The Votes Are In!

Collectors declare Hake’s political memorabilia auction a runaway winner.

For more than 230 years, political campaigns have relied on attracting voters partly with material items, including campaign buttons, delegate badges, jewelry, lapel ribbons, pamphlets, posters, and more that document the history of our country’s political landscape.

Collectors avidly seek political memorabilia for its historic value. It is a particularly rich resource for understanding the transformation of American politics across the 19th and 20th centuries. It documents shifting political party platforms, the culture of nominating conventions, and expanding avenues of activism and electioneering.

When Ted Hake founded Hake’s Auctions in 1967, political Americana was its foundational category. Since then, the auction house has sold thousands of items, often setting world-record prices.

Hake’s showcased more superb political memorabilia at its premier Auction 241, which closed on July 31 and Aug. 1. Day 1 offered more than 500 items that stirred the patriotic spirit of bidders and represented a cross-section of American politics, including banners, buttons, posters, and more.

Campaign button, William McKinley and Garret Hobart, 1896. 1 1/4 in., $17,587.

Memorabilia from 1776 to the late 1800s is some of the most prized by collectors, as are campaign buttons. The top lot of political items combined both: an important campaign button from 1896 for Republicans William McKinley and Garret Hobart that sold for $17,587, thousands above its high estimate of $10,000. The button features the pair riding a bicycle to the White House, and the rim slogan reads, “Gold Didn’t Get There July 7th/But Watch Us Take It There Nov. 3rd.” The first part of the slogan refers to the date of the Democratic National Convention, where William Bryan made his famous “Cross of Gold” speech. The button is among the hobby’s rarest and most desirable pin-back designs.

Left to right: Rare Roosevelt campaign button, 1912, 1 1/4 in., $9,735.
Hughes & Fairbanks furled flag jugate button, 1 1/4 in., $13,758.
Roosevelt Capital & Labor “Equal Protection” campaign button, 1904, 1 1/4 in., $13,629.

A trio of other pin-back buttons were also top-selling lots: an exceptional furled flag jugate button for Charles Hughes and Charles Fairbanks sold for $13,758; a rare 1904 Theodore Roosevelt Capital & Labor Equal Protection campaign button fetched $13,629; and a rare 1912 button for Theodore Roosevelt with the slogan, “My Hat is in the Ring. Let the People Rule,” brought $9,735, or nearly double its high estimate of $5,000.

Factors that help determine the value of a piece of political memorabilia include age, rarity, condition, and popularity. For presidential pieces, the president’s identity can matter. Some presidents are more popular than others, at least in the context of historical items, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy.

Figural head of John F. Kennedy, 1960, 33 in. h, $7,607.

Another hot lot was a massive figural head of Kennedy from the 1960 Democratic National Convention that sold for $7,607. The papier-mâché head, 33 inches high, was meant to be affixed to a pole and waved by supporters on the convention floor. Two examples were made for use at the convention, with the one Hake’s offered as the only surviving example.

“I Am a Man” sanitation workers strike civil rights poster,
1968, 22 in. by 28 in., $6,490.

Other top sellers included a 1968 “I Am a Man” poster from the sanitation workers’ strike that sold for $6,490 and a James M. Cox ribbon badge highlighting his membership in the “Gem City Democratic Club of Dayton, Ohio,” that sold for $4,720.

James M. Cox ribbon badge 1920, 7 in. L, $,4,720.

For more results, visit the Hakes Auction website. Photos courtesy of Hake’s Auctions

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Lovely Mystery Tray Identified

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At the Head of Their Class

Maddy Gordon’s collection of lady head vases charm at Strawser Auction event.

Inarco lady head vase E-1904, 1964, 6 3/4 in., $300

Small ceramic beauties with beguiling personalities, lady head vases are popular mid-century pieces that “head hunters” have fun collecting today. With their glamorous style, these vases add charming kitsch to bookcases, shelves, tables, and any other space they grace.

Left: Lady head vase, 5 1/2 in. h, $500.
Right: Relpo lady head vase, K1678, 9 1/2 in., $225.

One super collector and renowned expert on these lovely ladies was the late Maddy Gordon, who acquired over 3,000. On July 22, Strawser Auction Group offered more than 200 of Gordon’s spectacular vases in the first in a series of sales of her collection planned over the next several years.

Gordon, who died in 2022 at the age of 81, founded the influential Head Hunters Newsletter and organized the annual Head Vase Conventions in Kissimmee, Florida, for many years. She was also a big fan of America’s first head vase creator, Betty Lou Nichols, and authored the book Head Vases, Etc., The Artistry of Betty Lou Nichols.

Royal Crown Japan lady head
vase, 3477, 7 in. h, $1,500.

Gordon’s extensive collection features head vases in many different styles produced by companies such as Lefton, Inarco, Napco, Relpo, Royal Crown, and others. The top lot was a seven-inch-high lady head vase by the English company Royal Crown, made in Japan, number 3477 that sold for $1,500. The pretty lady is wearing a bonnet, has a green bow on one side of her neck, and has a perfectly manicured hand framing one side of her face.

Head vases have roots in 19th-century Europe, but the vases Americans are most familiar with started being produced in the 1930s as marketing pieces for florist companies to sell more small bouquets. It’s estimated that more than 10,000 head vases in a multitude of styles and forms were made until the 1970s, when the demand for them dwindled, and most companies stopped production.

Lady head vases exude elegance with their mid-century fashions, perfectly coiffed hairdos, big, lush eyelashes, and ruby lips. They are sometimes adorned with pearl necklaces, earrings, other jewelry, a fashionable hat or gloves—and sometimes all three accessories.

Left: Napco lady head vase with green glass hat, 6 in. h, $950.
Right: Napco lady head vase with blue glass hat, 6 in. h, $1,100.

Vases with hats are desirable to collectors, and the other top-selling pieces in the auction all have them. They were made by Napco. They include a vase with a blue glass hat that sold for $1,100, one with a green glass hat that fetched $950, a vase with a light blue glass hat, 2P1938, that sold for $900, and one with a pink glass hat, 2P1938, that brought $900.

While some people limit their collections to beautiful ladies, Gordon was attracted to the whole universe of head vases, which includes animals, babies and children, brides, clowns, Madonnas, nurses, and characters like Uncle Sam. Some pieces are also not vases at all but ashtrays, lamps, and lipstick holders.

Left: Napco lady head vase with green glass hat, 6 in. h, $950.
Right: Royal Crown Les Girls lady head vase #3664, 5-1/2 in. h, $800.

Other hot lots included a Royal Crown Les Girls head vase, 3664, with a hat and earrings, that sold for $800, a Relco lady head vase with a hat and necklace that fetched $600, a Reis lady wall pocket that sold for $300, a red-headed Lefton lady ashtray/match holder that brought $275, an Uncle Sam head vase that also sold for $225, and a Picasso-esque glass head vase by Italian artist Walter Furlan that fetched $170.

For more results, visit the Strawser Auction Group website. Photos courtesy of Strawser Auction Group.

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Small Wonder is a Success at Auction

A small sugar bowl, bought at an estate sale for less than $50, is a sweet success at auction.

A small and important sugar bowl that was recently discovered after it was bought as part of a box lot at an estate sale for less than $50 commanded the highest price of the more than 2,200 lots of 18th and 19th century Americana, ceramics, glass, lighting, silver, and textiles offered at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates four-day sale June 19-22.

Salt-glazed decorated stoneware sugar bowl by
Andrew Coffman, 5 1/2 in. h overall, $34,800.

The salt-glazed decorated stoneware sugar bowl, 5 1/2 inches tall, garnered $34,800. Estimated between $10,000-$20,000, the bowl descended in a family that acquired it from notable Virginia potter Andrew Coffman (1795-1853) and is one of just three signed examples known. It had been part of the box lot bought for just $46.

Chippendale walnut bottle case/cellaret, two-piece construction, hinged
lid, c. 1795, 43 1/2 in. h, 33 1/2 in. by 18 1/2 in. top, $23,370.

The bowl was sold on the fourth day when many of the auction’s highest prices were achieved. Other antiques bidders pushed to big results included a Chippendale walnut bottle case or cellaret that sold for $22,800; a Federal inlaid mahogany valuables box, c. 1795, that fetched $20,400; an 1856 folk art oil-on-canvas portrait by John James Trumbull that brought $15,600: a carved and painted folk art bird tree in the Pennsylvania-German style by Frank Finney and featuring 24 different birds that sold for $14,760; and a carved, inlaid walnut desk and bookcase, attributed to John Shearer,c. 1800, that sold for $14,400.

Left: Oil-on-canvas portrait of Mary C. Barnes by John James Trumbull Arnold, dated 1856, 36 in. by 24 1/4 in., $15,600.
Right: Carved and painted folk art bird tree by Frank Finney, featuring 24 different birds, 21st century, 23 in. h, $14,760.

Bidders were also enthusiastic about the Americana and folk art treasures offered from the Katherine “Kitty Sue” Pease collection that included a variety of carvings, fraktur-related drawings, carousel items, rare needlework, furniture, scrimshaw, canes and walking sticks, and much more.

American folk art carved and painted tobacco/cigar
store trade figure, 81 in. h, 24 in. w, $19,200.

The top lot of Pease’s collection was an American folk art carved and painted tobacco/cigar store trade figure from the late 19th century with an eagle headdress and wolf-skin robe that sold for $19,200. Another cigar store trade figure brought $6,875. These figures, popular symbols of the tobacco trade in the 19th and early 20th centuries, are valued by collectors for their striking visual appeal and the considerable skill of their carvers.

Pennsylvania Schwenkfelder folk art fraktur-style drawing,
watercolor on paper, c. 1845, 10 in. by 14 1/2 in., $18,000.

Other top-selling Pease items included an important Pennsylvania folk art fraktur-style watercolor-on-paper drawing featuring a row of townhouses under a garland of stylized flowers, strawberries, and a pair of distelfinks/lovebirds that fetched $18,000; an American or British carved nautical figurehead of a beautiful woman with stylized Classical attire that sold for $15,300; an American School portrait of a black cat from the late 19th or early 20th century that brought $12,300; and a couple of carved and painted carousel goats from the late 19th or early 20th century: one that sold for $4,200 and one for $3,750.

American folk art carved and painted carousel goat, attributed
to the shop of Gustav Dentzel, 59 in. h, 60 in. l, $4,200.

Carved carousel animals are some of the most whimsical and sought-after pieces of American folk art, and goats are desirable. Both are attributed to the Pennsylvania shop of Gustav Dentzel, considered America’s first carver of these starting in 1867. The appeal of carousel animals extends far beyond being fanciful art pieces; collectors are also drawn to them for the merry-go-round of nostalgia and memories they create.

Auction results for days one, two, three, and four can be viewed on the website.

Photos courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.

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