**** Just a quick note- our first auction of the year has been posted for preview. There are 100 quality items in the auction. The auction will officially open for bidding on January 21 and will end on Friday February 8.  

We are trying something a little new for this auction. We will not be sending out reminder catalogs, but will notify all of those with emails on file about the auction. If you are not currently on file, or have changed your email address you can easily register or adjust your personal information Online.

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STANFORD POTTERY PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS BANK

Stanford Pottery has long been recognized as one of the leading producers of porcelain sports banks. There works spanned a time frame from the late 40's through the early 60's. They are most famous for their series of baseball team mascot banks. There are known examples of the Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers, Boston Braves, Detroit Tigers, N.Y. Yankees, Boston Red Sox and the topic of this week's Blog entry- the Philadelphia Athletics.

The A's bank is very rare, but also very unusual in that there are at least two different sizes and a number of different variations. As you can see from the pictures above, the center bank is slightly taller than the other two. Also notice the hat variations, the two on the sides have a "P" on the hat and the center bank has an "A". The large bank also just has an "A" painted on the chest. The two side banks have "Athletics", but one is in script form and the other block letters. It was not unusual for Stanford Pottery to have different paint schemes on their banks- as they were all hand-painted and depending on the artist, subject to their interpretation. In any event, the Philadelphia A's bank is extremely rare. We have not seen one offered for sale in the number of years and prices have been known to eclipse $5,000 for minty examples. They really are gorgeous.