This 8-by-6-inch Samuel F. O’Reilly American eagle tattoo design, ink and watercolor on paper, sold to a new bidder for Bray, for the auction’s highest price of $12,500 ($3/5,000).

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Tom Christopher’s collection, described by Derin Bray as being “the largest and most impressive gathering of historic tattoo flash ever to come to market,” was presented by Bray & Co at noon on Sunday, November 9, with more than 100 lots. It was immediately followed by just over 50 lots of American Outsider, folk art, advertising, historic guns, posters, automobilia, English and American silver and fine art. Invoices were inked for all of the lots from the tattoo collection and only one lot of Americana failed to find a new home.

“I’d just had a tattoo sale in the summer and was worried it was too much too soon, but if anything, the prices were stronger this sale than in the previous one,” Bray told Antiques and The Arts Weekly. “Tom Christopher is a well-known working artist whose collection was very well known, and he has lots of art-world connections. It had far more people watching than I’ve had previously. Tattooing art and artifacts are more appreciated now, with growing interest, particularly from institutions.”

The Tom Christopher Collection

Christopher’s collection, which was assembled over three decades, showcased rare and important works by pivotal figures in the history of tattooing, including Samuel O’Reilly, Percy Waters, Owen Jensen, Harry Lawson and more.

The last of three designs by Samuel F. O’Reilly to cross the block was this 8-by-6-inch “Hope” tattoo that sold to the buyer of the sale’s top lot, for $8,750 ($3/5,000).

Demand was strong for all three works by O’Reilly (1854-1909), who was working in New York City’s Bowery area around 1890 and who patented the first electric tattooing machine in 1891. Offered consecutively, all had previously been in a bound book of designs and all were exhibited at the Hammond Museum in its 2016 show, “Of Pirates, Mermaids and True Love: 100 Years of Tattoo Flash.” The first across the block — a Dancer design — achieved $9,375; it sold to a private collector of tattoo flash Bray has known. A different buyer — a fine art collector who had been unknown to Bray before the auction — won, for $12,500 and the sale’s highest price, a design for an American eagle that had also been shown at The New York Historical (Society). The same art collector bought O’Reilly’s last-offered lot, a patriotic design titled “Hope,” which closed at $8,750.

Works by Southern California-based tattoo artist Harry Lawson (1882-1950) were about as plentiful, numbering two lots of design sheets and a large trade card. The highest selling of these was also the last of his lots, a sheet of traditional American designs that was considered large (it measured 20 by 15¾ inches) and had also been included in the Hammond’s “Of Pirates, Mermaids and True Love” exhibition. To add to its desirability, it was illustrated in both Nick Colella’s Cliff Raven Travel Book, 1969-1970 (2021) and Jason Schroeder’s Lost Art From Tattooing’s Past (2008); a tattoo collector in Los Angeles took it to $9,375.

Three seemed to be a lucky number, with pieces by Norman Keith “Sailor Jerry” Collins (1911-1973) also coming to auction with as many examples. Working in Honolulu in the mid Twentieth Century, works by Collins have brought high-ranking prices at some of Bray’s earlier sales; his “Man Overboard” hand-painted sheet of designs, 10¼ by 14¼ inches, finished at $8,125.

This carved and painted circus model figure of a tattooed man by Joe Taggart stood just 5¾ inches tall and was estimated at $600/800. It was purchased by a folk art collector.

Most of Bray’s estimates were matched or exceeded modestly, demonstrating his knowledge of the market and prices things were likely to sell for. A surprise result of $3,125 was realized by a 5¾-inch-tall carved circus model figure of a tattooed man, by Joe Taggart, which dwarfed its $600/800 estimate. The catalog noted Taggart was a grain farmer who “built exceptional circus models, which he sold and exhibited throughout the country. His work was featured in Life magazine and many other publications.” Bray was very happy to say that a folk art collector had the prevailing bid.

Afternoon Americana & More

The top lot of the Americana session was a 41-inch-tall bronze fountain that depicted a baby holding two ducks; it was designed by Edith Barretto Parsons and cast at the Roman Bronze Works foundry. Interest pushed it over estimate to a $6,875 finish.

This Duck Baby garden fountain, designed by Edith Barretto Parsons and cast in New York City circa 1910, topped off at $6,875 and was the highest price realized in the Americana section ($3/5,000).

A pair of 1903 Liberty Head 14K gold coin cufflinks, claimed the second-highest price in the Americana sale. Estimated at $800-$1,200, it did better, going out at $2,250.

Leading a small, two-lot section of Outsider art with a $2,000 finish was a painting of cowboys and cows by Reverend Johnnie Swearingen (1908-1993) that had been handled by the Webb Gallery.

Interestingly, four lots had connections to New York prisons and came to Bray from two different collections. First up, a 9-foot banner weathervane, made circa 1880 and included a lighting rod, earned $1,250. A different consignor sold the rest of the prison lots. An aluminum cafeteria tray from Rikers Island Prison had an engraved presentation inscription that read “Warden Edw. Dros / The Best Damn Warden in 48 States, Hawaii & Alaska / Presented in loving & profound appreciation by the Officers & Inmates of the Workhouse, Rikers Island, in recognition of his Great Genius, Leadership and Ability, with other virtues too numerous to mention. August 29, 1952.” It exceeded expectations and sold for $1,063. Two additional lots — each of nine prison shivs in a shadowbox frame — brought $1,500 and $1,188, from the same bidder.

Bray & Co will sell Americana in March 2026, date TBD.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, 603-427-8281 or www.brayco.com.