Ventriloquist with Two Dummies

Available here.

Fake

There's a lot of landmines out there and one of them seems to be these seemingly period watercolors that have been springing up on eBay and other auction houses for the last few years. Their subject matter is generally of fairly significant events or historical figures (Civil War, negro soldiers, etc...) of the 19th century and are typically framed in period frames and backed with pages from 19th century books. Once you've seen a few of them, stylistically they stand out like a sore thumb. The unfortunate part is that quite a few collectors have dropped hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on them. Some can be quite convincing. I even did a post of one a while back! But if you see one, just buy it for it's decorative value because there's little else besides it.

Industrial

Circa 1920's RPPC of industrial machinery.

Available here.

19th Century Ventriloquist Head

A well-traveled head. Sold for $3,055 (including premium) at Garth's.

Pretzel Trivet

Available here.

19th Century Folk Art Redware Bank of Plymouth Rock

Available here.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Family Pets

Available here.

My Biennial #25

Peter Blume
Vegetable Dinner
1927
Oil on canvas
25 1/4 x 30 1/4"

Fistful of Lightning

Available at Tradesmen.

Reflected

Vintage photo of a woman taking a picture in a mirror on a circus wagon. This is cool on so many levels...Available here.

Jack in the....YIKES!

Primitive 19th century Jack in the box.

Available at Heritage Auctions.

CDV of a Folk Art Painting of a Running Horse

Available here.

Athletic Show

I look at a lot of stuff (as I'm sure you realize), but my jaw dropped when I saw these! Simply amazing and for sale at Urban Country.

Seller's description:
American
c. 1920's
Fantastic pair of hand carved boxer and training athlete sculptures with original, layered park paint surfaces. These figures once hung outside of a carnival "Athletic Show," which popularly featured boxers and wrestlers fighting it out in the ring.

Available at Urban Country.

Carved Women

Sold for $162.49 on eBay.

Reunited

Almost 5 years ago, I acquired a nice folk art carved figure of a black man that had a distinctive construction that made me think that it may have been part of a 19th century trade sign. This past week, I was lucky enough to discover that he had a companion! This figure is of a white man and the remnants of his outfit (with apron) suggest a worker of some type, possibly a butcher, blacksmith, carpenter...What's interesting is being able to see some of the elements that were missing from the black figure, including the original hands and two large metal eye hooks that affixed the figures to something. Who knows if there's more figures left to be discovered?

19th Century Folk Art Carved Cane

19th century folk art carved cane made out of black walnut, with lizard, snake and a man's head. Found in the South.

Striped Sisters

19th century photo of two striped sisters.

Available at Anonymous Works.

Architectural Fragment

Available here.

Home Run Club

Lot of 20 baseballs signed by members of the 500 home run club.

Available at Heritage Auctions.

19th Century Tintype of a Child's Doll

Available here.

19th Century Folk Art Masonic Cane

Available here. UPDATE: Sold for $825.00.