Auction News Network

Rare Apple 1 Leads German Sale

Back in June, an Apple 1, one of only six known working examples of the first effort by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, sold at auction in New York for $374,500. Auction Team Breker, based in Koeln, Germany, has located another, which they will offer at a sale of Technical Antiques & Fine Toys on November 24th. The computer, estimated at $156,000-$260,000, is just one of many remarkable scientific devices at the auction, which also features a number of  iconic inventions, including the first patented copying press, the first serially produced adding machine, a 1943 Enigma coding machine, and an 1892 prototype phonograph by Swiss film maker and inventor Casimir Sivan.

Model Ship May Take $250,000 Cruise To New Port

For $250,000 you could choose between quite a variety of powerboats and sailing vessels. Or you could apply the sum toward a model paddle wheeler that Bertoia Auctions is offering at a New Jersey sale next month. The toy ship “Chicago,” which Marklin constructed between 1900-1902, is the highlight at an auction of the vast Dick Claus collection of model boats. To captain this particular ship, Bertoia expects you’ll have to pay $200,000-$250,000.

Judson Ball Native American Collection At Bonhams

Over several decades Judson C. Ball and his wife assembled a distinguished collection of Native American art, concentrating on three areas: kachina dolls, Southwest baskets and weavings, and New Mexican religious art. Bonhams will offer the collection in New York on May 14^th, when the featured item will be a red and blue Navajo double saddle/child’s blanket estimated at $50,000-$70,000.

$38.3m For Famed Milhous Collection

Over the years, there may have been more valuable collections than the one assembled by the Milhous brothers, but there were few more idiosyncratic. Its core consisted of vintage automobiles and mechanical musical instruments, but it also included such rarities as a full-blown carousel with 42 animals, and a 1920 peanut and popcorn machine once pulled by two horses. This past weekend it all sold at an auction joint hosted by RM and Sotheby’s for $38.3m. Highest price item: a 1912 Oldsmobile Limited Five Touring classic that fetched $3.3m, a new world auction record for an Oldsmobile.

Disneyana At Bonhams

All things Disney are the focus of a sale at Bonhams later this month, when 130 lots of toys and memorabilia from a single owner collection will be featured. A rare wind-up Mickey Mouse Circus Train set from the 1930’s is the highlight of the auction. With its original paper cutouts of circus tents and tickets and its original box, it’s estimated at $4,000-$6,000.

A Carousel & Vintage Cars: Milhous Collection To Sell

Bob & Paul Milhous only wanted one object in an Austrian collection. It was a Weber Maestro orchestrion, a mechanical device that produces the sounds of a 24-piece orchestra. To close the deal, the brothers had to buy the entire 260-item collection. Through the years, they’ve added to it, so that their assortment of antique cars, mechanical musical devices, clocks and curiosities now totals over 1200 items. In late February, RM and Sotheby’s will sell it all for what’s expected to be more than $40m.

Another Thriller?

It’s all included, even the bed where he died. The contents of Michael Jackson last home, at 100 N. Carolwood in Holmby Hills, will be sold at a Los Angeles auction.  Everything from the armoire on which he tacked a note to himself (“TRAIN, perfections, March April. FULL OUT May”) to a kitchen blackboard on which a child’s scrawl reads “I (heart) Daddy. SMILE, it’s for free” will be offered at the December 17th sale. Julien’s expects the event to bring $400,000-$600,000, an estimate the auction house admits may be conservative “because of the circumstances.”

Toy Soldiers To Find New HQ

A vast collection of toy soldiers numbering more than the real armies of many countries will be sold at auction by Bonham’s.  A Dutch collector’s 30,000 soldiers go on the block in London,  April 5.

The World’s Greatest Toy Collection

Very few people have seen the world’s greatest collection of toys and trains. Until now, that is:   Sotheby’s is exhibiting selections from the astounding 35,000 piece Jerni Collection at its New York headquarters through February, Seeking a private sale, Sotheby’s is offering the collection, valued at $40-$50 million, as a single lot.

Sotheby’s To Offer Malcom Forbes Toy Collection

The late publisher Malcolm Forbes was a man of many passions and one of them, it turns out, was toys. Over four decades, Forbes and his sons assembled an extraordinary collection of  boats. soldiers, motorcycles, art, and board games, which Sotheby’s will sell on December 17th in New York. Among the many valuable lots is a 47″ long cast iron model of a 19th century gunboat with a gas powered engine, estimated to sell for $200-$300,000.

Update: The sale brought in $2,381,006,  under the $3-$5 million estimate.

$500,000 Barbie At Christie’s

How can a Barbie Doll possibly be worth a half-million dollars? This one sports a 1-carat pink diamond, surrounded by smaller diamonds weighing another two carats. It will be offered October 20 at Christie’s, New York, where it has a pre-sale estimate of $300-$500,000.

Update: The Barbie sold for $302,500 to an Asian collector.

Mystery Collector’s Dolls on Sale

The mystery collector amassed a passel of rare and vintage dolls over two decades and 125 of them will be offered by Browne Auction Specialists October 23, 2010, at the American Legion Hall in Blue Springs, Mo. The collector died last year. For security reasons, the Browne people say the name of the otherwise well known doll aficionado will not be revealed until the day  before the sale.

George Washington’s Will

One of only 13 copies of George Washington’s will as well as early Presidential letters of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Jackson will be among the more than 200 lots offered by R.W.Oliver’s this week in a sale billed as “Personal Property of 10 Generations of the descendants of Thomas Green (b. 1640).” Much of the collection was accumulated by Andrew H. Green (1830-1918), who was known as “The Father of Greater New York.”

Toys For Sale, Too Many to Describe

Maybe there never was a toy collector like Don Kaufman. He was so crazy about toys he founded the company, K-B Toys.  So large was his collection they’ve already held three auctions and now Bertola Auctions will host a fourth sale September 24&25, 2010. The first three auctions brought in nearly $10 million.