The one exceptional piece is an 1865 Spencer model carbine in very good condition. It has a presale estimate of $1,400 to $1,700.
Preview is from 10 a.m. to sale time Tuesday at the gallery, 501 Fairgrounds Rd. For further information, call 215-393-3029.
Considerably more unusual weaponry will be featured at Barry S. Slosberg Inc. in a sale beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday at the gallery, 2501 E. Ontario St. Estate furnishings also will be offered. The military part of the sale also will be carried online at www.proxibid.com.
About 85 percent of the weapons, including a Walther P38 pistol and other military items, are Nazi German in origin, according to Slosberg associate Brian Lyons, who put the sale together. Among the more unusual items are a group of German land-mine flags and a visor cap for a German zeppelin pilot that Lyons expects to sell for $150 to $250.
The top presale estimate is for a U.S. handgun, a Ruger .44 Magnum super Blackhawk. It should bring $500 to $600.
Preview is from 3 p.m. to sale time. For further information, call 215-425-7030.
Toys at Stephenson's. Now for the toys. More than 200 lots, including dolls, model trains, and cast iron banks, will be offered by Stephenson's Auction beginning at 2 p.m. next Friday at the gallery at 1005 Industrial Blvd., Southampton. Online bidding will be available through www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
The 300-lot sale will open with 50 dolls, according to a Stephenson's release. They will include German bisque-head dolls by C.M. Bergmann and Simon and Halbig, some early Barbies in original boxes, and two Martha Chase painted cloth dolls. One, 24 inches tall, should bring $120 to $300; the other, 30 inches, has a presale estimate of $200 to $400, according to Cindy Stephenson.
The sale also features a number of tin toys and windups, including several Chein Co. toys with a carnival theme. Founded in New York in 1903 by Julius Chein as a metal-stamping operation, Chein made small tin lithographed toys, including horse-drawn carts and coin banks, that were distributed by Woolworth's and other five-and-dime chains. Among those in the sale are a Ferris wheel and two roller coasters. Stephenson said that because of the generally weak auction market, they should sell for under $500.
The two top tin toys are a 1939 Louis Marx & Co. Moon Mullins and Kayo mechanical hand car with track and original box and a Popeye the Pilot tin-plate windup made around 1940. The Moon Mullins figure should bring $400 to $800 and the Popeye figure $400 to $600, even though the propeller is missing, Stephenson said this week.
The sale also features banks, mostly still, including such popular models as a beehive ($60 to $100) and the Flatiron Building ($120 to $150).
There also is at least one German-made steam-engine kit, including two engines and six accessories, that should bring $150 to $250.
Preview is from noon to sale time Friday. For further information, call 215-322-6182.
Buttons in Blue Ball. The buttons will be offered beginning at 8 a.m. Friday and Saturday at the Blue Ball fire hall in Lancaster County by auctioneer Rich Harry and apprentice Daryl Shupp. But the person behind the sale is Charlotte Putt, whose late husband, Dale, began the tradition in 1981. The sale is still known as Putt's Button Auction and usually draws about 50 bidders from all over the country.
This year's sale will offer 696 lots, including 18th-century enameled pictorial and black-glass designs, as well as other craft and collectible items, such as buckles, beads for making jewelry, and empty picture frames.
Charlotte Putt expects the top prices to go to the 18th-century buttons, which are mostly in groupings of two or three. She declined to offer presale estimates.
The 18th-century buttons and other categories will be offered at both sessions. Preview for Saturday's session is from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the sale site along Route 322 East, just off its intersection with Route 23. For further information, call 717-336-3625.
Last Friday's Auctions column gave an incorrect local starting time for Hunt Auctions' sale of sports memorabilia on Tuesday in Phoenix. It begins at 1 p.m. Philadelphia time, 10 a.m. in Phoenix.
Contact David Iams at daiams@comcast.net.
