Rare Carved Folk Art Corkscrew (1850-1899)

Currently at $ 200.00 with 1 day to go.

Seller's description: Here is a stunning example of late 19th century folk art in the form of a carved ivory corkscrew. The carving is expert. The corkscrew depicts an entire female figure. This lovely scantily clad woman is dressed appealing attire including a revealing dress and calf hight stockings complete with a fancy bow! Most of these type of corkscrews depict simply woman's legs. Beyond it's age and unbelievable craftsmanship the complete form of a lady makes this item special. Measures 5.25" when unfolded. Stamped on the metal are some markings that look like 'GES.EESCA' to my eyes. There is some damage to one of the legs near the ankle as pictured. She still looks pretty good for being over 100 years old.

Update: Ended at $ 375.00. Some wind was taken out of the sales when the seller found out and revealed prior to the end of the auction that the carving was actually not ivory but a type of resin.

"Furniture and Undertaking"

I believe he was also the Sheriff as well! Nice 19th century trade sign in Skinner's current Americana auction.

Thank God It's Not Anatomically Correct!

1930's photo of two women hug a folk art sculpture of a man in front of the Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC.

Save Monster Park!

Out here in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel, there are plans to demolish some great concrete playground structures built by an artist named Benjamin Dominguez in 1965.

Although I don't think my mom ever took me to this particular park, I have fond memories of these type of cement play structures. I remember pretty vividly going down a dragon slide that seemed to go on forever!

The sculptures are less personal and esoteric (less face it, they were done for a public park) than say, E.T. Wickham's concrete sculptures, but they are still great forms and an awful lot of fun.

History professor Eloy Zarate has organized a movement to save the park, with over 1500 signatures so far.

Here is the online petition as well as more info.: http://monsterpark.eloyzarate.com/

NPR also did a story on the movement to save the park: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6683512

Photos courtesy of Eloy Zarate and Benjamin Dominguez family

Bizarre 1930's Photo of Parade Float Clown

WOW!!!

Real Schimmel or Mountz?

There is a flurry activity right now around an auction item on eBay with the simple title of "antique carved folk art dog". Obviously by looking at the carving, the speculation is that it is a heretofore undiscovered work by either Wilhelm Schimmel or Aaron Mountz (a real expert could tell, but I always get them confused! Personally, I feel the market for both are more than a little overinflated, but that's just my opinion...) Fueling the fire is that the eBay seller is listed in PA, where both worked I understand.

Seems like the right collectors have caught on to it fairly quickly as it has already been bid up to almost $ 2,000.00 within the first day of the initial listing. Will be interesting to see where it finally lands at.

Update: Sold for $ 4,329.98!

Pair of Daguerreotype Photographs of Folk Art Portrait Paintings

Nice pair of daguerreotype photographs of Folk Art portrait paintings. Attributed to Micah Williams.

The seller also says that written on a piece of paper is the following: "1840 Portraits by Micah Williams (of) Vorhees/Conover wedding, Monmouth Co., N.J."

Currently on eBay.

Update: Within the last 10 seconds, went from $ 405.00 to end at $ 3,083.33!

Finally unpacking...

The full home remodel is winding down and it's finally time to unpack part of the collection. Here's a few shots of some articulated figures. Still not sure where they are going to go, but probably want to display them on multiple shelves for a nice group effect. Some I'll probably have to sell too, which is a bummer. I can't tell you how hard it is to sell a great 19th century articulated figure so that I can pay for something like a towel bar! Ugh!

1920's Roadside Folk Art Photo- Statue of Liberty

Here's a nice shot of a Statue of Liberty folk art sculpture on top of the Liberty Cafe in St. Helens, Oregon. I only know this because apparently it is written on the back of the photo. I wish this shot was a little closer up so that we could get a better look at the face and body, but you can still tell that this was a spectacular sight! By the looks of it, the sculpture was at least about 20 ft. tall! Can you imagine? Wonder what happened to it...

19th Century Primitive Southern Folk Art Figure

Just got this figure today. Really, really nice form and great size at 2 ft. tall. Interestingly, it seems the form was made using planks of 2 x 6" Southern Pine which were affixed together and then carved. The back of the head is flat and unpainted and there are two holes in the back that look like they were used for mounting at one time, so the seller thought that maybe this had been part of a 19th century trade sign. I suppose it's possible.