An Excellent New England Auctioneer Upgrades His Website

Thursday, January 23, 2014
       (Very cold with sunny periods)

An Excellent New England Auctioneer 

Upgrades His Website

   On many auctioneers websites, you may not see the final prices that were realized at auctions. I hardly ever add final prices because prices of items can vary for many reasons. The time of year, the year, the season, the auctioneer, the condition of the item, and so forth. However, I will sometimes register just to take "peeks" at final prices realized.  I rarely though do this.

   A few days ago, I got a press release from Rebekah Kaufmann of James D. Julia Auctioneers. They are a well-established and renowned auction company located in Fairfield, Maine (USA). Rebekah Kaufmann is the Marketing and Business Development Coordinator, Boston Area for James D. Julia Auctioneers. I'll e-mail Rebekah later today to see what her specific title is.  She also happens to be the archivist for Steiff (USA) - the famous stuffed toy bear (and other animal) company. Naturally, I heard that "Here's another new post opportunity" ring in my head, so I wrote Rebekah back. She gave me the OK, but of course being a dedicated employee, she kindly asked me to work on the James D. Julia Auctioneers post first.

   I frequently visit the Julia website because they sell very interesting and rarer toys. As well, they  have excellent photos combined with very detailed descriptions about the items going to auction, and those that have done to auction.

  When I went to visit the website after Rebekah's e-mail, I had to look to see what had changed. The website was great before the improvements, so what changes could there be to upgrade? Below is part of the press release that I received.

   What I did note right away were 2 things. The website viewing was faster, and secondly the scrolling pages of items listed at auction was larger. Photos were larger, and the type (written description) were larger. Now you could view the items and descriptions without enlarging them on your computer.

Julia’s new website features a clean, contemporary interface which elegantly reflects the organization’s core branding, values, and legacy.  An enhanced “about us” section, aptly named “Inside Julia’s,” provides an insider’s perspective on the almost 60 year background of the company, as well as an overview of the company’s founding priorities as articulated by James Julia himself more than 40 years ago.   The company’s specialty divisions - Rare Firearms; Fine Art, Asian, and Antiques; Lamp and Glass, and Advertising, Toy, and Doll - are each brought to life in an easy to navigate, image rich fashion.  The website has been optimized for speed and load times so it's now faster and easier than ever to explore current auction offerings, or review past sales, with the company’s enhanced search functionality.  Additional new website features include full specialist biographies; an expanded media area featuring updated announcements, videos, podcasts, and third-party mentions; and real-time debuts of upcoming auction highlights so enthusiasts can be the first to learn about exciting new finds for their collections.

According to Mark Ford, CEO of James D. Julia and the force behind this critical project, “I am pleased to be able to present the new Julia's website to our worldwide base of customers and colleagues.  This year-long project reflects the careful input and best thinking of many people who worked tirelessly to replicate the authentic “in person” Julia’s experience of honesty and transparency through an electronic channel - not an easy task, to say the least!  Julia’s has always strived to lead the industry in bringing constant and relevant innovation to the antiques and auctions world, and this new website - which scales seamlessly to computers, tablets, and hand held devices - is our next contribution to that charge.”*

* Courtesy of James D. Julia Auctioneers

Please click here to visit the fine website of James D. Julia Auctioneer

  When you visit the James D. Julia website, you will see that the company has 4 main divisions:

1.  Rare Firearms Division

2. Lamp & Glass Division

3. Advertising, Toy, and Doll Division

4. Fine Art, Asian & Antiques Division

  If you've been following my blog, you'' have read that for 2014, I've decided to add some non-toy items to posts, especially for new people or company discoveries. However, I also will do this for my older companies and people as well. What I find with James D. Julia, and other large auction companies is that they auction many different items and present to you excellent descriptions. The Internet has certainly changed how people can access information, and learn about things.

  My favourites at the Julia site are the travelling salemen samples that have been placed in the Advertising Toy and Doll Division. These are items scaled exact replicas of farm machinery, kitchen appliances, and even train cars! My next favourite is toys of course, and my third is the Rare Firearms Division.   

  I'm not a gun collector or own a gun, but the photography, the descriptions, and the historic timespan of items that go to auction from this division is astounding. If you wanted to learn about firearms, this is the place to go!  What is most interesting are the large-sized photos and the excellent quality of photography. I once even saw a fingerprint on one of the antique pistol barrels,and you could see the ridges from the fingerprint!

I gathered 4 different pages to make this one composite. I removed the photos of the specialist in charge of each division, and will ask Rebekah to ask her to ask the individuals if I might include their photos.

Each opening division page has 4 features as you can see:

1. Current Auctions

2. Current Highlights

3. Past Actions

4. About the Division

A Few Examples from the Firearms Division

You can see the quality photography and the detail of the photos.

Revised: 9/17/2012

Additional Information: All damascening done in 22k gold wire work in 3 distinct patterns. Bbl & backstrap decorated in complex foliate vine & scrollwork w/flowerettes; receiver and chambers area in fine foliate reticulations only; cyl in connecting circular patterns w/linear foliations. Consignor has owned this pistol since its purchase from Julia’s in 1994.

RARE CASED DAMASCENED COLT MODEL 1851 LONDON NAVY PERCUSSION REVOLVER. SN 35232. Cal. 36. Circa 1855. Usual configuration with 7-1/2″ oct bbl, pin front sight and 1-line address “COL. COLT. LONDON” with spears. Frame is marked with a small “COLT’S PATENT”. Damascened steel trigger guard & backstrap contain a 1-pc varnished walnut grip with matching SN in backstrap channel. Entire revolver including cyl, rammer & handle, wedge, hammer, trigger guard & backstrap are beautifully damascened with intricate vines and flowerettes in heavy gold and a dark brownish metal background. Screw heads are also damascened. Left side of bbl lug & cyl have British proofs. Accompanied by an orig English mahogany casing with empty brass plaque in the lid. Case is scarlet velvet lined and compartmented in bottom for the revolver, a Dixon “COLTS NAVY FLASK”, bag shaped flask, a blued steel 2-cavity bullet & ball “COLTS PATENT” mold with sprue cutter, an L-shaped nipple wrench, an all steel cleaning rod and a lacquered tin of Eley’s caps. There is also a functioning key. Most of the Colts so decorated had the work done in India for the RAJ or for the occasional British officer. This exact Colt is pictured on p 141 in “Colt Engraving” by R. L. Wilson. PROVENANCE: Ex Frank Russell Collection. CONDITION: Extremely fine, all matching. Overall retains virtually all of this fine gold damascening with the only noticeable wear on the ends of the wedge and a couple of small spots on front strap. Grip has a chipped right toe, otherwise is sound showing light edge wear and overall retains about 95% orig varnish. Mechanics are fine, strong bore with moderate pitting. Case is sound with a few light nicks & scratches and retains most of an old restored finish; interior is lightly to moderately faded with light soil in bottom and light damage from front sight & hammer spur; flask has one small dent and overall retains 70-75% orig finish; mold has numerous small nicks & dings and retains about 50% orig blue; other accessories are fine. 4-46337 JR196 (25,000-35,000)*

* Description Courtesy of Jamed D. Julia Inc.

I've only added 1 description for today's post. As you can see from the above (revised) description, there is a vast amount of detail that is presented for each item, even across the many divisions. I'm sure the company has a large room full of books and catalogues to help with the authentication and write-up of each item.

An  Example from the Lamp and Glass Division

I've reduced the sizes of the photos to fit my blogger template.
You absolutely must go to the Julia website to see details!

When I first visited the  Advertising, Toy and Doll Division , I was amazed at the vast diversity within the division. However, I have developed a great respect for doll collecting. Dolls from around the world with  the finest clothing, materials that the dolls were made from, and the hand-painted and hand-made details left me aghast!

I could have chosen anything from around the world for the final division of Fine Art, Asian & Antiques Division, but I chose a few American items.  Whenever I go to a period movie (one from the past), I always like to "feast" on the details in the movie. Many times, I might miss the story because I'm looking at the vast cornucopia of detail that is presented. Sadly, scenes most often are so short, you don't have time to see everything. I keep telling my wife that I have to start buying DVD's to examine the detail frame-by-frame in a move.

Going to the Julia website is the next best thing!

Thanks for dropping by today,

and as always, 

have a great part of the day,

wherever you may be.

Stacey

toysearcher@gmail.com

Dinky Toys

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Dinky Toys

    Eventually this day had to come - writing about Dinky Toys. It's not that I don't like them, and I can't tell you why I never wrote about them, but I just never did. Maybe it's because I wrote about so many other toy companies, that when I finally came to Dinky Toys, they weren't as interesting, as  complex as other toys, or as different from each other.

   What I can definitely and definitively say is that the company was and still is successful. As well, collectors the world over are still scouring the globe for that rare and lost Dinky to add to their collections. I came across someone in Montreal who was having a garage sale one day, and so  I decided to see what he had to offer. I had already met him over the Net, and so going to his garage sale was going was going to be "just another garage sale"! Of course, this sale and his toys were anything but usual. It turned out he was a collector and was selling off some of his duplicates.  His garage was full of Dinky Toys! It's to bad I cleaned up my Microsoft Hotmail account when I thought I had to do that in order to be forced to change to Outlook Express. However, One day, I'll find him again, and write about him!

    There's a great Dinky Toy website for those who are interested - www.dinkytoys.ch

The site's owner has documented the Dinky Toy company with a well-written history, and complimented the history with lots of toy photos of many different and what I assume are rare early Dinky Toys. Of course, what I do know about these toys is that having the original box that the toy came in, is a must!

    Initially Dinky Toys were not called Dinky toys - they were called Modelled Miniatures. At that time, Frank Hornby of the famous electrical train company had owned them. However, in 1933, the first Dinky Toys came out, and by April 1934, the name of the toys became Dinky Toys.  Dinky Toys were produced both in England (Liverpool) and  in France (Bobigny).Most of the toys produced at both locations were closely related, sharing models at both factories. However, whenever the toys were in fact different, they were still generically-related through their particular models. The company had to halt production during the WWII years, but eventually continued after the war.

   Fast forward to the later 1980's and Mattel eventually bought up the company, integrating the toys into another of their purchases - Matchbox. Matchbox Collectibles was closed down in 2000, and no new "dedicated" Dinky castings  have since been created.  

* History Sources:    

www.dinkytoys.ch

 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinky_Toys

Please click to be redirected to the nice Ralston Gallery website

   You can see from the writing on the boxes where they toys might have been made  due to the exclusive English or French writing on the box. As well,notice that on some of the boxes "Meccano" is written.  That company was also invented by Frank Hornby, who I mentioned at the beginning. He was famous for his electric toy trains, and his Modelled Miniature company had produced small scale vehicles and accessories to compliment his model railroad company.

  I've only presented the earlier versions of Dinky Toys since I like earlier toys  produced from 1880-1950) over latter day toys after that time. I will most likely write another post about these toys, as they are very much still in demand even after Mattel stopped producing them. Some toys just were made to be around!

Thanks for dropping by,

and have a great day,

wherever you may be

Stacey

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers

   As usual, I was perusing Liveauctioneers  yesterday,  and naturally did an initial search for toys. Toys don't always come up, so I then press "sold" and 200,000++ listings come up. However, yesterday, some live auctions that were to occur today came up. One of these auctions was from Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. What caught my attention were several things. First, there was a nice diversity of different toys. Secondly, the photography was excellent, and third, here was a new auctioneer that I could ask for assistance.

  So I found Leslie Hindman Auctioneers through a search, did a little research, and  soon found an e-mail address connecting directly to the CEO - Leslie S. Hindman. So I wrote to Leslie and asked her if it would be alright to call her by here first name, as well as asking for permission. That was earlier yesterday. When I checked my e-mail today, I had already received a reply- The message was short and I was given the go ahead.  Not only that, but Leslie had sent a copy of my e-mail, and I also had a reply from Cassandra Mead from the Marketing and Graphic Design Department. Cassandra sent me a high resolution company  logo to use as a watermark on all photos, and asked if I needed any photographs. I said that I would be able to screen-capture them from their website. 

What professionalism! Fast mail replies, asking if I needed photographs,and a high-resolution company logo!

 "For three decades, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers has been an industry leader combining a local recognition as the Midwest’s leading fine art auctioneers with a global reach of buyers. Founded in 1982, sold to Sotheby’s in 1997 and reopened in 2003, Leslie Hindman has remained a constant force behind high profile auctions of everything from contemporary paintings and fine jewelry to French furniture and rare books and manuscripts and always maintains a practice of achieving the highest prices while maintaining the highest levels of integrity and customer service. 

In 1982, Leslie Hindman founded her eponymous auction house in Chicago, Illinois, and within a few years it grew to be the largest auction house in the Midwest and the fifth largest in the country. The company conducted many significant and highly publicized auctions, including memorabilia from the historic Comiskey Park, the Chicago Stadium, the Schwinn Family Bicycle Collection, as well as the personal property from such renowned estates as Arthur Rubloff, Mrs. Robert R. McCormick, the Potter Palmer families, and Dole heiress Elizabeth F. Cheney.

In 1991, Leslie received international recognition for the discovery of a previously unknown still life by Vincent van Gogh. The painting sold for $1.43 million and the resulting publicity brought Leslie Hindman Auctioneers to the forefront of the world auction scene. As a result of her firm’s outstanding reputation, it was acquired by Sotheby’s in 1997.

 Leslie Hindman Auctioneers reopened in 2003 and in 2010 announced the opening of a new auction facility in Naples, Florida.  Both locations hold regularly scheduled auctions featuring paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture, furniture and decorative arts, fine jewelry and timepieces, vintage couture and accessories, and fine books and manuscripts. An exceptional team of specialists – allied with a worldwide network of consultants and representatives – effectively appraise and market property leading to outstanding prices realized. Furthermore, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers provides a full range of services for trust and estate professionals. 

Since reopening, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers has handled property from the estates of Leo S. Guthman, Mrs. Jacob Baur (Bertha Baur), Rose Movius Palmer, Melville N. Rothchild, Sally Fairweather, Helen C. Tunison, Frank J. and Mary Mackey Jr., and Dr. Reid I. Martin among others. Additionally, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers has handled the Kenan Heise collection of books and manuscripts, property from the Akron Art Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Milwaukee Art Museum, the Scottish Rite Bodies: Valley of Chicago, the Kmart art collection, the Kemper Insurance Companies corporate art collection, sports memorabilia from the legendary Ernie Harwell, music and movie memorabilia from Eric “Mancow” Muller, and the John Drury collection of A.C. Gilbert Erector Sets and Mysto Magic Sets."*

*/www.lesliehindman.com/about/company/

  There's a photo of Leslie on the same page that I obtained the company overview. When I looked at Leslie's photo and when her company was founded (1982), I was slightly surprised. Leslie is a young woman and to have started the company in 1982 tells lots about her determination and character.

 You can visit the fine website and read more about the company and Leslie. S Hindman. AS for the website, it's excellent. Toys are not their primary sales, and if you like to see superb photography and have interests in many other antiques or collectibles, this is a fine place to visit.You'll also be able to read about some interesting subjects. 

 Please click here to visit Leslie Hindman Auctioneers Outstanding website

The manufacturer's name was not given on the above toy, but it might be a Gong toy. 

If you look closely or magnify this image above, you'll see a small Dalmation dog next to the driver. 

When you enlarge any of these images, there is a great amount of detail that you can see. 

That's an attribute to the fine professional photography at the Leslie Hindman Auctioneers location.

Andy Gump, by the way was a famous character from a comic strip family. The cartoons were very popular and lasted from 1917-1959.

The detail in that wagon is fantastic. 

I had to screen-capture a set of smaller photos from the site, and them place then together. The reason is that the site has a great software that allows you to see magnified parts of the listed item, and to move around. I didn't set the magnification to the highest, as I would have had to screen-capture too many images. If you magnify this image in the slide-view mode of Blogger, you might be able to see the original tires and their embossed lettering. If not, go to the Leslie Hindman Auctioneers and see for yourself.  If you know your toys or any other area that you might be interested in, having this magnification feature would help you to authenticate this toy as not only original, but having the oiriginal tires.

Magnify this image, and you'll see  a small figure just behind the rear funnel.

The series of three mechanical banks  is just fabulous.   When triggered, the man will roll his eyes, and his hand (with a coin on it) will move to his mouth, where he will swallow the coin. Every cast iron company or cast iron hardware company that made toys, also made cast iron mechanical banks. As far as toys go, the cast iron banks are highly prized and have received very high final bids at auction.

Here's a nice pair of old metal boiler cars. I would think that these are from the late 19th or early 20th century, and would have actually worked. I don't know much about these fine toys, but they were very popular and still are, especially in Great Britain.

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers also publishes both the real fine-paper catalogue, as well as the Net version. I found this out when I went torecheck something at their site. I've added 3 pages from the catalogue. However, you may not be able to read the print here, but can most easily do so when you view this post in the slide-view mode to look at the photos under larger magnification. Also, you can  visit the website. 

  For my first post on Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, I must certainly say that it was a great experience.  As I was looking through the many different areas and listings at the website, I came across something very unique and interesting. I should have written down the name of these toys or entertainment items ,but I didn't. I'll have to return and do my homework!

 These items are hand-painted distorted drawings that you would have trouble interpreting if you see them. However, when you place the drawing close to a highly-polished mirrored cylinder, the drawing magically appears as a "normal" drawing that can be easily recognized. That was certainly interesting! I never stop learning or being amazed at what websites and auction houses have!

Thanks for dropping by,

and as always, 

have a great part of the day, 

wherever you may be. 

Stacey

(toysearcher@gmail.com)

James D. Julia - What a fantastic Feature

Sunday, May 26, 2013

James D. Julia - What a Fantastic Feature

  James D. Julia Auctioneers is one of the fine people and auction companies that have allowed me to use their fine photos for my blog. I try and provide equal posts to everyone since I appreciate their assistance in making this such a great blog (please excuse my bragging!).

   I remember the first time I visited this site, and looked at their firearms. As everyone knows, firearms are an integral part of the USA and antique or even modern firearms are always desirable by people who like guns. So I came to this site, and started to look at guns. Their photography is not only excellent, but you can magnify these firearms images very big. I once wrote a post about this, and you could actually see someone's fingerprint ridges on the highly-polished surface of 1 gun. I'm not a gun afficianado, but when I go tho the Julia site, and "examine" the fine detail on these guns, I'm in 7th heaven. The older firearms from way back have intricate carved detail that is just unbelievable.

   Anyway, returning to today's post, I visited the James D. Julia Auctioneers site a while back, and noticed that they had a 360 degree rotation feature. This feature allows the viewer to turn around (rotate) an item so that you can see its every part as it spins slowly around. This technology has been around about 10 years now, and one I starting to see it more and more on product company's websites.

    The way the technology works is twofold. First the hardware consists of a camera mounted on a tripod (your own equipment) , along with a  mechanized turntable that rotates at different RPMs (revolutions per minute). Depending upon how fast your camera can take photos, you can adjust the turntable to move faster or slower. As well, the other determining factor is the number of images that you would want to present to the viewer.

Please click on this sentence to be redirected to this fine website

The 5 items below are called "Salesman's samples". These are exact scales models of large items that  were made for travelling salesmen to show people around America.  America only had the railroad system from approximately 1850-1920 going to most places across the vast country. Actually, the "official" date that the West and East  railroad system was completed was in 1869.

So, before there were trucks and roads, salesmen would travel into rural areas around the country with small-sized versions of the "real things". The salesman would show the farmer or brick maker (see the  spectacular brass item at the bottom) the sample and do his "sales pitch".  It was much easier than having to take the actual item to the farmer. When a sale was made, the item would be shipped by freight on a train. 

Although the "Salesman's sample" is not a toy, 

these are one of my favourite items to view on the net.

Some if these items for the June 2013 auction have the 360 rotation feature incorporated into the viewing of them. If you like mechanical items with lots of moving parts and detail, then please have a look at these beautiful machines from a long, long time ago!

The Hubley Cement Mixer above is a 360 degree view item. When you place your mouse or cursor over the image, you will see the icon below. That icon informs you that all of the images are loading up. When the icon disappears, you will be able to either rotate the toy in a constant motion, or simply move the item as much or as little as you prefer.

The above montage (Composite photo) of 7 images was created from screen captures. 

However, when you'll visit the site, you'll have the options that I mentioned before.

Below are screen captures of 3 toys with plenty of detail to them.

When you go to the Julia website and move these toys around, you'll most certainly appreciate the features of the 360 degree view.

In today's world marketplace, you always have to be updated to the latest technology, and Mr. James D. Julia and  his company certainly are!

 Thanks for dropping by,

and as always have a restful Sunday, 

or if you drop by at some other time, 

have a great   day.

Stacey

Hess Toys (What's a Flywheel?)

Friday, May 3, 2013

Hess Toys

What's a Flywheel?

   If you read yesterday's post, I wrote about the German toy company - Distler.  Of course, if you also have been following this blog, you'd know that whenever I do researcher, I'm always going to find something else besides my search topic. So that's what I'll be writing about today - the German toy company by the name of Hess. I'm posting at 18:00 P.M. EST (North America) late today. I had things to do, and then I cycled . The next thing I knew, it was 5:00 P.M.

   The Hess toy company was founded very early in the 19th century - in 1826 to be exact. At that time, there weren't any cars yet or airplanes, so Mathias Hess chose trains (without tracks - don't ask me why?), to produce. When  cars or "automobiles" were invented and became more common, the company produced high quality lithographed tin toy with flywheels. Naturally, seeing the word "flywheel" perked my interest, and I had to check what a flywheel was. Of course, the search results had to be "difficult", and complicated. I think there should be search engines for different ages of people and levels-maybe I can be the next Facebook  discovery!

   I'll try to explain in easy terms what a flywheel is. It's a mechanical rotating device that can store energy and then release it later. As far as the Hess antique toy cars toys go, I think that the energy was not stored in a manner such as a clockwork wind-up with a release.  What I'm theorizing is that when you turned the crank at the front of these cars, the energy would be immediately release as the toy was placed on the ground. If you look at some of the photos of both cars and ships, you'll see a large lead wheel that  was in touch with the wheels or axles of the toy. So energy from the crank was transferred to the flywheel,which then transferred that energy to the wheels for movement. Some of the toys  might have needed the child to roll the car or boat wheels on a wood floor. The energy then transferred to the flywheel, and was gradually release to move the toy by itself.

Please Click on this sentence to be redirected to Bertoia's fine website

Please click this sentence for an even more specific search

The second connection above will give you specific search results when you type in what you might be looking for. U had tried to post this before, but Blogger had rejected the web address. Now it's working. So if you search for Hess when you enter that word, you'll come up with all of the Hess toys that Bertoia has actioned in the last 5-7 years. If you want to see more Bertoia toys  from before that timespan,you can go to Liveauctioneers.

The 2 photos of the ship above  show you the flywheel . It's the dark grey wheel, that has an extension attached directly to the yellow regular toy wheel.

With the car above, the flywheel is better hidden or integrated into the toy.

   What's interesting about these toys is that Mathias Hess kept the same original method of movement for his toys for a long period of time. Other toy manufacturers, and specifically the European toy makers were using clockwork windup mechanisms, and in some case also using a brake. You'd wind up the toy, lock the brake to keep the stores energy in sleep mode, then place the toy on the floor. Once the "brake" was released, the toy would move.

   I'm sort of similar to Mathias Hess when it comes to certain things. If I like a particular food such as  (e.g. Classico Spaghetti Sauce) I will not  change. And whenever I'm tempted by a rival company's sale, I',m tempted, but I don't bite. Too many times, I've tried the alternatives, and they just don't come close.  Also, although the  car dealer sometimes is more expensive than the local garage, I won;t go there. I once went to one of the 5 "big sisters" quick oil change places. Big Oil was called that way back in the 1920's and later. The garage didn't screw back the oil screw from the oil pan properly, and the oil was leaking out.  I went to the Chevrolet dealer (my car was a 1981 or 1982), and they replaced the  oil screw with a larger one. Of course, the big sister garage paid for the expenses, but I never went back to a local garage again.

Thanks for visiting  my blog today,

and as always, 

have a great weekend 

wherever you may be.

Stacey