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Punch has never been more popular |
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The famed clown figure has been as much a symbol of cigars in British and Italian communities as the American Indian has  been for Americans through the centuries. And that popularity came through in a recent auction of a brightly-colored Punch figure from the 19th Century.
An 18-inch high counter statute of Punch brought a remarkable $207,000 at auction last month at the Morphy Spring Toy Auction held in Denver, Colorado. With its almost intact-paintwork, the figure dates from around 1885 and was made by the well-known firm of William DeMuth & Co.
This figure is made of zinc rather than wood and was reported to be one of the best-kept examples of this type of figure and relatively few are known to still be in existence.
It isn’t the highest price for a Punch figure, of course. Last year, a wooden Punch that stood about five feet high went for the astonishing price of $542,000 in an auction last October. But “inch for inch,” the latest auction brought a higher price!
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 May 2008 )
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