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WORLD MARKETPLACE NEWS                                                         with Managing Editor Judy Gonyeau



                                               WINCHESTER STAR –  A           BOSTON GLOBE – A member of Fenway Park’s grounds crew dug
                                               website that tracks vintage    up an object in the field Thursday: an antique glass bottle estimated
                                               motorcycle sales says a rare   to be older than the beloved ballpark it called home. David Mellor,
                                               Harley-Davidson motorcycle     senior director of grounds for the Red Sox, posted a slideshow of the
                                               built in 1908 has become the   glass on Instagram, accompanied by the song Message in a Bottle by The
                                               most expensive motorcycle      Police. Based on its model, the bottle was last produced in 1910,
                                               ever sold at  auction.  The                         according to Zineb Curran, a spokesperson for
                                               Strap Tank Harley-Davidson,                         the Red Sox.  The field and drainage system
                                               as reported on vintagent.com,                       were completely renovated after the 2004
            was  sold for $935,000 after auction fees last month at a Mecum                        season so it’s “unusual to find such things
            Auction in Las Vegas. The bike was named Strap Tank because its oil                    anymore,” she said. Fenway Park is the oldest
            and fuel tanks are attached to the frame with nickel straps. The bike is               professional baseball stadium still in use. The
            believed to be one of only 12 such models in the world. A 1907                         translucent bottle was worn but fully intact. “It
            Strap Tank sold for $715,000 after fees but didn’t go for as much as                   has an interesting rounded bottom and cool
            the record-setting 1908 Strap Tank because it was never restored.                      bubbles within the glass and a partial cork
                                                                                                   still in the top,” Mellor wrote. The Red Sox’s
                                                                                                   opening game is scheduled for March 30. Until
            THE U.S. SUN – While recently speaking to Jeopardy! host Ken                           then,  who knows what other mysteries the
            Jennings, 48, Mira Hayward, a returning champion, shared she                           storied grounds may hold.
            appeared on  Antiques
            Roadshow in 2004.
            Sharing this on social                                            NEW YORK, NY –  J. Ross Baughman, a Pulitzer Prize-winning
            media  sparked a happy                                            photojournalist, prepared to downsize into a new apartment in 2020.
            post from AR saying                                               To assist in shrinking his large collection, he reached out to
            “We remember you                                                  Thomas Halsted, a Detroit-area gallery owner
            fondly, too!” According                                           who in the early 1970s had helped Baughman
            to AR Appraiser Simeon                                            acquire his first artwork, an Arbus print of a
            Lipman, “Back in 2004,                                            human pincushion.  Halsted’s daughter,
            Mira Hayward brought                                              Wendy Halsted Beard, had inherited the
            her grandmother’s shoe (which had been signed by Babe Ruth and    business after her father’s death. Within a
            Lou Gehrig in 1927) to Antiques Roadshow. I was fortunate enough to   month, Baughman consigned the Arbus and
            appraise it and was very impressed with her intelligence and poise.”   19 other prints. Their contract  gave Beard
                                                                              one year to sell the photos, which she valued
                                                                              at $40,000. Three years later, Baughman has
            VICTORIA  BUZZ – A popular family book store in Victoria, B.C.,   not received a cent—or any of his cherished
            had over $55,000 worth of antiquarian books stolen from the shop.   images—back. Baughman, 69,  is one of
            The next day, the Victoria Police Department returned the property   several victims in what the FBI has called a criminal scheme by
            to its owners after an unusual chase. Shortly after the theft, the    Beard to swindle older collectors out of $1.6 million worth of fine
                                                 suspect tried to enter an    art photos. Beard has been charged with wire fraud and bank fraud.
                                                 empty multi-unit tempo-
                                                 rary housing property.
                                                 After the attempt to enter   BEACHCONNECTION.NET – Following the pounding the West
                                                 proved unsuccessful, the     Coast has received throughout the winter, the Oregon coast is filled
                                                 suspect responsible for the                           with old glass floats, fossils, agates, and
                                                 robbery left several books                            beaches that do not resemble what they
                                                 scattered around the block.                           once were. One thing to be on the look-
                                                 The misplaced books were                              out for is rare Japanese glass floats. For
                                                 then picked up by another                             collectors of all sorts of natural phenomena,
                                                 individual who later turned                           and for those that want to capture this
                                                 the items over to police.                             annual happening through photography,
            Later that afternoon, the police found the suspect thanks to a    there are “ghost forests,” 15 to 20-million-year-old fossils, and
            closed-circuit camera and went to his location. Upon his arrest, the   “concretions” – a rock formed around old dead things that had
            suspect was found with $22,000 worth of stolen books in his    sunk to the bottom of the sea.
            possession. The investigation continues after  new information has
            found a second individual entered the business shortly after the
            initial break and enter and had also stolen books.                INQUIRER.NET –  The Bureau of Customs at Ninoy Aquino
                                                                              International Airport in Manila made a startling find: over $3 million
                                                                              worth of “shabu” (methamphetamine) concealed inside an
            ECOMMERCEBYTES – eBay prohibits                                   antique French telephone in a Pasay City
            the sale of government-issued IDs. But,                           warehouse. The century-old telephone has
            it had reportedly turned a blind eye to                           baffled officials and civilians alike with its
            selling vintage passports, Passport-                              discovery due to the unusual smuggling
            Collector.com run by author Tom Topol                             method used to conceal it.  “The parcel,
            reported. Now eBay is cracking down on                            declared as an antique French phone,
            such listings. It can be disconcerting to see                     arrived at the Port of NAIA from France on
            the information displayed on older passports.  Vintage licenses and   January 30. Upon physical examination, it
            passports of the famous (or infamous) are considered collectible for   contained nine ounces of a white crystalline
            the history they share. A review of the practice is now taking place.   substance,” said the BOC in a statement.


            6                       Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
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