Banking on the toy business
Over in the US, part one of the Schroeder toy and bank collection auctioned by Bertoia netted a cool US$3.1m. The late songwriter/music industry mogul Aaron Schroeder’s hoard had been anticipated for some months and indeed, expectations were fully realised.
One of the most highly prized auction acquisitions, a pristine to near mint J & E Stevens Girl Skipping Rope castiron mechanical bank, was the top-selling lot at US$156,000. Another J & E Stevens bank featured a Clown, Harlequin and Columbine: this reached US$84,000, as did a Stevens Preacher in the Pulpit bank. The same manufacturer’s Bread Winners bank in near mint condition closed at US$102,000, while a Bowing Man in Cupola, with extraordinarily vibrant original paint, commanded US$72,000. It was followed by a flawless Man in Cupola bank which stopped on at $66,000.
The Schroeders’ many exquisite European toys were led by a 25 inch tall Mohr & Krauss double Ferris wheel with all of its original composition figures. Conservatively estimated at US$10,00015,000, the Ferris wheel achieved the secondhighest price in the auction, selling to a European collector for an astonishing US$132,000.
Early American toy highlights included a circa 1906 Carpenter deluxe Burning Building with provenance for US$33,600; and a circa 1880s George Brown paintedtin Monitor clockwork gunboat modelled on the Union’s famous Civil War craft: that reached US$40,800. One of the most attractive horse-drawn toys in the Schroeder collection, a 33 inch long Pratt & Letchworth Flying Artillery set, galloped past its US$25,000-35,000 estimate to rein in a winning bid of US$66,000.
Finally, an Ives bicyclist team in vivid red and yellow paint (one of very few known) went three times over estimate to cross the finishing line at US$36,000. ■