GARDEN STATUE SELLS FOR RECORD PRICE

A 1931 garden statue estimated at $12,000 to $18,000 auctioned for an unexpected $118,000 this week. The 4-foot-tall bronze statue with a green patina was in the garden when a lucky man bought a home and its contents about 40 years ago. The owner was offered $3,000 for the statue a few years ago but kept it until last week's auction. The statue was made in Paris by Egyptian sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar (1891-1934). Cleveland Auction Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, sold the piece, which set an auction record for the artist's bronzes.

TERRY KOVEL TO BE VOLUNTEER AUCTIONEER FOR WVIZ-PBS

Terry will hawk antiques and collectibles donated to the WVIZ-PBS Ideastream benefit auction in Cleveland. The auction airs April 23-26, 2009. Her segments will start around 7 p.m. (EDT) each evening. Check back that week--there will be a link to streaming video of the auction on Kovels.com. For now, you can view and bid on some of the lots on the station's site.

DID YOU SAVE YOUR NOVEMBER 5TH NEWSPAPER?

Did you save your newspaper from Wednesday, November 5, 2008?

That's the issue announcing Obama's win. The very next day, sellers were offering hundreds of newspapers on eBay for prices ranging from $180 for the New York Times to 75 cents for extra copies of the Cleveland Plain Dealer printed because of high demand. Prices on eBay fell quickly, though. The Times is now selling for as low as 99 cents. Many regional papers are being sold for under $10.

Historic papers are often saved, but because newsprint is so acidic it often deteriorates. To preserve old newspapers, store them in archival albums or boxes (available at art supply stores) or frame them with acid-free matting. Use acrylic, not glass, in the frames and keep them away from direct sunlight. You can also deacidify newspapers so they won't crumble or discolor. Treat them with Bookkeeper or Wei T'o solution. Both of these products are sold at art supply stores or online. But be careful. Soaking the paper in a solution may cause wrinkles.

PAPER COLLECTIBLES

Paper Collectibles

The Maltz Museum in Cleveland has an exhibition of comics and comic artists from the "Golden Age," 1938 to 1950. Museum curators were very careful in displaying the color covers--they fade in the light. A few of the covers shown are carefully done duplicates because of the fading problem. We once loaned a 75-year-old country fair sign for an outdoor display. In four weeks the printed date on the sign faded to blank, but the original printed fair sign, a generic type, kept its color.