Hake’s Auction Features Rare Disneyana From The Maurice Sendak Collection Prized Political memorabilia, original comic art and 50-year-old original cover art from Action Comics’ JFK/Clark Kent issue an extraordinary rarity, could reach $50,000-$75,000
News-Antique.com - Nov 06,2013 - YORK, Pa. – America’s first collectibles auction house, Hake’s Americana & Collectibles, presents a blockbuster lineup of pop culture, original comic art and rare Americana in their online, phone and absentee auction closing November 19-21. Bidding has opened in Auction #210, which contains 3,105 choice lots.
The selection is led by three premier collections: Disney character toys and collectibles from the estate of beloved illustrator and children’s book author Maurice Sendak (1928-2012); the Julie Powell political memorabilia collection, and several prized collections from Robert M. Overstreet, the visionary author of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, now in its 43rd year of publication. Overstreet’s remarkable collections cross many categories in the auction, including coins, fossils, meteorites, original comic art and premiums.
There isn’t a minute detail about the late Maurice Sendak’s Disneyana collection that isn’t well known to Hake’s founder, Ted Hake.
“I met Maurice in 1969, shortly after publication of his now-famous book ‘Where The Wild Things Are,’” said Hake. “Over the next forty years, Maurice would participate in Hake’s auctions, and several times a year I would visit him to present early 1930s Mickey Mouse objects for his consideration.” Now many of Sendak’s most treasured Disneyana toys will pass on to other collectors, but with a very special added provenance.
“Before he passed away, Maurice Sendak established a foundation to benefit budding children’s book writers,” said Hake. “The Maurice Sendak Foundation maintains the Sendak home, which now serves as a place where aspiring authors can go to study and write in the same, carefully preserved environment that inspired Maurice.”
The selections entrusted to Hake’s will be offered in a short series of auctions over the next several months, each containing approximately 50 items and four or five of what Hake describes as “high-end, once-in-a-lifetime pieces.”
Sendak’s fascination with whimsical characters was reflected in the amusing pieces he chose for his collection, including two German-made rarities that seldom appear at auction. Lot 2176, a wonderful 1930s tin-litho mechanical bank made by Saalheimer & Strauss, depicts a toothy, widely smiling Mickey, whose tongue thrusts forward to accept a coin when his right ear is pulled. On reverse, the bank is decorated with a marvelous depiction of Mickey operating a vintage camera on tripod stand. Above him is the message, “Smile please!” The bank requires a minimum bid of $7,500.
The second example, Lot 2177, is a circa-1930 Distler Mickey Mouse Organ Grinder wind-up toy with its extraordinarily rare graphic box. Known to collectors as the “Mickey Mouse Hurdy Gurdy,” this classic and much-admired toy also includes a diminutive figure of Minnie Mouse, who dances atop the barrel organ as Mickey turns a crank. All original and 100% complete, the toy will open for bidding at $6,000.
In addition to rare Disneyana, other early comic character toys took pride of place in the Sendak collection. A prime example is the only known complete set of original, circa-1914 Little Nemo bisque figurines. Featuring Flip, Princess, Doctor Pill, Imp and, of course, Little