YORK, PENN. — Hake’s March 21-22 auction presented fresh collections, prototypes and rarities as the firm launched into the 2023 auction season with an offering of more than 1,900 choice lots from more than 200 collector categories. Drawing on the success of its record-breaker from a few auctions ago, Hake’s saw its 1-inch version of the 1920 Cox/Roosevelt jugate button in its opening session on March 21 fly to twice its high estimate at $100,300, including buyer’s premium. A rarity, the button is believed to have been a salesman’s sample, one of only six of its type known to exist. It was the crown jewel of the John Hilhouse collection. While the result was not as much as the record $185,850 achieved for the previous button on March 15, 2022, Hake’s president Alex Winter said, “That one we expected to do around that amount, and it came in near the high end of our estimate. The one from the auction that just closed really surprised us and sold for double the high end of the estimate.” Still, the sale posted lots of record breakers, including the most any Transformer toy has ever brought at auction — $34,462 for a Transformers (1984) Series I Optimus Prime. More on these and other rarities will be discussed in an upcoming review of this sale.