Unlike pool, according to Prof. Harold Hill in The Music Man, billiards is a pastime that requires "horse sense and a cool head and a keen eye." Alderfer Auction and Appraisal in Hatfield will promote those virtues with a sale, beginning at 9 a.m. next Friday, of 450 lots of what it advertises as antique and vintage billiard collectibles.
About half are promotional and ephemera items, but the sale also offers cues, balls, chalks - even three tables, although to judge from the descriptions in the online auction catalog accessible at www.artfact.com, a lot of the items pertain to pocket billiards, the formal term for pool. Nothing is expected to exceed the three-figure price range, with three exceptions, according to the catalog presale price estimates.
Some lots invoke the names of great players. A set of 16 2¼-inch Belgian striped and numbered pool balls with a presale estimate of $40 to $60, for instance, is named after Philadelphia native Willie Mosconi.
There also are several lots of true billiard balls, as well as other lots of snooker and bumper pool balls. (Unlike pool with its six pockets, true billiards is played on a pocketless table.)
An original set of three true billiard balls found in a Norristown firehouse, two whites and a third red cueball, has a presale estimate of $350 to $450. Two of the pool tables, one a Wendt and the other a Columbia, have presale estimates of $300 to $500. The third, a Clark-Herd, should bring $400 to $600. All need some restoration.
The three items that might bring $1,000 or more are a turn-of-the-century cue rack made by Thomas Clark & Co. of 2419-21 N. Front St. here that holds 12 cues ($500 to $1,000); a rare "Billiards Experts of the World" photo from the 1880s ($800 to $1,500); and a set of three 1800s billiard spectator chairs from an upstate New York estate ($1,500 to $2,500).
Previews: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 8 a.m. to sale time next Friday at the gallery at 501 Fairgrounds Rd. For further information call 215-393-3023.
Source: Digging into pockets for billiards collectibles. [Retrieved 17 November 2012]
More info ---> HERE and HERE
Vintage pool tobacco cards below will be one of the many items at this auction.
About half are promotional and ephemera items, but the sale also offers cues, balls, chalks - even three tables, although to judge from the descriptions in the online auction catalog accessible at www.artfact.com, a lot of the items pertain to pocket billiards, the formal term for pool. Nothing is expected to exceed the three-figure price range, with three exceptions, according to the catalog presale price estimates.
Some lots invoke the names of great players. A set of 16 2¼-inch Belgian striped and numbered pool balls with a presale estimate of $40 to $60, for instance, is named after Philadelphia native Willie Mosconi.
There also are several lots of true billiard balls, as well as other lots of snooker and bumper pool balls. (Unlike pool with its six pockets, true billiards is played on a pocketless table.)
An original set of three true billiard balls found in a Norristown firehouse, two whites and a third red cueball, has a presale estimate of $350 to $450. Two of the pool tables, one a Wendt and the other a Columbia, have presale estimates of $300 to $500. The third, a Clark-Herd, should bring $400 to $600. All need some restoration.
The three items that might bring $1,000 or more are a turn-of-the-century cue rack made by Thomas Clark & Co. of 2419-21 N. Front St. here that holds 12 cues ($500 to $1,000); a rare "Billiards Experts of the World" photo from the 1880s ($800 to $1,500); and a set of three 1800s billiard spectator chairs from an upstate New York estate ($1,500 to $2,500).
Previews: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 8 a.m. to sale time next Friday at the gallery at 501 Fairgrounds Rd. For further information call 215-393-3023.
Source: Digging into pockets for billiards collectibles. [Retrieved 17 November 2012]
More info ---> HERE and HERE
Vintage pool tobacco cards below will be one of the many items at this auction.
