October 2005 Hotlines

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs, written in 1978, is a child’s story in pictures. It is popular all over the world because it can be understood by all. There are thousands of collectibles based on the Snowman and his friends. Collectors find them in all parts of the world, even places where there is little snow. English enthusiasts have websites and books. Look for collector interest to move across the ocean to North America.

Rubber ducks, the kind you put in the bathtub when you were a child, are becoming popular collectibles. There is a new line of ducks made to have personality and unusual clothing put out by a company called Rubba Ducks. But these are just the newest of the yellow rubber ducks made since the 1930s. It’s a ducky collectible (couldn’t resist), inexpensive, small, and just easy enough to find.

Be careful if you decide to donate your collection to a museum. Dorothy-Lee Jones gave her personal collection of glass to a museum she founded in Sebago, Maine, in 1978. Following a major dispute with the museum’s board of trustees, Jones resigned from the board in 2000 and eventually initiated legal action to protect her rights to the glass she originally gave to the museum. In April 2005 the Museum of Glass and Ceramics auctioned off some of its collection to pay the legal fees incurred in defending itself against Jones’s claims. A selection of antique fluid lamps from the museum’s collection were sold by Green Valley Auctions of Mt. Crawford, Virginia. In August the museum closed and filed for bankruptcy protection. The directors hope to preserve the museum’s collection and reference library.

We told you in the November 1997 newsletter that vintage aprons were a hot collectible, both to display and wear. But we were surprised to hear copies and adaptations of the 1960s aprons are one of the new couture accessories being worn today. They can be found at Anthropologie clothing stores, Sur La Table, the cookware store, and many other places. The aprons are to wear, even if you don’t cook. Prices $40 and up. It costs a lot less to own an original vintage apron.

A doorstop shaped like a full-figured upright bear holding a pot of honey, 15 inches high, sold for $8,250 at a Bertoia’s auction.

American Greetings is selling a new line of greeting cards based on childhood memories. Mr. Potato Head, Monopoly, and other toys from the Boomers’ childhood are being featured in comic situations. They should be a hit with collectors.

Ephemera (printed matter of passing interest) is gaining attention. The Beatles manuscript of the lyrics of “All You Need Is Love” set a record price of $1.25 million, topping the previous record of $400,000 for the manuscript, “Nowhere Man.” It was sold in London at a Cooper Owen’s Music Legends auction. Babe Ruth’s contract selling him from the Red Sox to the Yankees sold for $996,000 at a Sotheby’s sale. There was even an ephemera symposium recently at the Winterthur museum, home of 17th- and 18th-century rooms but little ephemera.

A Rookwood tile set of 19 hand painted tiles that show parrots and orchids sold for an unexpectedly high $44,850 at a Cincinnati Art Gallery sale in Cincinnati.

An entire bathroom covered in a Grueby tile scene was preserved recently because the Cleveland, Ohio, owners realized they had a treasure. The walls, floor and ceiling were removed and stored to be reinstalled some day. The floor tiles showed a pond with a path and water lilies, walls were covered with colorful irises and the ceiling was blue as the sky. It is possibly the best example of a tile interior by Grueby known today.

Over the years we have heard of a few dealers and appraisers who take advantage of their knowledge and access to collections, but this month there seem to be more than usual. A dealer was arrested for the alleged theft of a map from the Yale University rare books library. A Harvard professor was arrested for selling a fake Mary Cassatt painting and fakes of other famous artworks, and a collector of Islamic art from Qatar was arrested for allegedly taking state funds to buy art for himself.