#Middlebury #Antiques
Surfing is a popular worldwide sport today, but when did it start and what is collected? People have been swimming and bodysurfing by riding the waves since ancient times. But it was the Polynesians who started riding the waves on a board long before the Europeans discovered the sport during the first voyage of James Cook to Tahiti in 1769. Their chief was the best at the sport with the best board and beaches. The surfing skill gave him added prestige. Ancient Hawaiians, Samoans, Tongans and other islanders also used boards to surf partially as an art and religious activity.
Surfer toys are rare even today. This 8-inch-high vintage metal toy auctioned by Bertoia Auctions probably was made about 1960. It sold for $5,700.
Modern-day surfing started with American tourists who wanted to learn the Hawaiian natives’ sport in the mid-1860s. Some were successful, and in 1908, a club was formed. In 1885, three Hawaiian princes visited Santa Cruz, California, and surfed. And in 1907, an expert was brought to California to promote the sport. It spread to North Carolina, then Florida, then any good American beach with proper waves, but it didn’t become a fad until the movie “Gidget” in 1959.
Surfboards were the first important collectible. Collectors can now find the ever-changing surfboards, clothing, professional contest prizes (after about 1975), surf music, recordings and sheet music, movies and even toys. Hubley Manufacturing Company (1894-c.1975) made a painted metal toy with a girl riding a surfboard on waves. It had wheels that let it roll on an eccentric path. The girl’s one-piece yellow bathing suit suggests a date in the late 1950s or ’60s, early for a surfer toy. It sold for $5,700. Surfer collecting is still young, and prices are highest today for the artistic surfboards.
Q: I know you should not use boiled linseed oil to polish your wooden furniture, even though that was recommended in my mother’s day. It gets hard and crystallizes, and it’s hard to remove. But what oil should I use?
A: Some experts say that you shouldn’t use any type of oil on finished wood – not even lemon, linseed, tung or oil-based polishes. They often do nothing, because you can’t “feed” wood. But the oil can attract dust and create a sticky surface, or worse. A finished piece of furniture should be given a light coat of paste wax about once a year. Rub the wax until there is a shine and no waxy feel. Then, just dust the surface regularly.
Current Prices
Trivet, brass, round, pierced, turned wooden handle, three legs, iron, 5-1/4 x 13 1/2 inches, $20.
Vase, glass, Bohemian, ruby overlay, flowers alternate with dots, white ground, 8-3/4 x 7 inches, $90.
Humidor, Buffalo Pottery Deldare, “There was an old sailor and he had a wooden leg,” 7-1/4 inches, $150.
Mardi Gras, invitation, Momus, The Realms of Fancy, Charles Briton, 1878, 4-1/2 x 7-1/8 inches, $370.
TIP: If you hang a picture on two hooks next to each other, the picture will remain level.
For more collecting news, tips and resources, visit www.Kovels.com.
© 2019 King Features Synd., Inc.
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