Antiques That Go "Boom"

Since we like old "Boy Toys" and that extends to sharp, shiny objects and some things that have gone "boom" at some point in their ancient lives, we at Antiqueswest have come across some pretty interesting old junk - er, antiques in our time.

There was the rat in the old howitzer tube, the World War II ammo for a Japanese Arisaka and the Mills Bomb on the bedside table. But never, ever have we found a box full of live fragmentation grenades.

Authorities at an Iowa appraisal event called the fire department and they, in turn, called the boys down at the bomb squad after someone came in carrying a box of - live - WWII-era "pineapples."

The box of Second War memorabilia included two of the grenades with the pins still in them. The owner had no idea what they had brought in and watched in stunned amazement as authorities carried the box away for destruction.

Bass Fisherman Lands World War II Dive Bomber

Bass fisherman Duane Johnson was looking for a lunker with his "fish finder" in San Diego's Lower Otay Reservoir when he caught the outline of something much bigger - an SB2C-4 Helldiver in 85 feet of water.

Duane made a phone call when he got his bass boat back on dry land and a team of historians and conservators was assembled to recover the Helldiver and land it in a local museum.

The plane was forced into a water landing in the reservoir back in 1945 during a practice bombing. The crew made it out but the Navy, faced with wartime priorities, decided to leave the aircraft in place.

Until Duane came along, that is.

A Salty Old Dog Goes Home

I love this antiques game.

Interesting people, interesting objects. Take last night. I get a call from a couple living near us in the San Francisco Bay Area. They're interested in a sterling silver Merchant Marine pin we have from World War II.

We meet on this one 'cause they want to see it and it turns out the pin is for their father, a former merchant mariner who served in the Pacific, was shipwrecked, and passed recently. My buyer is his grandson, himself a just discharged Coast Guard corpsman.


He handled the pin like I'd just dropped a gold nugget in his palm and took it on the spot.

"It's for a shadow box we're doing on his grandfather," his girlfriend explained. "He led a very colorful life."

I'll say. Action in the Pacific, a shipwreck, back home to the East Bay and family who followed in his footsteps and went to sea. It's cool when these things "go home."

To my buyers: enjoyed meeting you very much...

Rip, A Dickins of a Heroic Dog

A medal awarded to possibly the earliest version of today's rescue dogs was sold at auction today for the U.S. equivalent of $36,000 - more than $15,000 over estimate.

The Dickin Medal, Britain's highest honor for animals and known as "the animals' VC, was awarded to a mongrel dog named Rip who was credited with finding more than 100 people trapped in bombed out buildings during World War II.

Rip had been found abandoned in an air raid shelter and was adopted by E. King, an Air Raid Precaution Warden. He went to work with no formal rescue training and proved quite effective at the job.

Maria Dickin, who established the medal program, decorated Rip in 1945. Among the 62 animals awarded the Dickin Medal are dogs, pigeons, horses and a cat.

Matisse, Monet, Turner... Hitler?

A set of paintings and sketches purportedly done by a young Adolf Hitler sold at auction Thursday for 97,672 pounds ($143,358).

Among the 15 pictures is a portrait of solitary figure dressed in brown peering into wine-colored waters. The date is 1910, the signature reads "A. Hitler" and scribbled just over the mysterious figure are the letters: "A.H."

Mullocks, the auction house that conducted the sale, vouched for the authenticity and said they were acquired at the end of WWII by a British soldier serving in Germany.

The "mystery" portrait sold for about 10,000 pounds ($14,600). Buyer John Ratledge, 46, said he planned to hang it at home or in his office.

A Very Pretty Kite Indeed...

A rare two-seat version of the beloved Spitfire fighter, the plane that earned a nation's gratitude for its part in the Battle of Britain, may fetch a record price when it goes before the hammer at Bonhams in the next few weeks.

Purists may malign it for its "double bubble" or "two hump" configuration, but this is the real thing, a one-seat World War II-era fighter that became a two-seat trainer in the 21st century.

Bonhams, which is offering the meticulously restored plane at a sale on April 20, estimates it will sell for 1.5 million pounds ($2.2 million). Retrieved from a junkyard in South Africa 30 years ago, the plane is now certified to fly.

Bonhams' Austria unit, Bonhams & Goodman, sold a 1945 Spitfire Mark XVI for NZ$3.2million ($1.8 million) in September, reportedly the record auction price for a Spitfire. That plane had been on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio until 1997.

The one now for sale is a Mark IX model delivered on Oct. 23, 1944, one of 23,000 Spitfires built through the war.

Remembering this Sunday in 1941...

Remembering all those who fell on this day in 1941 and in the maelstrom that followed.
NEVER forget...