Auction preview of an old transportation collection at an aircraft hanger. And some life sized plaster horses. Cool stuff


Today we went to an auction preview at the NASW Aviation Museum in Rio Grande. The auction was being done by Bonhams and it was for the collection of Dr.Ralph W.E. Cox JR. who had a transportation museum in Cape May County in the 1950-60s. The museum closed around 1964 and Dr. Cox stored all of the vehicles and items from the museum on his property until his recent death.




The auction is being held in a hanger at the Cape May Airport, which also houses the Aviation Museum. It's a perfect place to hold an auction that features many cars, buses, firetrucks, cable cars and even some airplanes. Very, very cool place.












Very cool, 1927 - 16 passenger coach. The seats are wicker.







1926 Open top double decker bus






The star of the auction is this 1873 SILSBY ROTARY STEAM PUMPER

Sold separately are the 4 life sized plaster horses





These guys look pretty happy. 




Another star of the show was this 1904 FORD MODEL 'AC' 10HP FOUR SEATER REAR ENTRANCE TONNEAU
(I don't know that by heart, I just copied and pasted it from the auction website!) 

This is the Ford name plate on the back entrance. 


This is the whole car




Some other cars - 



You can't put too much junk in this little trunk - 





A fancy 1900s Barouche





A 1934 Ford Phaeton 






Two cool old big wheel bikes - I love the how this photo turned out, looks like a professional took it!




A 1900s coin operated MutoScope



An assortment of player pianos, organs and nickelodeons 





This one plays a violin




I liked this big old car because it's green.






This was part of the museum's regular display, but it was closed off because of the auction. They had a large collection of vintage coca cola, and 1930-40s era rooms set up





From the kitchen display, I love the green stove and the enamel table! Wish I could have seen them better.










Some outside stuff - some of the cars were in pretty rough condition - 





This was a huge old 1920s firetruck with fancy paint 




Here are some of the planes. I think that these all belonged to the museum, but there were a few planes and plane engines that were part of the auction. There was even supposed to be a train, but that was pulled from the auction. 







2 comments:

Lulu said...

Wow!!!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful photos of all the amazing auction items!

RoofTop Creations said...

Very cool stuff! Looks like so much fun! Oh to be wealthy and to be able to BUY some of those great gems!