Introducing Cordier Auctions & Appraisals

Tuesday, September 9, 2014
            Sunny, clear skies, and hot

Introducing Cordier Auctions & Appraisals

   As you know if you'r a frequent reader of my blog, I like to visit the Liveauctioneers website frequently. Liveauctioneers is a website for people around the world who are interested in seeing merchandise up for auction also from around the world. The company hosts live auctions in real time, via the Internet, and people are able to see and bid on items on a secure website.  

  Last week, I noticed an auction company that was selling old toys. What was different about their auction was that many of the toys were being sold in lots, compromised of  anywhere from six to sixteen (6-16) individual toys. The toys were not the rarest or the oldest, but the idea of selling toys in "groups" certainly caught my attention. 

  The name of the company is Cordier Auctions & Appraisals. Their location is in Harrisburg, Pennsylvannia, USA.  I wrote to the company at the end of August, and received a reply from Ellen Miller of  Cordier Auctions & Appraisals.  Ellen's position at Cordier is that of being the director of "Catalog and Specialty Auctions". She is also a Licensed Auctioneer and a Certified Appraiser, and has a Master's degree in Business from Temple University. She also is a dedicated and hard-working volunteer with the Muscular Sclerosis Society. Wow, Ellen certainly is quite busy!

  The website of Cordier Auctions & Appraisals  has a well-written  introduction to the company, 

so I decided to present it for you to read. 

"David and Sandra Cordier had been collectors for years when they began their business in 1980, while living in Halifax, Pennsylvania.  Initially the Cordiers exhibited at area venues such as Black Angus near Reading, Pennsylvania, and the Eastern National Antiques Show held twice yearly in Harrisburg. In 1988 the Cordiers opened a permanent display at Northgate Antiques Mall in Carlisle and, as they became established, began to exhibit at regional shows such as Atlantic City, New Jersey, Baltimore, Maryland, and New York City. As the depth of their interest and knowledge increased, the Cordiers began developing a small market in original art from the 19th and early 20th centuries. While there are several contemporary art galleries in the greater Harrisburg area, the fine antiques establishments displayed very little, if any, original art from the period. This prompted the Cordiers to open a gallery located in Camp Hill. As the Internet and its impact on the antiques and collectibles industry grew, Cordier Antiques expanded into that venue. In 2000, Ellen Miller joined the company to oversee that component of the business in addition to other responsibilities.  Realizing the significance of both traditional and online auctions, David Cordier became a licensed auctioneer in 2006 and began establishing Cordier Antiques & Auctions as the premier auction house in Central Pennsylvania.  Currently, Cordier Antiques holds dozens of onsite, estate, real estate and multi consignor auctions each year in additional to twice yearly catalog auctions of select antiques and fine art.  Cordier Antiques & Auctions was voted “Best Of” by Harrisburg Magazine in 2004 and has been Reader’s Choice for many years. David Cordier currently writes “At Home with Antiques” for the Harrisburg Patriot News “At Home” magazine. From 2002 through 2006, Mr. Cordier also wrote a bi-weekly feature column “Eye on Antiques” for the Patriot News that focused on antiques and related events in central Pennsylvania."* * 'About US' Courtesy of Cordier Auctions & Appraisals.  Please click here to visit this fine American auction and appraisal company   When I  received Ellen Miller's reply, I was informed that I should credit all of the photography to  Mr. Vince Cassaro of Vince Cassaro Photography. Vince is an accomplished professional photographer, and early this year, in collaboration with Cordier Auctions & Appraisals won an award for "Best in Show" for  their brochure, and another award (first place) for their entry at the 2014 Pennsylvania Auctioneers Association Conference held this year on January 8-10, 2014. Please click here to read about these two awards The photography below is superbly done. I did minimal work below. Mostly it was just to whiten the foundation  (what the toys are sitting on). I would highly recommend viewing these photos in Google Blogger's slide mode to see how fantastic these photos really are. Coincidentally, most of these toys have been restored.I had just written two posts early this week  about unrestored and restored toys, and comparing the 2 types of toy conditions for people who might be interested in either. The quality of the restorations is very, very good, and I was thinking how these toys would have looked like this some 50-80 years ago. The Hubley toys below are more recent, compared with the Tootsietoys. In my communication with Ellen Miller, I had to ask her why these toys would be presented in small to larger groups. Her answer was that since most of the toys were restored and not high value, it was preferable to present them at auction in these groups. Personally, I like the idea of being able to bid on groups of toys together rather than one at a time. When I was buying and selling on ebay, it was rare to see more than one toy up for auction. As such, my costs for paying for shipping was much more expensive when buying toys one at a time. Also, if I was more interested in having the toys as room decor rather than as collectibles, this would afford me a great opportunity to purchase many of these nice toys together. Most of the descriptions are quite brief. I've written about most of the Hubley toys except for the Disney toys below. If you are interested in more information on the Hubley and Tootsietoy toys, simply try searching for them on my blog with search words.  I always like to imagine how toys might have appeared "brand new" when they first came out,and today's introductory post certainly illustrates what these toys would have looked like so long ago. Of course, I appreciate whomever had restored these toys to such a fine level or workmanship. I know, since I also did many restorations, but mine were never as fine as these.  Maybe one day, if I I stop writing  and want to keep busy, I can go to Santas' village in the North Pole  and learn how to repair and recondition old toys to the level that we see here! Thanks for dropping by to visit, and as always, have a great part of the day or night, wherever you may be. Stacey toysearcher@gmail.com

An Exceptional Story - Part I

Sunday, September 14, 2013

An Exceptional Story 

(Part I)

   Earlier this week on Wednesday, I added a post about  the Cor-Cor toy company. A reader had asked me about whether or not he should restore his newly-acquired set of 5 Cor-Cor toys. Initially, I said no, since "purist" old or antique collectors of all types of collectibles, never want restored toys.

At the time, I noticed today's toys but didn't mention them. I should have, because there is an exceptional story here. Not only that, but I will be writing the reader again, to present him with a newer revised opinion.

    I had seen the words "New Era" before. They were written with many different toys that I've seen in the last years. However, I misread the words. They didn't mean that these toys were new  in the sense that were built recently (there are people who do this) What it meant that there was a company by the name of New Era Quality Toys, and owned by Mr. Marv Silverstein. Sadly, as I later found out, Mr. Silverstein passed on several years ago.

  "He was a great guy and enjoyed the antique toy business and restoring pressed steel toys (e.g. Buddy-L, Keystone, Cor-Cor, etc.).  His real love was creating pressed steel toys that were never made and there are a multitude of these. He started restoring toys in 1975. He never bought into the taboo of never touching an original.  If a toy was in good condition he would never think of touching it, but he couldn't stand seeing the very rough, well played with, missing parts hulks that were available for very little money.  Having played with cars and trucks (real & toy) from childhood on, he "repainted" a couple of trucks and brought them to our booth in Renninger's Antique Market, Adamstown, Pa.  Many of the antique toy dealers were fascinated with his work and soon started to ask him to do work for them and thus a business was born.  New Era Quality Toys was the name of the business.  This label should be found on all of the custom trucks.  He worked until 2000 when he closed the business but did a few special things for friends.  There is an article in Antique Toy World sometime in the 2000's that shows the last fire engines he created.

   I have a book about the business that he wrote and was edited by Peter Eisele that has never been published.  There are literally hundreds of photos that have to be added to this book.  Maybe, someday.  My suggestion is to to use the Cor-Cor pictures as examples.  There are also examples of his work in the catalogues from the Donald Kaufman auctions.  In his book, he states that he believes he was the first to professionally restore toys, although he admits there were other people repainting for themselves.  For many years he advertised with the slogan "First & Foremost in Toy Restoration"*

* Written by Fran Silverstein (Marv Silverstein's Wife)

Please click here to visit the fine website of Bertoia Auctions

(When you arrive at the Bertoia site, enter the words "new Era" in the search area.What will show from the search is a marvellous collection of toys made by Mr. Marv Silverstein. 

  I wrote earlier that I would be writing two posts about these customized toys. This first one is just about the Cor-Cor automobiles and trucks.  If you ever come across any of Marv's  fabulous "creations", there is a label on his custom trucks.  Some of the toys presented today are"attributed" to Marv, and other are most-likely his creations. However, when auctioneers cannot tell with 100% certainty,they will either write "attributed to", or not write at all. However, with most of the Cor-Cor toy made by Marv Silverstein are "one-ova-kind". Windshield frames were added or nickel-plated, custom decals were added, car bodies were modified and so forth!  If you study today's toys, and in the future see a beautiful Cor-Cor "variation", you will for sure know who made this toy!

  I also wriote earlier, that I would send an e-mail to the person who wrote to me about restoring his 5 Cor-Cor toys that he acquired.  After seeing Marv Silverstein's masterpieces, perhaps the reader will proceed with his restorations!

There is no written description of the above model to attribute it to Marv

nevertheless, I did include it.

As you can see, there are certainly some Cor-Cors that were never built originally, but were  indeed made by Marv Silverstein. An unbelievable amount of work went into the crafting of these toys, and in time, I'm sure they will become true collector's items. The Late Donald Kaufmann - a famous collector of antique toys had many of today's toys in his collection, and many others. You'll see those when you search out the link that I've added under Bertoia Auctions logo.

Don't forget to view these toys in slide mode via Blogger. They're larger, and you can really see the skill that Marv Silverstein transferred into these "works of art".  If anyone out there has the pleasure of owning one of these exceptional toys, please e-mail me, 

and I will gladly add it to today's post.

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com