An Exceptional Toy comes to Auction

Monday, February 21, 2014
             (Second post of the day)

An Exceptional Toy Comes to Auction

   I'd be waiting for Bertoia Auctions to finally add their viewing catalogue on their website, and finally it showed up early this past week. I like to return several times to a site before I decide what I'd like to write, and this strategy or technique worked well for today's post. When you look at any set of items through most auction sites, ebay, or Liveauctioneers or similar sites, you need to sort out your  search by some parameter or sorting order. I usually do mine by bidding>>high to low. The most expensive toys are not necessarily the most interesting, but they are the most desirable by collectors.

   In my initial "previewing" for Bertoia Auctions MArch 2014 auction, I had simply dropped by and looked very fast. However, today, I decided to set the sorting order by bidding>>high to low, and I saw something that I had to share right away. What I saw was a beautiful Noah's Ark with people, and of cost the pairs of animals .But what most caught my attention was how careful the pairs of animals were arranged, and the lighting.  There sere some shadows and they helped present a soft and tranquil mood to the layout (the careful arrangement of the items in a photo). When I did my screen capture, and then enlarged the photos, I know that this was for a "special edition second post" of the day!

Please click here to visit Bertoia Auctions latest auction

I decided to copy the Bertoia description, so that the description writing would not interfere with the first image.

"An exceptional early example, hand painted overall, impressive size measuring 37" l., rarely found in this condition and scale, sliding door on one side, paint details are quite amazing and well executed, piece comes with an enormous array of nicely scaled carved examples. This fresh find makes a nice buying opportunity. Well preserved for age with normal crazing and wear to paint, repaired cracks to side of house"

*Description courtesy of Bertoia Auctions

37"  =  940 mm

I removed some of the grey-toned background in order to make the photo brighter.

what happened without any planning is that the animals appear to be on an island, as if the water level had risen to very high heights. But the best is how the lighting is soft and calming, and the animals are waiting their turn to board the ark.

When the final gavel hits the wood block, it will certainly most interesting to find out the popularity pif this special item and the final value that it received.

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

Write to me anytime at 

toysearcher@gmail.com