An RSL Exceptional American Mechanical Banks Auction

Monday, February 19, 2024

-11° Celsius / 13° Fahrenheit

Clear skies but very cold

An RSL Exceptional American Banks Auction

Please click here to visit this fine auction company on LiveAuctioneers

Please click here to visit the RSL Auction Company website

I've been posting The RSL Auction Company auctions beginning in 2018.

I had contacted the company and wrote to Mr. Ray Haredin by e-mail to ask for his permission to write some posts about him and his company. He replied right away, and thus began my  blogging.

I'll be adding a few more exceptional cast iron toy banks in the near future, but for now I chose this fine American cast iron American mechanical toy bank.

If you visit either of the 2 websites that I mentioned, you will notice 2 characteristics of Ray Haredin's website that stand out. 

One is excellent photography with a large amount of photographs to have any bidder examine the toy.

The second characteristic is the well-written description of the merchandise. With both toys, there is a well-written and lengthy amount of information for the bidder to read. This is a fine addition to any on-line item that goes to auction.

When you are interested in bidding on any item from any auction company, you want to know as much as possible about the item being auctioned off. This also illustrates that the auction house is knowledgeable about the items going for sale.

"Made by the Shepard Hardware Company. Buffalo, New York - Circa Early 1890's. The Circus Bank is from Shepard Hardware's renowned Excelsior Series of toy banks. When the crank is turned, we watch a clown and his pony circle the sawdust of the center ring. With each turn around the ring, the pony gallops up and down three times. As the clown approaches the penny, his left arm rises up to push the coin into the slot. Once the clown passes the deposit aperture, his arm snaps back down. Very few examples of the Circus Bank retain the original crank and trap, as this one does."

"The second mechanical bank was "Made by the Kyser & Rex Company in Frankford, Pennsylvania - Circa 1880's (USA.) For most children, their first ride on the wooden animals of the carousel represents a highly exhilarating, albeit, frightening experience. To stretch for the brass ring, they must overcome the dizzying forces of physics and conquer all their fears. But the chance of winning a prize certainly provided sufficient motivation for most. Kyser & Rex's Merry-Go_Round bank effectively captures the moment of transformative bliss. The ticket man, wand in hand, takes your penny for admission to the ride. Five children have mounted exotic animals that include a swan, an ostrich, a dog,

a camel and an elephant."

So, as they say in the movies when a scene is finished:

"That's a rap"

I normally read the descriptions of toys going to auction, but whomever wrote these two descriptions, wrote them very well. Not only did I enjoy the excellent photography (I taught pro photography, as well as being a photographer), but the narratives were super!

And the photography was also great!

These 2 fine antique toys are exemplary (exceptional) from their era when they were made more that 100 years ago. If you went to Liveauctioneers, and the RSL Auction Company's listings, you'd see what the price of these 2 mechanical bank toys were selling for at the start of the auction.

You'd be very surprised!

Finally, what I have realized in writing over the last 12 years, is that

it's really great to see these very old toys being passed on from generation to generation!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always,

Enjoy the day or night, wherever you may be.

My name is (Mr.) Stacey Bindman

and I can always be reached at:

toysearcher@gmail.com

The RSL Auction Company's Upcoming 2018 Auction

Monday, April 30, 2018
Cloud with Rain
11 C  51.8 F

The RSL Action Company's

Upcoming 2018 Auction

(Tom & Lori Sage Collection)

Please click here to visit this exceptional American Auctioneer

Yesterday, I was searching out new potential material for posts, 

when I came across the current RSL Auction Company's website.

I had written recently (January 2018) about this great company and had returned 

to see what's up. Sure enough, the website had been updated. Perhaps I 

hadn't been attentive enough before, but the new component

was in being able to download old and new catalogue auctions.

This is great, because I can search through their catalogues

on my computer without using up too much download data on my Internet supplier.

Also, I could see many toys on one page.

Below are the latest 3 auctions scheduled for June 2018

Today's post is about the Tom and Lori Sage auction.

Below is a screen-capture from the very large auction website liveAuctioneers.

liveAuctioneers is a company that manages the presentation and bidding for auctioneers. 

It's one of the largest types of these company's in the world! You register yourself on this website and bid for merchandise.  The actual merchandise delivery is handled by the auction company (e.g. RSL Auction Company) which then ships the winning merchandise to your home or office.

The owners of the RSL Auction Company have known Tom and Lori Sage for a long time, and have become friends with them. As such, the Sages had selected RSL to be their auctioneer.

Below is a screen-capture of the liveAuctioneers website.

Below is a well-written introduction about the collectors, Tom and Lori Sage.

 When you visit the RSL Auction Company, you'll find a web page that

allows you to download the 3 auctions coming up in the beginning of June 2018.

Below is the download place for the Sage collection.

Below is the most expensive mechanical bank in the Sage Collection.

It's called The Mikado Bank.

The next mechanical bank is called the Merry-Go-Round. It also is very expensive.

Interestingly, it was selected for the cover of one of my reference books-

A History of Antique Mechanical Toy Banks. It was published byLong's American, 

and the author is Mr. Al Davidson.

The final bank for today's post is titled "Clown, Harlequin, and Columbine".

I only selected the three most-expensive mechanical banks for this post.

As you can see and read, Both liveAuctioneers and the RSL Auction Company

are excellent websites to research mechanical banks and toys. 

Some people write to me and ask if I can identify a toy for them.

If you ask me to identify a toy, please send accompanying photos of the toy.

The photos should include different angles of the toy, and if there is

any writing on the toy that also.

This helps la lot in helping me help you. The photos should be taken from skylight

entering through your window. Sun is too harsh and contrasty. 

Also, a white reflector opposite the toy and the skylight will reflect

light into the shadows of the toy.

The size of the photos should be at least 4" x 6" 

and about 144 dpi (dots per inch), 

or about 4 MB.

So that's it for today.

Thanks for coming by,

And as always,

Have a great part of the day or night,

Wherever you may be.

Stacey Bindman

toysearcher@gmail.com

he skylight will help to add light into the shadow areas.

Those Beautiful Mechanical Banks from Gray's Auctioneers

Saturday, December 6, 2014
Overcast, drizzling, and warm

Those Beautiful Mechanical Banks

from Gray's Auctioneers

  Earlier this week, I had contacted Gray's Auctioneer's, and later given the go-ahead to write an introductory post about them., which I did yesterday.  Their website is superbly designed to allow readers to easily migrate through their site, and to look at their images against a whitened background (which is what I have been doing for the last 5 months or so.  However, it's their excellent photography and framing of their images that caught my eye.  For yesterday's post on Gray's Auctioneers, I decided to present just 1 item that will be auctioned on December 10, 2014 starting @ 07:00 A.M. Their website gave me some motivation to present their images as I had found them.

  However, I couldn't simply leave all  the rest of the magnificent photography of the mechanical banks. I had to add another post for today.  However, once again, I'm minimizing the post to only 2 items. Their photography is excellent and large in size. I didn't want to present my usual 10 images, and have you scroll and scroll and scroll down. Better still,if you go to their website and look at each image, they have a slide show that changes the images of an item (usually from 6-8) every 3-5 descends or so.

Please click here to visit this fine American auction company

Description

A Cast Iron Cat and Mouse (Cat Balancing) Mechanical Bank Manufactured by J. & E. Stevens Co., ca. 1891, Place a coin in front of the mouse over the cat. Press the lever and as the coin disappears into the bank, the kitten appears holding the mouse and ball. 

Dimensions: height x width x depth:

 11 3/4"  x  5 1/2" x   4"

298 mm x 140  mm x 102  mm  

Provenance: The Collection of Mr. James N. Seidelle*

*Description Courtesy of Gray's Auctioneers

Yesterday  I spoke to  the representative of Gray's Auctioneers yesterday, Ms. Flannery Marley.

In our conversation, Flannery mentioned that they examine and test their items going to auction to see if they work. This is great, because when you read the written description,you can understand what the mechanics are for receiving a coin and depositing it into the "vault".

It's hard to imagine how popular these mechanical banks were way back and so long ago, Yet even today, they're still very popular. I purchased a "reproduction" in, of all places a hardware store, which is ironic, because many of the original cast iron toy makers started out making cast iron metal hardware (food knobs, door hinges, door locks).

For these great photographs, I can now understand when antique toy experts say tha tit's the fine detail  that can't be reproduced very well in today's reproductions or even the "fakes" from 100 years ago. Both the extremely fine sand used in the casting process, and the superb craftsmanship of the workers certainly illustrates how beautiful these banks were made.

You'll definitely  have  to look at these photos in Blogger's slide mode and in high magnification. 

What is showing in the middle photo below is a curled-up mouse that the cat caught after the coin was deposited into the bank, and a spring was released.

A Cast Iron Eagle and Eaglets Mechanical Bank Manufactured by J. & E. Stevens Co., ca. 1883, Place a coin in the eagle's beak and press the lever. The eagle leans forward as if to feed the eaglets. The eaglets rise up as if to eat and a bellows is activated to simulate the chirping eaglets. The coin is simultaneously deposited into the nest and falls into the receptacle below. 

Dimensions: height x width x depth

 6" x 8" x 4"

152  mm x 203  mm  x  102  mm 

Provenance: The Collection of Mr. James N. Seidelle. *

• Description Courtesy of Gray's Auctioneers

The item below is smaller than the bank above. It was probably less-costly to purchase than the one above, so it's currently not as high-price at the set starting bid for auction. But I absolutely had to select this one. Once again the texture of the features on the mother bird is exceptional. BUt what I also like is the mechanics of the bank. 

What's so amazing about these toy banks, is that all of the major manufacturers of cast iron products at the time also manufactured these banks. There's also an American association just for mechanical banks! What';s even more fascinating is how many different designs and mechanics that were created to deposit counts into the banks.

The description doesn't say, but I'm 99% sure that these banks were hand painted. 

Just look at the plumage of this  cast iron bird!

Above is a great photo of one of the baby bird's waiting to be fed. 

I like those bulging eyes! Below is the patent date registered on 

January 23, 1883 - almost 132 years ago!

You'll have to visit the Gray's Auctioneers website or  Liveauctioneers

 to see the fine collection and the excellent photography.

Thnaks for dropping by, and as always,

have a great part of the day or night,

wherever you may be,

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com