Friday, August 23, 2013
Pook & Pook Inc. was created in 1984 by Ronald and Debra Pook. The firm's offices are located in a beautiful old stone in that was built in 1761, which seem to be appropriate for a business of this nature. It's in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which is about a 35 minute drive west of Philadelphia. What I found also interesting is that Ronald and Debra Pook had been in the antique business already before venturing forth into the auction business. Having established an excellent reputation in antiques,their auction company drew upon people and companies that were already familiar with them. These included museums, estate representatives, and collectors who had built collections of antiques throughout their lives.
Both Ron and Debra Pook are very much still active in their business, and research, photograph, and handle the many fine items that pass through their doors. They have an interesting program titled "Programs for non-Profits", which started out offering free informal appraisals and consignment rates as low as 0% for museums, historical societies, and heritage centers. This program has since been expanded to also offer free advertising in its catalogues, and free catalogues and images for research purposes.
I've only selected and paraphrased a small portion of their illustrious history and biography of the
Pooks. There have been sales records that have been established for auctions, famous collections that have been sold, and many other interesting stories and information. I'm sure they will comtinue for a long, long time thanks in part to their hard work and personal approach to dealing both with collectors and their antiques.*
* Material used from the Pook & Pook Inc. "About Us" page
Pook and Pook Inc.
Yesterday, I was browsing through the Liveauctioneers website when my eye caught some very nice cast iron bell pull toys that I had not seen before. They were being presented by Pook & Pook Inc. I'd seen their name before, but I had never contacted them before. However, this time, I wanted to present their fine toys that I had just seen. As usual, I contacted the company, and got a very quick and nice letter from Deidre Pook Magarelli, the Vice-President of Pook and Pook, Inc., Auctioneers and Appraisers. Deidre had supplied with with a press release for their upcoming auction on September 6 & 7, 2013. And so, I decided to introduce the company for their first post,but using photos from the opening of her press release. Those nice bell pull toys will be posted later this week.
"Here is our press release (see below). Thank you for posting about our Toy Auction on your blog.
Santa’s workshop doesn’t have anything on Pook & Pook these days. Looking out over the auction hall it is hard to miss the 45 tables and 16 showcases packed with children’s playthings, from cast-iron vehicles and banks to dolls to plush animals to board games. On Sept. 6-7 Pook & Pook Inc. will begin the fall season with a two-day toy sale that includes over 1,400 lots.
Included are a large group of mechanical and still banks, such as the Giant in Tower, Boys stealing Watermelon, Circus, Dark Town Battery, Merry-Go-Round, and Boy Scout camp, just to name a few.
Photos of lots 23, 27, 32, 219, 250
Horse drawn toys are plentiful with many different examples by Dent, Hubley, Wilkins, Kenton & Shimmer and others.
Photo 98 Kenton oversized cast iron ladder truck
Photo 187 Hubley three-seat brake
Photo 508 Kenton donkey wagon “Mama Katzenjammer” spanking child
Photo 134 Harris “City Delivery” wagon"*
* Courtesy of Deidre Pook Magarelli, Pook & Pook, Inc., Auctioneers and Appraisers
A Brief History of Pook & Pook Inc
Pook & Pook Inc. was created in 1984 by Ronald and Debra Pook. The firm's offices are located in a beautiful old stone in that was built in 1761, which seem to be appropriate for a business of this nature. It's in Chester County, Pennsylvania, which is about a 35 minute drive west of Philadelphia. What I found also interesting is that Ronald and Debra Pook had been in the antique business already before venturing forth into the auction business. Having established an excellent reputation in antiques,their auction company drew upon people and companies that were already familiar with them. These included museums, estate representatives, and collectors who had built collections of antiques throughout their lives.
Both Ron and Debra Pook are very much still active in their business, and research, photograph, and handle the many fine items that pass through their doors. They have an interesting program titled "Programs for non-Profits", which started out offering free informal appraisals and consignment rates as low as 0% for museums, historical societies, and heritage centers. This program has since been expanded to also offer free advertising in its catalogues, and free catalogues and images for research purposes.
I've only selected and paraphrased a small portion of their illustrious history and biography of the
Pooks. There have been sales records that have been established for auctions, famous collections that have been sold, and many other interesting stories and information. I'm sure they will comtinue for a long, long time thanks in part to their hard work and personal approach to dealing both with collectors and their antiques.*
* Material used from the Pook & Pook Inc. "About Us" page
Below is a nice grouping of mechanical banks. A "mechanical" bank is different from a regular bank in that it moves or performs an action. You usually cock or trigger a spring, and when you press a lever, the coin moves in some way.
Mechanical banks were extremely popular at the end of the 19th century, and up to the late 1930's.
Many of them still exist. You can even find reproduction mechanical banks in the marketplace today. Since many of the companies are no longer in business or the patents lapsed, many original bank designs have been copied. You need to be cautious when purchasing a mechanical bank if you do not know about them.
Notice how Pook and Pook like to use nice fabric to present this item to the viewers.
As with many auctioneers today, Pook & Pook uses a software to allow the viewer to check the listed item more closely. Zoomify allows you to magnify the image, and move around to look at different parts or features of the item.
As you press the + symbol, the image magnifies. You can then either use the arrow symbols to move around or use your mouse to move the small red rectangle.
I decided to take a closer look at the rider.
By magnifying the front wheel with the metal rod, I figured out how the horses moved up and down.
The rod is attached to the wheel, and as the wheel turns, it pulls the white horse up and down. Since both horses are attached to each other, they both move together up and down, as if galloping.
I removed the wooden background from this beautiful "brake" or coach so it would show well against white.
Here's another interesting and colourful cast iron toy. The "Katzenjammer" family were a famous cartoon form the early 1900's that many people followed in the newspapers. If you enlarge this image, you will see that "Mama's" right arm is loose in her socket and can move, thus "spanking" the child.
That small round-shaped wheel in the front was for the toy to move. A small string or cord would be attached to the toy,so that a child could pull the toy behind him/her.
Here's a close-up pof the youngster getting a spanking!
Another beautiful hand-painted cast iron pull toy.
A close-up of the hand-painted lettering. I especially like the colour slection chosen for this wagon.
The metal (iron) rods around the horse are quite interesting. I'm wondering if this set-up was unique to this Harris company toy? I would assume that the spring allowed for movement of the horse, yet at the same time kept the horse from falling down as it was pulled.
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