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Seller Of Unseen Post Cover By Legendary Illustrator Will Return Most Of Proceeds To Original Owner’s Family Heritage Auctions Sells J.C. Leyendecker’s “New Year’s Baby Hitching To War” For $275,000
FRIDAY JULY 24, 2020 • VOL. 51, NO. 30
Fresh Collections Produce Strong Results At JSEA Americana Auction Important Group Of Eight Brock Family Portraits Sells For $52,650
This group of eight Brock family portraits realized $52,650, selling to a Mid-Atlantic private collector on the phone, underbid by an East Coast institution. The Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates Premier Americana Auction held June 26 and 27 was a highly successful event and produced robust prices, along with a few surprises, in multiple categories. The two-day format consisted of 1,146 lots of highquality material from across the country, much of which was fresh to the market, and, in a number
of cases, had descended directly in the families of the original owners. Bidding was intense throughout each day, with thousands of registered bidders participating by phone and online in competition with a socially-distanced gallery crowd. Session one began with a special single-owner session of an upstate New York private collection assembled over the past 50 years, which included a wide range of American furniture, fraktur, folk and fine art, Shaker items, pottery, textiles, advertising and country store, toys, and early ceramics. The remainder consisted of Shenandoah Valley and other folk pottery, Native American material, baskets, early iron, Bennington pottery, and country accessories of all types. The top lot, one of several surprises over the weekend, was a fine Jose Formoso Reyes (1902-80) Nantucket “Friendship” basket purse. The exquisitely crafted object with carved seagull plaque to lid went to a collector online at $8,775, possibly an auction record for the form. All prices include a 17percent buyer’s premium. Other noteworthy results included an unusual Midwestern decorated AntiTemperance figural stoneware jug selling for $7,605; a labeled Ernest Vogt paint-decorated Civil War snare drum at $7,605; an
A Cincinnati Stove Works cast-iron trade sign realized $15,210.
This Thomas Hill Yosemite landscape sold for $29,250.
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It was meant to be Joseph Christian Leyendecker’s final cover for The Saturday Evening Post, the illustrator’s iconic “New Year’s Baby,” dressed only in a diaper and a soldier’s garrison cap, thumbing his way to the front as World War II raged on. But the 1943 painting never made its way to the magazine, or to the public’s view. Not until Heritage Auctions’ American Art event on July 1. The entirety of the sale realized more than $6 million. And the fact that “New Year’s Baby Hitching to War” sold for $275,000, or more than 4.5 times its pre-auction estimate, should not surprise; nor that it merited a spirited round of bidding from clients online and over the phone; nor that this was the fifth-highest price paid for a J.C. Leyendecker work. After all, it was done by the hand of the man whose red, rotund Santa Claus became one of the 20th century’s most enduring images. What grabs attention here is what will become of the proceeds from its sale. Most of the money made will be returned to the family that originally owned it. Its consignor, a man named Chadd Wilkinson, will keep but a fraction of the money realized. Wilkinson was long ago gifted the piece by the family of E. Huber Ulrich, chairman and CEO of Curtis Publishing Company, The Saturday
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“New Year’s Baby Hitching to War” sold for $275,000. Evening Post’s parent. He had the family’s blessing to sell “New Year’s Baby Hitching to War,” which the Post had rejected in 1943 because editors feared it would break the heart of mothers sending their sons off to war. Wilkinson and Ulrich’s granddaughter, Linda, gathered around the computer to watch the online auction. “That was extremely exciting,” he said. Especially as bidders fought over Leyendecker’s work, driving it from an opening bid of $82,500 to its final sale price of more than a quarter of a million dollars. “We never thought it would
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Showtime Auctions Merges With Route 32 Auctions Kevin and Jill Parker, owners of Route 32 Auctions in Crawfordsville, Ind., recently purchased Showtime Auctions, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., from Mike and Lori Eckles. The Parkers started Route 32 Auctions in 2017, concentrating on petroliana, automobilia, soda advertising, and collectibles. They also recently purchased the Indy Antiques Advertising Show, which is held twice a year, in May and September, at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Lebanon, Ind. The Eckles will continue to head up Showtime Auctions, an industry Mike has over 50 years of experience in. “Teaming up with the Parkers is a dream come true for us. It will allow us to have many more auctions a year, which will accomodate all of our collector
Firearms, Militaria, And Ephemera Auction To Be Held July 30
friends and acquaintances,” said Mike. The first auction under this merger/new acquisition will be held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9 and 10, at the Route 32 Auctions facility in Crawfordsville, Ind. The next is planned for Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20 and 21, with sales projected on a monthly basis. For more information, call either Kevin Parker at 765-307-7119 or Mike Eckles at 951-453-2415.
Rare Pokémon Trainer Card Sells For Record $90,000 At Heritage Auctions on page 3
Multiple New Collections Of Fresh Merchandise Comes In To Grist Mill Antique Center on page 7
In This Issue SHOPS, SHOWS & MARKETS . . . . . . . . . . starting on page 3 SHOPS DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . on page 4 EVENT & AUCTION CALENDAR . on page 4 AUCTION SALE BILLS . . . starting on page 5
FEATURED AUCTION: Pook & Pook Firearms, Militaria, And Ephemera Auction - July 30 in Downingtown, Pa. - Page 2
AUCTIONEER DIRECTORY . . . . . on page 5 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . on page 7