Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Cowan's Auctions - A New Find

Tuesday, June 26, 2013


Cowan's Auctions
(A New Find)

Introduction

   I'm always searching for antique toys that I have not seen before and also people or auction houses that I have not  approached. That's how I discovered Cowan's Auctions. My "usual" visit to Liveauctioneers  usually finds me searching out past auctions, but this time, I decided to check out upcoming ones. AMount the different auction houses was Cowan's Auctions. My attention first was attracted to the professional quality of photography. However, when I decided to look in more detail 1 of the antique toys, I found a great feature - large magnification

   What's great about large magnification, large-sized images, multiple images of 360 degree rotating moving images is the fact that you can carefully  "examine" in close-up details any toy. What;s good about any of these choices is the ability to study the toy. As a consequence, you can cross-reference the written description with the actual toy.

   With the internet, auction houses now are able to have people from around the world or in North America bid on items.  The advantages for the seller and auctioneer is to have a greater number of potential bidders, while to the bidder, the advantage is being able to bid on items that you  might not find around your area.  As far as Montreal goes, it's almost impossible to find antique toys. There's a great antique store near what is called Atwater Market, but their prices are quite high. Aside form them, forget about antique toys. I did go to 1 auction near me (Saint-Hyacinthe), but the bidding also went too high. As well,  when I've ever gone to a live auction, I disliked having to wait hours and hours until a particular item came to bid.

Cowan's Auctions


"As one of the nation’s leading auction houses with sales approaching $20 million, Cowan’s has been helping individuals and institutions build important collections for more than a decade.  The company’s seven divisions of American History, American Indian andWestern Art, American and European Fine and Decorative Art, Historic Firearms & Early Militaria, Asian Art, Ceramics, and Jewelry hold semi-annual cataloged sales that routinely set records for rare offerings."*
Cowan's Auctions holds major consignment auctions throughout the year, each supported by a full color catalog that is sent to buyers throughout the United States and Canada. An internet-only version typically attracts buyers from South America, Europe, the Middle East, and Japan. More than 1,000 bidders typically participate in each sale.
Cowan's provides complete insurance and free storage for your consigned items. Our service includes all photography, advertising and catalog preparation of the items consigned to us.*

* Courtesy of  Cowan's Auctions  

   Cowan's Auctions works with many different categories of antiques, but they treat all of their merchandise equally.  They have a very good knowledge of toys (you have to), and their photography is excellent. What I decided to do for today's post is to present the original photos that accompany each listing, as well as some screen-captured magnified images. You'll be able to see how a high magnification is better able to illustrate small details or  cross-reference the written description (e.g. any damage or missing part) with the photograph.

 As always, you'll have to look at the photos here via Google Blogger's slide view feature. However, Mr. Evan Sikes, whom I contacted suggested (great idea) that I link each of today's images with the original listing at the Cowan Auctions website. That's  great, as you'll be able to see the great magnification feature personally!  

   Evan had a suggestion that he mentioned when he replied to me. The idea was to add a link to the original listing on Cowan's Auctions website. Of course, I said yes. However, as I was adding the links for each toy or toy sets below, I realized what a great idea this was! Normally, I just make only 1 link to the site, but this is a great idea. It will allow the viewer to see the actual great magnification feature that Cowan's Auctions employs on their website. By simply clicking on the words "Please Click" below each of the first toy images, toy'll be able to redirect yourself to Cowans Auction's.


That's  the magnification feature
You have a "slider" that allows you to move and enlarge or reduce the image size. The pointed triangles are for moving left,right, up, or down.The multiple page icon is for a fullscreen view.



Please click 



You can see the logo of the toy, which is a Louis Marx brand.

Please Click 
I decided to use the magnification feature to enlarge this particular van.
I know the other toys, but this one, I don't. I'll have to keep this one in mind when I look for future toys!

Please Click

Please Click



If I was interested in this particular toy, I'd have checked the 2 sailors. As a toy, the sailors would have been handled a lot , so I'd have checked them for their condition and any wear from handling.


Enlarging this image allowed me to see how this toy was originally made.
I also immediately saw the tiny bells, that I did not see before, since the rest of the toy was so interesting. Also, I could see the condition of the wheel at the bottom of the toy, since this toy was a pull toy.




Cowan's Auctions of course described this toy with the broken rear wheel. I just decided to see its condition through the enlargement (below)







I've seen this Tipp and Company toy before.
However, I didn't see the changeable  "chalkboard" before, nor was I aware that originally, several of these came with the toy.

 I wanted to enlarge this part of the toy to see how much wear there was on the arm.
Actually it's in excellent condition for such an old toy!



What's curious to me is why Tipp and Company never made inside covers to hide the inner working parts of the  arms.

Please Click

Cowan's Auctions  of course mentioned the condition of the box. When the original box is presented for auction, the value of the toy increases.
 A close up of the box's  condition.




I wanted to check the condition of the small wheel.
It's in "super" condition - not a "real" term when describing an antique!
If you enlarge this image, you'll even see some of the  small dots that make up a lithographed image.

Please Click

I've seen this Hull & Stafford toy before, but enlarging it certainly exaggerates the already disproportionate size of the man relative to the cart and goat!

 A closer view of the goat.
With this magnification, you can now see the small hole behind the goat's red lips. That's where a cord would be attached through for a child to pull the toy along.
Another view of the goat presented by Cowan's Auctions.


Please Click

I like detail!
When you enlarge this image or go to Cowan's Auctions, you'll see lots and lots of detail.

I wanted to see the small bucket, but what I also noticed was the small bumps on the wheel. That's interesting as I just mentioned that yesterday with regard to an Indian brand of Hubley motorcycle.

 In this view, you can see both the small pail, and the bell to the rear of the wagon.

Cowan's Auctions described the condition of the eagle more conservatively than I would have. 
When I adjusted toe exposure in Photoshop, I was very surprised to see how well the eagle's condition actually was!


So that's it for today. The weather is ominous right now. As of 14:30 P.M. the weather here was actually great, but hot and high humidity. Now the skies are overcast with lots of thunder! I was going to mow the lawn, but not now. With the weather e's been having here, I've only watered my lawn a few times since mid-May, and that was due to grass seeding!

In closing, I would like to thank Mr. Evan Sikes and Cowan's Auctions for having given me the permission to write about them and their fine antique toys. It's always a real pleasure to be able to write about a new auction house, and having one that has excellent quality photos helps me save time in presenting the  images.

Thanks for dropping by, 

and as always, have a great part of the day,
wherever you may be.
Stacey

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