Carlton World

[CarltonHendricks]

Here's some more photos of the Grass Valley show...I didn't take a ton...but here's a few...

[ooo-ribay]

I really dig the Excelsior catalog!

Looks like a great show to browse around at.

[CarltonHendricks]

Got outbid on this today…bummer I really had my eye on it…weird German auction on liveauctions…huge two day affair…tons of Porsche memorabilia…from ephemera to car parts….v little antique stuff like this…never seen an auction quite like it…and of course being in Germany started at 1:00AM Pacific Time…watched it all week I was the only bidder…whole thing was kind of weird…very sparse description...condition wasn’t even addressed…one dark photo to go on…

Description Quote:
early '20s, trophy motorist support himself on a wheel and tire with laurel in the hand, in a dress that is typical of its time , on a marble base, height: 29cm

So I dinked around all week with a minimum opening bid of 440 Euro…then yesterday…kept upping it...till about 3 this morning I put one last bid of 600 euro and went to bed...it was only 50 bids away and I was the only bidder but I wasn’t going to stay up for it….then I wake up and it says I lost it and it went for 600 euro…wha the…Only thing I can figure is someone left an in-person top bid of 600 Euro directly with the auction house prior to my bid...and that topped my internet bid…What's strange though is all those "COMPETING BIDS" in the bid history below...I think those were all my bids...so I don't know what to think...

At about 11 ½” including the base…I don’t ever recall seeing anything quite like it….bummer…

[CarltonHendricks]

I’m not a big postcard guy but this one of the Cactus II yacht caught my eye…I like ones like this that are advertising… The company that issued the postcard and made the yacht was the Williams-Whittelsey Company, of Long Island City, N.Y…There’s a Wikipedia page about them that is a little sparse….but to have a Wikipedia page they must have been somebody…Anyway…the boat was so sleek and cool looking…I bit…









One of the principles of Williams-Whittelsey Company was H. Newton Whittelsey…I think he designed this yacht…he had a long career in marine architecture…I found references to the yacht being owned by C.E. Proctor…my first inkling was he was probably the Proctor in Proctor and Gamble…however…I couldn’t connect him…so kept plugging away…and found a C.E. Proctor of the Proctor Furniture Company of Knoxville Tennessee…









Great looking boat…One thing about yachts and ships is there are usually surviving records of them…If I went looking I could probably tell you the whole life story from who and where it was built…to all the succeeding owners…to where it was sunk or scrapped…but it’s just a little postcard…

Wealthy…middle-class..or poor….when men and their toys get together they often get competitive…and yacht owners were right in there…seems they often couldn’t just enjoy cruising…they inherently wanted to race each other…I’m still learning the ropes on all this boating stuff but I think, other than the America's Cup which was for the big dogs...the major yacht race for average rich guys was from New York to the Bermuda Islands…can be a pretty grueling race…and I think once a yacht did that race it took on the moniker of “a Bermuda Racer” from then on…like a status…

I never found any reference to Cactus II as a Bermuda racer…but in the flurry of cursory researching I think I saw a reference to Cactus II in some races…the races were called regattas…sometimes “water carnivals”…typically put on by a yacht club...and there were many...

[CarltonHendricks]

Here's my Alameda folk art pickup from last Sunday...made of steel no plastic...guesstimate c1930's...Have to make a stand for it...Then the motorcycle painting at the bottom...oil on board...looks like a flat track race the way they have their foot out...I'm not a mid century collector but the art quality and condition had me...