figures. Also sold will be pressed steel toys; wind-up toys; a collection of over 150 “Par Puzzles”; and other items.

On April 24-25, yet another major two-day sale will be held. April 24 will feature high-end paintings, bronzes and furniture. The April 25 session will have antique advertising items and toys. Highlights will include a Columbian Exposition Egg in the original box; an Ives Walking Santa; a collection of laundry, soap and cleaning advertising material; and other rare tin and cast-iron toys.

The weekend of May 8-9 will see another major two-day auction. On Friday night, May 8, toy trains will take center stage, to include part of a large collection of store stock Lionel, Rail King and MTH pieces, in shipping cartons. The May 9 session will feature stamps, coins, rare books, autographs and manuscripts. Highlights include a block of six Canadian inverted St. Lawrence Seaway stamps; a rare handwritten Schindler letter; a collection of WPA lithographs; and other fresh-to-the-market items.

Philip Weiss Auctions is always accepting quality consignments for future sales. To consign an item, estate or collection, you may call them directly, at (516) 594-0731, or you can e-mail them at [email protected]. To learn more about the company and its calendar of upcoming auctions, to include the April and May sales, and to view color images, you may log on to www.prwauctions.com