Appraise It
Clayton Sumner Price (American, 1874-1950) The Rider, oil on board, signed C. S. Price
Price grew up in a large ranching family in Iowa and Wyoming. An accomplished carpenter, homesteader and horseman, C. S. Price was 31 years old before he sought formal art training at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts. He left the school after one year to accept a job in Portland, Oregon, as a magazine illustrator. Working for Western- themed magazines, Price created images of rearing horses and stagecoaches that were about to go off cliffs, which were very beautiful drawings but still very illustrational.
Then in 1915, at the age of 41, he traveled to San Francisco for a show of contemporary art. The paintings he saw, all early, modernistic European paintings by artists like Cezanne, transformed his artistic vision. He became committed to color as emotional expression. As Price’s paintings changed, details disappeared. His figures became simplified; the bodies became trunk-like. He settled down in Monterey, California, sharing studio space to paint while supporting himself as a frame maker and sardine packer.
Returning to Oregon in 1929, C. S. Price became the major regional influence during the pre-war period by bringing the influences and ideas of the Paris school of Cubism and Modernism to Portland. His work rapidly became the ideal for the younger artists of the region. They made pilgrimages to his studio, pursuing Price to give them lessons, but he resolutely declined and was described by these art students as a modest, selfless man.
In the final years of his life, Price received critical acclaim as his works headed toward abstraction. The Portland Art Museum gave him a one-man show in 1942 and 1945. In 1946, he was included in major exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
I believe this little gem of a painting to be a rare example of his early work and would estimate its auction market value to be $4000 to $6000 dollars.
Ilya Schor (1904 -1961)
Pair of Gold Cuff Links, circa 1949
Ilya Schor was born in Zloczow (Galicia), in the Austrian Empire, later Poland, in 1904. Educated in the arts and metal crafts in Poland and Paris, Ilya Schor immigrated to the United States in 1941 from Marseilles, via Lisbon, after fleeing Paris in late May 1940.
In New York, Schor moved into a cosmopolitan circle of intellectuals and artists. He himself was a multi-faceted artist who earned his renown as a painter, sculptor, engraver, jeweler, and book illustrator. He was also renowned as an artist of Judaica and a master of the ornamental detail.
Ilya Schor’s artwork embodied the spirit of life and the folk culture of the people of the small villages (shtetls) of Eastern Europe. Schor was a passionate and serious enthusiast of his culture. Using his many skills and memories, he worked on major commissions for synagogues in the United States.
Ilya Schor died in New York City in 1961. A retrospective of his work was held at the Jewish Museum in 1965. His works are included in collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Each cuff link, one inch in diameter, is decorated with a pierced and incised image of a musician. The back of each is signed “I Schor” and engraved with a bird device. These precious metal works are oddly more highly sought after than his paintings or drawings. A conservative estimate, at auction, for these fine objects of art and culture would be $2000 to $3000.
Carved and Painted Ice Fishing Decoy
Wood with attached metal fins, painted nail eyes, embedded lead weight and original paint. Length 5 ½”, American, possibly Minnesota, circa 1940-1960
Where winters are long and cold and the ice is thick, you will find the sport of ice fishing. The fisherman stands next to a hole which has been cut into the ice. In one hand he holds a “jig” stick with an attached decoy suspended in the water. By jigging this stick and realistically moving the decoy, the fisherman hopes to attract a fish to spear.
Historically, around the Great Lakes and in upstate New York, the sportsman ice fishing culture was in place by the second half of the 19th century. The activity became so popular that concerns of over-fishing resulted in the sport being regionally outlawed in 1910 for everyone except reservation-bound Native Americans.
The beginning of the Great Depression saw the end of this prohibition as economic conditions created a need for new ways of creating income and securing food. Ice spear fishing was resurrected into a major enterprise for both sport and sustenance, with carvers and fish decoy users active on the lakes and rivers of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York.
Minnesota decoy carvers are best known for producing “critter” fish decoys. Typically ranging from three to six inches in length, these decoys resembled mice, raccoons, snakes, salamanders, turtles and even mermaids. While utilitarian in purpose, they proved to be very popular with collectors of both decoys and American Folk Art.
Out of the water and in a retail setting, this whimsical critter decoy could be priced at $200 to $300.
“Scrimmage” Punchboard/Gaming Board, Circa 1940-1950
Punchboards are the descendants of handmade lottery gaming boards, which were used in the U.S. as early as the 18th century. The punchboard or salesboard was patented in 1905 by C. A. Brewer and C. G. Scannell of Chicago. Once the boards became cheap to manufacture, they quickly found their audience in gas stations, corner stores, bars, fraternal halls, and at fund-raising events. In 1939, at the peak of their popularity, fifty million punchboards were sold.
Punchboards were typically played for cash gains, but some manufacturers disguised the gambling nature of the boards by stating that prizes were “for trade only” and not redeemable for cash. Cigar, cigarette, and beer companies used punchboards as an advertising medium, featuring their products as the prizes. Zippo lighters found success with reported sales of more than three hundred thousand lighters between 1934 and 1940 due to the use of punchboard advertising.
When playing for cash, the player paid the punchboard’s operator a set amount of money for a chance to use a metal stylus (or “punch”) to break the seal on the hole of his choice and punch out a slip of paper. If the number or symbol found on the slip matched one of the pre-determined winning combinations, the player was awarded the corresponding prize. This type of game board is still generating revenue in states where the gaming laws allow their use.
As collectibles, these vintage boards have great visual appeal and would be great additions to any collection of advertising, pin-ups, sports or history. The “girlie pin-up” and cigarette boards are the most common subject matters available; thus sports- and advertising-related boards command higher prices.
This near-mint-condition “Scrimmage” board with its punch(er) still factory sealed would have a retail value in the range of $100 to $200.
Lithographed Metal Advertising Tray, Circa 1940
At the turn of the century, before mass media advertising, beer trays were one of many effective point-of-sale advertising pieces. The majority of beer sales were made for consumption within a tavern. These colorful and artistically diverse trays along with branded mugs, glasses, and foam scrapers were the brewery’s best effort for on-premise advertising.
Two of the first companies to produce beer trays competed against each other in Coshocton, Ohio. Tuscarora Advertising and Standard Advertising each produced a variety of advertising items. In the mid 1890s these companies perfected the process of applying lithographs to metal surfaces, including trays.
Round trays, 12 and 13 inches in diameter, are the most common post-Prohibition form, whereas pre-Prohibition trays were often oval. The trays were decorated in an endless variety of designs, from breweries to beautiful women. Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel, himself the son of a brewmaster) attended Dartmouth College with Rudolf Haffenreffer, a principal figure at the Rhode Island-based Narragansett Brewing Company. Haffenreffer asked his friend to design a tray for the brewery. “Famous Narragansett Lager & Ale–Gangway For Gansett!–Too Good To Miss” was manufactured in 1940 at American Art Works in Coshocton, Ohio. This tray that depicts Chief Gansett is one of the most popular beer trays ever produced. It is sought by breweriana collectors and Dr. Seuss collectors.
With its iconic imagery, the tray regularly fetches almost double what it did prior to Seuss’ death in 1991. A collector should expect to pay $200 to $300 for a period Dr. Seuss tray in good condition. The condition issues of this particular tray would hold its value to about $50.
Collecting note: Reproduction trays are typically made with a silk screening process, so on close inspection the imagery will have a cloth-like appearance.
by Linda Dyer | photography by Jerry Atnip
