NEW HOPE, Pa. - Noel Barrett wrapped up a year of estimate-topping auction results with $2.3 million in combined sales from his spring and autumn auction events. Several distinguished private collections had contributed to the $1.54 million gross in Barrett's April 11-13 Antique Toy & Americana sale, in which a superb carved-wood cigar store Indian earned $77,000 (all prices inclusive of 10 percent buyer's premium). The company's Nov. 15-16 auction titled Toys & Other Things included approximately 600 premium lots from the late Stan and Priscilla Cypher, and grossed $770,000 - a full $200,000 more than the total high estimate.

VINELAND, N.J. - Teddy Roosevelt's aim was true in Bertoia Auctions' $1.8 millon Toys for All Seasons sale, as an early Schoenhut boxed set titled Teddy's Adventures in Africa swept top-lot honors in the $1.8 million event (all prices quoted inclusive of 15% buyer's premium). The Nov. 7-9 auction featured 2,516 antique toys, banks, dolls, dollhouse furniture, automata and Christmas antiques, with several prestigious private collections anchoring the bountiful array.

The Roosevelt set, dating to the early 20th century and featuring painted-wood figures, a lithographed scenic backdrop and a multitude of safari-theme accessories, was numbered 20/84. The early playset from Schoenhut's Humpty Dumpty Circus Toys range was in immaculate condition, an added enticement that carried the lot to a winning bid of $34,500.

NEW YORK - A spectacular Russian vase thought to have been included in the wedding dowry of a daughter of Czar Nicholas I, was undeniably the most coveted lot of Bonhams' $1.6 million Nov. 20 sale of European Furniture and Decorative Arts in New York City.

Created by the Imperial Porcelain Factory at St. Petersburg, the beautifully detailed urn resided in a Dutch family collection since the 1920s and was only recently rediscovered and identified by Bonhams specialists on the West Coast, where the family now resides.

The body is finely painted with luxurious floral garlands and is applied with elaborate gilt-bronze foliate mounts attributed to the Felix Chopin workshop.

ST. CHARLES, Mo. - A rare dark cranberry cut to clear tankard by Dorflinger soared to $49,000 at an American Brilliant Cut Glass auction conducted Nov. 15 by Woody Auction. The tankard was cut in the fine no. 99 pattern and boasted a fine embossed vintage silver spout signed Tiffany & Co. with mark “C” for Charles C. Cook, president of Tiffany from 1902-1907.

Woody Auction of Douglass, Kan., conducted the auction, which included the collection of Dr. John Hall, a dedicated collector of ABCG. About 475 lots changed hands in a sale that grossed slightly less than $225,000. No buyer’s premium was charged.

DALLAS (AP) - The last batch of original art from MAD magazine's New York archives sold Friday for a combined total of nearly $750,000.

The combined $746,516 was more than double presale estimates, said Greg Rohan, president of Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries.

The collection was mostly made up of covers featuring the grinning Alfred E. Neuman, including the first one drawn by the late Norman Mingo for MAD's issue No. 30 of December 1956, which sold for $203,150.

OCEANSIDE, N.Y. - A Wagon Train playset, made around 1960 by Marx Toy Co. and based on the popular television show of the era, sold for $15,255 – an auction record for a Marx playset – at an auction conducted by Philip Weiss Auctions Oct. 24-26. The play set, Series 5000, Stock No. 4888, was mint and unused in the box, the only blemish being a few tears to the accessory bags inside.

Ironically, the Wagon Train set was sold just a few minutes after another Marx play set crossed the block and held, albeit briefly, the world auction record, too. It was a Ben-Hur playset, Series 5000, Stock No. 4701, also made circa 1960 and in mint/boxed condition. The set sailed past its presale estimate of $2,000-$4,000 to bring $9,320. The Wagon Train set was expected to bring $1,000-$2,000.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - A rare bow-front Violano music player, made around 1910 by the Mills Novelty Co. of Chicago, soared to $137,500 at a sale Oct. 10-12 by Showtime Auction Services. Professionally restored and in excellent playing order, the Violano bearing serial number 195 was one of only 20 known to exist.

The auction, which saw 2,340 lots cross the block over the weekend, featured all three versions of the Mills Violano. It might have been the first time that all three Mills Violano versions were offered in the same auction. The bow-front model sold had a wireless device that permitted the user to operate it from 90 feet away.

The featured collector of the sale was Sandy Rosnick, founder of the Antique Advertising Association of America and a avid collector of store tins in many categories. A prize piece from his collection was a rare Mohawk Chief cigar tin with just some minor scuffs and scratches, but otherwise in very good condition. The tin, which once contained 5-cent cigars, brought $1,800.

LONDON - One of only two oil portraits of Francis Bacon (1909-1992) ever painted by Lucian Freud (b. 1922) sold today, Oct. 19, 2008, at Christie's auction of Post-War and Contemporary Art for the pounds sterling equivalent of $9,404,346. The rarely seen painting (the other was stolen from an exhibition in Berlin in 1988) offers a tangible and intimate glimpse into the inspirational friendship of two of the greatest British artists of the 20th century.