NEW YORK (AP) - A rare Abraham Lincoln stamp that was stolen from Indiana in 1967 and surfaced 39 years later in Chicago has sold at auction for more than $400,000.

The stamped envelope was offered at auction by order of the Dorothy Jean Baker Revocable Trust and was sold on Saturday, June 13, 2009 at Manhattan's Robert A. Siegel galleries.

The buyer is Arthur K.M. Woo, a doctor who would reveal nothing more about himself.

Dr. Woo paid $431,250 (inclusive of 15 percent buyer's premium) for the 90-cent stamp. It had been entered in the sale with an estimate of $300,000 to $400,000.

The so-called Ice House Cover with Lincoln's likeness is on an envelope mailed from Boston to an ice house in India in 1873.

The stamp vanished from its owner's safe in Indianapolis and turned up in 2006 at a home in Chicago. A collector notified police.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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NEW YORK (AP) - When members of the local historical society in Berwick, Pennsylvania, found a dusty, long-ignored copy of Benjamin Franklin's 18th-century "Poor Richard" almanac on their shelves a few months ago, they decided to find out whether it could be real.

The answer was yes - emphatically confirmed on Tuesday at the Sotheby's auction house, where an anonymous bidder paid $556,500 for the 1733 edition, the second highest price ever for a book printed in America.

That was big news in Berwick, an old manufacturing city of 10,000 residents about 95 miles (150 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia, where Franklin, using the pseudonym Richard Saunders, printed thousands of copies of his almanac between 1733 and 1760, dispensing advice and aphorisms along with "lunations, eclipses, judgment of the weather" and other data relevant to the 40-degree latitude "from Newfoundland to South Carolina."

DENVER, Pa. (ACNI) - While the finest examples in each category brought predictably high prices, it was the reawakening of the middle range that spurred the most discussion at Dan Morphy Auctions' $1.3 million Spring Sale. The May 28-30 event showed strength at all levels, said auction company owner Dan Morphy, even in areas that had cooled in recent months.

"I was talking to our antique advertising specialist Gary Metz, and with Don Heim, who's an extremely knowledgeable dealer/collector, and we all agreed that a lot of the middle to high-range material brought very good prices," said Morphy. "Some of the hand-painted German tin toys were only graded 6.5, but they had a fantastic following and sold for excellent prices. There was a collection of toy snails that contained a Lehmann production that a lot of German collectors wanted. It sold for $3,700 (15% buyer's premium included), which was just amazing."

European bidders were especially active in the sale via the Internet, Morphy said. "Virtually all of the German bidders for the toys were online. In all, we had more than 1,000 registered Internet bidders." A total of 401 lots sold through LiveAuctioneers.

Pressed-steel toys, which seemed to have slowed down in the marketplace, showed plenty of muscle in the sale's Friday session. "Some collectors had said that there was too much pressed steel on the market and that it had gone soft, but that's not what we saw. We had more than 100 people in the audience for the pressed-steel and pedal-car portion of the sale," Morphy said. "Some of them had driven long distances, from Wisconsin and Missouri, and some pulled up with trailers. The person who bought the most pressed steel was still packing up his purchases on Saturday morning."

The top pedal-car lot among the 175 examples offered from a single-owner collection was a slick 1930s Cadillac tandem model made by American National of Toledo, Ohio. Sporting a rumble seat for additional passenger, the impeccably restored 40-inch-long luxury car breezed past its $1,000-$1,200 estimate to apply the brakes at $9,360.

Toys with an animal theme proved very popular. In addition to the aforementioned snails, the single-owner collection included turtles, fish, snakes and frogs. A papier-mache ball-toss amusement game comprised of a 19-inch-tall open-mouthed frog on a wheeled platform, complete with painted-wood balls, easily surpassed its $2,000-$4,000 estimate to settle at $6,300.

Kyser & Rex was the brand of choice in the cast-iron banks category. A still bank shaped like an apple on a branch, in near-mint-plus condition, took a bite out of its $1,500-$2,000 estimate, closing at $3,200 - a record auction price for the form. An Internet bidder prevailed on the Kyser & Rex Organ Grinder and Bear mechanical bank, which sold together with its original box for an above-estimate price of $4,800.

The acclaimed antique paper doll collection of the late Phyllis Grindle drew collector attention from all corners of the United States and Europe. Leading the approximately 200 lots in this specialty grouping was an extremely rare circa-1850s boxed set known as "The Boy & His Horse." With four reversible mounts and six interchangeable riders, the coveted set in near-mint condition realized $4,600 against an estimate of $2,500-$3,000. In the doll section, a Schmitt et Fils 12-inch bébé with closed mouth and blue paperweight eyes fared best, also making $4,600.

Antique advertising put in a powerful performance, with an extremely rare Dilling's Old Fashioned Butter Scotch penny vending machine topping the group. Featuring bright red and yellow advertising on its front and porcelain sides, and marked with an 1899 patent, the machine produced the goods at $15,500 against hopes of $6,000-$9,000.

Bidding on an extremely colorful, oak-framed cardboard Union Leader Cut Plug Tobacco sign issued in 1899 was competitive to the end. "We had five phone bidders after the piece," said Morphy. The winner paid $4,600.

A pre-1900 reverse-on-glass oval corner sign advertising beer, porter and ale from America's oldest brewery, Yuengling's of Pottsville, Pa., included its original fluted metal framework, trim and wood corner bracket. It sold to a LiveAuctioneers bidder for $6,600. Other important lots that sold through LiveAuctioneers included an antique Kyser & Rex mechanical bank known as Organ Grinder with Bear, $4,800; and a framed emblem from an iconic caped suit worn by actor George Reeves in the 1950s TV series Superman, $5,100.

Halloween collectors entered the advertising arena to vie for a particularly appealing None Such Mincemeat lantern. Decorated with images of a jack-o-lantern, American Flag and the None Such Soup Lady, it retained its original insert that can be turned to reflect light. Estimated at $2,000-$3,000, it was a treat without the tricks at $5,200.

A special highlight of the sale was the 60-piece Bob Miller occupational shaving mug collection. The highest-achieving entry was the boxing-themed personal shaving mug of Charles Hitte, a celebrated turn of the 20th century pugilist from Albany, N.Y., who died tragically in 1905 after becoming involved in an argument outside a hotel. The Hitte shaving mug sold within its estimate range for a solid $7,500.

Dan Morphy Auctions will conduct its Summer Sale at the Adamstown Antique Gallery in Denver (Adamstown), Pa., Aug. 13-15, 2009. Watch for the fully illustrated catalog online and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet through www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - It was ironic that Georgians had to travel to North Carolina for a sale of their prized 18th-century country antiques. Brunk Auctions welcomed the delegation of at least 125 Peach State collectors and dealers with a two-day symposium on Georgia antiquities and a sneak preview of the May 30 auction. The 728 lots encompassed one of the finest collections of Georgia furniture, pottery, silver, watercolors and books ever assembled. The auction grossed $1.5 million.

For more than 40 years, Florence and Bill Griffin, both now deceased, traveled their native Georgia searching for primitive, unadorned furniture made from native woods. Bill, a successful real estate attorney, and Florence, a horticulturist and preservationist, created a collection so impressive that it formed the bulk of a major exhibition at the Atlanta History Center in 1983. Twenty-two of the 126 artifacts in Neat Pieces - The Plain Style Furniture of 19th Century Georgia were on the block.   

Deanne Levison, an Atlanta antique dealer and friend of the Griffins, was one of the most successful bidders. She returned to Atlanta - and to her clients - with at least 20 lots. She weathered heavy in-house competition to capture the sale's top lot, a walnut 1810-1830 Georgia cellaret or liquor stand that William Griffin had bought by answering an ad in The Atlanta Constitution. Levison's last bid was $120,750 (selling prices include a 15 percent buyer's premium). Bill Griffin noted that the stand descended in the family of James Means, a pioneer settler in Upson County. When the Griffins removed the cabinet from the home, the found Confederate currency strapped to the bottom of the case.

Levison also purchased another Upson County piece, an 1840-1860 paneled sugar box in poplar and yellow pine for $13,800 (est. $5,000-$7,000) and a John Abbot watercolor of a summer sparrow for $9,200.

Born in Great Britain, John Abbot immigrated to Georgia in 1776 and was one of the first to study the flora and fauna of the Savannah River Valley. His 1797 book on Georgia insects in two volumes sold for $57,500. His watercolor of a painted bunting sold to the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts for $20,700. The painted bunting, which measured 16 1/8 inches by 11 7/8 inches, was the top lot among the seven Abbot watercolors in the sale. MESDA, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Georgia, further benefited from the Griffin's keen eye and passion for documentation.

MESDA bought a grain-painted single-case corner cupboard originally in the Augustus Dozier family of White Oak Plantation in Oglethorpe County for $11,500. The corner cupboard is destined for MESDA's Georgia Room, a furnished setting that Florence and Bill Griffin helped establish.

The delegation from the Georgia Museum of Art was delighted with their purchases of the portraits of Robert Ransome Billups and his wife, Elizabeth Ware Fullwood Billups, by Edwin B. Smith (active 1815-1832). The circa 1827 portraits were displayed for years in the Eagle Tavern in Watkinsville, Ga. The 30-by-31 1/8-inch oil on canvas portrait of Robert sold for $92,000. The smaller portrait of Elizabeth, 30 1/8 by 231/8 inches, sold for $41,400.

There were 14 Georgia huntboards or "slabs" in the sale. No one recalled a sale with more. Many were truly neat and plain with thick sides and drawers. The top lot among the collection was a fine Georgia river birch huntboard with its original locks from Oglethorpe County, 1820-1840. It brought $29,900. Bill Griffin purchased the huntboard in 1980 and had documented its history back to the great-great-grandfather of Mrs. E.G. McCannon.

The Griffins were avid collectors of 19th- and 20th-century Georgia and South Carolina pottery. At the presale symposium John Burrison, author of Brothers in Clay: The Story of Georgia Folk Pottery, explained that slaves were potters in South Carolina, but not Georgia. Indeed it was the 16 1/4-inch pot attributed to Dave the slave potter of the Edgefield District of South Carolina that led all others. The dated 1851 jar, with a horseshoe mark and the initials "LM" for Lewis Miles, sold for $19,550. The top piece of Georgia pottery was an 8-inch brown and blue glazed owl from the skilled hands of Arie Meaders (1897-1989) that sold for $16,100.

The first published map of Georgia was contained in Reasons for Establishing the Colony of Georgia ... , a book published in 1733 by Benjamin Martyn.  Rebound in red half leather, it was the top book at $4,370.

Brunk Auctions is located at 117 Tunnel Road, Asheville, N.C. For more information on upcoming sales visit www.brunkauctions.com or call 828-254-6846.

PITTSBURGH - Bidders called up the heavy artillery during Old Toy Soldier Auctions' May 16 absentee and Internet auction, spending a total of $169,900 and claiming 99.9 percent of the lots offered. All prices quoted include an 18 percent buyer's premium.

"Like a lot of auction houses, we were nervous in the current economic climate, but I thought the result was terrific," said OTSA's owner, Ray Haradin. "There were 677 lots, and I had expected it to gross $150,000 on the high end. It went almost $20,000 higher."

Haradin attributed the auction's success to the ongoing demand in the marketplace for toy soldiers and figures made by Britains. "They have the biggest collector base and still carry the day," Haradin said.

BOSTON - Led by the sale of an important Hanukkah lamp, Skinner's auction of antique and artisan Judaica on May 21 grossed more than $1.2 million, triple the presale estimate. LiveAuctioneers.com provided live Internet bidding.

The top object in the 200-lot sale was a rare silver and silver gilt synagogue ark-form Hanukkah lamp, originating in Brody (Galicia), and dated 1787. Auctioned for $314,000 (including buyer's premium), against a presale estimate of $60,000-$80,000, this lot and 50 others in the auction were formerly in the Salomon collection, and not seen in the marketplace since sold at auction at the Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, in 1949. From the late 1920s through the 1940s the lamp was illustrated in numerous books, publications and articles.

"The success of this lot demonstrates that exceptional and rare material presented at auction finds a very strong bidding audience in any economy, said Kerry Shrives, Skinner's director of Fine Judaica, "but this is especially true in more turbulent times as people turn to tangibles as a hedge against uncertain financial markets." Shrives added, "Collectors are always in search of material that is fresh-to-the-marketplace and has great provenance. The robust prices overall at this auction reflect that sentiment."

Other lots that brought big prices include: a Russian silver temple-form Hanukkah lamp from Kiev estimated at $10,000-$15,000, but sold for $189,600; a Polish silver Hanukkah lamp from the early 19th century estimated at $12,000-$18,000, went for $142,200; and a Polish Torah crown, probably circa 1840, sold for $65,175, well over its $10,000-$15,000 estimate.

Broadly described as the material culture of the Jewish people, Judaica objects have cultural or religious significance, whether made for the marketplace or for the synagogue.

MALVERN, Pa. - An original oil-on-board painting of a lone woman by the sea, done by the renowned Dutch artist Josef Israels (1824-1911), sold for $20,700 at a multi-estate sale held Apr. 25 by Gordon S. Converse & Co. Titled Watching and Waiting, the artwork measuring 26 inches by 19 inches finished as the top lot of the 300 items offered. All prices quoted are inclusive of a 15% buyer's premium.