Subject:
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LEGO® Foundation's antique Doll and Toy collection
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.mediawatch
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Date:
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Wed, 21 Jun 2006 23:43:04 GMT
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Viewed:
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3328 times
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LAS VEGAS, June 6, 2006
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060606/latu050.html?.v=57
PRNewswire/ -- An extremely rare art series doll created around 1910 by the
German firm Kammer & Reinhardt hammered for $120,000 at a sale of the LEGO
Foundation’s antique doll and toy collection held May 19-21 in Las Vegas. The
doll sold through Proxibid, the Internet facilitator for the sale, establishing
a new world record.
“This was the most ever paid online for a doll at auction, and it was also the
top lot of the sale overall,” said Ken Maxwell, vice president of Proxibid,
based in Omaha. Proxibid provided an Internet bidding platform for Theriault’s,
the Maryland-based auction firm that conducted the sale. Theriault’s specializes
in dolls and toys.
Online sales for the three-day event totaled nearly $450,000. Total sales for
the auction overall topped the $2 million mark. Over 900 bidders were registered
online, representing more than 20 countries. Nearly 4,500 bids were placed
online and the strongest day for online sales was Saturday, May 20 - a nearly
$250,000 sell-through.
“I had the pleasure of attending the auction in person, and the amount of bidder
participation onsite, as well as online, was truly staggering,” Maxwell said.
“We were elated to be a part of such an historic event. We’ve worked with
Theriault’s before, so we knew bidding activity would be brisk. But this
exceeded everybody’s expectations.”
There was an added bonus: Theriault’s was able to experience and enjoy
Proxibid’s premier broadcasting service for the first time. “By providing a
professional camera operator, we were able to follow the action and broadcast
detailed video of the items being offered,” Maxwell said. “It was television
quality on the Internet.”
The sale comprised the huge antique doll and toy collection amassed by the
Christiansen family of Denmark, founders of the LEGO Group. LEGO interlocking
toys are ubiquitous in this country and abroad, but there were none in evidence
at this sale. It was dedicated entirely to vintage toys and dolls from the 19th
and early 20th centuries.
For nearly 40 years, the collection -- consisting mostly of antique dolls,
early tin toys, teddy bears, trains, dollhouses and automata -- was made
available to the world in a special museum within LEGOland Park in Billund,
Denmark, home of the LEGO Group. In 2005, the LEGO Foundation decided to close
the museum and auction the collections.
The auction was awarded to Theriault’s. It was held at the Venetian Hotel. “This
was a landmark auction, the first significant doll and toy museum in Europe to
be offered in the United States through an American auction house,” said Stuart
Holbrook, president of Theriault’s. “The turnout and final sales figures were
just phenomenal.”
In addition to the Kammer & Reinhardt doll (a model 103, in exceptional
condition), other top lots from the dolls category included:
A French bisque portrait doll by Albert Marque from the early 20th century sold
for $55,000. A German porcelain lady doll by KPM with early costume realized
$32,000. An early German papier-mache lady with ornate coiffure hammered for
$24,000. And a Danish porcelain brown-haired doll by Royal Copenhagen Porcelain
made $22,000.
In the dollhouses category, a mid-19th century Danish faux half-timbered town
house known as “Fruens Vilje” changed hands for $18,000. A late 19th century
furnished dollhouse known as “Vita’s Eje” garnered $14,000. An English wooden
dollhouse known as “The Sparrowe’s House of Ipswich” also commanded $14,000.
In other dollhouse sales, an early Danish dollhouse with furnishings known as
“Mormors Hus” found a new owner for $10,000, while a late 19th century cabinet
dollhouse with provenance known as “The Koppel House” gaveled for $9,500. All
dolls and dollhouses mentioned, except the Kammer & Reinhardt doll, were sold
onsite.
Holbrook pointed out, “The market for quality collectibles like these transcends
geography. Much like childhood is an experience that knows no borders, the
collecting of rare and valuable dolls and toys is a truly international concern.
And the United States is at the forefront of this global phenomenon.”
The thousands of items in the LEGO museum date from the earliest commercial
toys in Europe (in the 18th century) to pieces made in the 1920s. A separate
museum and archives -- not part of this auction -- will be maintained in
Billund. It will house objects from the early years, when LEGO was a small
cottage industry.
The LEGO Group was founded in 1932. The 3,000 pieces that were collected and
eventually placed on display at the museum were brought together as a showcase,
but quickly took on a life of their own. The Christiansen family did not need to
found the collection; it was a labor of love, a mirror to the past.
While the Christiansens may have built their museum as a way to show today’s
youth what joy could be brought to a child in, say, 1885, the collecting of rare
dolls and toys has, over the past three decades, become an adult phenomenon.
Theriault’s has been able to capitalize on this trend through its auctions. So,
by extension, has Proxibid.
Proxibid is a premier provider of live Internet auction broadcasting services,
marketing and advertising for hundreds of auctioneers in the United States,
Canada and the United Kingdom. The Proxibid service allows bidders to see, hear
and participate in live auctions from the comfort of their home or office via
the Internet.
Proxibid’s live bidding service is connected to a powerful auction portal, where
auction companies can post their catalogs for bidders to browse and search. As a
leading pioneer of live Internet bidding technology, Proxibid continues to
dominate the marketplace by offering an unparalleled level of service and
support for its customers.
-end of report-
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