The Canadiana, Folk Art and Collectibles auction has an exciting mix.
Antique furniture from Quebec and Ontario includes Waterloo pine benches, knockdown Quebec armoire, pine storage and hanging cupboards from Ontario, a Niagara Peninsula raised panel pine dish cupboard, and a very early jam/jelly cupboard from Quebec with exceptional hardware. The furnishings come from three long established and very private collections gracing homes in Toronto and Creemore. These collections have been put together over the past 30-50 years and are now coming to the market for the first time.
Visbids is privileged to sell part of the private collection of the author, lecturer, researcher and pioneer in the Canadiana field Catherine Thuro. She is the author of Oil Lamps and with her husband Carl once had the largest and most varied collection of oil lamps in the world. She also wrote about and collected primitives and early tools. In our auction we have a number of early tools such as broad axes, travel wheels, apple corers that Catherine had researched and held in her private collection.
Visbids’ auction also has a varied collection of handmade ice fishing lures along with early commercial lures made by Pfleuger, Heddon, and Lucky Strike.
There are Inuit prints, a vintage poster advocating Nuclear Disarmament, which is more relevant today than when it was created in the 1980s, and original watercolours depicting Toronto. Foodies should love the painting of the Beaches open kitchen diner nicknamed “GOOF” when many of the neon lights burnt out leaving only the letters G-O-O-F. The Bare Naked Ladies wrote about the GOOF in their song “Pinch Me”.
Visbids’ auctions always contain the unusual. We have for example antique paintings made from seeds and straw work (Thuro collection), a gold foil under glass counter sign “We Buy Old Gold” – is there such a thing as new gold? – and even an aqua Pyrex Chip and Dip bowl combo.
Don’t miss the storied tramp art child’s chair with the mysterious rattles (Thuro collection).
This is a very colourful auction. Visbids has several NS, NB and Quebec folk are paintings and sculptures. One magnificent example comes from a private Toronto estate collection where a 6’ long piece of folk art from Quebec depicts a family’s entire life. It is motorized so it is a folk art automaton, a masterwork by a currently unknown artist. The tableau covers the family’s life from cabin, to playing checkers with the dog by his side, snowshoeing and trapping and hunting, fishing with a brazier right on the shore ready to cook the catch, a caleche with logs, a sawmill, and sulky driver, all mounted on a wooden bridge. Pictures cannot do it justice! There are nearly 40 examples of what can only be described as exuberant folk art from NB and NS. The Nauglers, Joanne Fancy, Ian Fancey, Paul McFadden and many more were assembled in a prominent East Coast collection. Sizes vary from 3” to 6’. All have two common elements – humour and creativity.
There are many other items of note. But to keep it short, don’t miss the scarce pair of Peterborough Canoe downhill skiis or the early pairs of snowshoes from the Inland Tlingit and Ojibwe.
Please go to vibids.hibid.com later this month to see and enjoy the full listing. And to fully appreciate the breadth of the items on offer a preview is recommended
