Specialist auctioneer of technical antiques, Auction Team Breker once again achieved outstanding prices for rare collectors items, scientific instruments and museum-quality mechanical musical devices at its May 31 auction.
Most prices easily exceeded presale estimates for calculators like the Curta, which opened at $500 and sold for $2,220, or Peerless that sold for $6,715, more than $2,000 above its opening. These were followed by cipher machines, such as the German Kryhas that realized $11,900, a Norwegian wall phone that went from $700 to $4,220, the Swedish Tunnan that nearly tripled its estimate at $5,750 and the Hungarian/Austrian Deckert & Homolka that reached $12,500.
The world’s first patented copying machine (#94) by the legendary steam engine inventor James Watt of 1780 started at $2,800 and finished at $7,675.
The sale of the second part of the world-famous Remington Typewriter Museum again reached record prices for rare models, even in poor and nonworking condition. The standard Victoria jumped to $3,450, and the Ford, without any carriage, went to $9,600. Three Royal standard typewriters opened at $185 and sold for $2,700.
Edison’s Mimeograph Typewriter sold for $11,900, and the highly desirable Fitch Type Writer made $19,200. The same price was achieved by the Brooks. But top winners were the Fitch-type prototype that opened at $1,320 and skyrocketed to $25,000, and the Jackson typewriter, which rose from $3,900 to $30,700.
Other highlights of the day included the Benjamin Franklin House tin toy model demonstrating the function of the lightning rod, which sold for $10,550. Another specialty item was the fairground electro-shock machine Hercules, circa 1928, which opened at $5,900 and shocked the crowd by going to $17,800.
Mechanical musical instruments also got a lot of attention. The Hot-Air-Orchestrion by Hupfeld went for $21,100 to an Eastern European private museum, while the well-playing French fairground organ by Gasparini found a new home in a South Korean museum for $46,000.
A Wurlitzer 1100 jukebox nearly doubled its starting price of $5,850 by selling for $10,550, and the phonograph Graphophone BS changed hands for $8,600. The Swiss musical box with ten cylinders by Billon-Haller sold for $15,350, and the tall Polyphon floor clock realized $30,700.
The toys and tin toys section saw the rare German circa 1910 board game, Airship-Travel, find a new home in the United States for $5,750.
Steam engines were highly sought after, but excellent quality tin toy rail road items by Märklin fetched the highest prices: the Leipzig Central Station sold for $17,265, the single passenger car made $15,350; locomotives went from $9,600 and $11,500 up to the highly desirable Swiss Crocodile, which brought $35,600.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium. Auction Team Breker’s next specialty sale of science and technology will be November 22. For information, 49 2236 38434 0 or www.Breker.com .
