The Rich Penn November Auction Event Features Sparkling Jewels Of Every Variety

October 12, 2011

From an 8.2 Carat diamond ring to a perfectly restored and glistening 1956 Packard, the Rich Penn Auction Event will have sparkling jewels in many collector categories. Held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa on November 4, 5 & 6, the three day auction event will include 1,500 lots, all without reserve. According to Penn, "This is one of the strongest and most diverse auctions we’ve had in several years. We’re featuring the automotive collection of Bob Evans, from Clinton, Iowa and items from the estate of the late Arthur Nelson of Des Moines, Iowa." Other collections have come from Iowa, Illinois, Kansas and Oregon. It’s an impressively diverse and interesting offering.
The diamond ring, according to Penn, "Is a "sparkler." It’s a massive stone in an 18 karat gold man’s setting. Color graded K-L and with SI one clarity, the ring would look stunning on any man’s hand and at the same time be an excellent investment." Penn went on to talk about some of the other "Jewels" offered in November. "Bob Evans loved planes, trains and automobiles and there’s something wonderful in each of these areas." That theme is reflected on all sides of his immaculately restored Mosler "Cannonball" safe. Evans cherished that safe and kept it in the center of his showroom. Evans collected cars and his favorites will be selling in this auction. Among them are a rare 1956 Packard 400 2-door hardtop and a ’55 Chevy Bel Air 2-door hardtop. Evans was meticulous with his restorations and many would say they are about as close to 100 point restorations as you can get. In addition to the Evans’ cars there’s a 1962 Chevy Bel Air station wagon. That car, with a frame off restoration, is a classic "Bad Boy’s street machine." With a 340 HP 350 CI engine, it’s perfect for making that quick snack trip to the local market.
Along with the cars comes a nice selection of other petroliana items. There are signs in tin and porcelain, gas globes, a rare cast iron White Eagle gasoline figure, a 96" wide Mobil porcelain Pegasus, lubesters and a number of restored visible gas pumps, including a Wayne slider with an immaculate Bob Evans restoration.
If you like "rolling stock," it comes in the smaller variety too. Penn says, "This auction offers more pedal cars & tractors, toy cars, trucks and tractors than we’ve ever had in one auction before." With well over a hundred vehicles in cast iron, pressed steel and tin wind-ups, there will definitely need to be traffic management during the toy session. Among them are all the great names, Buddy L, Steelcraft, Sonny, Wyandotte, Arcade, Kenton, Kilgore and others. Among some of the many unusual pieces are the Buddy L concrete mixer and a Buddy L hoisting tower, both beautifully restored, a Smith-Miller Coca-Cola truck in NM cond., a Steelcraft Army truck, a Keystone water pump fire truck, several Cor-Cor Graham sedans and an original condition Steelcraft Graf Zeppelin. In all there are nearly 100 pressed steel toys. Most are in excellent restored condition.
Cast iron toys and mechanical banks offer highlights as well. Among them would be an excellent original condition Weeden live steam fire pumper. Other CI toys include Arcade Deering threshers, Kenton Buckeye Ditcher, Bing #1 gauge locomotive with tender and three cars, an Arcade Caterpillar crawler and a variety of mechanical banks, including Boy on Trapeze, Jonah and the Whale, Professor Pug Frog, the Dentist and many more. The toys come in tin as well. Tin wind-ups include a 1922 Nifty Toys Toonerville Trolley w/box, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Tom Corbett wind-up rockets, Amos & Andy Fresh Air Taxi, two versions of Jazzbo Jim and many more. There’s even a very rare Black Buddy Lee doll.
Any attendee at a Rich Penn Auction can expect a nice variety of Country Store and advertising items. This auction will be no exception. With spool cabinets, dye cabinets, shot cabinets and other displays, there’s plenty to decorate your country store shelves. If you collect smalls, there’s a huge variety of tobacco, coffee, other tins, tip trays and match safes. If you need display cases to show your collection, there are double tower and single tower steeple display cases.
Signs come in a wide variety of sizes and types, including 50+ neon signs. Stove collectors, especially, will love the color of the Celebrated Dubuque Stove litho broadside. The Hartford Insurance Co. produced a very high relief sign in horse hair plaster, marked "Patent Relief Sign, J. Schwartz & Co. NY." It’s in excellent condition. Tool collectors will have a chance to own a rare Stanley Tools flange sign in superb condition. Dairy related collectors have likely never seen the cast aluminum dimensional sign for Nature’s Best Milk, South St. Louis. But one of the most unusual advertising pieces is an extremely rare oversize display granite coffee pot, marked "Granite Iron Ware" Pat. May 30 ’76.
Salesman’s samples will provide added interest too. One of the more unusual pieces is a working auto repair shop lift made by the Joyce Hydraulic Auto Lift Co. Shown with one of the restored Cor-Cor Graham sedans, the lift actually is tripped to go up and down using the scale model control tower.
Decorative items will be featured in the first session. Penn commented, "We have an unbelievably strong decorative session with very high quality oak pieces. Among them will be a gorgeous Horner Bros. dining room set. It includes, table, six chairs the china cabinet and matching side board. All in wonderful original condition." Also in that session are other curved glass chinas, Harvard dental cabinet, a Handel signed lamp, corner china, Victorian Jeweler’s clock, a signed T. Cartier mantel set and much more.
Decorative can transcend the oak wood barrier and fall into decorative cast iron as well. Included in the decorative session are two immaculately restored cast iron base burner wood stoves. Either would be right at home in the most stylish Victorian cottage or lake home.
For entertainment, the coin-operated machine enthusiasts can enjoy vending, arcade or gambling machines. There’s something rare and unusual in each area. For the vending collector that likes cast iron, a very rare United States Stamp Machine is offered. The machine has a massive look and the look is reflected in the weight of the machine. It’s heavy. But one of the most rare vendors is the Railway Automatic Sales Co. Adams Tutti-Frutti machine. In excellent condition, it was built circa 1898. With porcelain front and sides, it pitched the one cent chewing gum from three angles!
There will be music too. Music machines will come in sizes from HUGE to very small. On the huge side, a restored Wurlitzer 147 band organ. Smaller but still large are several coin operated pianos, a Coinola and Cremonas. Table size include Victor, Columbia and Edison record players and cylinder music boxes.
To make sure the auction has some areas of explosive interest, the Arthur Nelson collection includes a great deal of ammunition related items. From a rare Victor shot cabinet to wooden shipping boxes full of ammo, there should be something for every collector of hunting pieces. Art loved it all. One of his favorite pieces was the UMC "Club" paper shot shell box. Called the Christmas box, it has some of the greatest artwork on any ammo box ever lithographed. He had dozens of other powder tins and ammo boxes including a wood shipping box full of 20 boxes of Winchester 10 Ga shotgun shells. But he liked guns too. One that will be offered is a Colt .45 Cal single action revolver, pat. 1871.
According to Penn, "The fall auction has a huge variety of really unusual pieces." Looking through the inventory, that claim holds up well. For starters, how about the nearly new-old-stock animated bellboy curb sign. Made by the National Animated Sign Co., Hot Springs, Arkansas, he stands curbside and waves his arm with a lighted bulb in one hand. The figure, an impressive 94 inches tall, is in excellent original condition. There are other figures as well. One is a smaller sized child’s mannequin that is part of an unusual Masonic ceremonial set. Among the four legged figures are several carousel animals, a camel, deer and two horses. One horse is an Allan Herschell jumper. That animal was beautifully restored by Robert Hall, the carver/artist that helped design, paint and build the carousel for Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
Amusement pieces come in other forms too. There’s a great Dodge ’em car that came from the Riverview Amusement Park in Des Moines, Iowa. Another great amusement ride is a Coney Island fire truck. The truck was bought by the American Pickers and featured in one of their shows earlier this year.
According to Penn, "This auction does promise to be an unusually fun auction. There are so many just plain neat pieces. And there is something to wow every level of collector, across a variety of collector areas. And it’s easy for everyone to bid." He added, "Again, we offer live bidding on both ProxiBid and LiveAuctioneers, as well as absentee and telephone bidding." Full color catalogs are available for $35 by contacting Rich Penn Auctions at (319) 291-6688 or order online at www.richpennauctions.com.

 

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