WorthPoint’s Industry Partners are offering some historically significant treasures and nifty gadgets in May auctions, including the first edition of the most beloved books of all time, an important punch set, a device that summoned butlers, a highly desirable fishing lure, and a valuable Hummel.
Apple Tree Auction Center
With more than 30 million copies sold worldwide, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind was an immediate sensation when it was published in 1936 and remains a perennial favorite with readers and collectors today.
At its Timed/Online Only: Eclectic Auction on May 6, Apple Tree Auction Center of Newark, Ohio, is offering Lot 3422, a first edition, second printing of the novel from June 1936.
Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book is one of the most popular of all time and also one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Novels. The film adaptation, starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, is also well-loved.
Gone With the Wind’s popularity means that collectors must carefully verify the printing state and condition when assessing value. Books with a May 1936 date are the original first editions and first printings, and the June 1936 books are the second printing.
While first printings are the most valuable, second printings can also sell for high sums, particularly if they have their original dust jacket or a personal inscription. According to WorthPoint’s Price Guide, second printings of the first edition have sold in the past three years between $5 and $1,200 for a copy without its dust jacket.
Heritage Auctions
A historic and rediscovered Fabergé masterpiece is taking center stage at Heritage Auctions’ third Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works of Art sale on May 13, showcasing Russia’s artistic legacy.
The cornerstone of the auction is the Fabergé Heritage Collection, comprising sixty works, including Lot 84068, an important cloisonné enameled gilt silver punch set by master enameler Feodor Rückert.
The punch set is an impressive example of the Pan-Slavic style produced by Rückert’s workrooms for the House of Fabergé. Seized from Fabergé’s vault by the Bolsheviks in 1918, the set is only one of a few complete works of this scale that survived the Russian Revolution.
Rückert was already a master of cloisonné enamel when he started supplying his work to Fabergé, and his distinctive enameling style became popular among that company’s luxury goods. Heritage has sold many of Rückert’s pieces, which have ranged from a $2,000 pill box to an important casket box that sold for $362,500 in 2024.
Ripley Auctions
For centuries, people have invented new gadgets to make our lives easier and more convenient. Hundreds of these inventions will be up for bid at Ripley Auctions’ Pickers Express: Timed Auction of Industrial, Scientific & Pop Culture Collectibles sale on May 13 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
One standout is Lot 7136, an antique butler or servant room call box with a bell by C. E. Adams of Glens Falls, New York.
Call boxes, also known as annunciators, were used in the homes of the wealthy and places like factories, fire stations, and hotels. Developed in the 18th century, they were used to summon butlers and other servants. These machines, wired to buttons at various locations in a home, likely hung in the kitchen. If the head of the household required assistance in the parlor, for instance, he simply hit the call button (rather than shouting for help, which was considered rude). The bell would then ring in the kitchen, and a magnetic needle on the box would flip up to show what room the call was coming from.
Today, Call boxes are considered interesting conversation pieces and unique additions to architectural salvage collections. Prices captured in the database for the last three years show that these pieces have sold between $50 and $1,800. Ripley has sold two other call boxes, including this one in 2025 for $112.50 and this piece in 2024 for $343.75.
Morphy Auctions
Collectors of fishing lures will have the opportunity to cast bids and reel in some whoppers during Morphy Auctions’ second of three planned sales of The Wayne & Lori Edens Fishing Lure Collection on May 17.
The Edens’ famed collection, said to be the largest, most comprehensive, and historically important of its kind, is packed with rare gems, including Lot 1258, the first American wooden minnow.
First brought to market in 2006, this historically priceless minnow represents the link between the Rotary and Cedar plugs of the late 1890s and the first commercially offered minnows just after the turn of the century. It’s also one of the most desirable lures in fishing history, as it is the best representative predecessor to all other American wooden underwater minnows.
Collectors seek antique and vintage fishing lures for their appealing designs, utilitarian purposes, and nostalgia.
The top lure the Denver, Pennsylvania auction house sold in part one of the sale in 2024 was a super rare Heddon hand-carved frog for $30,750.
Bodnar’s Auction
Bodnar’s Auction of New Brunswick, New Jersey, will offer a bonanza of collectibles during its Collect! Disney, Hummel, Swarovski, Lladro, Royal Doulton, Armani, Fenton & More! sale on May 22.
The many Hummel figurines include Lot 114, Adventure Bound, which comes with its original box.
Eagerly sought by collectors, Adventure Bound, also known as Seven Swabians after the Grimm fairy tale it’s based on, was first released in the U.S. in 1971. It depicts seven boys huddled together, seemingly ready to confront something approaching, but thankfully, the Hummel boys have not suffered the same fate as the ones in the tale.
While modestly priced Hummels dominate the market, Adventure Bound is among the rare and limited-edition examples that can sell for thousands of dollars. Over the past three years, prices captured in WorthPoint’s database show most of these pieces have sold between $500 and $1,000, and a few between $1,200 and $2,500, including this one that fetched $2,000 in 2024.
Adina K. Francis has been a writer and editor in the antiques and collectibles field for more than twenty years. She has a bit of an obsession with the Victorians and thinks that dogs are one of life’s greatest gifts.
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